Our Last Hurrah

One of Barry's biggest selling points for SPEA in Turkey was the boat tour of the Bosphorus at the end of the program. I thought (even though I had the syllabus the entire time) that the tour was at night with dinner. Well it turns out that dinner was too expensive, so instead we had an afternoon tour. On a private yacht. With our tour guide Sibel and the manager of the company coordinating all of our excursions, Emra—whom we affectionately called "Leo" because he looked just like Leo DeCaprio in "Gangs of New York":

Afternoon on a yacht was definitely better. The weather was lovely, we had çay and kahve, and we reminisced on an amazing month getting to know one another in two wonderful cities.

On the off chance you're reading this trying to decide whether or not to go to Turkey with SPEA, you should go. Bilkent in Ankara has incredible faculty, and it's amazing to become an expert on Turkish history and politics in such a short time. And Istanbul is an unbelievable city. The pictures and videos don't do it justice. You will get to know a city that has been the capital of several civilizations for thousands of years, is bigger than New York City—and Germany—and is full of all kinds of people and cultures.

On my very first blog post after arriving in Istanbul, I wrote about how one of my professors once said Istanbul was the greatest city in the world—and she had been everywhere. After hearing such a bold pronouncement, I wanted to go. But at the time of that first post, I wasn't sure how I felt about the city. After living there for six weeks, however, I agree with my professor. It is undoubtedly the most incredible place I've ever lived, and I can't wait to go back.

XXOO

Julia

Best Day Ever!

When we decided to go the Princes' Islands for a day trip on a Friday, we probably should have decided to get plenty of sleep the night before. But, alas, we didn't. As study abroaders exploring a new city for the first time, we learned that during Ramadan the city is awake all night. Since those who are fasting can only eat between sundown and sunrise, the restaurants stay open all night, and people are out and about just as they are during the day. And it turns out the city is incredibly beautiful at night, so temptation to never sleep was everywhere.

Needless to say, I was very tired for this trip to Sedef Adası, one of the smallest islands. (I had been told by a lot of people that there are five islands, but upon Googling it just now, it appears there are actually nine; some are really, really small.) I planned to sleep for a couple hours at the "beach", but there was a big speaker playing dance music, so I danced instead—for five hours.

As you'll see in the pictures, the beach wasn't really a beach. Instead of sand, big concrete slabs jut out into the water, and the chairs and umbrellas sit on those. But we were not deterred in the slightest. We spent a wonderful day sunbathing, dancing, eating ice cream and reading.

Both directions we took two ferries. In the morning, we took a ferry from Beşiktaş to Büyükada, the biggest island, and then another ferry from Büyükada to Sedef Adası. This is a video from one of those ferries!
 

 

On the way back, we took a ferry back to Büyükada and then a really long ferry that stopped at all the other Princes' Islands and several ports before stopping in Beşiktaş. That ferry was a bit cheaper but two hours long. And in our extremely tired state, we were slap happy and probably annoyed everyone else on the boat. This picture is of the sunset on the way back to Beşiktaş.

Please go to Istanbul the next opportunity you get. The city is beautiful, and there are amazing islands just 6 TL away!

XXOO

Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia

Below are videos and pictures of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish), both located in Sultanahmet. I prefer to go through places like this by myself, so I didn't follow the tour guide very closely...

The Hagia Sophia Museum was first built as a Christian Basilica in the 4th century. After a few fires and riots that destroyed the church, it was rebuilt in the 6th century. It was converted to a mosque in 1453 and eventually into a museum. Visitors can see where the Muslims covered Christian symbols and figures, as they have since been uncovered. Particularly famous are the mosaics that were hidden under plaster for centuries.

These panels of Islamic calligraphy are some of the biggest in the world. They are inscribed with the names of Muhammad, Ali, Allah and other important Muslim figures.

These angels' faces were covered up by geometric designs since Islam forbids depicting faces.

Here is another example of a design covering up a Christian symbol.

To get upstairs, you have to climb up a winding ramp with cobblestones.

Here are some of the famous mosaics that remained covered until very recently.

The view from the windows of the Hagia Sophia were beautiful.

Also on the ramp were tombs of people important to the basilica.

XXOO