Because of space constraints on this blog (from pictures), I have to make a new blog.
I won’t confuse all of you and make it easy: abroadwithliz2
You’ll have to follow abroadwithliz2 like you did to follow abroadwithliz, but you shouldn’t be getting any more emails from abroadwithliz.
Here is the link to the new blog, which will include my most recent travels to Turkey! Enjoy!
I’m sure some of you don’t really care that much, but I felt like sharing this. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m obsessed with traveling and everything related to it. This is one of my favorite quotes of all time, “The world only exists in your eyes. You can make it as big or as small as you want.” This was from F. Scott Fitzgerald, and I’m just obsessed. This was just a fun little art project, which from far away just looks like a pale blue canvas with a map on the bottom, but as you get closer you can see the quote. The map was also done by me, first drawn on with pencil, then filled in with paint, I used two different world map drawings to base this off. I really enjoyed making this and thought my little audience would like it too (I hope you do!).
This blog post is inspired by this article, which was posted by the study abroad office of my school. (Sorry no pictures, just my wonderfully written words.)
I’m currently a junior in college, I’m at a prime age to travel. I don’t really have any commitments to one location right now (aka no job yet…eek!), and I’m young enough to do more adventurous things that when older I won’t be able to do. Sure, just like every college student I have no money, but traveling is cheap (after you get the plane ticket!), and this is one expense that will be worth it.
There are lots of ways to save money while travelling abroad. Take a week off during the fall or winter (pretty low travel season), instead of trying for the warmer (and tourist-filled) summer. Stay in a hostel, it’s pretty cheap and there’s usually a kitchen (and/or free wifi!). Eat street food, take walks instead of going to museums or travel in a group. There’s too many reasons why it can work, and not enough reasons why you can’t make it work.
When you travel, you scare yourself. When I went to the Great Wall of China, they made me go up in a cable car, this tiny, rickety little box that shook every time it went by a support beam. It was terrifying, but it was worth it once I stepped foot on that wall and could see for miles. It was terrifying going to South Korea to study abroad. I took a year of Korean, but barely used it, and I only barely knew one person on the trip. I was afraid I wouldn’t make friends, I wouldn’t know where to go. I brought up all the courage I had in me and the first day I made friends with probably 10 people and we stayed friends the whole trip, doing everything together. Scaring yourself really opens your eyes (literally…science!) and while it’s scary going somewhere new, you just have to get some courage and do it. You won’t regret it.
Seeing my pictures and hearing my stories are nothing compared to what it’s like to be immersed in the culture. Seeing me eat crème brûlée is nothing compared to smelling it, feeling the crunchy top fold in, hearing the sounds of the French language around me, seeing the funny looking cars drive by. The feeling in the air is indescribable, and that’s what I remember most. (Just writing this is making me drool!) You have to experience the sights, sounds, smells and tastes to really experience it. Reading someone else’s blog or article isn’t enough to know. You have to write your own book.
One of my favorite quotes is, “The world is a book, and if you don’t travel you will only read one page.” I just love this book, and it couldn’t be more true. Seeing small children in France chase each other and yell “Arrêt!” (Stop in French) was so cute, I was bewildered. These children have more French knowledge than I ever will. I knew it before, but never really experienced the fact that I grew up learning English, and others grow up learning other languages. But it’s such a weird feeling being somewhere and not knowing a lick of what’s going on, but loving it every step of the way.
Just because a place is famous for something (like the Louvre for famous art…Mona Lisa anyone?), doesn’t mean when you go there you have to experience that. If you want, you can just sit at a café all day and drink coffee. You will probably experience more of the real culture there than at any tourist-filled area (not saying the tourist-y areas aren’t great…a lot of them are still amazing!).
I am very sick…with the travel bug. I got it in high school and fortunately, I’ll have it for life. Once you travel you will probably have the same feeling as me, when you see a movie filmed in a different country, when you see pictures from friends who have traveled, you’ll get sick again and there will be an itch you can’t scratch until you step foot in another country, another culture. By traveling, I have opened my eyes to new experiences, new ways of life, and new ideas. Before I went abroad I wasn’t really interested in religion (I really had no part of it), then I learned about the catholic churches in France, then in China and Korea I saw the Buddhist temples and in Turkey the Muslim mosques, and now I just love researching and learning more about different religions. I’ve opened up my taste buds too, I always liked “Chinese food” in America, then in China, it was a different world. It was fresh and not at all greasy; it was amazing. I love trying the flavors from different regions, the spices they use, the cooking methods, and learning from them (and trying to incorporate them into my own cooking).
Sure on my trips I’ve had low times (like when I cried in Turkey because no one spoke English which was incredibly frustrating and exhausting), but overall my experiences have made me a stronger woman and made me want to make everyone else travel so they could feel as good as I do. I don’t regret anything that happened during or after my traveling, but I just wish I could have been traveling every summer, even before I first went before my senior year in high school. It has been four years, and I’ve traveled to four countries. It has been such an amazing experience, I just wish I could do it all over again… and I will, for many more years.
The main point is this: If you’ve ever seriously considered traveling (looking up pictures of what you’d want to see, or little “cultural” events that you want do be a part of in a certain country), do it. I’m not saying drop everything and just go, you can still plan your trip, but if you don’t start now (at whatever age you are), there will ALWAYS be something else holding you back, there will always be excuses. If you go, you will not regret it (I promise), but if you don’t go, you will probably regret not going. So just go. I promise, you’ll like something about traveling!
