Leading into our outreach Turkey was the place I was most excited about, I had wanted to go to Istanbul for a number of years, I was eager to see history come alive as we were in this ancient city. For days the song “Istanbul” by The Four Lads played over and over in my head, “So if you’ve a date in Constantinople she’ll be waiting in Istanbul.” When we finally arrived in Istanbul the feeling was incredibly surreal and bittersweet since I had not wanted to leave India. To go from a destitute third world country to well off city that is in both Europe and Asia was a bit of an intense transition.
When we first arrived to Istanbul our contact Janosch picked us up from the airport we all had a blend of feelings the new place we had just arrived, first off it was so clean, the architecture was pristine and complete, it was a whole new world compared to India. The first thing we took notice of were all the mosques, coming from Texas we joke about churches being on every street corner and lets be honest there are a lot, well that is how mosques are in Istanbul. To see so many mosques in such a small amount of space was for some reason a shock. There is nothing quite like the call to prayer was in surround sound 5 times a day.
We had some amazing opportunities to tour places such as the Archeological Museum, Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Each place had such a rich and unique history in itself. The museum was neat because there were pieces of multiple ancient civilizations there was even a piece from a wall in Babylon.
The Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) was originally constructed as a church in 532-537 and remained a Christian place of worship until 1453 when the Turks took over Constantinople and turned it into a mosque. In the 1930’s it was formally turned into a museum and they began the process of uncovering ancient mosaics that were plastered over by the muslims. To see so many influences of both Christianity and Islam in one building was odd, I felt as though I was looking at centuries of turmoil between the two religions just in how they had covered and uncovered pieces of each others faith over the years.
The Blue Mosque was a rare treat for me, when I was in high school, maybe middle school I had watched a Rick Steves special on Turkey where he talked about the Blue Mosque and from that point on I wanted to go see it for myself. The intricate detail of design is astounding in that place.
My time in Istanbul is oddly hard to write about, I can spit out things about the history and culture I enjoyed but my overall time in Turkey was honestly a bit painful. There were disunity in the team, the spiritual atmosphere was dark and I was just off. The things I do remember I feel are insignificant, trivial and hard to actually write in-depth about so I think I will do some bullet points.
- I had my absolute favorite ice cream at the Archeological Museum, I really wish I knew what it was called. (I liked it so much I took pictures of it)
- I remember there being cats everywhere.
- We crossed the Bosphorus many times on a fairy back and forth between Europe and Asia, oh and I stood in it. (It felt like a slimy shag couch)
- That at one of the places we went in the historical facts about the location they called Islam a cult.
- To say “Happy Birthday” in Turkish it is “Mutlu Yillar”
- The fresh squeezed roadside Portukal Havuç (orange carrot juice) is one of the tastiest things I have ever consumed.
- Turkish coffee is served in tiny cups and is more like sludge, really tasty sludge.
Happy Travels!
