Category: Culture

Staycation

Posted in Culture, Exploring Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey10 Comments

As April turned to May, I was lucky enough to have my friend Tori come to visit from Vermont. I had a long weekend which turned out to be the first of many thanks to the election situation. More on that another time. I was thrilled when Tori could find the time for a week’s trip to Turkey and the direct flight from Boston made the trip fairly simple (Anne’s diner and Don’s airport shuttle included).

Leaving Moloko with yet another set of wonderful cat sitters, Tori and I headed downtown to dinner at Ayaspaşa Rus Lokantası. The most authentic Russian fare in Istanbul, we did our best to sample the trip Tori did not get to take due to COVID in May of 2020. The plate in front of me contains salmon blini with sour cream (yum). We were even treated to singing and dancing in the restaurant.

My friend Michele graciously welcomed us to stay at her downtown apartment just behind Taksim Square. Thanks to her gorgeous art collection from all over the world, it reads as a boutique hotel, replete with a view of the Bosphorus off her balcony. As walked down the steps to catch the tram, we passed the beautiful wisteria in full bloom.

Fresh off my first set of visitors, I had a lot of fun to playing tourist in Istanbul. Thanks to the first go round, I learned you must get to the Hagia Sophia as the line forms at 9am. See us here in line, my second weekend in a row! Managed to grab a simit and coffee on the way. The Hagia Sophia really is as beautifully stunning and peaceful as it seems in pictures.

After our time inside, we took pictures out front and walked across Sultanahmet to the Blue Mosque in which 20,000 blue Iznik ceiling tiles truly baffle the mind.

Rooftops are surely the best way to experience the stunning landscape of Istanbul. We opted for good views and good taste – drinks at Corinne Hotel‘s rooftop bar and dinner at Hodan‘s beautiful garden restaurant. Love the origami installation in the entryway.

Checking off a number of Istanbul bucket list items, I had pre-ordered tickets to Galata Tower. Newly reopened after renovations, the tower was built in the 1300s by the Genoese colony. The Pera neighborhood was once divided into quadrants, respectively housing merchants from Genoa, Venice, Tuscany, and Ragusa (today the Croatian coastline).

The view from Galata Tower did not disappoint on such a bluebird day. And, in fact, we were joined by a cheeky gull on the observation deck.

After, we enjoyed a decadent breakfast at Arada Cafe (a cross between Lebanese and Turkish breakfast). We were quickly very full and enjoyed visits from a number of my coworkers who live in the neighborhood.

I wanted Tori to experience a different side of Turkey but we didn’t want to board another plane. We opted for a night on Büyükada, one of the Prince’s Islands in the Sea of Marmara. An easy ferry ride away, Büyükada proved the perfect little island getaway. Since the ferries are run by the municipality, you can tap your Istanbulkart at the ferry terminal. It cost us a mere $2 each to reach the island.

Büyükada could not have been more different from downtown Istanbul. Bicycles and electric golf carts are the main mode of transportation. We walked around, taking in the old Victorian homes once occupied by wealthy Jewish vacationers. We caught a pop up of Emma’s Baked Goods recommended by a friend. After the tourists left for the night, it was fun to have the place to ourselves.

The next morning, we rented bikes and spent a lot of walking those bikes up and down the steep hills of the island. It was nice to get outside the downtown and escape the packed crowds disembarking from the ferries. As it was a public holiday in Turkey and the economy is not great, many people have chosen to stay local for holidays this year, bringing intense crowds to the city and the islands.

All too soon it was time to leave island life behind and return to normal life. Tori headed back to Boston and home to her own furry companions. Moloko and I were sad to see her go but really enjoyed her visit. I will be taking that same flight back to Boston in just about a month. Summer is coming fast! Hope you’re all doing well and taking care. More adventures to come…

Swanky

Posted in Culture, Exploring Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey4 Comments

The history of Istanbul’s Pera Palace Hotel is as storied as the building’s Art Nouveau facade. Built in 1892 to house passengers on the Orient Express, the hotel is located in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu neighborhood.

Aside from the Turkey’s imperial palaces, the hotel was the first building in the Ottoman Empire to be powered by electricity. Light still dances spectacularly across the marble walls, adorned in Byzantine stripes and topped with six domes full of beautiful blown glass.