The Turkish Consul of Chicago,Fatih Yıldız, visited my school (University of Iowa) on Monday to talk about relations between Turkey and the US (Iowa especially).
He really stressed relationships between not only governments, but the people. And travelling to Turkey, seeing the people and culture will help solidify those relationships. Meeting with the people changes your stereotypes about them and help you to understand what it’s like in their shoes.
I have to admit when I was in Turkey I was a little scared at first because of the relationship that Muslims have with the US (Turkey is 99% Muslim), and unsure how they would feel toward me being American. But after getting to know the culture a little bit, and seeing the people there, I’ve never met a more thoughtful and helpful people. If the Turks see you in need they will help, always. And no one that I met with cared that I was American, they were just impressed that I knew English, which most of them were too embarrassed to speak in front of me. They were so excited to show me their culture too, and asked me what I’d seen, and most of them were impressed with my Turkish (even if I wasn’t impressed with myself!). And even when we didn’t speak the same language, I always felt welcomed and it always felt warm, like they really truly cared.
Just because society says, “All Muslims are terrorists,” or “You’re only beautiful if you’re a size 2 with perfectly tanned skin,” doesn’t mean it’s true. A very slim majority of Muslims are terrorists, and there are plenty of white Christian terrorists too. And just because many of the Muslims are “stereotypical Middle Eastern looking” doesn’t mean they hate you just because you’re American.
I’m really glad I went to this lecture because it opened my eyes up even more, that just because I don’t have these bad feelings toward other cultures, some people do, and I need to be an advocate to show how great these cultures really are. Making connections between the real people of the countries is what will lead the example to make connections on a bigger scale. This will not only help Turkey and the US, but any other place you visit. We all have a part in this world, and if it’s making peace with one person at a time, I won’t stop.
The article about his visit is here.
Looking back at my pictures, it’s still a little hard to believe I actually went to Turkey! I look back on my pictures and just remember all the little details I took pictures of, like all of the tea cups outside of businesses in the Grand Bazaar. Here are a few recaps on what Turkey meant to me, what it represented and what I loved about it.
The beautiful flag of Turkey. Just like America, you will see their national flag everywhere, but in Turkey, it was EVERYWHERE! The red of the flag has been an important part of Turkish culture for hundreds of years, the star and crescent are Islamic symbols. Legend has it that the red represents the pools of blood after the battle of Kosova in 1448, and the reflection of the moon in the blood looked like a star to Sultan Muran II. Officially adopted in 1936, this iconic piece of Turkish history has a lot of respect in Turkey. If you lay the flag on the ground, people will hunt you down (according to Süleyman), because it is so highly respected. for example, at the Olympics (or any other large collection of countries), the flags of the world would be laid down, but the Turkish flag, out of respect for the Turkish people, was on a flagpole.
On the top of many mosques is some sort of symbol. Some represent the mosque or another icon, but many are this open crescent moon with a star inside, symbolizing the flag, and thus symbolizing Turkey.
There were a lot of stray cats, all over Istanbul (I didn’t see any in Kayseri that I remember). Every time I saw one I got a little sad, but most of them were really sweet and just loved begging, especially when you called them over, “Pss Pss Pss!” and 1 or 2 or maybe 10 cats would come over!
A few streets devoted to chandelier shops. Status symbol is very important in Turkey. They have an entire verb tense just for gossip! (After the verb, you add “mış” (almost like a really tense “mush”), if someone told you something, and “mışmış” if someone told you something and you don’t believe them!) So gossip is obviously highly held here, and staying in good gossip is important, so a lot of it is what you own and what you give. It’s similar to America, but much higher.
Of course I had to give another shout out to Maiden’s Tower, one of my favorite stories and icons of Istanbul. (Here’s my blog post on Maiden’s Tower!)
Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish), the biggest mosque in Istanbul. This took around an hour or longer to walk all the way through, and with an awesome guide like Süleyman, I got a lot of history too! (Here’s the blog post for Ayasofya!)
One of my favorite places Cappadocia (in Turkish Kapadokya), pronounced cap-uh-doe-pee-ya, or cap-uh-doe-sha. Quick history: Christian people ran away from Muslim people and found these mountains with soft rock and carved little caves for themselves and lived here for quite some time. It was a little colder (maybe around 40F, around 5C), and it was an open air museum so there was a lot of walking around outside, so there was hardly anyone there, which also meant better pictures! It was so beautiful here, it was hard to see everything and take it all in. They also have hot air balloon rides over this area, which would be amazing! (Here’s my post about Kapadokya!)
These are “fairy chimneys.” Softer rock on the bottom and harder rock on top, so when wind and water slowly carve away at the softer rock, it leaves the harder rock on top, seemingly balancing. These two are the most famous, and are lit up at night, so beautiful!
A “Welcome” mat of one of Süleyman’s neighbors!
The beautiful view of Golden Horn (a small river in the European part of Istanbul) from Süleyman’s living room window!
Süleyman going up the very tight turn of the stairs in his apartment building. He was on the top floor… four flights of stairs like this!
