A Turkish Encounter

A window view of the Blue Mosque in
the distance from the Hagia
Sophia

Last week, I had travelled to what I felt was easily a very impressionable city in the Mediterranean region. Istanbul, the city where Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005, where Christianity spread during the Byzantine rule and where the story of Ezio in Assassins Creed: Revelations takes place in. The locals spoke decent English for my girlfriend and I to get by and they were monumental in helping us find all the little and large attractions around the city.

Minaret Skyline

Inside the Hagia Sophia

The city is an eclectic mix of old and new. Small, local shops on the Arasta Bazaar (just beneath the Sultan Ahmet Mosque) trade colourful wares at crazy prices to the unsuspecting tourist, to the huge, crowded Kapali    Çarşi (The Grand Bazaar) where you'll see a large amount of very recognisable, luxury clothing and footwear on sale (can anyone say counterfeit?). Walking along the citys numerous roads and alleyways you'll come across very animated characters trying to hawk their goods, foods, restaurant views and Shisha flavours too. Having Türk kahvesi or Turkish coffee on the rooftop of a particular hotel in Sultanahmet, I was astounded to see the skyline dominated by an array of Ottoman mosques and the ever so famous Hagia Sophia. That church/mosque/museum is HUGE! It was the first church to be built during the Eastern Roman Empire era and stood strong as the largest church for nearly 10 centuries until St Peters Basilica was constructed in the Vatican. The invading Ottomans had no desire to tear down the place so converted it into a mosque. It is now a museum that  herds in thousands of tourists everyday. I loved the Christian era mosaics that were visible next to Islamic era calligraphy and architecture. Pure blend of the two faiths. 

You gotta love those Romans and their city planning skills

The blue mosque
 (Sultan Ahmet Mosque)

The citys skyline is not the only dominating feature. Look underground and you find huge cisterns buried from the early settlements. These cisterns were used to store water for the citys consumption and there are fairly many scattered all over. I had visited the Basilica cistern, bang opposite the Hagia Sophia and the city centre. It was indeed an astonishing site, although its just columns. 

The food in turkey is nuts and I mean good nuts. If you managed to bargain your way to a good deal, it tastes even better! There's so much that I managed to see in the span of 2 days but I'd rather leave it up to the traveller to find out more by visiting the place. Oh and one other thing, the driving in the city is analogous to the driving in India or Italy.