“Istanbul (and Cappadocia) not Constantinople”

Before we start, the answer is yes, that title is the They Might Be Giants song that was played on an episode of Tiny Toons. If you recognize it, let’s be closer friends than we are. Enjoy.

Anyways, like I said in my long-winded prologue, I didn’t do a lot of planning or give a whole lot of thought to this trip because Kenny and Alison mapped out some sights ahead of time for us, so I was lucky enough to tagalong and enjoy the ride. And man, did they do a great job of planning our trip. The trip was broken up like this: Istanbul (Europe side) > Cappadocia > Istanbul (Asia side). Let’s begin!

A note to myself in the summer to meet up with Kenny and Alison

Turkey – Europe Side

For our first leg of Istanbul, we stayed in a really awesome area called Cihangir, which was a quaint little neighborhood that apparently a lot of artists/actors stayed in. It was really walkable and had a lot of modern cafes and restaurants, so we had spent a lot of time just exploring the area. On day 1, we pretty much just explored our neighborhood, which included a really tasty Turkish breakfast. What is a Turkish breakfast you ask? It’s pretty much a spread of cheeses, breads, spreads, and meats that you can combine to your heart’s content. The other culinary success we found was identifying our “doner guy”! There was doner kebab everywhere, but we really wanted to find a guy we could call our own. The guy we found had a mustache, one eye, and worked with his dad on a small corner near our place. He would also wink to us with his one good eye, which was a sign from the gods that we had found our guy. We went back there a few times during a trip and were always welcomed with a wink and a tasty doner.

Turkish breakfast!

One of a million doner kebab places.

The rest of our few days in Istanbul was spent just exploring a few of the historical sites, as well as lounging in some of the more modern areas. It was such a cool thing to see really historic sites such as the Grand Bazaar, and then walk a bit and hit neighborhoods that reminded me of Capitol Hill. Kenny led us on a little walking tour (courtesy of Rick Steves aka “Rickey Stevey”) around old historical sites including the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern. They were all massive and gorgeous. People were in the Blue Mosque praying and I learned that most people wash their feet before they even go into the Blue Mosque, so they have these little wash stations all around the mosque. The Cistern was cool – it used to be filled to the top (now it’s about a few feet deep with a bunch of humongous carp!), and it provided water for the neighboring areas, but now it’s just a cool setting for a horror movie.

One of our favorite daily rituals: fresh fruit juice!

Blue Mosque.

Hagia Sophia.

Basilica Cistern.

Foot-washing stations at the Blue Mosque.

To continue soaking up the culture, that night we went to a whirling dervish show. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a ceremony of worship where four 5 people literally spin and chant for an entire hour. It’s pretty impressive, because they are in sync, don’t get dizzy, and seriously an hour! Craziness. It got a little boring after the first 10 minutes, but still impressive. Until this trip, I actually only heard of the term “whirling dervish” in the context of basketball, ala the amazing Kevin Calabro. He would say that when a little speedy guard got into the lane and made some moves or spun. 20 years later, I now understand the reference. SAVE OUR SONICS!

Another thing I learned on this trip was backgammon. Turks love playing backgammon, and Kenny got into it a little before the trip, so he wanted to play as much as he could to get the whole Turkish experience. So that night we sat outside in 40 degree weather, busted out a backgammon board, ordered some tea, and in an instance, we transformed into two 60 year old Turkish men with mustaches. I don’t think any experience in Turkey is complete without playing outdoor backgammon in an alley.

Getting ready to be old men playing backgammon.

Whirling dervish show.

A really cool experience we got to do one day was have a local cab driver take us around for a day and tour some cool local spots. This wasn’t your average cab-driver, this was Ihsan! That probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but he gave Bourdain a tour on his episode of No Reservations, so he knew his stuff. He was a character. He taught us how to dance, how to striptease, and was just a big ball of energy. We spent about 6 hours with him and even though l loved it, I think it was just enough time J. He took us to some small neighborhoods off the beaten path, including a neighborhood near where he lived, we went on a ferry ride, then had lunch at a great restaurant that he took Bourdain to as well. We also had a lot of time just to talk to him in the cab, and it was great hearing about his family, his views of Turkish politics in relation to the world, his views on Syria, and his many girlfriends around the world. Such a great experience just to be around him. He mentioned he could make a lot more money doing something else because he was pretty world renowned at this point in his career, but he just loves driving people around and showing them places that he doesn’t want to stop. I really enjoyed my time with him. And then I needed a nap.

Ihsan!

These pictures are all you need to know about him.

Obviously we had to go to the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Market as well. Really lively and beautiful places with a million smells and colors. After walking around beautiful, smaller neighborhoods, it was a little overwhelming to be near so many tourists, but still such a great experience to be in the oldest mall in the world. We finished the leg in Istanbul with a boat ride down the Bosphorous, which Kenny supremely loved due to his love for the Golden Horn and its history.

Tea, tea, tea everywhere.

After scouring the city for narigile, we found Ali Baba's!

Beautiful view from the Galata Tower.

On a side, not here are a few other random awesome things about the first week in Turkey:

• We watched the Seahawks beat the Packers on a tiny laptop in our apartment at 2am!
• We went hunting for hookah in a neighborhood and literally couldn’t find anything, then we literally turned a corner and saw a humungous tent called Ali Baba’s that was full of hookah. It was like being stranded in the desert dying of thirst, and then seeing a water park, and not really thinking what you saw was real
• We passed by this soufflé place every night and they had an awesome sign that had two arrows: one pointing inside labeled “soufflé” and another one pointing outside labeled “no soufflé.” After a week of this sign taunting me, I was sick of being in the thousands of square miles on earth that had no soufflé. I went into the 100 square feet that DID have soufflé – it was delicious

Go hawks!!!