A small picture, I know, but I just loved the name of this cafe: Coffee’stanbul exclusive. It’s a cute play on words, and its tag line (translated from Turkish) is “An exclusive place for exclusive people.” What does that even mean? And, my favorite part: It was in Kayseri; they don’t even have this cafe in Istanbul!
Turkish cola. Note the white and red (bad lighting, sorry!) and stars, symbolizing parts of the national flag.
I saw this advertisement in the subway: Michael Jackson, The Immortal by Cirque du Soleil. Wow, I wonder what that would be like!
France everywhere. Turkey was very influenced by France in almost everything, including…
Many of their streets! These cobblestone streets are even called, “French-style streets!” I just loved it!
The very steep hills all around Istanbul; I don’t think I could ever drive here. I would be terrified!
This picture represents how caring and sweet most Turks are, and yes “Turks” is politically correct. If you ask a Turk for help, they will most likely do everything they can to make sure you get your help. If you don’t speak a lick of Turkish, they will laugh at you, and try their hardest with their best English. Every Turkish person I met was a sweetheart, and I really felt welcomed in their country.
This is”ayran” (pronounced eye-rahn). Ayran is made of yogurt, salt and water, it looks like milk but tastes nothing like it! I believe I tried ayran a total of three times so far. When Süleyman came to America, he made me ayran (he said it wasn’t very good, but I liked it). But when I tried it in Turkey (factory made, not homemade!) I didn’t like it. I was a little dissapointed that I didn’t like it, but it’s hard to drink watery, salty yogurt without a proper meal to go with it, for me at least.
Gotta love Virginia Secret…?
The weird birds in Turkey. They look like ravens or crows (if anyone knows please let me know so I can edit!). I’ve never seen birds with coloring like this, and they were everywhere!
A 1-meter long kebab (that’s around 3.2 feet folks). It really reminded me of America where everything has to be humongous!
Not self-serve gas! I’ve never seen this before. They would wait outside the building in the freezing cold and wait for someone to drive up, then just gas your car for you!
The importance of çay and kahve (tea and coffee).
Tea is important for beginning relationships (unless it’s family, and I will go into that more later).
Tea is made by a double boiler, with regular water on the bottom and a tea kettle on top. First you boil the regular water, then you add the boiled water to the tea kettle on top and let than boil with the tea. They are then put into these fancy glasses with a “tiny belly” perfect for making the “clink” sound when you mix sugar in it. Here is a video I uploaded of Süleyman stirring his tea at breakfast. Like I said in another blog post, the “clink” is very important, and you will hear it randomly when you go to a cafe or restaurant.
Coffee is important for keeping relationships.
Sulu told me that you can have tea any time and it’s acceptable. In the morning, in the afternoon or after dinner. But coffee is more of a special event, you choose coffee when you show a person you want to really spend time with them, it’s a lasting relationship, not a passing one. If you are ever offered either tea or coffee, at least try one cup. If you don’t like it, kindly tell them, and they’ll do their best to make you feel more comfortable (every Turk I ran in to made sure I was comfortable!).
There is an art to making Turkish coffee. To start with, there is no filter. When I tell people, their initial reaction is disgust, but as you will see later, the whole drink isn’t gritty. The coffee is more of a powder, so that helps with it not being gritty, but it’s also double boiled, in a different way than the tea. There is a special coffee pot, as shown here.
It’s small, for the most part. The one I have can only hold three servings, but I have made “kahve” (pronounced ka-vey) in a pot that held six, but that’s usually the limit. First you add enough water for the amount of servings you will make, and add the coffee to that, with some (optional) sugar. Then you boil it and quickly pour into each cup until it is about 1/3 of the way up. Then you put it back on the heat and boil again (this part comes really quickly!), and when that happens, pour the rest into the cups until they are full!
This double boiling process keeps the grounds on the bottom, and the light and frothy coffee on top! Also note this kahve has a lot of bubbles on top, that is the best outcome for kahve! Where you don’t want bubbles is in tea.
Reading our coffee cups. Similar idea to reading tea leaves, you can “read” your future with them. I made us some Turkish coffee (if you ever get a chance to try it, do!), then when you finish drinking, put the saucer over your coffee cup and flip it over. Then you have to swirl it around and say a magic word, then when the base is cold to the touch, you flip it over and try to see something in the dried lines on the edges.
Here’s Süleyman reading mine! It was really fun because we were just making things up!
Size-wise, Turkey is much smaller than America. Here’s the size comparison with the contiguous US. (Source from: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/TR) That is a really fun website, with lots of statistics and a map you can use between every country!
I’ll never forget my first trip there, and I hope to return again soon. There was a lot that I missed on my first trip, like the Dolmabahçe Palace, and the Süleymaniye Mosque (Süleyman’s favorite, with the “best” view of Istanbul), or to be able to see Greece from Izmir, and I would love to see the Black Sea as well. There was so much about Turkey that was uniquely Turkish, you don’t get that very often in America (or maybe you do, and I just don’t notice it). America is so big, and has so many cultures densely populated in certain parts, it’s hard to have aspects of American culture in every neighborhood, in every location. Istanbul really was a wonderfully diverse and kind place, I just can’t wait to go back!
This is my last post for my first trip to Turkey. I’m not sure when I’ll be abroad again, but hopefully soon, and I’ll keep updating! Thank you for all of your support so far in my blogging! See you in the next country! 😉
(I will apologize ahead of time for my terrible translation into how to pronounce it in English… a lot of the vowels are really hard to translate unless you know them from other languages. And there also isn’t really a pattern to this post, sorry again!)
