Turkey Turkey!

PICTURES ADDED! :)

Off to Turkey! Unfortunately, I was still not feeling well on Thursday morning. I tried to narrow down what it might be. #1: undercooked meat (since I’ve been cooking chicken and red meat for dinner a few nights). #2: red meat in general (my stomach doesn’t respond well to it anyways - but usually not this bad at all!). #3: I picked up a virus in Morocco. Hmm. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if it goes away.

hagia sophia!

I felt miserable during the whole metro/train/plane ride. Luckily I slept most of the plane so that helped some. It’s the weirdest sickness - awful cramps (it feels like I’m having contractions like giving birth or something) that make me keel over and forget to breath, really dizzy, a fever that comes and goes, and other tummy-related issues. Ugh. I made it to Turkey fine, though, and after searching for a little while I found my mommy!! It was so good to see her!! I feel terrible that I have to be sick for our weekend trip together, but it’s also nice to have her here to take care of me:) She’s the best mom ever!

We made it to the hotel via taxi fine. It’s right by all the tourist attractions which is really nice. We were greeted by Mustafa and Fatih, two really wonderful Turkish men. Mustafa owns the hotel and doesn’t speak quite as good English as Fatih (who is younger and seems to be in charge of the front desk). They helped us unload everything, pointed us in the direction of a pharmacy and a place to get soup, and gave us some good ideas about what to do while we are here.

We moved into the hotel room, and I rested for a little while. The cramps were really bad on Thursday, so I couldn’t do much at all. My mom and I walked up to a restaurant nearby to get some plain food that I could keep down and help to settle my tummy. We found a nice place up the block from us near the Grand Bizarre. Everything looked so wonderful, if only I could eat more! My appetite is almost non-existant, but I tried what I could. We got some lentil soup, veggies, hummus, fresh bread, and tea. Mmmm!

After lunch we mozied around a little bit, making our way to the pharmacy. Luckily the man spoke English and he gave me some medicine that we hoped would help. We walked by the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and so many other amazing buildings. Even the little houses and stores are so cool here - bright colors, ancient stones, or aged wood. It’s really a magnificent city. I couldn’t wait to bring my big camera out to get some good shots!

We headed back to the hotel because I was feeling pretty rough. The rest of the day we spent sleeping, resting, and attempting to recouperate in our hotel. Later in the evening we watched “The Tourist” with Johnny Depp (my mom’s favorite), then got to bed nice and early.

Friday I STILL wasn’t feeling good. Oh no! Jada texted me asking my symptoms, and she told me that she had the same thing. Uh oh. That means I probably picked it up in Morocco somewhere. We researched a little bit and figured out I have all the symptoms of E. Coli. Eeeek!! I sure hope that’s not the case. A lot of my symptoms are hard to prescribe because they’re typical of a lot of viruses. To be safe, I emailed API in Rome and asked if they could give me recommendations for doctors in Rome so that I could go when I get home on Monday. We figured out that it’s definitely a virus (and not food poisoning) since it’s been 3 days now. On Monday I’m planning on getting some bloodwork done to check for everything. It’s no fun being sick when I’m in such a beautiful city!

inside the blue mosque

I decided that whether I was sitting in the hotel room or wandering the streets of Istanbul, my stomach would hurt. SO after a yummy breakfast on our hotel’s rooftop terrace of fruit, cereal, bread, olives, eggs, and tea (if only I could eat some of it), my mom and I headed out. We asked if there were bananas at breakfast since those might help my tummy, and they said no. A few minutes later, though, Mustafa brought us out some! He must have bought some just for me and cut them up. How sweeeeet! We were the last ones at breakfast, so Mustafa took us outside to see the great view, and explained some stuff for us. We told him we were planning on walking around and checking out a few mosques, and he said it was his day off so he would love to go with us and show us around. Perfect! We headed out with our new friend.