From Hemingway to Graham Greene, numerous writers have used the hotel as a backdrop for their novels. Agatha Christie is said to have written Murder on the Orient Express during her time in residence.

Famous political faces have also walked the halls of the Pera Palace Hotel. US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy visited while she was roaming the Aegean as Jackie O. On the first floor, Room 101 contains a museum dedicated to President Ataturk, founding father of the Republic of Turkey.

Tea at the Pera Palace had been on my radar since last spring when my friend Bea recommended it while biding her time in Istanbul. Bea knows good taste! Our Sunday afternoon tea proved as lovely as expected. Red velvet curtains hung from the walls as we enjoyed profiterole, simit, and other delicious pastries.

Fun fact: in Turkish, “pasta” is the name for baked goods like cakes or pastries. My local bakery is called Ekmek Pasta Cafe (Bread Pastry Cafe). Erişte, meanwhile, is the Turkish word for “noodle”.

The ballroom was in recovery from a wedding the night before. Very Marie Antoinette in palette and tone, the clocks decorating the sitting room were reminiscent of Fabergé.

The Pera Palace Hotel proved the perfect spot to liven up a grey Sunday in late January and fabulous company proved an antidote to the Sunday Scaries. Wishing you all a wonderful start to the week!

How Bazaar

Posted in Culture, Exploring Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey10 Comments

Forgive the pun – as a teacher with two weeks left of school, my sanity is hanging by a thread! It’s hard to believe but 2022 is rapidly drawing to a close. Holiday parties abound and the weather here has shifted to grey skies with a near constant mist of rain. Reminds me of the fall I spent in Oregon. I’m excited to be headed back to Massachusetts very soon to see family and friends. My first fall in Turkey is nearly in the books.

Heading back to the States is always exciting. Spending time with loved ones, hiking familiar trails, and cozying up to watch the Pats all sound pretty great right about now. It’s also a great excuse to share treasures from my travels with the folks back home. And when you live in Turkey, there’s only one place to shop for literally anything you could ever dream of – Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.

My friend Michele offered to show me around the marketplace this past Saturday morning. She’s lived here for ten years and knows the Bazaar like the back of her hand. I could not recreate our route if I tried! That’s Michele leading the way into the Eminönü marketplace in her yellow jacket. I’m sure you’d never guess that she, too, is an art teacher 😉 Birds of a feather.

The skies threatened as made our way through the continually narrowing streets. Turkish delights beckoned at every stall with each vendor selling their special mix of options. Piles of spices lined the aisles as well. Keep in mind, we’re not in the actual Grand Bazaar nor the Spice Bazaar – this is the stuff on the outside, ripe for the picking.

Small shops hawked everything you could possibly think of. There was the guy sharpening knives behind his little pushcart and a man attempting to carry bags and bags of rice on his shoulders down the cobblestone alleyways. Vendors called out cheerfully in English, easily identifying me as an American (I was with an Aussie and a Kiwi, odd man out). Must have been my Eddie Bauer raincoat (lol).

Multiple shops were overflowing with Christmas gear. Considering that 99% of Turkish people consider themselves to be Muslim, this was a bit unexpected. But we happily snapped up some glasses for the photo booth at the holiday party next weekend.

Possibly my favorite corner in the market contained all the paper goods and handmade paper stores one could ever need. I had a lot of fun picking out souvenirs for folks back home and it brought back good memories of shopping hanji in Namdaemun.

There were entire stores filled with only boxes, twine, and wrapping materials. Michele really took our tour to the next level when she brought us to the jewelry market. 6+ floors of shops dedicated to glass pieces, silver pendents, and strings-on-strings of beads.

This was peak sensory overload, as you might imagine. Michele adopted mosaics as her COVID handicraft and, with options like these, I can certainly see why.

There is an entire floor dedicated to yarn, probably a dozen shops in total. Macrame materials, cotton yarn, wool, organic yarn. If you name it, it exists on the upper level of the marketplace.

As Jenn knows, I’m not a huge fan of shopping as a past time so I tried to take this all in as sightseeing. It became harder to do as the morning wore on and the streets began to fill with people. Below is a moment of respite I found above the crowds, the landscape echoing the dusty rose palette of nearly everything here in Istanbul. There is beauty in the breakdown.