I am fascinated by different cultures interacting and how different body language can be across cultures, so I try to study it in my university (and also in my personal life) so there are a few things I noticed, with my own personal explanation. (Here’s my obsessive research part of me in play!)
I will briefly explain something I’ll talk about later in the post: collectivist vs. individualist communities. Individualist communities are stereotypically “western,” meaning America, Australia and many northern European countries. Collectivist communities are “eastern” in contrast, but include east Asia (China, Japan, etc.), Latin America (and most Spanish-speaking countries), and parts of the Mediterranean. Individualist communities are very self-centered, and usually fast-paced comparably. If there’s a problem, you deal with it by yourself (or with a few close people). At meals, you get your own plate with your own food. It’s more about getting to the point and when you’re done, you’re done. Collectivist communities are very dependant on “group feeling” and taking their time with family. We almost missed our flight back to Istanbul from Kayseri because we had to meet with more family, and spend time talking. You generally get a small plate for yourself and you all eat from the same large dishes on the table. It’s really about knowing the people and making relationships with them. When I was making pancakes for his family on our last day in Kayseri, everyone was in the kitchen helping. His two brothers were standing next to the stove watching, he was taking over cooking for me, and his mother was figuring out how to make them again. In individualist kitchens, usually it’s one (maybe two) people cooking, everyone else is doing their own thing. Obviously some of these examples are extreme, but it’s very similar in most places that fall into the categories. So you can see, me (an individualist) in a collectivist community, it can get pretty weird.
This is mostly men (most of my communication research was with men, because I didn’t have a lot of contact with women), but if one man asks another man a question and he wants to respond with ‘yes,’ he would wink one eye, and make a “ch” sound, or simply just raise his eyebrows. If he wanted to say ‘no,’ he would furrow his brow a little and purse his lips. This is only really common between men, not really between men and women, unless they are close friends, and almost never between women. It was hard for me because Süleyman would answer a question to me this way, and I would ask again, thinking he wasn’t listening or didn’t understand. It took a while to figure that out! Talk about cross-cultural communication!
Süleyman would make the “Sh” sound, loudly and sharply to get someone’s attention or to quiet someone, but always with close friends or his brothers, never someone older or someone he didn’t know very well.
Süleyman listens to a radio station with two famous comedians, and when Rihanna’s Diamond song came on, they said what it sounded like in Turkish. He told me and now I think of this every time I hear that song! The original lyrics are “Shine bright like a diamond,” but what the radio personalities heard was “Çayı bırak o dayımın” (in English it would sound like, “Ch-eye-uh buh-rack oh die-uh-min.” This translates to “Leave the tea, it’s my uncle’s.”
While I was there, Süleyman was trying to think of a Turkish name for me. His grandmother wanted a Turkish name to call me (but she ended up just calling me Liz anyway). He discussed with friends, and finally decided on “Beliz” (pronounced bay-liz, or like the country Belize). According to, Süleyman, it means “A song in my head.”
Apparently I look pretty Turkish, so when people would talk to me they would immediately talk in Turkish. But they knew right away I wasn’t Turkish because I didn’t react at all to “Hi my name is…” Also talking with people, they would talk so fast and had a thick accent, so it was hard for me to understand (I’m sure it was the same from me too!). So I memorized a few sentences to impress some people anyway:
Merhaba, nasılsın – Hello, how are you? (mer-ha-ba, na-seul-seun)
İyiyim. – I’m fine. (ee-yee-yim)
Adın ne? – What is your name? (ah-deun nay?)
Benim Liz adın. – My name is Liz. (Bay-neem Liz ah-deun)
Memnun oldum. – It’s nice to meet you. (mem-noon old-oom)
Ben Türkçe konuşamam. – I can’t speak Turkish. (ben turk-jay ko-new-sha-mam)
You have to be careful with the last one, because if you say, “Ben Türkçe konuşmam” you are saying “I can speak Turkish, but I don’t” and it could be rude.
There are two greetings you’ll most likely hear: “Merhaba” is the first (mer-ha-ba, and you have to roll the /r/), and it is pretty much just “Hello.” “Selamin Alaikum” is actually in Arabic, it means something like “May Allah’s (God’s) peace and mercy be upon you,” you would respond with “Alaikum Selam,” simply translated to “And also with you.” It’s a religious greeting, but many people know and use it.
Süleyman also taught me the Turkish version of “Oh my God.” “Ohah” (pronounced like it looks), apparently it was a little rude to say, so I said it once, around his mother and he looked at me like I was crazy! (He didn’t tell me the rules!)
We went to see Life of Pi 3D (all of his friends were pronouncing it “Life of Pee” because the /i/ makes the “ee” sound! And in the middle of the movie (and every movie there apparently), is an intermission for 5-10 minutes. I think we used to have them in America, but not for a long time. Not even in the 3-hour movies for Lord of the Rings! I wish we had intermissions!