Mustafa took us all around, explaining different parts of the city. In one fountain that they were restoring he said that instead of water, it used to have cherry juice coming out of it! It was free for everyone to drink. Yummm. We walked around, took lots of pictures, and then went inside the Blue Mosque. It was absolutely beautiful. The tiles and decorations inside were stunning. We got there right around prayer time so we had to be quick, but there was so much to see! The Arabic writing was everywhere, just like in Morocco. SO PRETTY. We had to take off our shoes, and I was wearing leggings and a big shirt, so they made me wear this long skirt thingy. My style doesn’t fly with the Turks, I suppose:)

my momma and i in front of the blue mosque!

After visiting the mosque, we walked through the Grand Bizarre with Mustafa. IT WAS SO HUGE. If he hadn’t been there with us, we definitely would have gotten lost. There was so much to see and to buy..we are definitely going back there. We did make one purchase though. My mom just got her new house on Strawberry Street, and she has a carriage house out back with a great balcony. She told me she wanted to get some hanging lights to put out there, so I had to spill a secret: I bought her hanging lights from Morocco to put out there!! Haha oh well, she was still excited even if it’s not a surprise. The ones I got for her were very Moroccan and fairly small, so we decided to get some Turkish ones, too, because they would look great together. After searching for awhile, we found a good shop with lots of choices. Too MANY choices! We stayed for about an hour trying to figure out what colors, size, and designs we liked best. After we figured it out, the man who owned the shop put it all together for us and wrapped it up. Luckily there was a chair in there, so I got to sit down and rest for awhile. My stomach was starting to act up again, so we headed back to the hotel.

On the way we stopped in a nice restaurant to try and get some food down again. Mustafa wasn’t hungry, so he took our lights back to the hotel for us. I ate some plain rice and soup, and my mom shared the rice and got a veggie dish. We finished it off with tea. Yum! It was getting colder (apparently the mornings here are warmer than the afternoons), so we got back to the hotel and warmed up. It was nice to rest for awhile again. BOO TUMMY PROBLEMS. We hung out in the hotel for awhile, and heard back from Jada (who went to Morocco with me and was having the same symptoms). She went to the doctor in America and was diagnosed with a mild E. Coli. I set up an appointment in Rome with an Internal Medicine Doctor for Monday, so hopefully that will take care of everything.

Around 6:30 we headed to see the Whirling Dervishes - a famous Turkish religious tradition. We got lost on the way there, but saw lots of cool sites and eventually made it. We ended up being 10 minutes late (somehow it took us over an hour to walk to a place 20 minutes away), so my mom and I sat in separate seats. It was really neat to see this age-old tradition. Some Dervishes played instruments and chanted. while 5 literally whirled around in circles for 30 minutes. The spinning didn’t help my stomach haha, I had to close my eyes for a little while. The ceremony is an 800 year old tradition of turning towards the truth to grow through love, and in finding the truth, arrive at the “Perfect”. Very cool.

We started the walk home (much shorter than the walk there), but not before stopping in a bakery called Hafiz Mustafa. They were so nice! My mom and I bought lots of chocolates, baklava, cookies, etc. for later then were on our way. We also got Mustafa a little treat for taking us around (because the box had his name on it). Back at the hotel, we watched a movie then went to sleep.

Friday was our spice tour! We woke up, got a yummy breakfast, then headed toward the spice market to meet our guide, Selin (later she told us she was named after Celine Dion haha). Once again, we got a little lost along the way but made it there fine - and even a little earlier! We’ve learned to give ourselves plenty of time for looking around haha. My stomach wasn’t cramping as severely or as often this morning, so that was a good sign! I was hoping to be able to try all the great Turkish foods and spices on our tour.

There were 2 other families on the tour with us, one from Canada and the other originally from San Fransisco but living for a few months currently in Madrid. Once everyone was there, we headed into the market. Selin was great. She explained all the foods we passed, got us samples of everything, and made sure we had time to buy everything we wanted. It was a really really wonderful experience. We went through spice, seafood, olive, pickle, linen, and SO many more stores, trying everything we saw! My mom and I got some great gifts and presents for ourselves:). After spending a few hours on the European side, we headed over to the Asian side of Istanbul on a ferry. It was my first time in Asia - a new continent for me!! It looks like it was a 3 continent week for me - Africa last weekend, Europe this week, and Asia for lunch on Friday. Perfect!

pig head. YUCK.