Cappadocia

The second leg of our adventure was in Cappadocia, an old Christian city that was known for its beautiful landscapes and history. I actually had never heard of it until Kenny and Alison recommended us going, but I’m so happy I got to experience it.

Our first day included maybe my favorite experience of the whole trip. We climbed a little peak and had an amazing 360 view of the entire landscape of Cappadocia. We were alone, it was sunny, and we had beers and hookah to keep us warm. Nothing could beat the few hours we spent up there just soaking in the landscape.

What's better than this?

First meal in Cappadocia!

The main thing we had to do in Cappadocia was hot air balloon! I’d never been, so I was excited to experience it. We went up at sunrise, and it was just so gorgeous seeing the sunrise, seeing the landscape of weird peaks (wind-eroded volcanic rock), and seeing a few dozen other hot air balloons in the air. What I never realized was how well the pilots could steer these things. They could literally get within inches of a peak by increasing/decreasing the flame and pulling a few ropes. Our pilot even landed the hot air balloon in the back of a pickup truck!

That night after the hot air balloon, I had an experience that I had been excited/nervous about, but something I had to do. I went to my first Turkish bath (or hammam). From what my friend Phil described it as, it was pretty much old and hairy Turkish men aggressively massaging and washing you like you were a piece of meat. No romance, wining or dining, just hearty scrubbing. The place I went to actually was a little more touristy, so they were less matter of fact about the whole experience, but it still was something. They laid me on a stone slab, then used a scrubbing pad to wash scrub down almost every square inch of my body, leaving only a few areas to be shared between me and my wife. Then he lathered me from head to toe with soap, massaged me down, and then rinsed me down with a cup of water like I was a baby sitting in a kitchen sink. It was so awesome! Then I got a hot oil massage from an even heartier Turkish man, and that was great as well. All in all, so happy I was manhandled by some of my now closest male acquaintances.

We finished our time in Cappadocia with a day tour through a few more historical sites: underground city (built by Christians to hide from invaders), Ihlara Valley, Selime Monastery (built out of the side of a mountain), and Pigeon Valley. Our guide was really smart, so he shared a lot of the history of Turkey, which reminded me how little I know about most things. That night, Kenny got straight razor shave, which apparently is really famous in Cappadocia. It was to watch. He looked good, and they even cleaned his ear hair using a match!

Taking a tea break in the Ihlara Valley.

Underground city.

The beautiful Selime Monastery.

Pigeon Valley

Getting that' Cappadocia cut (and burn)!

One more thing before I move on from Cappadocia – we stayed in a great little hostel, run by this Turkish family. They were some of the most accommodating folks I’d ever met. The owner’s daughter had two cute little boys and she gave us a lot of great recommendations. And her right-hand man (Eunus) was always there to give us info, make us tea, or make us dinner. Such a great experience staying at that hostel and getting to hear more about their experiences.

Home cooked meal!

Rocking out with the hostel owner's son.

Istanbul – Asia Side

The last leg of trip was a return to Istanbul, but instead of staying on the Europe side, we stayed on the Asia side in the neighborhood of Kadakoy. Kadakoy was less artsy than Cihangir, but it was a lot more lively and expansive. We obviously got a lot more doner, but also explored a few more modern neighborhoods. They had tiny little mom and pop shops was great art and trinkets, and so many outdoor restaurants. Before eating though, we had to find a place to smoke hookah, and like our adventure in Cihangir of not finding a hookah shop, we couldn’t find one here either! We probably spent an hour walking around looking before we found a small door in an alley with a neon hookah sign (“nargila”) and there we discovered the man known as Mehmet. He was the owner of the shop and he thought it would be great to just sit down and chat with a few Americans, even though he spoke no English, and we knew no Turkish. A lot of hand gestures and nods, but he was able to communicate how good his mom’s cooking was by using hand gestures similar to Italians, and that stank face that all cultures understand as describing something utterly delicious. Needless to say, we had a great time with Mehmet. We finished the night at one of the best restaurants in Turkey named Ciya Sofrasi, and had some disgusting Raki on the roof of our apartment. Great view, great friends, gross drink, beautiful night.

Our last day ended with another hammam, this time super OG. No smiles, no nothing other than putting you through the machine that is 3 overweight, hair Turkish men, scrubbing you down hard regardless of your cries for help, and coming out the end as smooth as a baby’s butt, while repressing any memory of the experience. Exactly what I was hoping for.

More doner! I was a fan, Kenny's had better.

Mehmet aka "The Dragon."

Ciya Sofrasi.

"Raki loves Emily!"

A few sites from the markets in Kadakoy.

Turkey was so beautiful, and with such warm people. My high expectations of the country were greatly exceeded, but more than anything, it was an unforgettable experience because I got to meet up with a great friend of 20 years, catch up and reminisce, talk basketball and sneakers, and really count our blessings for how we’ve been able to grow separately and together over the years that have led us to the still close friendship we have today. I’ve had many friends over the years that for one reason or another have dropped off my radar (and I’m sure the same of me for them), so I don’t take lightly the rarity it is to keep a close friend for two decades. In another 20 years, my goal will be meeting Kenny somewhere where we can sit outside, smoke hookah, drink Raki and tea, and look back at how blessed we’d been to enjoy 40 years of friendship.

The two old guys to the right will be Kenny and me in a few years.