It was fun learning Turkish there and practicing on some of his friends, but it was also extremely stressful, especially in his hometown, Kayseri, where almost no one spoke English. His family would be having conversation after conversation, and I would just sit there, smiling politely because I didn’t know what to do, then Süleyman would turn to me and say, “Oh it’s nothing important” or he would just translate one part of the conversation. It was very uncomfortable when someone would say something, everyone would laugh, then a minute later, he would translate and then I would laugh by myself, or when he would say something about me and everyone would look at me, smile and say more in Turkish. His mom mentioned it later when he wasn’t in the room (and there was a different person who could speak English), that she felt bad that I didn’t know all of what was going on! Understandably, it was really hard for him too, because not only did he have to translate, he had to two-way translate, which is really hard for his brain to deal with too. His mom would ask a question about me (translate to English), then I would answer (translate to Turkish). Note: This was only in Kayseri, a very traditional city in Turkey, in Istanbul, most people at least knew a little English, so it was only in his hometown when I felt awkward.
It was a similar feeling for him in America probably, because when I speak with him, I use a certain vocabulary, and I speak a little slower than usual (plus he’s used to hearing me speak, so he can understand me), so sometimes I would have to repeat what he said to my friends or vice versa.
If you get a chance to visit a home, I would recommend it. Note, if you didn’t bring a towel, they might not have actual towels to offer you. At Süleyman’s mother’s house, I was given a towel-like robe instead of a towel, so if you’re ok with something different just go with the flow, but if you don’t like it, then bring your own, like in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! Also, if you’re a guest who is not staying there for the night, you might be kindly kicked out by the host offering fruit. Usually this means that the visit will come to an end soon (and in a collectivist community, that means about an hour more!).
When you greet someone, you shake hands and kiss (or air kiss) the person on both cheeks (first their right, then left), or hug then kiss. When you greet someone you respect, or someone much older, you take their hand, kiss the top and then press their hand to your forehead briefly. I did it to Süleyman’s grandmother and she loved it!
I was lightly scolded by his grandmother when we were sitting in the parlor talking, because my legs were crossed. Apparently it’s rude to cross your legs. I know in some cultures it’s rude to show the sole (or bottom) of your foot, so maybe it’s the same idea.
When we went to different households in his hometown, the women usually offered me slippers or some type of shoe you could wear inside the house. There were also shoes for men. Both times they were offered, they had heels, so I was a little nervous walking around in heels I wasn’t used to (but I didn’t trip or spill anything!). Also, when Süleyman came to America, he was really surprised (and a little disgusted) that we didn’t take our shoes off just inside the door. As we were leaving, he had already put his shoes on, but needed something across the room (about 15 feet or 3 meters away), he took his shoes off, ran to get what he needed, then put his shoes back on. It really surprised me, but maybe it shouldn’t have. In the mosque, you take your shoes off as a sign of respect (and because it’s dirty, also why there is a ceremonial washing before each entrance to a mosque. Most cultures are (at least) loosely based on religion, and because Islam isn’t very prevalent in American (or English-speaking) cultures, taking off shoes isn’t a big priority. It could also be argued that because Turkey is a collectivist culture, taking off shoes means you’ll be staying a while, and you would take time to take off and put on shoes, because you’re in no hurry. In individualistic cultures (like America), we’re always rush, rush, rush, so taking off shoes would just slow us down.
Driving is terrifying in Turkey, I’m just going to flat out say it. I saw a video of a taxi driver who slowed his car down (on the freeway!) and jumped out of the moving car to run alongside it! And no one ran red lights, or did too much weaving in and out of traffic (like in Korea!), but fast maneuvers and last minute turns were definitely scary! I saw a lot of really illegal things, but no one pulled over! And if there was a police officer on the road, they would have their lights flashing, so you’d know they were there: not what you’d see in America! Because of that (and other things) it seemed like the police were there to keep you safe, not to fine you hundreds of dollars for something stupid.
I was surprised to see some American television shows on TV. We saw Ellen, and she was dubbed in Turkish (let me tell you how hilarious it is to see Ellen speaking Turkish! I also got to see Breaking Bad (which I’ve never actually seen). They just used subtitles so that they could get it to the Turkish public faster than having people dub over the voices. I was really surprised to see that they put something over a cigarette at the beginning of the show. I’ve never seen that in American television (the middle finger – yes, curse words – yes). And in America there are so many anti-smoking campaigns (I didn’t see one in Turkey!)
And I love the look on people’s faces when I tell them where I’ve been: France (“nice, I’ve always wanted to go there”), Korea (“oh… ok, why?”), China (“haha… ok”), Turkey (“uh…,” usually no reaction). So far in my abroad travels, Turks are the most kind and helpful. Turkey is so old and has so much culture, we really don’t have much of anything like that in America. Sure we have monuments, just like any country, but America is really young compared to most of the rest of the world. I just love going to a place that is hundreds of years older than America is! It’s really humbling and makes you feel like you’re a part of history. I loved going somewhere and taking pictures of the little things that the natives take for granted. Süleyman would always look at me weird, wondering why I was taking a picture of that garbage can or car… I believe it’s the little things that make a community a community, and those are always my favorite pictures of my trip.
There were many attractions in Turkey which were quick visits that wouldn’t really work well for an entire blog post, so I’m smushing them all together! Enjoy!
The New Mosque, lit up at night.
It’s the actual name of it too, but not too new for me! As an American, my country started in 1492, so that’s still pretty “new” to most countries in Europe and Asia!
I loved the beautiful stained-glass windows!
