Sunday 08/08/2010 (Hey that one’s easy to read!)
Today we went to the archeological museum next to Topkopi Palace with Sadi and his girlfriend Maq. Sadi claims it is his favorite museum in all of Istanbul and after spending 3-5 hours wandering around I can understand why. First of all the museum is massive and old … some might call it massively old, you’ll notice this being a common theme throughout our blogs here. Check out the scale of the entrance!
we can all see who the fun one on the trip is ...
The other amazing thing about the museum was the sheer amount of artifacts they had in and around it. The outside of the museum looked like an antiquities graveyard. There were statues, columns, and all sorts of stone odds and ends lying around in ruins. Apparently
this was everything they couldn’t cram inside the building. The inside was stuffed to bursting with artifacts dating
all the way back to the dawn of civilization. There was one exhibit in particular that show cased column sarcophagi. These are intricately carved tombs with statues around perimeter giving the impression of columns. Any single one of these sarcophagi would have its own private room and special show at the Nelson Atkins (KC’s art museum), yet here they had crammed 10-15 of them in one room. Every exhibition had a si
milar amount of artifacts. Some of the highlights included Alexander’s Tomb (Lee and Sadi’s favorite), the Hellenistic statues (Patrick’s favorite), and the Cuneiform tablets (one of my many favorites … this is William btw). Incredible museum and high on our recommendations list for anyone visiting Turkey.
Our savior, the one, the only, Hakan, the magnificent, Sadi (&Maq)------>
Alexander's Tomb
Monday
Pat’s illness persisted, so drastic measures were necessary. We have blamed the local food (and Pat’s weak immune system, mainly his weak immune system) for his stomach “issues.” We have decided that to cure Mr. Franke we would need to return him to his natural surroundings.
So we created “All-American Monday.”
We ate at McDonalds where they have the MegaMac, a four patty monstrosity. We were quite astounded that somewhere outside would have such a gargantuan sandwich. That was until we received our regular BigMac, which was about the size of dollar menu double cheese burger. Side note McDonald’s, Burger King, and all the main stream fast food chains have a delivery option, but alas not 1 Lira menu.
We then put on our “American Suits”: baseball caps, goofy sunglasses, salmon colored shorts, seersucker, and Hawaiian shirts.
Pat and Lee then walked over to the Hilton Hotel. Built in 1956 the hotel is massive curved concrete building that sits in the middle of huge fortified estate. But dressed as we were we always get waived through security check points and treated as guests.
NB: Here’s something about being gawking American kids in Istanbul, the upper class institutions don’t ask questions. Speak loud ‘American’ and act like you know what you doing. We can walk into any fancy hotel, restaurant, or get into any night club (that otherwise wouldn’t let three boys with no accompanying girls in) without any questions. Now it’s got its draw backs too, our starting prices are higher in the bazaar and little boys come up and grab your hand to lead you to their father’s shops (if they weren’t successful at getting your wallet).
We lounged at the pool for the afternoon. With repressive heat in the city it was good to be able to dip in the water and relax.
Tuesday
Ramadan begins. WOOOHOOO Ramadan 2010 (MTV cameras everywhere… not really). At 4:30am people walk around pounding drums to tell people to get up to eat before morning light. At 5am there is the first of five prayer calls (happen year round). For our observant Muslim friends no eating, smoking, or even drinking water (it 90+ degrees Fahrenheit and humid) until sundown (currently around 8:20pm). In Istanbul about 50% of the people probably keep it stringently, others will give up smoking and drinking alcohol for the next 29 days. Many restaurants aren’t even open during the day, but when the sun goes down they are booming. In our neighborhood it’s definitely stricter, but when you get to Taksim people are drinking, eating, and smoking like chimneys. As the days of Ramadan go on more and more people seem to be breaking fast during the daylight hours. The heat has been brutal (record setting highs the last 2 weeks) and some might just do a day or two a week, since the full length of Ramadan is a true marathon. We’ve been told that unlike other years the summer heat isn’t dry. The heat wave usually comes from Saudi Arabia instead this year it coming out of the Indian Ocean creating a heavy level of humidity.
After class Sadi came and got us went to get Pat a bank account and phone. We were successful in both regards.
Wednesday
After class we went two friends that we’ve met at language school Michael and Seth went and had lunch. (I’m intentionally leaving that last sentence so the general public can understand my pain at editing these things. Times that sentence by 4 full pages…) Michael, who has been in Turkey for two years, brought us to a restaurant that served the equivalent of Turkish Fajitas. çok lazzetli as the Turks would say. (very delicious)
After lunch, which included a cup of tea (çay) and backgammon (tavla), we went to go meet Kerian another friend we’ve met in class. Kerian is a New Zealander who used to be a fund manager in London and now does property and restoration in Istanbul, a super interesting guy to talk to. He offered to take us around a couple of his projects. Before we left he showed us some maps that resembled old Sanborn maps, it’s unbelievable to see the layout, or lack thereof, of the old sections of the city. The cities layout is such an organic mess that seeing the official maps is really impressive.
