December in Istanbul

This is long overdue but better late than never…

New Mosque

The all powerful Zeus and I

        Of all the places in the world, I never thought I would end up in Istanbul, Turkey. Africa, yes. Turkey, not really. Nonetheless, when the time came to choose a destination for the starting point of my winter break excursions, an opportunity presented itself in Istanbul, Turkey and I thought: why the hell not? So I booked a ticket for an 18 day vacation in one of Europe/Asia’s most historical cities. After months of anticipation and a 9 hour plane ride I finally arrived on December 12^th, 2010 at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey.  Istanbul was in one word, beautiful. I wasn’t expecting it to be as developed as it was (partly because living in Ghana for 6 months had made me kinda forget what industrialization looks like). Another shock was for the first time I was going to spend time in a country whose primary language wasn’t one that I even remotely understood.  Despite all of this, I fell in love with it as soon as we landed and was already dreading the day when I would have to leave again.


Blue Mosque, Egyptian Obelisk



Inside Aya Sofya





Basilica Cistern

Galata Tower

I’m not going to go through what I did every single day but I am going to talk about what I feel is important. I’d like to think that Erik and I visited most, if not all, the sights that Istanbul had to offer. Here’s a list of everything we saw. If you want a better description, google it.

-          Yeni Camii (New Mosque)

-          Spice Bazaar

-          Grand Bazaar

-          Aya Sofya

-          Hippodrome (Egyptian Obelisk,  Serpent Column, German Fountain)

-          Cevahir

-          Basilica Cistern

-          Topkapı Palace

-          Istanbul Archaeological Museum

-          Istanbul Museum of Modern Art

-          Istiklal

-          Galata Tower

-          Chora Church

-          Dolmabahçe Palace

-          Ortaköy

-          Maiden Tower

-          Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts

View from Maiden Tower

Mosaic: Judgement Day

Entrance to Archaeological Museum/Topkapı Palace

Baklava :)

Pretty much everything we saw was amazing. I couldn’t get over how beautiful the mosques were and how they made the city even more unique than it already was. They were literally everywhere and blended in with the rest of the architecture yet still stood out. This was my first time in a predominantly Muslim country so it was different to hear the prayer callings over the loud speakers spread throughout the city but I loved it. There was something so soothing about waking up first thing in the morning and being able to hear it from top floor of the apartment complex. The bazaars were like nothing else. Grand Bazaar was a huge labyrinth filled with identical looking pathways with salesmen yelling out greetings in as many languages as they knew in hope of luring in the mass amounts of tourists around. All you would hear is, “Hello! Hola! Bonjour! Ni Hao!” and so on and so forth. It was actually pretty entertaining because that was the extent of the different languages that they knew so I wonder what would actually happened if someone actually responded in one of those languages. Spice Bazaar was my favorite of the two. It was much smaller and therefore hassle-free. It was not only filled with the spices of your choice (including Turkish Viagra), but also with all the touristy souvenirs you could need. With some patience and good bargaining skills you could get pretty cool things for a decent price.  Chora Church was like no other because it was one of the few Christian churches in the city and even though it was small, it had a lot to offer. Although there were only about 5 main rooms, it basically told stories of the bible in about 50 very detailed mosaics on the walls and ceilings. Of all these places I visited, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum was my favorite. I may be bias because I’m a Greek/roman mythology buff but that place was great. I could’ve easily spent the whole day there looking at sculptures and artifacts from hundreds of years ago. They had artifacts from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, etc. It was definitely worth every lira I paid to get in there.

View from Eminönü

My namesake, Dionysus, and I

So I can’t talk about Istanbul without talking about the food. Oh my goodness, the food. If I wasn’t already in love with this place, the food would have definitely done it for me. I don’t think there was anything I tried that I didn’t like. Well besides the Turkish yogurt drink, ayran. My first taste of Turkish cuisine/pastries was baklava and holy crap, if it wasn’t as expensive as it was, I would’ve eaten it every day.  It is this flaky pastry filled with pistachio, chocolate or whatever else flavor they had. Normally I would oppose to eating lamb intestines but how it was prepared as a sandwich called kokoreç made me want to eat it every day.  Iskender doner, pide, islak, and mantı also made my “must eat again” list in life. My favorite Turkish food though had to be my delicious, flaky pastry called börek. Filled with cheese, it literally melted in your mouth. I would’ve eaten every day if my wallet and Erik didn’t stop me from doing so.  I even tried to order it twice by myself but failed miserably both times so I gave up on doing so.

Rose and I at Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

Pide. Enough said.

Overall, I had one of the best times of my life in Istanbul. The city is so alive and full of culture, there is nowhere else like it. The people were so nice and warm and you can really see the amount of respect they have for one another, especially toward the elderly. There was always something to do or somewhere to see that you can never get bored. The only downside is how expensive it can all get but with proper money management, it should be all right. All in all, I would for sure go back and maybe possibly live there for a few months. It’s safe to say I made a very good choice in deciding to go there.

Dolmabahçe Palace

Sunset at Maiden Tower