Here’s the entrance. At the time, it was around 6 p.m. and time for prayer, so there were a few people taking their shoes off, getting ready to pray.
This is the Church of Saint Anthony in Istanbul, the largest Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul. I was surprised by the windows in this church, because most Catholic churches that have stained-glass windows have pictures of the saints, but this had only pretty designs. My guess was they wanted to stay as true to the Catholic church without offending any Muslim people.
French-esque apartments. Each building is just wide enough for one apartment per floor, and each building has very different iron coverings on the windows. It so reminded me of France!
Here I am (unfortunately) just posing with the tram when it stopped. Sulu was taking my picture and counted to three in Korean (hana, deul, set) and a Korean woman walked up to him and asked him to take her picture and we exchanged very bad Korean with her. It really is a small world!
He told me about this, but we hadn’t seen it until the last night! It looked like so much fun! During the day, there is usually just the normal red tram (on the left) but at night (either every night or just on the weekends) it pulls another tram, with a band and fun lights.
The band! The tram stopped for about 10 minutes so the band could play for a crowd (probably about 50 people watching and cheering!), then went on its way again. I just love this idea!
“Tramway Stage”
This beautiful picture was taken from the bridge that crossed the Golden Horn (a short river on the European side of Istanbul).
There were so many fishermen on the bridge too!
And we got to see this cutie catch a pretty good-sized fish too! He was very proud of himself!
On the pedestrian boat across the Bosphorus. The lights behind me on my left are the bridge (above), and the new mosque is behind me on my right.
I also got the privilege of riding the World’s Second Subway. It just goes up and down hill, no turns, only two stops. This was really fun! As you can see, we were at the top end of it, and it just went down hill!
This picture is hard to tell, but the short train’s end was behind me and it was a steep walk up. In another train with a similar style (just up and down hill with two stops), the train was longer and had stairs to help walk up the steepness.
Here’s a picture of the map of the subway, just up and down hill! It is so smart, I just loved it!
This is Kayseri Castle, it is 1500 years old, and still standing strong! It was built initially by the Byzantines and expanded by the Seljuks and Ottomans, before they stopped using it. It’s in the city’s main square. I don’t think they did tours or anything of the sort, but it is still a monument representing their history.
This is the famous lighted bridge crossing the Bosphorus. This bridge changed colors and at some points even looked like it was raining because of the lighting.Where we took this picture, it was really “happening.” Lots of shops and little food stands, and even an Arabic-speaking reporter doing a news report. It was so beautiful, and a really nice icon of how unique Istanbul is!
This is Dolmabahçe (the ‘ç’ is pronounced ‘ch’) Palace. It’s on the European side, right on the Bosphorus. It is absolutely beautiful from the outside (we didn’t have time to go inside this trip), but I did some research on my own about it. It took 13 years to build by the 31st Ottoman Sultan. There is over 75,000 pounds (more than 34,000 kg) of gold in the palace today. While we didn’t get to go inside, we could walk around the outside and it was absolutely beautiful; definitely going here my next trip!
The main gates.
The beautiful artwork on the top of the main gates.
This was the view from the edge of the Bosphorus (looking at Asia), right outside the palace. Just saying, if I had a palace, building it right between Asia and Europe on a gorgeous river? Yes please. Perfect location!
This was a funny detail I noted as we were walking around the outside. Two rows of columns, one fully cylindrical columns, the second, half painted, half sculpted into the side of the building!
This was a cannon used back in the Ottoman empire on display near the Palace.
This is the “Watch Tower” as Süleyman called it. I thought he meant the watch tower like Galata Tower (where they would watch for fires and alert people). No, this is a watch tower, like you wear on your arm…. Oh! A “Clock Tower!” Wow, that was hilarious. This is the Dolmabahçe Clock Tower.
A “cool, artistic” shot from below. I loved the details on the clock tower, they were so fine and precise!
It even had a barometer! (If you don’t know, barometers measure pressure in the air, different pressures mean different weathers are coming, like sunny or rainy.)
We went to two bazaars in Istanbul, the Egyptian Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar, and did lots of shopping in other places too!
The Grand Bazaar, built in 1461. It is really massive, with 61 covered streets, over 3,000 shops, and attracts between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors every day. We got really lost when we visited. They have signs near the ceiling to direct you, but no sign saying exit for some reason.
Plates.
Lamps and jewelry.
A tea cup left outside the door. In the Grand Bazaar, there are cafes that sell coffee and tea and deliver it to the business. After they finish the tea, business owners will leave the cup outside to be collected. I saw this all over the Grand Bazaar.
A cafe with small stools.
One passageway through the Grand Bazaar.
We found some awesome guns to play with.
Behind Sulu is a water fountain that still works.
One of the main hallways in the Grand Bazaar.
Walking from the Grand Bazaar, we saw this “Eyfel” Cafe (The yellow sign, it’s hard to see, but the ‘L’ is the Eiffel Tower).
And another French-style “Cafe Eyfel.”
Yet another Eiffel Tower… it was so weird to see them everywhere!
A döner restaurant with a window, and a cat waiting outside for the scraps.
A vendor on the way to the Grand Bazaar. We were looking to but a Turkish coffee pot (in his right hand) and said it held 8 cups of coffee. We didn’t believe him, so he put water in it and showed us. Really it was more like 6.5! He was charming, but we didn’t get a pot from him (too expensive!).