We hit up some more stores on the Asian side, then settled into a nice restaurant in the Asian spice market for a genuine Turkish lunch. Selin ordered all her favorites for us, and we chatted and ate. Unfortunately, half way through lunch my stomach started acting up again so I had to stop eating. At least I got to try a lot this morning! The pain was getting pretty severe again after lunch, so we headed back on the ferry and Selin tried to get us to go to the American hospital nearby. We considered it, but I wanted to rest before doing anything else (we’d been out from 10am - 5pm and my body wasn’t able to handle that) before making any decisions. We said our goodbyes then grabbed a taxi home.

We spent the rest of the evening in the hotel, as my stomach pains slowly got worse. We hung out, I slept for a few hours, then we watched a movie together in bed. The VCU game was airing in the US at 6pm yall’s time, so we stayed up until 1am getting ready to watch the game. It was near impossible to find streaming online, and after a failed attempt at an iphone application of live march madness streaming, we asked Ahmed at the front desk. He found us a website and let us use his computer to watch some. I was too exhausted and starting to feel worse, so I tried to sleep while my mom messed with the computer. Unfortunately, the internet kept cutting in and out until it was gone completely and wouldn’t let us log on. She gave up around 2:30 in the morning, and went to bed.

I barely slept at all that night. My cramps were as bad as Thursday - the worst day by far. They kept waking me up from the pain. I’m counting the days to be back in Rome so that I could go to the doctor and get some medicine to make it stop! We slept in a little bit, and woke up to Martha Young calling us on the telephone. She is a friend we know living in Turkey, who took a bus to Istanbul to see us on Sunday! My mom made plans to meet up with her, then she hopped in the shower. I could barely move from exhaustion and the cramping. The front desk called to let us know they extended breakfast for us if we were interested in getting some, so we felt bad and headed upstairs for food.

me, mustafa, and martha!

Martha met us at the hotel and sat with us while we finished breakfast. I didn’t have the energy to go out yet, so I decided to rest for a couple hours in the hotel and then meet them later for the Hagia Sophia. Martha and my mom went on their way. I showered up at the hotel and then tried to get some more rest. At 2, my mom and Martha came back to check up on me. I was still struggling, but didn't want to spend my last day in bed. We headed out and about!

Martha has many friends in Istanbul, so we got the full tour and hospitality. Her one good friend Mustafa (a common name here) owns the cafe right in front of the Hagia Sophia! A perfect location. We stopped there first, got some tea, caught up, skyped with her husband Ken (who is back in Virginia - Martha is living here for a year teaching English in the government), tried some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice mixed with a splash of orange juice (almost up to par with the blood red oj YUM!), then went into a couple of Mustafa's stores. I found some cool pants, and my mom got some great pillow cases for her new house. Next stop: the Hagia Sophia!

inside the hagia sophia

It was gorgeous. We spent lots of time just getting lost in the amazing building. It was built with so many different materials and mediums of art. Absolutely beautiful. I brought my big black and white camera, and my mom took so many pictures on her digital one that her camera died! It was really wonderful. Afterwards, we headed to the Cistern - an underground reservoir. Very neat. The lighting made all the columns look gorgeous. It was a good day of exploring! We met Mustafa afterwards at a neat hookah restaurant. Underneath the restaurant they discovered an entire castle buried deep in the ground that they are excavating now. We walked down there and took a look. The ancient stones and arches from hundreds and hundreds of years ago (built in 300 AD) were still in tact and were really fantastic.

Martha had to catch her bus back to her town in Turkey - about a 6 hour bus ride. We said our goodbyes, then my mom and I wandered around a little bit more for some last minute shopping. We were very successful in our endeavors! My stomach was cramping, but I hung in there since I slept so much this morning. We came back around 9:30, packed everything up, then went to bed to get some rest for our early early flight (we leave the hotel at 4:45 am. AH.)

What a perfect weekend! Istanbul is a truly amazing city. I know I always say this, but I definitely recommend it to you travelers out there. I hope to come back some day to experience the night life - I hear it's awesome! I wish my stomach had cooperated, but it was still an extremely successful weekend of traveling, as always:)