The end of a week in Istanbul

It's been a little while since I was in Istanbul, but I have been keeping a daily log of most of what I did, so I think I will be able to recount the rest of my week in Istanbul. 

Just a recap, I flew in to Istanbul and got to my hostel on Tuesday night.  Wednesday I went to see the Ayasofya, and then walked around the neighborhood to see the sights.  I saw the hippodrome, coast, and the Blue Mosque.

On Thursday I decided to cross the Bosphorus to the Asian side of Istanbul.  I took a ferry ride from nearby Sultanahmet to the neighborhood Üsküdar.  I wandered around the area there, mostly seeing a few of the mosques pointed out in the guidebook.  It was nice to be outside of the touristy area of Istanbul, and walk through part of Istanbul where people are actually living.  In the afternoon I took a long walk down the coast to Kadıköy (formerly Chalcedon, as in the place where the fourth eccumenical council was convened).  I stopped at the train station there, the place where pretty much all trains from Istanbul heading south and east take off from.  After taking the ferry back to the European side of Istanbul, I wandered through the spice market, which was nearby.  I spent most of my evening relaxing in a tea garden, reading and writing while drinking delicious tea and coffee.

I was planning on meeting up with three other students in Istanbul before going to Antalya where the class started.  They flew in Friday evening, but in the morning while I waited for them to get in I did some more exploring.  I took a ferry (again) up the golden horn to the western district (a little different location this time) to walk along one of the defensive walls that the emperor Justinian had constructed.  I stumbled upon a Greek Orthodox church in the middle of a service, which was an unexpected discovery.  I would have stayed longer but the crowd was overflowing so I couldn't see much, and I wanted to see another church in the area. I walked further along the wall until I got to the Chora Church, which I think was my favorite part of the whole time in Istanbul.  The Ayasofya was impressive because it was such a big building and impressive architecture.  This church, however, was very small, much smaller than my own church at home.  But for a church that small it was packed from wall to wall with beautiful murals.  Everywhere you looked there was another mural.  It was very beautiful.  After seeing the church, I took a taxi to the Grand Bazaar and wandered around there for a while until it was time to meet up with the others.  When they arrived, we had dinner and relaxed a little, before seeing the Blue Mosque (a second time for me).

Saturday was our day together, so we decided to go see the Topkapı palace together since I hadn't seen that yet.  Topkapı palace is the palace that the sultan would live in.  It was impressively big, as well as overwhelmingly full of tourists.  It was ridiculous to think that this was the home of just one person and his family.  It was a gigantic place.  It was also ridiculous to see the grand displays of wealth of the Ottoman empire.  There were displays of jewels and other very valuable treasures.  There was also a very valuable dagger with three large emeralds in the hilt, as well as the 5th largest diamond in the world.  After that we split up, and the others went to see the Ayasofya while I went to see the Basilica Cistern.  The cistern was built by the Romans, and was very big.  It was a short visit in comparision to the palace earlier, but it was still neat to see.  I finished off the evening drinking tea again, before going to bed.

Sunday was the last day before our class began, so the four of us staying in Istanbul took a plane to Antalya where we settled in at our pension and relaxed a little before our class started.

I am writing this from Üçağiz (pronounced something like oo-`chaaiz, we really don't have a good way to write the sounds in English).  We sailed up the coast today as part of the class.  I would write more, but the class so far deserves another post in itself, and it's bedtime.

Istanbul, day 1 - Ayasofya and more

A few precursory notes, even though it's been two days now, I'm going to try to break my days into separate posts.  That should help keep things a little more organized.  It's also easier for me to think about things in chunks like that. Also, I tried uploading pictures the last time I tried to blog, but the application I am using to blog doesn't let me insert pictures like I want to.  So instead I think I might upload the pictures elsewhere and then provide a link or something.  That's if everything works perfectly.  We will see how that goes.

