Raki and Sultans

After our wild night before, one would think enough is enough, but Istanbul has a way of sucking you in for sure...We have been on a schedule of waking up between 5-7 a.m. and napping for a few hours in the late afternoon which makes us ready to go latenight.

I forgot to mention one odd thing we see all over the streets is guys sitting at a table just drawing with a spirograph. We never figured out what the deal was but thought it was pretty funny. 

so confused?

Headed back to the new city night 3 to a strip of two intersecting alleys called Nevisade which is basically outdoor bars and restaurants along the sidewalks. It has the best people watching and drinking scene. We even saw a huge brawl at one restaurant with chairs and plates being thrown!

raki mixologist in action

raki vision

Caught a live 2-man band of a violin and electric acoustic guitar playing lively Turkish folk music and one thing led to another and I ended up being coaxed into dancing in front of the bar quite terribly with some Turkish girl who kept signaling for me to come do some wierd Turkish dance with her.  Of course my lovely husband recorded my sweet dance moves and he loves giggling and playing it daily to remind me of my two left feet.

steamy 'wet' burger

Next day we hit up the Topkapi palace where a bunch of Sultans lived and had a harem of women to do very bad things to them. One sultan supposedly drowned in champagne so I am assuming things were pretty lavish and wild there at some point.

cool writing

posing in the harem

neat doorway

i make him take pics like this

fancy

carved shutters

my hairdo the whole trip

Hopped a ferry for a cruise along the Bosphorus which seperates the Asian side of Istanbul with the European. Asian side seemed a lot more lowkey.

bon voyage

the new city

tea time

Bosphorus Sea

before...

...and after!

Headed over to the colorful Spice Bazaar next where we bought some Turkish teas and coffee and various spices. It was shoulder to shoulder busy but smelled amazing in there.

spicy

crowded

dried fruits

special soaps

meats

treats

happy about his purchase

tea

nuts

local shopper

olives

cheese

After another long day we took in the Spain soccer game in a little alleyway off the beaten path over some delicious lentil soup, Efes beer and Turkish pizza which is super yummy and shaped long and skinny!

Next morning we went to the famous Grand Bazzar and hoestly is was a 'Grand' dissapointment for us. Bad pun, i know...We had pictured this gigantic and amazing tented area selling treasuers of Turkey but I think tourism has gotten the best of the place cause it was a lot of over-priced junky souvenirs, diamonds & wierd jewelery, and cheap clothing. I was positive I would be walking out of there with bags of goodies like Turkish lamps and rugs but all I got was a handpainted bowl...Oh well, still cool to at least take a look at to say you have been there.

early morning at the bazaar

flags of the world

waterpipes

lamps i'll never own

nothing to buy

rugs

To make up for the dissapointment of the bazaar we headed to have some tea and smoke a waterpipe, followed by a hamam.

love our tea times

professional

rookie

coal for waterpipe station

What is a hamam you ask? Only the wierdest most awesomest Turkish massage ever! First, you walk into a little dark hut with your partner, disrobe, then a man puts on a sarong and women wears ill-fitting shorts to her knees with a tiny triangle top thingy and then puts on the most hilarious shoes made wood. These clogs were absolutely hilarious. Platform, wooden shoes with one strap on top made of rubber. When we walked out of the hut and started clanking across the wood floor we became hysterical. Sounded like cattle crossing the street and they were impossible to walk in. To top it off we rounded the corner into the hamami and Jimmy got is clog stuck in a water trough on the ground and nearly ate shit and fell into the wall.

high fashion footwear

Rounding the corner we were like WTF is this!? People were getting water thrown all over them, and laying all over and it was hot as hell and we heard loud slapping sounds which I will address further down...Me and my wooden shoes almost ran out cause it was so confusing and chaotic at first. We figured it out pretty quickly though.

So the room we enter is hundreds of years old and was used by those nasty sultans of course. It is a huge domed, marble pillared area with a sort of pentagon shaped slab of marble in the center. The slab is heated pretty hot underneath with coals I believe and you lay on that for 30 minutes with other people on there as well. The room is kept at like 130 degrees and is extremely humid. You are sopping wet within minutes. Around the slab is seven tiny rooms with running water faucets coming out the walls and 2 marble beds. After you feel like you are dying of heatstroke you go to your little room and the most bizarre massage ensues.

You sit next to the faucet and the man with white scabs on his elbows from obviously too much time in the hamami uses a metal bowl to dump shockingly cold water all over your body. While sitting there you get what is called a "peeling" and periodic bowls of cold water dumped on you. A peeling is when a guy puts on what looks like an oven mitt made of a brillow pad and procedes to scrub your entire body. I think he took off our entire layer of epidermis but it felt good! Next up, get on the marble bed face down and procede to be covered in FOAMY BUBBLES!

They take these pillow cases and dip them in some soapy substance blow air into pillow case and then squeeze it over your still burning skin from the peeling and foam just shoots out of them. Your entire body is literally encased in about 2 feet of bubbles! It felt so bizarre. Pour more cold water on you and get a massage. And by massage I mean slapped and twisted and stretched around. They kinda smack you pretty hard which is what I had been hearing earlier with the slapping sounds when we walked in. It felt great.

Sit back down and get rinsed off and your hair washed with...Head and Shoulders! Aahhhahhaa! All done and giggling at eachother we had to put those damn wooden shoes back on and shuffled out to where we were escorted into another room told to disrobe and then we are wrapped in cloth and given a headwrap fit for a sultan and slapped dry. The end.

what just happened?!

What to do after such a cleansing experience? Only eat the most nastiest, sickest thing ever. Jana, this is your worst nightmare...We had been hearing about the famous 'kumpir'. So we thought, what the hell, why not? Um, this thing is the biggest baked potato you have ever seen. They mash the inside up with butter and cheese. Then the following things were put by the spoonful on top: 4 different types of mayonaise based potato salads with veggies, couscous, hot dogs, something fishy yet to be determined, pickles, olives, corn, cabbage other crap i can't even remember and topped with a huge squirt of ketchup and yes...mayo! Are you alive still? Eh, the thing was f*cking putrid, to be put lightly. But we ate it. Did I mention we got this on the way to dinner as well? I know, we have issues.

scary-ass potato

looks yummy right?!

Had our last night in Istanbul with some raki and people watching and finally took in the night view from our terrace one last time while listening to the call to prayer from 4 seperate mosques at once...We heart you Istanbul<3