Old town square in PrahaIt is so nice to be back from a trip with a relaxing night and an extra day ahead of me before class! This weekend is another "Puente" in Madrid. Puente means bridge, and madrileños call long weekends puentes when there is a holiday on Tuesday and the two day weekend becomes a four day weekend, with Monday being the puente. I actually don't know what the holiday is tomorrow, but I'm guessing it's another saint's birthday. I went to Istanbul this weekend with Megan, Clare, and Taylor. We flew through Prague (so out of the way, but it was so cheap!) and Megan and I chose an earlier flight to Prague because we had a 9 hour layover there. It was perfect: we found a place in the airport to drop off our backpacks for the day, and headed out at 10am into the city. My friend Sara Rothschild is studying in Prague this semester, and gave us great directions to a few places we wanted to go...so we can't take full credit for figuring out the public transport system, but we totally managed with only a few pointers from Sara to get from the airport to an awesome brunch place to the St Vitus Cathedral on a bus, metro, and tram when there were zero signs in English! Went to a place called Radost for lunch where we shared a hot goat cheese salad that was delicious, and it was a very cool cozy café. Czech it out: http://www.radostfx.cz/restaurant/index_en.htm We also ordered a chocolate milkshake. We watched the waiter make chocolate milk, put a few ice cubes in the cup, and then shake it. I guess a chocolate milkshake in Prague is shaken chocolate milk? After our lovely brunch, Megan and I took the metro (they only have three metro lines in Prague! in Madrid, we have about 15) to a tram up to the St Vitus Cathedral. I guess we looked a little lost on the tram because a two ladies wearing matching berrets offered to help us as they were also going to St Vitus. They were very nice ladies-one was from Poland and the other from California, and both have lived in Prague for the past few years. They walked with us and showed us exactly where to go to find an awesome view of the city before going inside St Vitus. The cathedral had beautiful stained glass windows which Megan adored. Our next stop was the old town square where we found the cutest Christmas market! We went near a beautiful river by tram, and once in the market we walked by many stands selling hot rum or sausage or Christmas chochkees. We only had to wander a little bit by ourselves before Sara met us under the clocktower. It was sooo nice to see her--we realized it had been almost three years since we'd seen each other. It seems like she's having a great semester in Prague, although it's very chilly there! She was wearing the long puffy black north face coat that all of us Wolverines wear in AA in the winter. Sara took us to the old Jewish quarter, which is pretty close to the old town square. She showed us the Old New Synagogue, where the Golem is apparently hanging out in the attic! It was a whirl of a trip, and definitely worth waking up at the crack of dawn to be able to spend a few hours in such a beautiful city.
view from the St Vitus Cathedral
stained glass in St Vitus
Hebrew clock on the Old New Synagogue
Me and Sara
We met up with Clare and Taylor in the Prague airport (they only had an hour long layover). Istanbul was a very cool city. We stayed in the Metropolis Hostel in the old city, which was perfect for what we wanted to do. It's located right next to the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, and the Topkapi Palace--all highlights of Istanbul that we hit by 12pm on our first day there! We also enjoyed the New Mosque, the Underground Cistern, the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar. All of these are in the old city, and mostly within walking distance of our hostel. It was fun to walk around, although we realized almost immediately the difference in how women are treated there. While wearing "normal" clothes in the states or in Spain--jeans, sweaters, scarves and jackets- we were stared at and people made comments to Taylor like "oh, you must be a real man to have three women!" These comments were funny at first, but got very old after awhile. So did the staring. Also, why were there so many more men on the streets than women? This was only true in the old city, and we couldn't figure out where the women were. We mostly walked everywhere, but if our legs were tired, we took the tram it was a very easy, 1.5 Lira ride. Another highlight was taking a boat along the Bosphorus River! We embarked around 5pm, so we were able to catch the sunset on the ride. It was beautiful to see the sun set behind the mosques back on the European side of Turkey. That's right, the boat took us to Asia! Half of Turkey is on the other side of the Bosphorus, which is considered Asia. It was very exciting to be in a 6th continent--all I have left to check off is Antarctica!
man washing before entering the mosque
inside the blue mosque
inside the Hagia Sofia Mosque
In Madrid, I met my Turkish friend Ilay at the synagogue. He recently moved back to Turkey because he is required to join the army next Saturday. He was nice enough to show us around some non-touristy areas on Saturday. We met him in Taksim, which is across the bridge from the old city. This area looked completely different from where we had been thus far--it's a completely modern section of the city that reminded us of Puerta del Sol in Madrid! We walked down the main Taksim street and ended up at a restaurant for lunch where Ilay ordered us awesome Turkish food. He also taught us some essential words in Turkish. Hello: Selam or Merhaba, Thank you: Tesekkurler, No: Hayir. He also took us to the best baklava place in Istanbul! Yum. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by a market in the old city and while Megan and Taylor shopped for scarves, Clare and I made a very attractive friend named Emre, selling ceramics in a really nice shop in the market. He served us hot apple tea and invited us out with him that night. :)
Underground Cistern
string cheese!