Please keep in mind that at no time did we actually enter the Grand Bazaar itself. That adventure will have to wait for another day. But this overload of color, texture, and noise was enough to brighten up this grey December morning which began with this view of the Bosphorus.

Some of you have asked, is life in Istanbul really as wonderful as it seems? The answer is not so black and white. Excursions like this one to the bazaar are not my everyday life, but they are within reach with the help of others. It would be possible to filter this blog like any other type of social media – often with rose-colored glasses. Be assured – I do see red when frustrations appear and they certainly do appear, just as they would in daily life anywhere. It’s an experiment in extremes at times. Expat life isn’t always easy and seemingly simple tasks can prove wildly challenging in a foreign language. But there’s a lot of beauty in this life, too. As someone recently reflected, you can let these things get to you or let them pass. Truly depends on the day but that’s my task as I begin to settle in to my home-for-now.

Thank you for following along with my journey! I hope to welcome many of you in person to this wild and wacky place in the coming years. As you can see, Moloko has launched a visitor campaign of her own, modeling the comfort and snuggle opportunities afforded by the guest room, now open for business.

As 2023 approaches, I want to wish you the best, wherever this holiday season may find you. Whether with relatives or chosen family or both, I hope this December brings you all the blessings of the season and, perhaps, renewed hope for the year to come. Please take care and I’ll catch you on the flip side!

Safe & Sound

Posted in Culture, Exploring Turkey, Istanbul18 Comments

Greetings from Istanbul. The mood is decidedly despondent after yesterday’s tragic events. If you have not yet heard, there was an explosion on a very popular shopping street downtown. Six people were killed and nearly 80 others wounded. It was a picture perfect fall day with shoppers and families out enjoying the surprising November warmth. The events of yesterday brought back the not-so-distant memory of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Another glorious day ripped apart by an act of senseless violence.

Before this terrible event unfolded, I took a little weekend adventure on the other side of the Bosphorus Strait. Istanbul is one of the only cities in the world that spans two continents and I hadn’t yet made it to the Asian side. With that in mind, I made a last minute AirBnB booking and Googled ferry departures.

There is a ferry terminal is located just off my main bus line, making for an easy transit. The ferry ride itself cost all of 80 cents and I was treated to a few stops on opposing sides of the canal before we moved into the open channel of the Bosphorus.

The Bosphorus Strait is over two miles wide at parts, giving the illusion of the open ocean at times. There was light chop on the water as the seagulls drafted our wake. Wooden benches lined the top deck and vendors rolled through, deftly brandishing tea in traditional glass cups, their sea legs the result of thousands of crossings over their lifetime.

We steamed for Kadıköy, a popular port neighborhood once home to prehistoric settlements of civilization. Today it’s a hot spot for nightlife, hipsters, and rich retirees – though they have mostly moved over to Moda, the calmer neighbor to the south. I found my sixth floor walk up and set up to enjoy the sunset from the rooftop.

I could hear the roar of the crowd from the football (soccer) stadium just over the hill. Day drinkers were hitting their stride and restaurants were beginning to set up on the streets below.

Kadikoy has a vibe all its own – very free spirited and relaxed. I checked out a record store and a few bookshops before meeting up with some friends from school who took a water taxi over from downtown. The restaurant scene appears to be pretty fabulous in Kadıköy, where you can find anything from Italian to Ottoman.

On Sunday, I awoke early to explore the neighborhood of Moda. With the bars only recently shuttered, I had the sunrise all to myself. Just me and the sea gulls.

Walking the perimeter of Moda, I met many a cat living in the rocks of the breakwater and watched the massive tankers on maneuvers out in the strait. Making my way back to Kadikoy’s ferry terminal, I boarded a boat bound for Karikoy to meet friends for brunch.

The morning couldn’t have been more glorious and my sweater was plenty warm despite the mid-November date. The gulls bobbed and weaved, occasionally flying between the posts on top deck while matching course and speed.

We sailed past the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, each lit up by single beams of sunlight as if on a movie set. I reveled in Istanbul’s beauty, on full display against the backdrop of a true blue autumn sky.

