September 13th, 2018 - Turkey was never really on my "destination list" (it was in Blake's) but I'm glad we were able to explore the city nonetheless. As soon as we got in our seats on the plane in Chicago, that's when we started planning for our 8 hour voyage (yes, this is how we plan. Sometimes we wait to the last minute, other times not. Most of the time though, it's last minute). Blake skimmed over his Europe Lonely Planet guidebook while I took the role of google machine. Visas were really easy to get online (we got ours while we were taxing). Just twenty dollars, download the PDF and it's good for 6 months, otherwise, it's $30 at the airport. We both agreed that to make the most of our time we will go to Sultanahmet which is the heart of downtown. With no expectations and adventurous spirits, we waited anxiously on the 10 hour flight.
Once we deplaned, the hot humid air hit us immediately. We read prior that customs would probably take 1.5 hours but we did not expect the scene once we got there. A boatload of people clustered shoving and pushing to get into the customs line. It was hot and chaotic. But hey, if this is the most stress we'll encounter on this trip then it's okay. Turns out it was!
We took an Uber to the downtown area (15 minute ride) and enjoyed the short time we had with air conditioning and room to sprawl out in the van. Pure bliss. The mosques are the main attractions in the square. Since we touched down at 4pm, all of the mosques were already closed. Either way, Blake wouldn't have been able to go in anyway since he had shorts on. We now know this for next time; we've got another 24 hour layover in Istanbul for our return flight from Europe.
Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet
We walked around for a bit taking in the sights and stores....everything was so cheap! We bought castanes (peanuts) from a street vendor for 5 lira (.80 cents). I wanted to buy all the bits and bobs from every store. If we only had room in our luggage, everyone of our friends and family would've gotten .50 cent trinkets from Turkey (Sorry fam, I can't ditch my maxi dresses for souvenirs just yet)!
It started to rain so we took shelter in a restaurant. We had time to kill so we wanted to hang in one of those restaurants where you can sit on the floor and just chewwwwlll (chill). The host at Cappadocia reeled us in. In traditional Turkish restaurants, an elderly lady sits in front busy making lavash. We ordered the spinach and cheese lavash. Our waiter recommended the lamb for two. The lamb was cooked in a clay pot and sealed off with a bun at the top. The presentation deserved a 10/10 while the flavor was more like a 7/10.
We hung out at this spot for a couple of hours to let the rain pass. Of course, it wouldn't be a complete trip to Turkey if we didn't get a Turkish dessert! We tried those Turkish delight things but weren't a fan. Something about eating jelly candy makes me think I should be in a rocking chair knitting a doilie with half my teeth left. We settled for the baklava. For $5, we got 5 pieces of baklava from caramel, pistachio to some other crazy yummy ones.
Hafiz Mustafa - packed with people and treats!
We headed back to the airport with our bellies full and drank just enough wine to snooze from Turkey to Athens. We'll be back Turkey - see ya in December!