Semester in Switzerland: Turkey

I am so sorry I am extremely behind on my blog posts! I am going to try to do 3 in a row, but Turkey, which was 3 weeks ago will probably be very vague! Internet in Turkey was a struggle to get, and although all of our hotels had wireless, it barely worked in the rooms.

I left for Turkey on a Saturday in October for my Academic Travel class. There were 27 kids, and our professor and when we got to Turkey our tour guide. My first impression of Istanbul is it is giant. On our second day being there, we walked around town for a couple hours, got to see some cool places and went on top of a tower and could see for miles in every direction, and all of it was Istanbul! In fact, on the last day there before we left for the capital of Turkey, Ankara, we went on a cruise down the Bosphorous strait, which lasted for 2 hours and when we got off the boat we were still in Istanbul.
Non detailed list of what we did in Istanbul:
1. We got to see a lot of Mosques. Most of them were designed by architect Sinan and are extremely beautiful buildings covered in colorful tiles on the inside. I have never seen so many shades of blue in one place ever before.
2. Spice market- We saw this our second day there, it is basically a preview of the Grand Bazaar and gave us some practice at haggling!
3. Hagia Sofia- incredibly beautiful. The upstairs of the Haiga Sofia had wonderful mosaic artworks of Jesus, and Mary and many scenes, and one of the ones we got to see is known as one of the most beautiful mosaics in the world.
4. Of course we went to the Grand Bazaar, and of course I got ripped off! But not before the man told me that he felt bad for my future husband because "I am stubborn, and a pain in the ass!" Grr.. Mean Turkish man!
5. Before the Grand Bazaar we got to go to a Turkish Carpet store and see many different types of Turkish carpets, and I even got to tie a knot in a silk rug that was being made, and will be worth $15,000 when it is finished. We got to see the woman that makes the carpets and watch her make a couple knots. This particular rug was going to take about 18 months, and she works on it 3 hours a day.
6. Sheesha bars. Every night there were at least 10 people that went out to a Sheesha bar and then out to the clubs. I was actually plagued with sickness for about 3 days there due to the pouring rain and cold we were walking around in, so I only went out with the group twice, but we got to experience Turkish culture.
7. Protests in Taksim Square. I was extremely scared when I saw hundreds of people marching through the streets protesting the bombings between the Turks and Kurds that were happening while we were there, but eventually I was calmed down and realized it was cool to see that peaceful demonstration two nights in a row.
8. 2 Different castles, one with an Asian influence and the other with a European influence.
9. The underground sistern where they used to keep water for the town, and at the bottom of one of the columns when they mostly drained the sistern, they found 2 Medusa heads- one is upside down and one is sideways.

The next Friday, we took off for Ankara where we saw the mosoleum for Ataturk, one of their great leaders. Saturday we went to Konya and saw a tomb and met with a Dervish and heard him talk about their beliefs and got to see part of their ceremonies. Sunday we took off for Antalya. Along the way we stopped at one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters as well as an old Roman town. It was really cool to see those things and think about the people that used to live there- but at that point everyone was super excited and restless to get to the all inclusive resort! Turkey was the only academic travel that had the privilege of going to an all inclusive for 3 days and having a vacation! The only reason it worked out is the owner of the hotel chain in Antalya was a prior student of the professor and gives us a great deal. I spent 3 days laying on the beach, laying by the pool, eating so much food and playing pool at night or going to the discoteca in the hotel! That Thursday we came back to Lugano, to cold weather!

Tying a knot

Overall, Turkey was a great experience and I am so glad I got to experience that country and culture. The people were wonderful and nice, as long as you stayed in the right places!

Some pictures: