Good Bye, Istanbul, TR

Good Bye, Istanbul….. See You Again Soon!

We are running out of time, it is early October but we have to cross the Alps to get back to Germany. We are aware that we could get snow in the Alps. So even though we did not see everything there is to see in Istanbul, we planned to leave and just ride into Greece. It can be done in just a few hours. From Istanbul to just across the Greek border is a good ride and we are off, after having said good bye to the nice people at the Sultan Hostel. The bikes are OK, all packed but we have to find our way out of this chaos of streets and traffic. Again, I have a general idea of which way we have to ride but when I say traffic, I mean lots and lots of traffic with poor signage to find Greece. We took off through the old part of town, finding some tight roads and narrow alleys. Double parking, carts being pulled, taxis honking, people walking in the street, buses, trolley tracks, you name it, Istanbul has it. I know there is order somewhere but it is hard to find. Our GPS is not made for Turkey; it just gives us the basic, main roads. There is lots of road construction going on and I can only guess which way to go. I get a little lost but somehow we end up on a highway that runs along the edge of the Marmara Sea.  

There is something written on the pavement and it looks like it is for ‘special’ traffic only. I cannot read it, of course, it’s written in Turkish. Carol and I talk about it over the intercom and we decide ‘what the heck, we’ll keep on going’. Lucky us…..we had a good stretch inside busy Istanbul on this road that moved us ‘fast’ out of the heart of the tourist section and yes, we were on the right track to make Greece today. I still have no clue if we were allowed to be on the ‘Kennedy Boulevard’ or not, but we rode it to get out of Istanbul. While it took us 3 hours to get into Istanbul, it only took us 1 hour to get out; much faster than I anticipated. The border crossing into Greece was easy. Carol had a good chat with the Border Guard who told her ‘I love you’ because he was amazed to see a woman riding a bike. Well, maybe it was the woman’s age that got to him (harrumph); he could see Carol’s birth date on her passport. 

As is my habit, once we were in Greece we did not ride that far. I had made no Hotel Reservations, because I learned to not anticipate where or when we will arrive in the new country. Finding a hotel was easy enough. We asked a local man in the next bigger town of Alexandropoulos (Αλεξανδρούπολη) and he told us where we could stay for the night. The city is relatively new; it developed from a fishing village to a modern Greek Port. The hotel was new, the lifestyle was Greek, and we are now into the Greek way of life; quite different from the Turkish way of living.  Already I like Greece, it would even be better if I could read the writing; Yuk, another alphabet.

It truly is all Greek to me!     είναι πραγματικά όλα τα ελληνικά σε μένα!

Palace in Istanbul, TR

Topkapi Palace 

Palace in Istanbul, TR

The whole of Istanbul, especially the spot where the Topkapi Palace now stands is near the waters of the strait of the Bosporus, a very narrow body of water allowing ships to travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. This is the only sea access to Russia. Istanbul spans both sides of this strait, one side being Europe, the other being Asia. This location is a very, very strategic location; it splits the town into two main sections. Controlling the nautical traffic but also the crossing across the Bosporus by land, made, and continues to make, this an ideal spot for controlling traffic. Long before the Ottomans, the Byzantines, the Romans and the Greeks, people knew this was a great location. The Ottoman Sultans knew exactly why they had to be in Istanbul at the exact spot of the Topkapi Palace. This location, this Istanbul, was a Toll Booth. Heavy tolls were issued for any ship to pass through the Bosporus. Heavy tolls were charged to cross the Bosporus on land, too. Nobody could just cross the river via a bridge like Carol and I did. Only in the last century was it possible to build a bridge spanning Europe and Asia. You can see on the map how important a location Istanbul really is.

Even the Greeks established a town in this spot and some evidence suggests that the exact spot where today’s Topkapi Palace stands was the exact spot the Greeks had their town. We had to make a choice what to see first, or what was the most desirable item on the list to visit. When we finally came to the last day in Istanbul and wanted to visit this Topkapi Palace, we found it to be closed for the day. At first I was upset at not being able to see the Topkapi Palace, the seat of the Sultans of the Ottoman, but then…. It is a great excuse to return to Istanbul again. I mean, how can we not see this Palace with the harem and all?

Grand Bazzar. Istanbul, TR

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, TR 

Is this an ancient mall?  Yes and No! It is a shopping spot alright but it ties in with the social structure of the Middle East; with an ancient way of living, with how things were and are done for the benefit of all. 

Just after the Ottomans took over Istanbul from Constantinople, the Sultan had a Cloth Market built, run by guilds. It opened up in 1461 and is today’s Grand Bazaar. It was a covered, indoor place that was open all day, but at night was watched by guards. The Sultan guaranteed the safety of the stock within the building. In all the years this market, even as extended as it is today, has had very, very few thefts. There has been damage from earthquakes and fires, but that is a different calamity. That is over 550 years of selling items.

Map of the Grand Bazaar

The bazaar attracts so many customers, has so many shops, that it is not just a tourist attraction (90 million plus visitors annually) but it seems to be the heartbeat of the city. The whole area in and around the Grand Bazaar is teaming with activity. Sure the old building is rather quaint and outdated in many ways but it is Istanbul, it is Turkey, it is the Turkish lifestyle you see when you visit. There are no bathrooms, so plan ahead. This is not a place with lots of eateries either. There are some, but they serve the most basic foods and there are few areas to sit down. The concept of eating while shopping was foreign to the Ottomans; that is a new Western Idea. No, you do not have the usual stores you see throughout Istanbul. This is not an electronic articles wholesale place. A lot of items you see you might never need, but they are for sale here. Not really toys, not really lamps, not really jewelry like Tiffany but a lot of jewelry. Yes, you can buy carpets. Yes, you can buy clothing. Yes, you can buy spices and leather.  You ask about the style of the clothing? Well, this is Turkey! It is a different taste level, a different way of looking at what you might need. You can buy a lot here, they have thousands of shops and each is packed with merchandise.  Yes, you should bargain, we did. We bought tea; Alma Chai (Apple Tea) and it is very, very tasty and good. But it takes a bit of time to bargain and conclude the sale. It was not prepacked, it had to be weighed and then packed in a baggie. It’s the old way of shopping. You might get to know the stall owner; he then takes care of you. It is more personal than shopping at a mall; it is different than shopping on 5^th Ave. in NYC.

The above short video shows the highlights of Istanbul including the Grand Bazaar (about 1/3 of the way in) and the Blue Mosque (almost at the end).

Carol and I are jaded. We do not need a thing. Everything we look at that has tangible value in our eyes is just ‘stuff’. We are the worst shoppers you can imagine. But we bought something (Alma Chai), like I said before. It takes time to find, it takes lots of smiles, lots of talking to salesmen. You can get bargains if you know how to shop. For shopaholics it is a wonderful place to find a lot if items. Carol and I just wandered around, watching others. That was fun for us, too.

It is a must see place no matter what you might think. It is a place that belongs on each bucket list, no matter your age or outlook on life. The Grand Bazaar is a must see.