After docking, I made my way up to Galata Tower to enjoyed brunch with some new friends. We happily swapped stories of our respective weekends and enjoyed yet another delicious Turkish breakfast.

My thoughts are with the loved ones of those lost yesterday. Those who commit acts of terror wish to sow fear, to fracture relations and turn us against one another. But they will not keep me from exploring this city which I am growing to know, this culture I am only beginning to understand.

Sofia (Part 2)

Posted in Bulgaria, Culture1 Comment

Sofia rises with the sun – as do I – and a good cup of coffee is on offer early. I had my pick between Urban Embassy Specialty Coffee and The Expressionist Coffee Company. After enjoying a latte and watching the trams run past, I got on with my favorite way to explore a new city – a graffiti art tour.

Since I travel on a budget, I love AirBnB Experiences because they put you in touch with local guides who are passionate about their city’s history and culture. I also find other like-minded who interested in similar topics. Sometimes we even all go out for a beer afterwards. Graffiti art tours can take you to unusual parts of town or even to the back of the Sofia Opera House (below).

Sofia is covered in graffiti, and though this art form is not appreciated by everyone, it is so embedded in the fabric of the city that it stands as an example of tolerance and a voice of the people. The city was blanketed in the stuff which included a lot of political messages and large murals created by talented artists such as Bozko (above) and Mary Ann Loo (below).

I had also signed up for a Communist History Tour but couldn’t convince myself to concentrate for another few hours. Instead, I opted for The Red Flat, a family apartment preserved from the Communist Era (mid-80s, in this case). It was particularly cool to compare to other flats of the time from Moscow. This Bulgarian family had a father who worked overseas and were privy to a commissary stocked with special novelties (ie. Johnnie Walker Red Label) as result. Visitors can grab tour tickets for The Red Flat at GIFTED, a fantastic shop which supports local Bulgarian artists and poets. Горичката (“House of Flowers”), an artist collective nearby, is also not to be missed.

It was fun to find stores with Russian products, like the condensed milk below (for which my sweet kitten is named). Blueberries are also popular (haven’t seen those anywhere outside the States before) and, of course, Bulgaria is proud of its own honey (a common export of eastern Europe). One slight bummer was how prevalent cigarette smoke is in Sofia. I was pretty surprised to find 420-friendly stores around the city as well (ie. weed dispensaries). The times, they are a-changin’.

The highlight of my time in Bulgaria, however, was getting up into the mountains. I took a day trip up to the Rila Monastery, about a 2-hour drive from downtown. The ribbed decor represents the colors of the Bulgarian flag – red, white, and deep green (reads as black) and the monastery was founded over 1,000 years ago.

Wish I had stayed the night (book a room for $15USD/night) but I enjoyed a few hours soaking in the gorgeous frescoes and mosaics inside the church. How those paintings stay so well preserved while open to the elements is beyond me.

The foliage was beginning to pop and I had some time to paint up on the mountain. A babbling brook ran alongside the monastery walls.

The Nevsky Cathedral was basking in the autumn sun as we arrived back in Sofia.

Off the main vestibule, stained glass provided a beautiful moment for peace and reflection.

The stunning inner chamber reminded me of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg and it was comforting to be surrounded by Orthodox churches and onion domes once again.

All too soon it time to say goodbye to Sofia. Made in Blue was a great spot to sketch and spend my last few hours in the city before heading to the train. Such a kind staff! The farm-to-table movement has definitely arrived in Bulgaria and I was so appreciative of all the delicious and fresh offerings. Amazing how different a food scene can be, only 500 kilometers and a border away.

Sofia certainly ranks among my favorite cities ever visited. Easy to explore with plenty to do and very friendly locals – I couldn’t have asked for more. Now it’s back to Istanbul to enjoy the Biennale and autumn in Turkey. Hard to believe the winter holidays are only five weeks away. Loving this sunshine!

Sofia (Part 1)

Posted in Bulgaria, Culture4 Comments

Back in early September, as I began to brainstorm fall break destinations, Bulgaria sat firmly atop my list. I’d long heard that Sofia, the capital city, would be my kind of town – slightly rough around the edges with a good art scene, cafe culture, and plenty of green space. Bulgaria borders Turkey, Greece, and Romania, all colorful countries in their own right. I knew it was a former Communist Bloc state and the purported home of Viktor Krum. My new neighbor to the north beckoned and I accepted.

