(I traveled to Turkey for vacation during first half of July,2014. Following is an account of my experiences in Istanbul. This is the Eleventh installment of the series, focusing on a missed opportunity to visit Topkapi Museum and things I learnt about Turkey. I hope you enjoy it.)
Cumartesi, On Ikinci Temmuz
(Saturday, 12th July)
I had planned to visit Topkapi palace but as soon as I
exited my hotel after breakfast, I felt intense pain in my upper back, just
below the shoulder blade.I ignored it initially and took a morning stroll
around the half-empty Isteklal Street. During the walk, I bought one of the
only English-language newspapers published in Turkey (Today's Zaman) from a
small store. During the walk, I noticed the inability to move my neck sideways.
It was probably a strained neck muscle, so I visited the nearest Eczane (Turkey's
answer to Walgreens) and got some painkillers. Thankfully, I was able to find
the right tablets despite the language-barrier.
I decided to continue with my plan and boarded the Taksim Tünel
followed by a tram to Gülhane. I found Meltem and her fellow volunteers Gülhane
station. They were guiding tourists about the Istanbulkart Refill machines. I
spent almost 30 minutes assisting the volunteers. I wasn’t able to walk
comfortable so I decided to postpone the Topkapi visit and walked towards Blue
Mosque. My interest was piqued by a sign pointing to a place that used to be Hurrem
Sultan's hamam. Initially I ventured towards the ladies' side of the
establishment but I was then guided by a lady towards the entrance for
gentlemen. At the entrance, I received a brochure for a ‘Royal Message Service’.
It felt like a godsend but a) It was expensive and b) I wasn’t looking forward
to jumping in the sauna with a loincloth.
I continued my journey to to Blue Mosque’s gate A and caught
up with Hatice and Bayzanur along with their fellow volunteers. Went inside the
mosque and sat with Doğukan and Ahmet in the
Shady courtyard of the mosque. It was there that I learnt
about traditional Turkish dishes from Sinem, and took some absurd photographs
of different varieties of hair. Discovered that Today's Zaman is published by
Gülen party sympathizers and they had started criticizing the Erdoğan
government since the 17th December crackdown on Gülen sympathizers (Hizmet
Movement) in judiciary and police.
I confessed to my volunteer friends that I had already tried
etliekmek, kurimpi, simit, börek, patso, doner, Turkish delights, Turkish
coffee and baklava among traditioal Turkish cuisine. They asked me to try
Iskander, Mantı and Dolma apart from Turkish Pizza. Sinem and I talked about
medical education in Turkey and she mentioned that Istanbul University was
probably the best medical university in Turkey We also touched upon the cost of
braces for teeth. As a former "sufferer" of braces, I empathized with
her and reminisced about the difficulties faced by people in braces after
eating any regular meal. She explained the education system of Turkey (8 years
primary school, 4 years high school, entry exams and then University). I
discovered that possessing a Turkish passport was only slightly better than
having a Pakistani passport, as people with Turkish passports could only visit
a handful of countries without visa.(Being a third world citizen really sucks!)
We scattered on sight of Miss Cansu, the supervisor and landed near German
fountain.
It was there that I had a good chat with Ertugrul (his name
reminded of Chilean midfield player Arturo Vidal) about religion and politics (I
learnt that ISIS was called "Ishit" in Turkey). He confessed about his
"virtual relationship" with someone in Torino, Italy. Kaan joined us
after a while.
We talked to a Ukranian family that wanted guidance regarding
a place that was quite far from Fatih and the patriarch of that family was really
funny. They were visiting from Kiev and supported the Euromaidan protests. They
were amused by my reference to "the Chocolate King"(nickname of
Ukraine's current President, as he owns chocolate factories). Kaan made a
cheeky comment about him supporting Yanukovich (the deposed Ukrainian president
who fled to Russia) which didn’t amuse them and they branded him a “risky boy”.
I was supposed to get a shoulder bag for my younger sister,
so I sought help of Sinem in this venture.We walked to Grand Bazaar (called
Kapali çarşı in Turkçe) with Kaan and Ertugral in tow. En Route, We encountered
a very animated Turkish girl who knew three languages (Turkçe, Italian and
Spanish with some knowledge of English). She was interested in our “group” due
to the “Ask Me” shirts worn by volunteers. We did a grand tour of the Bazaar focusing on shop that sold bags but the prices were quite high, due to what
Ertugrul called the "Grand Bazaar effect". Sinem informed that she
could get bags of similar quality from market near her home.
As a last resort, we visited the nearby flea market and
finally found a decent bag. On our way back, a restaurant worker recognized me
as a Pakistani and tried to tempt me by offering Biryani with kebabs (I would’ve
accepted his offer but I was not hungry and am a vegetarian anyway). On our way
back, we had to make two stops as Sinem wanted to get bracelets for herself. During
the return journey, we talked to a German couple from Dusseldorf who wanted to
know directions to the Galata Bridge.
I wanted to get some balance charged in my account and
wanted the volunteers to help me interpret it to the sales person. They took me
to the nearest “Avea” franchise. To my surprise, one of the sales people was a
former musician and knew Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (one of Pakistan's finest
Qawals/sufi musicians).I had to sing a stanza from NFAK’s "Dam Mast
Qalandar" to convince him that I knew and revered Nusrat. I later roughly
translated "Dam Dam Ali Ali" to the guy, who was pleased to entertain
us.
