Teşekk­ürler

It means “Thank you” in Turkish, and it’s the only word that I quasi-successfully learned to say this past weekend. Unfortunately, it cannot express my overwhelming gratitude and appreciation toward my wonderful friend Ilter, who took care of me in Ankara and Istanbul, despite a broken leg and his impending graduation project.

It has been a dream of mine to go to Turkey for a while now. When the opportunity to visit presented itself, I was thrilled. Here it was, my chance to see the country whose art and food I adored. Then of course, the protests happened. Everyone became unnecessarily worried, but I refused to let a little bit of political turmoil dissuade me. In all honesty, if our media was as censored as it is in Turkey, visitors to the country would have very little idea that anything was wrong. It was only my last day, when Erdogan gave a speech to his followers, that I actually saw groups of people protesting. So to all my readers who were concerned about me, rest assured I was completely safe.

I landed in Istanbul around 6 pm, but I had to take a connecting flight to Ankara to meet Ilter at his school. The fun started on the second plane, when after 4 hours of anticipated waiting (the flight was scheduled for 10pm), it was delayed half an hour. No problem. We boarded the plane, and after 20 min, the pilot apologized, but informed us that there was a maintenance issue from the previous flight. Well, apparently this was unacceptable for the lady sitting in front of me, because she started to yell at the flight attendant. Everyone clapped their approval. Once we finally took off, a sheet of paper collecting signatures started to circulate around the aircraft. I found the whole situation rather humorous, since I didn’t understand what anyone was saying. When I arrived in Ankara around midnight, I was greeted by an entire entourage of handsome Turks. The trip was off to a great start.

We shared a plate of rice from a street vendor, then Ilter and I went to have cow stomach soup. He ate most of it, but I was adventurous and tried some too. The next day, we started off the morning with a full Turkish breakfast: eggs with sausage; bread with cheese, honey, jam, and some kind of cultured milk product; olives; tomatoes; cucumbers; and of course tea. Ilter had to work on his graduation project, so his friend showed me a bit of Ankara. We visited a castle from the Roman or Byzantine period (its origin is apparently unknown) that overlooked the entire city. After, we went to the mausoleum of Ataturk, just in time for the ceremonial changing of the guards. When I got back to the university, I waited for Ilter to finish working (I won’t tell you how long I waited, because it will just make him feel worse). We finally left for Istanbul around 8pm. The drive was about 4.5 hours. The scenery reminded me a lot of California, which became a recurring theme during my trip. In fact, the two bridges that cross the Bosphorus are both suspension bridges…I must have mentioned San Francisco at least a hundred times, and I’m sure Ilter was sick of it by the second time. Perhaps there’s a chance I actually miss home?

On Saturday, we went for breakfast at a place along the sea, where it is very common for Turkish families to eat together on weekends. After, we spent the day at the Topkapi palace, which was the home of Ottoman sultans for 400 years. I saw a couple of women restoring ceramic tiles on the side of the building, which made me very excited about my future career, since it means that I will (hopefully) be able to travel the world. The tiles inside the rooms of the palace were absolutely stunning: blue and white flowers and geometric patterns from floor to ceiling. Upon exiting, we treated ourselves to some watermelon, sold by a guy who surely would have charged me the tourist price if I had been alone. After the palace, we went to the archeology museum in search of Byzantine mosaics. Unfortunately, that section was closed. There were some artifacts from the excavations of Troy, which was pretty cool considering I had studied it in my ancient Greek history class. That night, we ate at Ilter’s parents’ summer house. I returned their hospitality with a fine American delicacy (produced with the most economical Italian products): chocolate chip cookies. The house is only about 30 min away from the center of the city, accessible by a road calmly shared with cars by cows and horses. Again, it reminded me a lot of Northern California, winding through forested hills on a two-lane road (although the cows gave it a slightly different touch).

Sunday morning Ilter’s mom made breakfast, again with the typical spread of dishes. My stomach took a few days to get used to the food, and so I was not able to eat as much as I wanted. I guess this means I will just have to return to Turkey in the near future. In fact, I didn’t really get to eat any of my favorite things: manti, lamacun, or doner. There just wasn’t enough time, and my stomach did complain a little bit. After breakfast we went to the Hagia Sophia and the Sultanahmet Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque). They are both located next to where the Hippodrome of Constantine was, today demarcated by three remnants of the ancient world: a stone column that once stood in the hippodrome, an Egyptian obelisk, and a broken bronze column from Greece commemorating the Greco-Persian war. The blue mosque was absolutely beautiful inside. I think Islamic art is much more visually appealing than Christian: upon entering the mosque, I was overwhelmed by the swirling geometry of the tiles and peaceful symmetry of the architecture. The Hagia Sophia was equally enchanting, although much different. As usual, I was a bit put off by the incessant picture-taking. A large part of the nave was blocked by scaffolding, but I could still glimpse some of the mosaics. I also noticed traces of changing denominations and iconoclasm: the outlines of crosses removed perhaps during the Muslim history of the building, or the ghosts of figures destroyed for being false idols. From there, I visited the basilica cistern on my own (since my incredible guide had a broken leg). I had never heard of the cistern, but it was one of the coolest parts of Istanbul. It looked just like the Chamber of Secrets, and now that I think about it, the most well-known columns inside have capitals in the form of Medusa -- yes, the one whose stare turned people to stone. In retrospect, it was a bit unwise of me to go down there without a mirror, although if there really had been a basilisk, I could have easily outrun the other tourists. We stopped for kofte (meatballs) at a place that had been in business for 94 years (the original of course, not the knock-off down the street that had an extra word in the title). Afterwards, we went to the Chora church, which had a much better presentation of my much-sought after Byzantine mosaics. I tried to impress Ilter with my rudimentary knowledge of early Christian iconography, but my attempt was most likely unsuccessful. To finish the afternoon we took a boat ride on the Bosphorus. Since it was a commuter boat, it took a different route than the tourist one (or so I assume). We passed by several ferries filled with groups on their way to the pro-Erdogan rally, waving flags and shouting his name. The passengers on our boat responded with their middle fingers.

And then, as quickly as it had approached in the days leading up to my trip, it was over. I sincerely hope it won't be my last time in Turkey, since I missed out on some of my favorite foods and forgot to buy myself an evil eye (sometimes you just have to be cliche). My experience would not have been the same without Ilter, who is such a kind and fun person, and as I mentioned in the beginning, it is impossible to convey my thanks through words. Wherever our paths may lead, I'm glad they converged, if only temporarily, in the Rome of the East.