On Sunday, we wandered around in an area called Nisantasi, where my friend Bahar, working now in Madrid, used to live. It is a "pijo" area... I would translate this Spanish word as upscale or posh. It was a fun walk until it started pouring :( We took this opportunity to sit in a cute cafe and play scrabble while drinking coffee and tea and eating little chocolates. For our last dinner, we ate at a place called Ciya Sofrasi, back on the Asia side. This was by far our best meal of the trip...at the front of the restaurant, you pick through the glass what you want, and the chef serves it to you right out of his pots. We shared a bunch of small dishes, and it was just delish! Besides for the men staring at us and whistling or making kissy noises, I loved the city because it was really unlike any city to which I've ever been. The mosques were architecturally beautiful, and what could be wrong with delicious baklava after every meal?
our tour guide Ilay
pomegranate party
blue mosque
view from the St Vitus Cathedral
stained glass in St Vitus
Hebrew clock on the Old New Synagogue
Me and SaraWe met up with Clare and Taylor in the Prague airport (they only had an hour long layover). Istanbul was a very cool city. We stayed in the Metropolis Hostel in the old city, which was perfect for what we wanted to do. It's located right next to the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, and the Topkapi Palace--all highlights of Istanbul that we hit by 12pm on our first day there! We also enjoyed the New Mosque, the Underground Cistern, the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar. All of these are in the old city, and mostly within walking distance of our hostel. It was fun to walk around, although we realized almost immediately the difference in how women are treated there. While wearing "normal" clothes in the states or in Spain--jeans, sweaters, scarves and jackets- we were stared at and people made comments to Taylor like "oh, you must be a real man to have three women!" These comments were funny at first, but got very old after awhile. So did the staring. Also, why were there so many more men on the streets than women? This was only true in the old city, and we couldn't figure out where the women were. We mostly walked everywhere, but if our legs were tired, we took the tram it was a very easy, 1.5 Lira ride. Another highlight was taking a boat along the Bosphorus River! We embarked around 5pm, so we were able to catch the sunset on the ride. It was beautiful to see the sun set behind the mosques back on the European side of Turkey. That's right, the boat took us to Asia! Half of Turkey is on the other side of the Bosphorus, which is considered Asia. It was very exciting to be in a 6th continent--all I have left to check off is Antarctica!
man washing before entering the mosque
inside the blue mosque
inside the Hagia Sofia Mosque
In Madrid, I met my Turkish friend Ilay at the synagogue. He recently moved back to Turkey because he is required to join the army next Saturday. He was nice enough to show us around some non-touristy areas on Saturday. We met him in Taksim, which is across the bridge from the old city. This area looked completely different from where we had been thus far--it's a completely modern section of the city that reminded us of Puerta del Sol in Madrid! We walked down the main Taksim street and ended up at a restaurant for lunch where Ilay ordered us awesome Turkish food. He also taught us some essential words in Turkish. Hello: Selam or Merhaba, Thank you: Tesekkurler, No: Hayir. He also took us to the best baklava place in Istanbul! Yum. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by a market in the old city and while Megan and Taylor shopped for scarves, Clare and I made a very attractive friend named Emre, selling ceramics in a really nice shop in the market. He served us hot apple tea and invited us out with him that night. :)
Underground Cistern
string cheese!On Sunday, we wandered around in an area called Nisantasi, where my friend Bahar, working now in Madrid, used to live. It is a "pijo" area... I would translate this Spanish word as upscale or posh. It was a fun walk until it started pouring :( We took this opportunity to sit in a cute cafe and play scrabble while drinking coffee and tea and eating little chocolates. For our last dinner, we ate at a place called Ciya Sofrasi, back on the Asia side. This was by far our best meal of the trip...at the front of the restaurant, you pick through the glass what you want, and the chef serves it to you right out of his pots. We shared a bunch of small dishes, and it was just delish! Besides for the men staring at us and whistling or making kissy noises, I loved the city because it was really unlike any city to which I've ever been. The mosques were architecturally beautiful, and what could be wrong with delicious baklava after every meal?
our tour guide Ilay
pomegranate party
blue mosque
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