Sultanahmet - it's the neighborhood where I'm staying.  It's where the Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque, as well as a bunch of other historic sites are.  Actually there are historic sites everywhere, but there are more of the bigger ones here.
I thought I would start off my first day by following a self-guided tour of Sultanahmet that I found in the guidebook I have.  It said it would take about four hours to walk the whole thing and take time to see everything.  It started at the Ayasofya (That's the Turkish name for the Hagia Sofia, one of the largest churches built.  I believe it has the largest dome roof for a church.  It was built by Justinian and Theodora, two important people in the history of the church. It was later turned into a mosque when the Muslims took control of the city.  In the early 20th century it was declared a museum by Ataturk.) at about 9:00 in the morning.
Three hours later my battery was dying because I had been taking so many pictures.  I hadn't left the Ayasofya because there was just so much to see.  I also was going very slowly because paid for the audio tour, and so I could listen to each station at my own pace and take as long as I wanted.  I ended up taking over 300 photos while I was there.  I''m writing all of this about what I did rather than describe the place because I wouldn't do it justice.  Even my photos wouldn't do it justice.  It's big.  It's old.  You can tell that there is a lot of history in it.  You can see how it used to be a church, and then how it was converted to a mosque.  It's a very odd combination of Christian and Muslim decorations.  Of course, it wouldn't have looked like that when it was in use, since a lot of the parts that are Christian (such as the parts of murals that still exist) have been restored since it was converted to a museum.

After I was done with the Ayasofya (luckily my camera battery had died right as I was finishing up there.  I hurried through the end to get the pictures I wanted, but I got them for the most part) I went back to my hostel to start charging my camera battery while I ate lunch.  After lunch it was still charging, and I was rather tired (I still hadn't caught up completely on my jetlag), so I thought I would take a short nap.  A short nap turned into a long one, which unfortunately means I missed seeing some things in the afternoon while they were still open. Fortunately there is still a lot to do even at night, and Sultanahmet didn't feel unsafe at night. It was still early evening, though, when I woke up, so I wandered around Sultanahmet, and roughly followed the path I was planning on following earlier that day.  I tried to find the hippodrome (that's where you race horses, for those of you who don't know what a hippodrome is.  It was the center of public life in Constantinople for hundreds of years), and then realized that it doesn't exist anymore because it was torn down.  there are three pillars that would have been part of the racetrack, though, that are still standing.  So when the guidebook said to find the hippodrome, I wasn't looking for any building.  Instead I found a plaza with two large obelisks and a bronze pole that was broken.  They marked parts of what used to be the hippodrome.

I also walked down to the shore of the Sea of Marmara and walked along the coast for a while.  You can see some of the old sea walls and parts of old buildings that have broken down over the years. It was sort of cool to see.   After that I wandered back up for supper and then to the Blue Mosque, which was still open.  By then it was dark, but it was well lit.  The mosque was built to rival the Ayasofya in grandeur.  It does a good job being big and grandiose, but I think the Ayasofya has it beat.  The architectural genius that had to go into the Ayasofya to keep the dome standing without pillars like in the Blue Mosque is rather impressive.  That doesn't mean the Blue Mosque isn't pretty.  It is quite something to see in it's own right.  After that I wandered around Sultanahmet for a while on my own, and then went back to the hostel.

It was a full day, even though I had spent a good part of my afternoon catching up on jetlag.  I'll post pictures once I figure out how to do that

Impressions of Istanbul

      As soon as I got settled into my hostel I posted my last post and sent a few emails home to let everyone know I was safe and sound.  I didn't want to spend too long doing all of that because it was already 5:30 by then and I needed to get supper.  I also knew I would probably be back tonight posting again all my adventures since then.

     To make my job easier, here is an edited snippet from the emails I sent home summarizing what happened since my flights:

     Update from Istanbul - 5:40 pm (10:40 am EST) I arrived safely. The plane from Rome to Istanbul was delayed a little due to weather (i'm not sure what weather though; it was clear skies the whole way there). We touched down at 2:20 pm local time, and I was out of the airport quickly. I took the public transit to Sultanahmet (the historic neighborhood; also, why don't we hrave better public transportation in the states? I know in the bigger cities there generally is decent public transit, but I feel like other cities could really improve their systems).  I got mildly lost while walking from the tram to the hostel I wanted to stay at, but finally did get here by 5ish. I took a while to settle in, get organized, and take a shower. I'm about to go out for dinner. I'm feeling much better now that I am finally here and no longer travelling. It also helps that I'm sitting on the rooftop terrace of the hostel I am staying at. Its a gorgeous view. It seems like a very nice hostel, especially considering the price.

