Turquia - ilivetotravel's travel log

Love Shopping? I Have a Grand Bazaar for You

1 November 2013 by Raul 6 Comments

This is one of the neatest places to go in Istanbul if you like to shop and haggle, and even if not, it is still quite impressive by its sheer scale in size and offerings. You can almost picture business going on here for centuries! The bazaar is huge – it is a veritable maze of over 60 covered streets and 3,000 shops. How is that versus hanging out at a mall in the U.S.? Yes, not the same thing.

The Grand Bazaar came to be into its current form over a couple of centuries – it evolved and was added to over time and now it is close to 550 years old. Fortunately for us visitors, it sits in a perfect spot with key sites all around it – almost a ground zero for the visitor checking out the places to see in Istanbul: Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia and some of the mosques including the Blue Mosque.

Grand Bazaar, shopping, Istanbul, Estambu, Turkey, Turkiye, Turquia, photo, travel, Canon EOS Rebel

Arcade in the Grand Bazaar

I, not a fan of shopping, actually enjoyed walking around and seeing all the goods on offer, getting lost in the maze along the way. I even ran into some sort of informal “pit” of trading in something: guys on cell phones, maybe 8-10 of them, exchanging money around. Pretty cool!

Finally, some advice: haggle is the name of the game; it is expected in fact – so don’t be shy. Pay no more than half of what they originally asked but go for less if you can!

Please note that it is closed on Sundays.

Filed Under: Asia, Europe, Travel Journal Tagged With: Canon EOS Rebel, Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, photo, travel, Turkey, Turkiye, Turquia

Going Under in Istanbul

30 October 2013 by Raul 6 Comments

I have shared in other posts about the incredible Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace, and the beautiful mosques of Istanbul – definite must-sees in that great city. But be aware, right under your feet could be some of the remnants of good ole Roman engineering: the cisterns of Istanbul.

Old cities tend to have lots of hidden secrets. Many of them are hidden simply because they are underground. Istanbul is no different except most cities’ hidden structures are not even close to being around 1,500 years old. Istanbul’s cisterns are. The best known and largest of the underground cisterns in Istanbul is called the Basilica Cistern because a basilica had stood at that location. The cisterns in Istanbul are part of a system that brings water from outside the city via aqueducts – all evidence of the well-known Roman engineering.

Istanbul, Turkey, Turkiye, Turquia, cistern, Basilica Cistern, columns, architecture, travel, photo, Canon EOS Rebel

The Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern is not far from the Hagia Sophia and is well worth a visit. I felt like I had walked into a flooded underground church. The cisterns used to be visited by boat but at some point, platforms were built for the visitors to explore them. Most of the materials used in the cistern, including the 300-odd columns holding up the ceiling, were re-used from structures elsewhere. That includes the bases of two columns carved with the image of Medusa. Of course, everyone knows not to look at Medusa in the eyes so the builders placed the bases sideways or upside down to protect innocent visitors who may dare gaze into her eyes…

Istanbul, Turkey, Turkiye, Turquia, cistern, Basilica Cistern, Medusa, architecture, travel, photo, Canon EOS Rebel

I rotated this photo so you wouldn’t have to rotate your device 🙂

Filed Under: Asia, Europe, Turkey Tagged With: basilica, Canon EOS Rebel, cistern, Istanbul, Medusa, photo, travel, Turkey, Turkiye, Turquia

Boarding Pass Stories: Constantinople! OK, Istanbul

20 August 2013 by Raul 5 Comments

The destination, the when(s), and the reason(s)

My knack for taking one trip idea and expanding its scope is not a recent event. That’s how I ended last year exploring a country I may have never visited otherwise: Moldova. It pre-dates my travel blogging days by a bit. As I joined a group of friends last-minute on a trip to Egypt (literally, like two weeks before the trip), I wondered what else could I do as I had plenty of vacation time at work. I contacted a former co-worker who had moved back to his hometown of Istanbul and asked him if I could visit and he said yes, of course. I got a free ticket to/from Istanbul with Delta and then bought a separate ticket between Istanbul and Cairo so I had to fly through Istanbul to head to Egypt first and then I would come back and stop in Istanbul from where I would fly through Paris again (as the boarding pass above shows). This was in 1998, eons ago, it feels.

The airline

Air France offered great service as usual in those days for many airlines. I flew business class since I had plenty o’ miles and it was going to be a LONG trip. Class…

What fascinated me about this experience

I returned from Cairo to Istanbul to visit my friend and explore this “epically historic” city for the first time. I wait for my friend and nothing. An hour passes and I begin to get a little antsy (these days, cellphones were not what they are today and I believe you still couldn’t use a U.S. in Europe, had I brought mine along).

So I nervously wondered if my friend confused the day or time of my arrival. I realized I should call him at work and see. Since these were the days you could still find payphones, this would not be a problem. Except I first had to exchange money, hope for coins, figure out how much to pay for the call, etc. I called and it rang and rang. I kept trying and no answer. I was beginning to worry more now. I decided that surely someone was sitting around his desk or office so maybe I just had to keep calling until someone, in exasperation, decided to walk over and answer the darned phone. Someone sure did.

They plugged me through to my friend’s secretary and she told me she had been expecting my call (!) as my friend had unexpectedly and last minute been asked to make a trip abroad. So he left instructions with her to connect me to his girlfriend so she could let me in his apartment, etc. I rang her but in talking to her I realized his apartment was not near the city center which was the area I was going to be exploring and since my friend was not around, no point in staying far out.

I pulled out my travel book and found a hotel, the Pierre Lotti, which had availability and ended up working perfectly due to its proximity to all the places I wanted to see! What was great about this experience was that I explored Istanbul for 5 awesome days, met other travelers with whom I then did more social/less-touristy things, and had a great time! I did meet my friend’s girlfriend for lunch which was neat and which led to me getting lost on the way back to the hotel. But that, my dear reader, will be food for another post!