India/Istanbul Trip Day 14: End of the journey/Overview (3/10)

We wake up and get breakfast at the hostel before packing our bags and heading back to the airport via the train. Try and get the deposit back for the train card and turns out that isnt actually a thing so I guess there is now a souvenir and free money when we return. Go to check in and the lines are unorganized and it is a big mess. Eventually get up to the counter and they had given my seat up so it had to be reassigned and the frequent flyer number was still not registered; turns out my "class" of ticket didnt qualify for frequent flyer miles on my base airline in their group (United and Turkish Air) which is why they kept taking it off my ticket. I will say great airline service on the plane, but the most hassles I have ever had to deal with outside the flights causing much frustration and unnecessary issues. The immigration and security are not that bad though I had my passport/ticket checked at least 8 times between arriving at the airport and getting to my boarding gate. Finally get on the plane and it is just like the other flights; friendly staff, awesome free liquor options, movies as soon as you sit down, etc. I watch Justice league, Last Vegas, Roman J Israel Esp., Blade Runner 2049, and Dunkirk (yeah gotta watch those movies when you got the chance :) ) while enjoying their food and some Efes and Glenlivet. Once we land, get off the plane and make it through customs (which was a ghost town so I didnt get to really benefit from my newly acquired global entry) but then have to wait for 30 mins to get my bag to end a great trip.

Overview:

The good:
1. People - Met many great people throughout the trip, those affiliated with the wedding group which made the time in India a pleasure, and those I met in Turkey affiliated with the hostel who were amazing to hang out with. Then there is Steph who met me in Turkey and was fun to catch up with a friend from a few years apart.
2. Far off lands - Both Turkey and India are insanely beautiful for multiple reason. The history involved in those countries/civilizations and the architecture is vastly different than most of what one sees in Europe and the Americas. Personally I have a stronger attraction to that of eastern architecture and color use so I thoroughly enjoyed looking at many of the buildings throughout the trip. That being said, in all the random alleys, bars and what not we walked into, not once did I or the people I was with feel unsafe or unwelcome.
3. Food - I think this was the only international trip I did not lose weight on. Granted some of that may have been the access to a free bus in India for most of the trip but still, all the delicious food didnt help.
4. Inflight experience with Turkish Air - There is a reason this airline is always on the short list for best in the world.

Below are some pics that put the many wonderful aspects of the trip into a quick summary as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The bad:
1. Hustlers in India - I have been in countries before with similar people doing what they can to extract money from tourists so I am not new to it, but I still dont like it. I do appreciate their trying to improve their situation and what not just hate dealing with it being a gringo.
2. Bartering - both countries work off bartering interactions which I do not like as I like to know what a price is and just either say yes or no and not deal with the negotiation part. Causes a lot of strife when trying to buy a scarf or get a taxi or whatever you are looking to do and it is something I just dont like dealing with.
3. Turkish air operations - I have never had so many problems with airline tickets on a trip. I do not understand how/why they seemed to have a problem at every single step of the way but I hope this is the exception and not the rule.

Take Home: I am looking forward to going back to both of these large countries and seeing many of the other cities/areas in each as from what I have read/heard, there is plenty of variety across both countries. Until then! :)

India/Istanbul Trip Day 13: Legs, trains and boats (3/9)

Weather cooperating today so we have breakfast in the hostel before setting out for the day. Walk down along the rail to make our way to the grand bazaar for the first time this trip. We make our way up this narrow street to one of the entrances where there is security (but nothing major). We walk in and it is amazing, it is like a small city of shops with little roads connecting them that wind up and down hill. The roofs are pretty and the whole area is well maintained.

One of the entrances to the grand bazaar.

One of the streets within the grand bazaar.

Roof of the grand bazaar.

Entrance to the University of Istanbul

Small mosque as we get lost walking in the city.

Part of the aqueduct from a long time ago. 

Small road winding up the hill through this neighborhood.

Think one could spend a day just walking through the aisles and checking out the little shops as there were also food stalls and drink places so you could easily take a break if you wanted. Decide to leave the bazaar and walk around a little bit. Find our way along a huge wall that we find out is part of the Istanbul University so we try and make our way onto campus to explore but get denied at the gate as we do not have institutional IDs so we keep walking through the area and find ourselves at the Suleymaniye mosque. It is one of the larger ones in Istanbul and is absolutely stunning. As we are approaching the call to prayer happens which sounds fascinating. We try to go in to see how this all works but during the prayer service, they close the tourist entrance and only practitioners can enter on their respective sides; sucks but I definitely understand and agree with that decision for them. The area is extremely peaceful with views of the city below going on for a while as the mosque is up on a hill. Wonderful views and a small little garden nearby with tombs next to a small mausoleum. Then we head down to the spice market again but on the way we wind up walking through tiny streets where they are closing down the streets for people to come out and pray on whatever they have (cardboard, mats, rugs, etc.) and people are helping each other get set up so they can pray.

Outside wall of the mosque

Above the big entry door to the mosque's courtyard.

The Suleymaniye mosque. Beautiful day to come across this impressive building.

Part of the mosque's courtyard.

Call to prayer at a mosque.

The mosque's courtyard.

Cool looking box in the middle of the courtyard. Not sure what it is for.

Roof above the tourist entrance to the mosque.

View from the mosque of the Bosporus.

Look at the Tower.

Look at all the domes.

Looking over at the spice market area

Boat traffic galore!

Look at all the similar chimneys or whatever they are going down this hill.

Liked this picture as it has a lot going on.

The mosque from the overlook. People along the side are washing their feet to enter.

In case you didnt believe me here is a close up.

One of the minarets. 

Looking down the side of the mosque. Huge building.

It was really cool seeing everyone A) help each other in a time that they know is important to everyone, and B) the amount of people that pray and the fact that people were not surprised to see shops/streets/etc. closed. We stop at a little doner place to grab a snack and then head through the spice market to get some turkish delights for the day's enjoyment. We then grab a train up to Kabatas where we get off (end of the line) and walk along the coast towards ortokoy as there was a food we were supposed to try. On the way we see the Besiktas stadium and walk through some of the side streets of Marmary University before winding up in Ortokoy. Look at the Kumpir (baked/stuffed potato) and nothing looks particularly interesting to me so we just go into a bar and grab some drinks while we wait for our ferry. Ferry comes and we head over to Uskudar on the Eastern side.

One of the monster estates we saw from the boat. Incredibly beautiful up close.

See what I am talking about?

As we were walking by the palace, across the street is the Besiktas FC stadium. 

Then we came across one of the old entrances for the palace.

Fancy doorways they have here.

Road we were walking along heading up the coast. 

From there we get on the rail to Kadikoy which is one of their big night life areas, which has a very different vibe from the place the first night up near the tower; this place seemed more like college bar hang outs with chill vibes and some pretty cool looking bars. Go into Zeplin to eat and drink (burger ok and beer selection decent but expensive) before going next door to Craft which is a very tall building with seating on each level and some good balcony space if you can get it. After a few drinks there, we make our way back to the hostel via the rail. Good last full day exploring a wonderful city.

Made it to Ortokoy and we found the mosque that was the turning point of the cruise.

Why so many chandeliers???? Looks great but extremely low and somewhat cluttered looking.

Other side of the mosque.

Boarded the boat and are heading out.

Side view of our mosque.

One more picture of the giant mosque on the other side of the river.