36 Hours in Istanbul

The whole journey to Istanbul was an interesting one, to say the least, however, I wouldn’t trade in a minute of it. At 5:30pm on Thursday evening, my three friends and I boarded the bus, thinking we were prepared for a 12 hour bus ride through the night…but boy, were we in for an adventure. The majority of the ride was through Bulgaria, so we arrived at the Turkish border around 1:00am, groggy and exhausted from what distressed sleep we had gotten so far, sprawled across the bus seats in every which way, trying our best to get comfortable. The process to cross the border was a little more intense than we had originally imagined. First, our passports were taken and checked. When our passports were returned to us, we were left waiting on the bus for the next step. Being that it was the middle of the night, the border wasn’t exactly a hopping joint, so it was hard to imagine what exactly could have taken so long, and being tired out of our minds didn’t really help the situation much either, I suppose. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, an official came on the bus and looked at our passports one by one. When he got to us four Americans, he realized that we didn’t have visas yet, so our bus “steward” (I guess you could call him) took us off the bus and we followed him through two parking lots to the only open office at this crazy hour. Finally, 20 leva later, we had Turkish visas. Our journey across the border was not yet complete, however. We had to go through a customs search, in which everyone on the bus had to stand outside behind a table with their entire luggage while the bus was searched. The officers then moved down the line checking each passenger’s luggage, but when they got to us, our steward friend pointed, uttered “Americans,” and they moved on without a search. Interpret that how you want, because I have no answers whatsoever.

Our hostel and the Sea of Marmara in the distance

After a total of nearly two hours, our bus crossed into Turkey. We arrived in Istanbul at about 5:40am, and I have to say, I am very proud of the job us four American girls did navigating a completely foreign city in the dark (don’t worry Mom and Dad, I may have been a tall, blonde American girl in Istanbul, Turkey, but I had my backpack snapped on, my purse wrapped around my body a few times, and a headscarf that hopefully covered most of my blond hair, so I was trying my hardest to blend in). In order to get to the Sultanahmet section of the city from our bus stop, we had to take two trams, which was not the first thing that we wanted to do at that early hour after getting close to no sleep, but the moment we stepped off the tram, we were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the morning. It was sunrise and the infamous Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque were silhouetted against the sky. Suddenly, the crazy transportation maze we experienced to get to this beautiful, cultured city was worth it a million times over…and heck, we got another stamp on our passports, which made us feel like we were all the more true world travelers.

Once we arrived, we stopped by our hostel to drop off some of our luggage in the lockers provided and met our new Turkish friend, Raddy for the first time! After a quick nap on the couch, with Raddy making fun of us (see picture below), we headed out for the day, or at least until 11:30am when our room would be ready. We found a great little café on the second floor overlooking a beautiful park and a mosque. It was the perfect place to watch Istanbul transform from quiet sidewalks to a bustling busy day.

Erin and I asleep with Raddy making fun!

Hagia Sofia

We spent the next few hours walking the streets, exploring the shops, and experiencing the craziness of the Grand Bazaar. Returning to our hostel, we cleaned up, relaxed for a bit, and were on the move once again. We got some lunch and made friends with the owners (which proved to be beneficial when we were in a rush to get dinner the next night before our bus home), then we explored the beautiful Hagia Sophia in all its glory. The Hagia Sophia is a gorgeous sight, brimming with culture and history all the way back to 360 A.D. It began as an Orthodox basilica, and then was made into a mosque in 1453 when the Ottomans conquered the city, and it is now a museum. It was another one of those unreal feelings to be in a place with such a deep history and meaning, and I know I am a pretty lucky girl when I have seen too many sights in the past month in which this unbelievable vibe is present.

Inside the Hagia Sofia

After crossing the adorable park filled with fountains, palm trees, vendors with roasted corn and chestnuts, and happy people, we walked around the grounds of the beautiful Blue Mosque, which got its name from the blue tiles on the walls of the interior. Istanbul is in the prime location, right on the edge of the European continent. Our hostel is situated only a few streets up from the Sea of Marmara, so we walked down, sat on the rocks for a bit, and simply tried to overcome the fact that we were looking across the water and seeing the Asian continent staring back at us. Another one of those unreal moments. Heads up, I may be pointing those out quite frequently.

That night, we had a delicious dinner at a Turkish restaurant, grabbed baklava from one of many sweet shops, and had a cocktail with our Turkish friend Raddy in the lounge of our hostel.

The following morning, Saturday, after a great breakfast on our hostel’s rooftop terrace overlooking the sea, we checked out and spent the day exploring Istanbul. First stop: Topkapi Palace. We walked the beautiful grounds and saw the amazing palace, which was the residence of Ottoman Sultans during the years of 1465-1856. After some souvenir shopping, we found an adorable “hole in the wall” restaurant for lunch, where I got a delicious cheese and potato filled pancake (and not the traditional pancake all you Americans are picturing). Let’s just say our next stop also involved food: Turkish delights and more baklava. I couldn’t help myself. I was in Turkey, after all!

View from breakfast

Hundreds of fishermen

We had an 8:30pm bus back to Blagoevgrad, so we found ourselves for the rest of the day down by the sea (again, couldn’t really help myself…the sea, after all, is one of my favorite places). This time we were on the bridge that connects Europe and Asia, and it was an amazing sight. You look down and fishing poles, hundreds, line the railing; the way of life for these people. After more exploring, photo taking, and taking in all we could, we headed back to our restaurant owner friends, grabbed yet another great meal, and navigated our way back to the bus station. Another long ride and we were back in Blagoevgrad at 8am Sunday morning, and boy was I thankful it was a Sunday because I climbed immediately into my bed and fell asleep within seconds.

But Istanbul...worth every lost second of sleep.