Istanbul and Caleb

After about a week in Morocco, my group spent a week in Turkey in the beautiful city of Istanbul. This trip made me appreciate that I took a history of the West class last year. All of my readings of Byzantine history are bit more meaningful now since I have been to the historic city of Byzantium. It is also now cool to say that I have been to both ancient Roman Capitals—Rome and Constantinople.

Istanbul is an incredible city, and a very big one. The population is estimated to be around 20 million. The city is also intercontinental between Europe and Asia. There is a very European feel to the city because of the cobble stones, trains, and western style.

The harbour view is absolutely incredible. One of my favourite parts of being in Istanbul was riding the ferry to simply get from one part of the city to the other.

My time in Istanbul included visiting many historic Mosques. Some used to be churches, and others were built by former Ottoman Sultans. I also got to see a whirling Dervish ceremony which is Sufi Muslim and includes traditional music and people spinning. It was quite interesting.  

We also came to Istanbul right after an election so we had quite a few speakers talk about current events in Turkey as well as many of the political issues that Turkey has faced.

View from the hotel

Other highlights include visiting a Hammam—a Turkish bath. This is an experience that my Program Director “refuses to be denied”. It included a sauna, a few steam rooms, a bucket bath, a powerful scrubbing by a Turkish man, and a soapy message. It was a cultural experience to say the least.

I also got a chance to participate in Turkish music. A few of us were looking for a café to listen to some traditional Turkish folk music. We ended up walking past a café, that is intended for jamming, with two musicians play music. I grabbed a guitar off the wall and tried to keep up. Just as many things are different cross culturally—so is guitar. They played in different keys than I was used to and played with different rhythms, but it was very fun and I learned a lot.

Istanbul was all around an incredible experience. I spent a week there and I feel like that I have not even touched the city; there are many incredible historic sites that I did not go in, There is a lot of food that I did not have time or stomach capacity to try, and I also need more time to work on my guitar so I can keep up with the Turkish folk stars.