Israel Trip – part 1 – Istanbul at Night
02/10/2008
What a trip! In more ways than one. The Chair of our Masters’ programme organized another unforgettable study journey. This time around it was an excursion to Israel where, in addition to seeing the iron repertoire sites, we were to sit in on lectures by esteemed professors. The group consisted of professors from the Faculty of Social Sciences and postgraduate students in the World Studies programme.
Chapter 1 – Istanbul
Our flight to Tel Aviv had a four-hour layover in Istanbul and I found myself buying a tourist visa along with three sociology professors just minutes after landing in Turkey and sooner than you could say hoşça kalın, we were in a taxicab on our way downtown. (By the way, check out the meaning of Omar Naber’s family name at wikitravel’s phrasebook.
What an impressive city! One word? Huge. Granted, there is only so much one can do in a new town in a bit over an hour, but we did take a stroll around Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque and had real Turkish coffee with real Turkish sweets at the famous Taksim square. If you order the “chicken breast pie”, please know that it is not simply a dessert resembling a piece of meat. It is ground cooked chicken meat mixed with milk and loads of sugar, made into a gluey thing sprinkled with cinnamon.
We had to go see the Bosphorus bridge, of course. Quite a feeling to be standing there at the very edge of Europe, looking across to Asia. Moving around the city, we made a friend. Hasan the taxi driver who happens to be happily married to a Bulgarian and so understands some basic Slavic words and phrases. What came in really handy is the fact that his neighbour is Macedonian and was able to translate for us on the cell phone. More about Hasan later. The important thing the first time around was that he got us back to the airport on time.
We arrived to Tel Aviv in the wee hours of Monday and I settled down into my hotel room at 4 am.
More… much more to follow. Action!
Here are a few photos from the walk around Istanbul at night..
collecting garbage ~ haunted house?
mysterious or spooky?
no escaping shopping malls ~ relax with Kermit the Turk
desserts of all types (chicken breast pie to the right)
Sütis Coffee Shop at Taksim Square (highly recommended) and the final stop before our return to the airport: the Bosphorus Bridge connecting two continents.
Adriaan said,
February 10, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Looks as if you had a fabulous, if flying, visit. Just serves to remind me that I really must schedule a long weekend visit to Istanbul this year. Fancy joining us?
dr.filomena said,
February 10, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
Humm actually? Not a bad idea!
DougguoD said,
February 10, 2008 @ 7:33 pm
You didn’t go to Burger King?!?
I like the haunted upper story not lining up or even square with the haunted lower story. Must be the poltergeists.
In writing this, I’m now wondering about the possible meanings of “story” in that usage.
pengovsky said,
February 10, 2008 @ 10:46 pm
Awesome photos…. But I like the “taxi driver incident” best. Govori srpski, da te razume ceo svet 😀
Vienna for Beginners said,
February 11, 2008 @ 5:53 pm
You packed a sight a minute into your short hour, chicken breast pie included, amazing! 🙂
I wonder about the story behind this uncommon pie, was it a way to preserve meat in the olden times?
dr.filomena said,
February 12, 2008 @ 11:55 am
@DougguoD: No, opted against BurgerKing this time around although Istanbul *is* a civilized city (i.e. has its share of BKs and McDonalds’).
@P: How true… and more on that later!
@Vienna for Beginners: Hahaha 😉 By the way (listen to this, Doug), the great Turkish coffee is really cheap over there while one pays incredible prices for “Western” coffee such as an Illy capuccino. Never seen prices that high. And I’ve been to Luxembourg! 😉
dr.filomena said,
February 12, 2008 @ 11:56 am
@Vienna…: BTW, I will be making a similarly short stop in Vienna in two weeks’ time. Any recommendations? 😉
DougguoD said,
February 13, 2008 @ 2:38 am
Yuppie coffee is suppose to be expensive, regardless of quality. That’s the point after all. Why are there soooo many Starbucks franchises? Huge mark-up.
I do wonder if there’s any city in the world with more Starbucks per capita than Vancouver. We have them across the street from each other… I was very surprised about not easily finding a Starbucks in Seattle, their hometown. That’s, well… incomprehensible here.
Katja said,
February 18, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
I really enjoyed those photos from Istanbul, they brought me two years back, when I spent whole week there. For me it was really amazing. From all the cities I have been to, I liked Istanbul best. I know I will go back in near future, I wonder if I will still feel the magic :).
dr.filomena said,
February 19, 2008 @ 11:12 am
@Katja: I’m glad you enjoyed the photos! 🙂 And I’ll look forward to yours in due time… Welcome to my blog!