Sufi Spinning. This is one traditional way of meditation in Islam. I unfortunately didn’t get to witness it, but I learned a lot about it. The arms above his head represent God (the right hand pointed up) and the earth (which is pointed down). Here’s a video of what it looks like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shr2Dferjuo
We got a fruit smoothie too. I can’t remember the flavors we mixed, but it was too sour! (They didn’t add any extra sugar, so it was just juice!) Still a nice variety from all the coke and water I’d been drinking!
Galata Tower. There is a lot of shopping near it, and it’s so beautiful at night. This used to be a watch tower for fires, so they could alert the people of the city to escape. Now you can go inside, and even up to the top to see a view of the city (we didn’t have time to do this).
Another gorgeous view!
A view from the roof of a restaurant, where we enjoyed piping hot tea in the cold.
Chandelier Shops. An entire neighborhood devoted to chandeliers! All I could think was, ‘What would my life be like if I decided one day to go chandelier shopping?!’ This picture shows different floors and all the way down the street of shops. Each window is a different shop, too! Sulu said that it’s a Turkish way of thinking, “If one chandelier shop has good sales here, we should set up one right next to it, we’ll get good sales too!”
And a close up of some of the beautiful and unique chandeliers. I would not be able to pick one, let alone one shop!
A small toy and musical instrument shop near Galata Tower. This shop was PACKED!
A police box, where (usually) a police officer would stay in case someone needed help. It definitely made me feel a little safer!
This was another bazaar we walked through for a short cut. They sold fruits, vegetables and fish. This was around 8 at night and still bustling!
We went to a Starbucks to get some caffeine to fuel our long-walking day (we probably walked around 5 miles or more that day).
A flower shop in Taxım, near the Starbucks. We saw three or four within a block… and it smelled amazing!
Passing a small book shop in a rest stop and saw the Fifty Shades books, all in Turkish of course!
This little girl was near the Grand Bazaar. She was way too cute to pass up taking a picture!
Sultan Ahmet Square is known for its three towers.
The first tower is the Egyptian Obelisk. it was first set up by Pharaoh Tuthmosis III in Upper Egypt. Emperor Thedosius brought it to Istanbul from Alexandria in the late 4th century.
This was the base of the Egyptian Obelisk, I just loved the detail, and how perfect it still looked!
The Serpent Column, erected in the 4th century stands in the middle. It was part of an ancient Green sacrificial stand. It is made of three snakes intertwined, but the heads fell off
The Column of Constantine Porphyrogenetus. This was a turning point for chariot races. According to the inscription on the base, Constantine VII repaired it and covered it in bronze sheets.
And this was a picture of two tourists looking at a map near the towers. It is one of my favorite shots from the entire trip!
Food, as in every culture, is extremely important in keeping the culture alive. You could tell a lot from the culture if you only sit and watch. I can’t wait to try more next time!
Of course one of my first stops was to McDonald’s! Big Mac at McDonald’s. It tasted pretty much the same. The differences in McDonald’s are their soft drinks and fries. I got the Coke (because Coke has a special formula just for McDonald’s in America) and it did taste different. Not better or worse, but different. I did like the American McDonald’s Coke better though!
And the box. I love seeing familiar things in different languages!
Bambi Cafe!
Bambi Cafe… very weird, and super Disney.
Döner. This was one of my favorite foods in Turkey. They cook it on a rotating meat stick (pictured below…with Chef Liz!). Some people compared it to the Greek gyro. It was delicious!
Döner, and my fresh squeezed orange/apple juice. A weird combination, but delicious!
This was a “wet burger.” The buns are wet, and they just build a regular döner sandwich. I tried, but was not a fan of this; I hate soggy bread.
Sulu charmed the workers to let me have a photo opp: awesome. They shave it off with a huge sword-like knife, and catch it with a sort of metal shovel.
The “picnic basket” on the 1.25 hour plane ride from Kayseri to Istanbul. It came with a cheese sandwich (ok), homemade brownie (pretty good, you could tell a person made it, not a machine), and green beans (amazing, in some crazy awesome lemon-y, salty sauce). Yum. All the food I was given (except for breakfast on the first flight) on Turkish Airlines was amazing, beyond what I ever expected. I really wanted Jerry Seinfeld to try it! (Did anyone get that joke? Probably not. That’s ok. It wasn’t that good anyway.) But if you really want good food on a plane, Turkish Airlines is the place to go!
There were Lay’s chips there too (pretty awesome). Except they had weird flavors (as they do in every country! Yogurt and Flavored Greens (according to Google Translate). I did not get these, by the way.
Doritos Nacho (not spelled Naço like Turkish people would know…), very weird!
And my favorite. Lays “Klasik” (Classic!).
This is “kompost” (pronounced “compost”) so when Sulu started to dish it out I got scared. “Do you know what compost is? It is not something you eat!” This was an apricot soup, sort of. It had big hunks of apricot, and it was in a fruit juice. It was delicious, but really hard to take that first bite!
On the right, in the bigger silver pot, is Mantı (note the last letter is an “i” without a dot. You pronounce it like mahn-tuh). It is really tiny dumplings in a spicy sauce, then you add yogurt (it’s more like sour cream than the yogurt most Americans are used to) and mix it up and nom nom nom. This was made by his grandmother, and was very delicious!
