Constantinople

September 3, 2011

This was not my first trip to Istanbul so I hit some things that I didn’t get to see on my last trip (which covered the big sites); y’all will have to hear all about the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace from another 16-year-old travel blogger.  I spent the last day of my vacation in the city of Istanbul, the only city to be split between two continents.  My boat docked in Asia and I took a taxi to Europe, although you wouldn’t know it.  The European side of Istanbul looks much more Middle Eastern than the very European Asian side of the city.  Although I suppose that’s a function of its history.  I stayed in the Crowne Plaza in the Old City, something that I probably will never do again given the lack of food choices and generally out dated feeling.  Also the poor service.  That’s enough to drive anyone off a hotel. 

In any event I started my day off in the spice market.  This, unlike the Grand Bazaar, feels like a slice of a real Turkish bazaar.  Which is to say that Turks shop there.  Of course you can buy the junky t-shirts and “Turkish Souvenirs” but there are also plenty of shops that seem really legit.  I found some great scarves and took some great photos of the piles of spices that line the alleyways of the market.

Afterwards I walked over to the Archeological Museum, which is really a complex of museums.  It’s really quite nice.  I grabbed a Fanta in the museum café and sat in the shade surrounded by roman columns.  The special exhibits I saw were definitely the highlight.  One covered a necropolis from a nearby city and the other covered Istanbul’s imperial history.  The second took you through the timeline of emperors who ruled this city.  The museum itself was interesting too, although not the best archeological museum I’ve ever been in.  I personally thought it was well laid out and the display cases were well labeled, which is more than can be said for some museums I’ve been in.

Finally I hit the Grand Bazaar.  This labyrinth of stalls hawking fakes and treasures is utterly overwhelming.  But it doesn’t give you the feel of a real bazaar. The shops are permanent facades often very nicely displayed behind glass windows.  To me, this screams commercialized fake.  I liked the selection of goods better in the Spice Market too, even though it was smaller.  I’m not saying don’t go to the Grand Bazaar, it’s probably an integral part of any trip to Istanbul.  I’m just saying I don’t really like it.  And I like markets.