     Since that update I went and had some kebap for supper (the one I had was interesting.  Not my favorite, but still a decent dinner in its own right.  I also might just not be to excited for the  particular variety I had). After that I wandered around Sultanahmet for a while, eventually ending back up at the hostel.  I am quite exhausted from today (really the past two days where I got no good sleep) so I think I am going to go to bed soon even though it's only 9:30.  Hooray for jetlag :-)

     Anyway, the real reason I wanted to write this update was to write down some quick impressions of Istanbul after only a few hours:

1) As I mentioned previously, I really appreciate the public transportation here.  It was really easy to get from the airport to Sultanahmet.  The tokens were even transferable between the tram and the metro system.  Good job Istanbul.
2) I took a <i>hot</i> shower when I got to my hostel!  Maybe this isn't too special, but when my comparison for international travel is 3 months in Guatemala, I wasn't expecting too much (Don't get me wrong, I love Guatemala.  I hope to go back some day.)
3) Everybody here smokes.  Ok, not everybody, but it feels like it.  I guess I especially notice this since South Bend became a smoke-free city.
4) The people here are friendly.  Maybe I just notice it more because I don't have an agenda, but I stopped and talked to two different people when they decided to talk to me as I walked past.  I don't remember that happening in Guatemala, though.  If somebody talked to you there, they usually wanted to sell you something. Okay, one of the two people here wanted me to stay at his hotel, but I had a conversation about other things as well in the meantime and he offered me a cigarette.  I turned it down and tried to get to the hostel I wanted to get to quickly, but I don't remember that in Guatemala.
5) I know absolutely no Turkish.  Maybe someday I will understand it.  But right now it seems very difficult.  Even my Spanish doesn't seem to help any more than my English when I try to understand things.  And as far as communicating, English serves me well enough.
6) The weather here is wonderful.  Perhaps a bit cool for my taste, but I can't complain too much when "a bit cool for my taste" means it is in the 60s.  Maybe I am getting ahead of myself and I hit a day with good weather, but the impression I get is that today isn't particularly extraordinary.

     That's all for now.  I need to get some sleep and catch back up on this jetlag.

In the air... Finally

Today has been quite a day.  This morning I woke up at 7, said goodbye to my brother before he left for school (oh yeah, I guess high school is still going, isn't it? It sure feels like summer to me.) and then finished packing those last few things that have to wait until the last minute.  We left at 8:10 for Chicago-Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and me.  Grandpa had a doctor's appointment at Loyola University that they were all going to after dropping me off.  He is going to be a test subject for a new surgery technique to replace a valve in his heart, but that's another story.  We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, I got checked in, said my final goodbyes to everybody before heading through security.  Everything went quickly, and I was soon at the terminal waiting for the hour before the plane took off.  I could tell something was up when we were supposed to be boarding but a bunch of  airplane mechanics and personnel kept heading out to the plane while the rest of us sat and wondered what was going on.  Finally, whatever needed to be fixed was fixed, and we all boarded.  Everything seemed to be going smoothly until we undocked from the terminal.  It turns out the steering mechanism in the nose (or something like that.  I couldn't quite decipher what they said over the speakers) of the plane was not functioning properly.  They had fixed it, but then it stopped working when we had undocked again.  They redocked and reassessed the condition of the steering system, and decided that it would not be an easy fix.  Our flight was cancelled, so a plane full of disgruntled customers got back off the plane and hurried to the help desk to rebook their flights.
I was standing in a line that was moving slower than molasses for about twenty minutes, when I finally gave up on it and used the telephones in the help zone to rebook.  They had told us about the phones initially, but I wanted to talk to somebody in person. Eventually I got tired enough of not moving forward (two spots in twenty minutes, and 14 more to go) so I gave in and settled for the phone option.  Thankfully it was very fast and painless (I should have done that from the beginning), and soon I had been rebooked.  Instead of flying O'Hare to JFK in New York to Istanbul, I am now flying from O'Hare to Rome, and then on to Istanbul.  Unfortunately the new airline that I had been booked for was in the international terminal, so I had to exit the terminal I was in, hustle to terminal 5, and then figure out where I was supposed to check in (all while hoping I had actually understood everything correctly over the phone).  It didn't help that I thought I only had two hours to do all of this.  About halfway through the line to check in with the new airline (Alitalia - I'm flying Italian!) I realized that my watch was still an hour off, so I really had three hours.  This was about the time I finally got through to Mom's phone (she had turned it off while in the hospital since she wouldn't get service there anyway).  I felt a whole lot better, but still had to finish checking in and go through security.  I also had to check one of my bags that I had originally used as one of my two carry-ons.  It wasn't too big, apparently it was too heavy, so I was quickly trying to transfer things between my bags at the check-in counter.  I'm praying that everything will arrive safely and won't be lost.  It is a little unnerving to suddenly have to check a bag that I was planning on carrying with me, but I'm sure everything will work out.
The second time through security was a little longer and a little more rough, but overall a fairly painless procedure.  I found my terminal, and then set out to find food because I was hungry.  That's when I realized that the international terminal at O'Hare has essentially no restaurants, and the food in the convenience shops are way overpriced.  It's a shame, there's not a whole lot you can do, and I needed some good food before taking off.  I finally got situated and felt like I could take a breath about 40 minutes before our departure time.  It helped that I had people who love me texting me through this whole ordeal, keeping me sane.  Looking back on it all it doesn't seem too bad, but in the midst of this all I was not enjoying it one bit.  I'm okay now, I'm in the air, writing this as we are flying over Canada (the monitor says we are over Montreal- and 37,000 feet in the air, of course!).  Rome is just over 4100 miles away and we are set to arrive just a little past 8 am.  I won't have wifi at least until we land, maybe not even until I get a hotel in Istanbul, so by the time this is posted I will have at least made it as far as Rome.  For now I'm just thankful to finally be in the air, and I'm trusting God that everything will work out.  Now for that reading I am supposed to be working through for our class...