Here’s another different presentation of mantı, Sulu ordered it in a restaurant, it didn’t come with the spicy broth, but did come with the yogurt! (It wasn’t as good as his grandmother’s!)
This is a Turkish meatball, “köfte.”
This creamy chicken noodle soup we had at a rest stop on the way to Kayseri. What was extra weird was you put lemon in it. It really changed the flavor, and reminded me of the Vietnamese soup Pho (I probably spelled that wrong), pronounces “fuh.” It is delicious on its own, but adding lime and cilantro make it amazing. I’m going have to try using citrus more in my cooking!
Another meal at a rest stop, lots of bread on the left, with köfte in a stew in the middle, and rice and chickpeas on the right. (Don’t forget about the Coke!)
This was the spread at his grandfather’s rest stop on the way to Kayseri (about half an hour away). We had olives, tomatoes cucumbers, lots of stuff. The things in the middle (sort of rolled, looking like taquitos) were crispy and had a cheese inside, I’m not sure what it was, but it was delicious!
I brought Sulu a lot of American candy (and because it was near Christmas time, lots of candy canes!) He loved them all, especially….
A pound of beef jerky (around 2 kilos). He went nuts. He almost finished the entire bag in less than two weeks!
At our first meal. I was really exhausted from the 10 hour flight, but this wrap was phenomenal.
Yum yum yum.
An “Ottoman Burger” at Mano Burger.
I actually tried the ketchup/mayo mixture the last day. I hated it.
The seasoned fries at Mano Burger.
Kumpir. Pretty much a kitchen sink baked potato.
He started by opening up the potato and putting lots of butter and cheese in it. Then on to the toppings…
The kumpir toppings! Sausage, peas, corn, cabbage, olives, “Russian potato salad,” cheese, lots of different sauces (including one they called Jennifer Aniston (or some other famous American actress), and more I can’t even remember.
Then went nuts with the toppings. He really put way too much. On my baked potato I like cheese, some meat and a little sour cream, and I’m good to go. This was just crazy. What was crazier was…
What you’re looking at is at least 10 different vendors selling kumpir. Next to these there were 10 vendors selling the waffles with tons of toppings! It was hard to decide, but many of the vendors spoke English, so the one who called me gorgeous was the winner.
Cola Turka, the Turkish response to Coke! (I didn’t like it very much, it’s definitely not Pepsi or Coke!)
I believe this is “Minute Maid” in Turkey (the logos look similar, and there was a ton of Coke products everywhere, so I just assumed). But every time I saw it, I read “Crappy.” However, it was not crappy, it was juice and juice is yummy! Plus the design on the front was so cute! (It’s a lion, and Sulu’s last name, Aslan, means lion in Turkish, so of course he loved it!)
This was a bread we got for breakfast one day. It had a slightly spicy sauce inside, it’s hard to describe, but it was delicious!
Breakfast on my last full day. The ring on the right is the famous Turkish bread, simit (see-meet). It reminded me of a baguette because it’s really crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, except it was covered in sunflower seeds. It was so delicious!
The only “Turnglish” (Turkish/English bad translating) I saw! Greyfurt. I laughed out loud. It is supposed to be Grapefruit. I just loved this.
Pizza-It School… hmmm, reminds me of something else… ( https://abroadwithliz.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/pizza-in-korea/) Pizza School anyone?! We didn’t go here, and Sulu didn’t recognize it, so it must have been new, but man did it make me crave Pizza School!
Just a funny sign Sulu pointed out (they would pronounce it like “Bieber” (aka the biebs) so we had a nice laugh about little Justin having his own burger joint randomly in Istanbul.
Mayonnaise… mayonnaise everywhere! If there were fries served you can bet there was ketchup and mayonnaise. Gross.
Ketchup and Mayo packets at McDonald’s!
It’s even on the menu!
Mayo and Ketchup at Bambi Cafe. I would take a picture of the mayo/ketchup everywhere and every time I did, Sulu laughed, But in America, you see a red bottle and a yellow bottle, it’s weird to see a white one!
A normal class of Çay (pronounced like Chai) aka tea! You could compare the taste to Lipton, but it somehow tastes better in Turkey. My perfect glass has two sugar cubes (in the wrappers near the glass) in it. The shape of the glass is really important, and The saucer is too, usually there is a small dip in the glass and a matching bump on the saucer, and at the right angle and lighting, the design on the saucer can be seen on the glass itself! Here is the most fun part of Turkish tea!
Here Sulu is showing how to properly make tea perfect for him. The clinking sound is important too. You will go into a cafe and hear this sound over and over everywhere! I love it!
Kahve, or Coffee, is one of my favorite drinks in Turkey. Sulu’s mother actually taught me how to make it, and gave me coffee and a coffee pot to practice in America! (I’m getting much better at it now!)
You can even read your coffee cup! Turkish coffee is made without a filter, and instead of grains, it’s more like a powder. So when you make it, there’s usually thick and grainy on the bottom. You can read your fortune with it too (similar to reading tea leaves!).
Here’s Sulu reading mine!
This post did not include everything I ate/drank in Turkey, there were way too many to include (like sahlep, a hot milky orchid root tea, and kebap (aka kabab)). I’ll definitely include more next time!!
abroadwithliz 