Having been landlocked in South Korea and restricted from exiting Russia by rail, I was eager to find a train which ran in between Istanbul and Sofia. Following a thin trail of websites, travel blogs and YouTube vlogs, I discovered the Sofia Express. The overnight journey would take roughly 12 hours and I was warned to bring my own food – there would be no dining car. There are two ways to purchase tickets for the Sofia Express and both involved in-person purchases at train station ticket windows. For anyone interested, you can find the details at the end of this blog.

Fall break arrived and I boarded the Sofia Express at Istanbul’s Halkalı railway station for a 8:40pm departure. I had opted to purchase a full sleeper cabin for myself for security reasons and the cost totaled to $128 for the roundtrip journey. Pulling down the seats to create my bed, I made up the lower bunk as we got underway. Sailing past my school on the outskirts of town, we headed due west towards Bulgaria.

The Bulgaria-Turkish border intersects at the town of Edirne, which just narrowly skirts the edge of eastern Greece. Disembarking at the first border crossing, you are stamped out of Turkey by passport control around 1am. After settling back into your train berth about an hour later, the train rolls on for few kilometers and then begin the knocks from the Bulgarian border guards. These guys kindly take your passport away to stamp it and return it to you about an hour later. The whole procedure takes nearly three hours in total – not a smooth night of sleep, I’m afraid. But it could have been – the cabin beds were comfortable (for someone of my shorter stature) and very clean. The private sink and tiny fridge were nice features as well.

After a few hours of sleep, I awoke to the golden glow of the Bulgarian countryside. Mountains wrapped in orange ringed the edge of my horizon and fall was in full effect. We rolled past harvested fields but otherwise there was little trace of humanity beyond our train tracks.

As we approached a number of small towns on the outskirts of Sofia, the homes reminded me of the dachas (country homes) outside of Moscow. The graffiti soon appeared, tags upon tags blanketing bridges and the side of the tracks. Cyrillic text took me right back to Russia.

We rolled into Sofia’s Central Station around 10am and I set off on foot for downtown. Having no Bulgarian lev (local currency) and hours until my AirBnB was available, I made the most of the fairly flat walk, soaking in the beautiful foliage among the classical buildings.

With no visa required for Americans, my travel preparations consisted of downloading the Google map of Sofia (a helpful thing to do when you don’t have wifi). I make sure to bookmark local cafes, bookstores, and art shops. These spots are great not only for my own hobbies but also for getting recommendations from friendly shopkeepers. My Sofia bookmarks included: Altruist (cafe with a patio out back), Slanchogled Sofia (art store), and The Elephant Bookstore (English titles). At the latter, the owner recommended The Little Things (pictured below), a sweet courtyard cafe where I found a cup of tea and lunch to get my trip started right.

Sold by the views of St. George’s Orthodox Church, my AirBnb was located in a residential neighborhood just off a main thoroughfare. The graffiti that blankets the city can give off an initially nefarious vibe, but I quickly realized that this was a cozy spot, with residents walking their dogs in the evenings and a wine bar just around the corner. I awakened to the ringing of church bells each morning.

I met up with my friend Linda soon after checking in. A Canadian who is married to a Bulgarian, Linda has lived in Sofia for over 20 years. Our paths have crossed at a number of conferences over the years and we caught up over dinner and drinks, having not seen each other since before the pandemic began. She approved of the walking tours I had lined up and recommended a bunch of great restaurants to check out. Nothing like advice from a local!

I’m going to stop here for now. I really loved Sofia and there’s just too much to share in one post. Thanks for reading and look for Part 2 in a few days 🙂

Purchasing Tickets for the Sofia Express in Istanbul:

Option 1: Go to Halkalı railway station, which is located 17 km from the city center on the Marmaray train line. Halkalı is the departure station for the Sofia Express. You can buy tickets from the ticket window at the top of the escalator.