Boat Updates

I'm getting ready to leave for Chicago to fly to Istanbul, Turkey, and I thought I would give another update.  I don't know how diligently you read the post with information from the syllabus, but it said we would be sailing on two boats, the SailingActs and a Turkish Gulet called the Blue Pearl.  The SailingActs is Linford's boat that he bought back in 2004 as part of his sabbatical and has been sailing the path of Paul ever since.  Unfortunately it is too small for our whole group at once, so we will split sailing on it for two days.  Half of the group will sail up the coast one day, and the other half will sail back down the next day.  Here is the boat:

For those of you sailing geeks, its a Westerly 33.  Unfortunately I don't know much more, but if you are curious about some of his previous voyages aboard it, you can read his book, Sailing Acts.

The second boat originally was supposed to be the Blue Pearl, but has since changed.  We are now sailing aboard the Iteh.  Here are some photos for you:

Built - 2002

Length - 25 meters

Beam - 6.5 meters

Crew - 3

6 double cabins

1 captain's cabin

Separate crew quarters

Trip Itinerary

Here is our itinerary for the trip (Click on the picture to see a bigger version):

I will be arriving on the 8th and spend a week by myself (maybe meeting up with some other students later in the week) before heading on down to Antalya on the 13th.  At the end of the trip, I also have a few days to spend in Athens by myself.  I'll try to include my adventures from those days as well.

I'm Going Sailing!

Bright and early tomorrow morning I leave for a trip in the Mediterranean.  For three weeks I will be hiking, sailing, and living with a small group of students from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, exploring the early Christian movement in the Mediterranean.  Since I can't say it any better than our fearless leader Linford Stutzman, here is the course description as it is in our syllabus:

The focus of this course is on the dynamics of the Christian Movement that exploded throughout the Roman Empire, particularly the major port cities of the Mediterranean during the first to third centuries. By the end of the third century, in spite of discrimination and outright persecution, approximately ten percent of the inhabitants of the Empire were Christian, threatening the very fabric of Roman culture and political institutions. This is a fascinating story, filled with implications for Christians seeking to be effective and faithful in living and witnessing in global empires at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Using the latest scholarship and field research, this course will seek to understand this first-century phenomenon that eventually changed the course of history, and relate these findings to the experiences and insights from Christians living and witnessing around the world today.

This course is offered as a three week intensive seminar in the Mediterranean. Students will begin in Antalya, Turkey and end in Athens, Greece, sailing along the southern Turkish coast aboard SailingActs  and the Blue Pearl, a Turkish gulet, then cross the Aegean to Greece on a ferry. Students will experience sea travel in the first century, learn to work together in sailing the boat, visit numerous seaports and islands of the Acts stories, and engage in intensive reading and discussion of the culture, politics, religion, and economics of the first century world. In this way students will gain insight into the combination of creative witness and social factors that contributed to the rapid growth of the early church around the Mediterranean.

We will begin our trip together in a week from now, on the 13, but I am traveling over early to explore the city of Istanbul for a few days before the class begins.  I hope to have occasional access to wireless internet (as Linford has promised us we will have), so I should be able to keep this blog up to speed (or at least relatively so).  For now, though, I still have to pack.