Historical “preservation” in Istanbul’s older section is very much alive and as the economy booms in the city older sections throughout the city are getting a facelift and an expensive price tag. The areas we walked around (Beyoglu and Galata) used to be the centers of the Armenian and Greek communities. When these communities moved out they still retained ownership of the buildings. Therefore to buy one you have to track down all the relatives of the original owner, many of whom are currently living in Greece. Kerian once went to a closing with 26 people. The rules as explained by Kerian are as follows: (1) footprint, using old maps you can only build within a footprint that was once the original footprint of that building (2) Height, the height of the original building or a building that existed on the site (3) Facades, the historical commission wants to save the facades at all cost (Kerian showed us a “building” that was merely a bombed out brick wall, but he must keep that wall standing) and finally (4) Usage, where the other rules are enforced to the letter of the law this rule can be bent somewhat, On the street level (floor zero in Turkey, the first floor is the second floor) there is commercial space and above is residential and offices. There are few if any real “zoning laws” for these areas so the zoning is whatever was originally in place. The idea being if the facades, size of the buildings, and usages are the same, the neighborhood will be preserved.
These are the only rules. Many of the buildings are nothing more than facades with beautiful new construction inside. Some buildings are restored floor by floor, but many are merely brand new buildings with an old façade, nothing else remains of the old building. Modern and contemporary design is very much in vogue in Turkey, with a spirit that only a quickly modernizing nation could have. Behind the 18th century façade is usually beautiful modern apartments. We started our tour at Kerian’s apartment, a beautiful modern apartment encased in an antique façade. Afterwards we saw a few other properties in development. It’s amazing to see these projects from conceptual inception to completed work. Kerian took us to a final property that had been rebuilt and had a bar/restaurant in an adjacent otopark that led to a beautiful courtyard. Of course we stopped for a beer… or two… or well anyways, we end our tour there. The bar’s design was beautiful, exposed steel, stained wood paneling (which is used a lot in contemporary designs here and really looks great) and moving glass panels.
NB: Weird thing about Turkey. Very few mortgages, only about 5% of Turkey’s GDP is mortgaged (UK and the US is ~55%+). No one gets a 30 year mortgage here and buys a house. Usually if you want to buy a house for $1,000,000 you walk into the closing with a million dollar check. A 10 year mortgage at really high interest is much more common. I’ve been told this is both good and bad (1) no credit crisis in Turkey (they’ve had a bunch in the past) (2) the real estate assets of Turkey are locked up, meaning that you can’t take your money out of your property and place it into another investment or property and (3) most people rent.
Thursday
Went to Asia (no big deal) to meet Sadi for dinner. We got decedent cheese burgers. William’s was called the Alaturka Burger, those witty Turks. Sadi our “Turkish Sage” gave us the ok to eat non-exclusively Turkish food. Sadi: “You’re local now, you can eat something other than kebaps.”
Friday
Chapter XIV: The Foodless Barbecue
Friday was a big day for the team; the reason, of course, being the class barbecue (barbeku) party. It was hosted by our German classmate Kontes (she earned this nickname because she shakes hands with people like a countess). It was in the Galata neighborhood on a rooftop deck. The view was incredible; you could say it was the bee’s knees if you felt inclined to do so. From the roof you could see the Bosphorus and the Asian side of the city beyond. It’s the kind of view that everyone in the city wants. It makes rent jump up by 500% or more. The company was also very interesting. I discovered that everyone in the entire world knows who Bob Marley is.
There also happened to be a photographer from New York there. His name was Jason something; apparently his work is pretty well-known. Interesting tidbit: he used to be a guard at the Met in NY. Most of the guards are involved with the art community in some capacity. Hmmm? I also found out that our British classmate has never seen Life of Brian. It’s like, come on…
After the party we went to our favorite bar. It’s a tiny bar that’s called “Big Pub.” Because we are three and backgammon is a game for even numbers we had the waiter (Yoker, a wonderful gent who speaks excellent English) invite some Turks over to play with us. Collectively they won something like 14 of the 15 games played that night, William being the one-time winner. They taught us how to swear in Turkish which was great fun. The Turkish equivalent of the middle finger is maybe the greatest gesture invented; it is the goofiest thing, especially because it involves licking your own forearm.
Now I will tell a very important story: We went to the Intercontinental to take a tour of their fitness facilities because why not? You know? And the tour guide (whose name escapes me) had this great lisp (listhp), it was really really great. So he is showing usth around the fitnessth center facthilities and eventually we arrive at the tanning bed. At this point he turned and looked at us, very proudly, and said “here we have the stholarium…if you wish to work on your tan?” And at this moment we decided we have to join as members if only to chat with our tour guide again.
Sincerely,The Team
PS Pictures are a bit of a pain the alay konusu kimse to upload onto the blog so check out our new flikr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Lee, do the people confuse you with Leo Messi there too?
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