(read: free from the constant barrage of "yes, please, spend your money here, please")
breakfast borek feast
kahve (pre)
the post kahve sludge
popped in to a small bakery/cafe and had a wonderful array of tasty pastries (where i learned that borek refers to any phyllo pastry, no matter what kind of filling) and a couple of Turkish coffees...which inevitably leads to wanting to brush your teeth immediately thereafter...so we went to find the Istanbul Hostel, which we had booked the day before while at Rock Valley (we had really wanted to stay in Beyoglu this time, but everything was booked...everywhere...so we decided to book a day ahead to avoid leaving us stranded on our last night in Turkey)
the old Yerebatan Saray Sarnici cistern
so we dropped our bags off and went to the old byzantine cistern, which we had deliberately missed on our Istanbul sight seeing days almost 2 weeks ago (!!) because of the price and the line up...but bob decided he really didn't want to miss this because of his fascination of both the underground and water...so glad we didn't--it was phenomenal.
later we bought tickets for the dervish show at Sirceki train station...the tourism agent selling the tickets at the station was quite an interesting fellow with whom we spoke with at great length...he had strong opinions about his own people ("beautiful country, but the people are shit")
fish fry on the pier
we sat on the pier and split a fish sandwich before heading to Üsküdar by ferry
once there, we set out for the Turkish first army military barracks "Selimye Kislasi" which houses the Florence Nightingale museum...seeing as this was my official nursing post-grad, pre-work trip, it only seemed natural to check out the site our founding mother set up to decrease mortality rates among soldiers in the Crimean War
okay, let me explain the crazy security around this place...2 weeks prior i read about the Florence Nightingale museum in lonely planet...it had said that you needed to make an appointment so while exploring Istanbul on the other side of the Bosphorus, i spotted a sign for the museum. figuring it would be easier to just go in and make an appointment, we found our way to an entrance, walking past 20 foot high barbed wire fences with periodic soldiers in army fatigues and rifles (!!)
the soldier at the gate house didn't speak english, and our turkish at that point didn't really extend beyond "merhaba", so he radioed up and sent us along to the entrance, past the stares of random military personnel...we got through the metal detectors at the door, and they made us wait for someone who could speak our language...
finally a lieutenant came out and after taking our passports, began quizzing us about why we were there and why we wanted to see the museum...after explaining i was a nurse from Canada, he returned our passports and gave us a fax number and name of a superior, telling us that we needed to write for permission and get it ok'd, and then recieve a fax back with a time/date.
thinking it was a lost cause--not only were we not sure when we'd be back in Istanbul but where were we going to be able to receive a return fax?--i assumed i would not be seeing the beginning of the origins of nursing as we know it...
fast forward to our time in Rock Valley pension...explaining this story to Ilhami & Miriam one day, Miriam suggested Ilhami translate a letter for me and they'd fax it for me...so i wrote the letter, it was sent, and we waited...and 4 days later we left, without getting a reply...
except on the bus back i got the call from Miriam with a time and a date...
and so, without the official fax, we returned to the barracks only to go through the same rigamarole...without that fax that was sitting in Miriam's office back in Göreme, they had to scan us, take our passports, find the person who approved the meeting...it took a while, but we got in...they made us give up all our baggage and camera gear (no pictures!...i was even afraid to take pics outside!), gave us "visitor" badges, and then we waited for our ride and chaperon...a soldier in fatigues picked us up in a van, then brought us to another building, where we waited for this man in a suit to tour us around...he must have been someone really important as our fatigued soldier gave him the military salute when he approached and said he'd wait for us...everyone who came into contact with us stopped and gave the salute (i guess we should have dressed more appropriately instead of jeans and muddy sneakers, heh)
the museum was totally awesome...the barracks themselves were incredible...the man even gave us a book with the history of the barracks themselves...they then escorted us out, and watched us leave...no doubt had scanned our passports in the meantime, perhaps called the Canadian embassy? who knows...what an experience...i turned to bob and said something to the effect of "what the hell? did all that just happen?" and he said "you do realize we were just in the headquarters for the first Turkish army, right?"
huh.
grand bazaar
on the ferry back to Sultanhamet we realized the Grand Bazaar was not open on sundays, so change of plans...we went to haggle for gifts today.
bob got a saz and the guy even put in an electric pick up.
putting the pick up in bob's saz
in the music shop
we got another belly dancing outfit for Cath...and a few other things.
what a crazy place.
outside the bazaar
stall at the spice bazaar
we then rushed over to the Spice Bazaar thinking it too was closed on sundays (later figured out it wasn't)...but we definitely needed some supplies from there to bring home!
we got some chiles and apple tea vacuum packed to transport overseas, and stocked up on dried apricots, pistachios and by far, the best dried figs i've ever eaten.
delicious dried figs
veg kebap
iskender kebap
all bazaar-ed out, we went back to the hostel to shower and get ready for some dinner.
after dinner we took the tram to Beyoglu to find some live music.
it was nuts over there.
istiklal caddesi
thousands of people just walking up and down the main street (Istiklal Caddesi) with a bazillion bars and clubs on the side streets.
walked in to a bar to hear a crappy rock band and pay $7.5o YTL a beer (!!) so we left to wander more...ears open for sounds of anything good, we heard some dub-reggae coming from up high.
followed the sound up 5 flights of stairs to catch the end of an unknown (to us, but not to the people in the place) great band...good vibe all around and didn't have to pay to get in seeing as it was the end of their set...still 5 YTL for a 1/2 pint though. craziness.
bar in Beyoglu
after the band was done, we moved on and found an alt-rock band--the door guy let us in for free after determining via our broken english-turkish conversation that we were foreigners looking for local Turkish music--loads of fun!
and the second cover of the Cure's Love Song in one night...
we walked all the way back to Sultanhamet, over the Galata bridge that was packed with fishermen at 2am.
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