Option 2: Sirkeci Railway Station or İstanbul Garı (located in Istanbul’s Fatih neighborhood). Directions told me to go to Ticket Window #4. I never saw Ticket Window #4 but I did find the ticket window labelled “International Trains” and was helped by a kind cashier who spoke plenty of English. My paper tickets in hand, I emerged victorious into Fatih and took my bus back to the ‘burbs.

Advice for the journey: Try to get to sleep soon after departure as you’ll be awake at the border from approximately 1am – 4am. Prepare for cabin knocks from border guards, line-ups at passport windows, and generally no attempt to make haste whatsoever. Both trains arrived 1-2 hours late, in my experience, so be careful when booking connections at your destination. Do bring your own food and some extra toilet paper wouldn’t hurt.

Street Cats

Posted in Culture, Istanbul2 Comments

This one is near and dear to my heart, considering that I brought my own little expat cat to this City of Kitties. No longer a kitten, Moloko is onto her third country at not even 4 years of age. As you can see from the photos below, she has it made in the shade here in Turkey. She’s adjusted very well and, of course, makes for wonderful company.

This past weekend, Mol held down the fort as I spent the night downtown in the Cihangir neighborhood near Taksim Square. Known for its bohemian vibes, Cihangir is where I’ve spent most of my time downtown since arriving. Dotted with antique shops, cute cafes, and street art, Cihangir has a lot of charm and, of course, a lot of cats.

I spent the night at the Hotel Corinne. The hotel is located just down the street from one of the oldest hamams (bathhouses) in Istanbul, the Tarihi Galatasaray Hamamı, which dates back to 1481. Walking the historic and narrow streets of Cihangir, dodging motorbikes and taxis, I was struck by the beauty of the Corinne’s lobby and bar on an earlier trip. Looked like the perfect place to enjoy a G&T and good conversation. Turns out, I was correct!

My good friend Julie met me for that drink. Julie and I arrived in Moscow the same year and we haven’t seen each other since I left in June of 2021. I took her to Hodan, a basement terrace full of modern art, delicious Turkish fare, and pitch perfect ambiance. Cats wandered through the restaurant terrace as we caught up and enjoyed dishes featuring artichoke, eggplant, prawns, and peas. Even with mezze-sized courses, we had no room for dessert.

Back to the cats… Cihangir, like so many neighborhoods of Istanbul, has a robust population of street cats. As I sipped my coffee in the Corinne lobby on Sunday morning, a few padded through the front door and made their breakfast requests known. It is so hard to deny those adorable, pleading eyes! One thing I will say is that, thankfully, the majority of the street cats I encounter appear to be well-fed, healthy, and have evidence of being spayed. Note the triangle missing from the ear on the cat below (top right). Just as street dogs are examined and tagged, local groups work to do the same for the cat population. Even so, it is estimated that up to one million feral cats live within Istanbul city limits. They even have their own documentary on Amazon Prime called Kedi. Check out the trailer here.

While dogs tend to roam on the outskirts of the city, like the fields near my school, cats are more adept at surviving in the tight confines of downtown. In many parts of the city, you will find bowls of food and water set out for the street cats. I’m told there are areas in which the cats are not treated well but, thus far, I’ve only seen locals looking out for them, paying for them to be spayed, and allowing them to mingle freely among the shops and cafes. Thankfully, Cihangir (below) and my neighborhood of Bahçeşehir are two such safe havens.

Back in the ‘burbs, Moloko continues to live her best Istanbul life. This week, she’ll have her first cat sitter while I travel to Dalyan with my Grade 7 students. My colleagues recommended Trusted Housesitters, a membership-based app and website which swaps free petsitting for free housing. Many people make their way around the world in this manner, enjoying new neighborhoods and countries while taking care of the precious pets who live in them. After using the Rover app in the States, this is a bit of a level up as people come with background checks, reviews, and in-depth personal profiles. Mol will have a number of Trusted Housesitters this fall, all of whom come highly recommended and excited to meet her. Should you be interested in joining the site, click this link for 25% off.

Time to pack and prepare to spend four days with 40 wacky and wonderful Grade 7 students. We fly direct to Dalyan and head straight to a sea turtle rescue. Also on the agenda – a visit to a pomegranate farm and an afternoon at the beach. With warmer temps still in effect in southwest Turkey, I’ve got no complaints! Stories from the trip to follow. Wishing you all a wonderful week.