The morning of Ozge's wedding, I started my day at the Hagia Sophia, which was first constructed as a church in 537 and converted to a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in the 1400s. Some of the original Christian murals have been restored (they were plastered over by the Islamic conquers), while the important historical Islamic elements were preserved. Today the sight is a non-denominational museum. The building was beautiful, as expected, and it's amazing to walk through a building that was constructed nearly 1500 years ago and still is absolutely glorious.
After the museum, I went back to the Grand Bazaar for a little more souvenir browsing. I picked up a silk scarf, a small coin purse, a bracelet, and some Turkish evil-eye magnets before deciding it was time to escape the crowded halls.
After getting back to my hostel and changing for Ozge's wedding, I took a slightly terrifying taxi ride through very dense and aggressive Istanbul traffic to the wedding hotel. With traffic, the drive took over an hour, and I arrived just in time. The wedding was at a beautiful hotel overlooking the Bosphorus. I would estimate there were 75 guests, which made it easy to meet some of Ozge's family -- and it was easy to guess who were family members, because the women in Ozge's family have such a wonderfully strong family resemblance! The wedding was very similar to a Western style wedding, but with a few interesting Turkish traditions. The most interesting was the presentation of gold bracelets from the families to the bride- family members and friends traditionally give gold as a way to provide a nest egg for the new couple, since gold has long been more stable than any currency. The bride then wore the gold bracelets for the rest of the evening. There were also clearly a few traditional dances - at one point a Turkish Wharton friend hurriedly excused himself from the table for the "groom's dance." The wedding also included a fireworks show, which I'm not sure is traditional, but was fun nonetheless. The food was amazing - finally some great food in Istanbul!
I was happy to see some familiar faces from Wharton, and the eight or so of us reminisced a bit about the not-so-distant past and caught up on each others' progressing summers. It was fun to learn that even though it was a rather diverse group of Wharton students (I believe I was the only American in the group), we all had developed almost the same impression of Istanbul: wonderful, massive, hectic streets, crowded, more expensive than expected, fascinating, and disappointing food (excluding Ozge's wedding).
We danced at Ozge's wedding until nearly 1am, before we had to say our goodbyes. I grabbed a taxi with another Wharton couple that was staying near my hostel. When I arrived I said hello to my new friends, the hostel staff, who were hanging out in the downstairs cafe, and then headed to bed.
I woke up the next morning and decided to do some touring of Istanbul's Asia-side and the islands between the two continents. Istanbul straddles both Europe and Asia, with roughly half the city on each continent. Most of the major tourist sights are on the European side, as was Ozge's wedding.
Istanbul runs public ferries between the two sides, so for a little more than the cost of a tram ride, you can enjoy beautiful ferry rides between Istanbul's two coasts. My first stop was to Kadikoy, a neighborhood on Istanbul's Asia side. The 30-minute ferry was spectacularly scenic. The Asia side was much less touristy: instead of merchants yelling to me in English to come to their stores, I was chased by pamphlet-distributors yelling at me in Turkish to take one of their fliers for English language courses. I thought this was amusing.
Kadikoy had some nice cafes and markets, but after grabbing lunch, I decided it was time to move on. I then took an hour long ferry to the furthest and largest of the Princes' Islands, Buyukada. The islands are known as the Princes' Islands because they were where Sultans used to banish any sons that showed signs of unruliness or power-thirstiness.
Buyukada was beautiful, although packed full of others that decided an island trip was a good way to spend a hot Sunday. The island architecture reminded me a bit of a toned down New Orleans, and the flowers along the streets were wonderful. Cars are not allowed on the island, so the fastest way around is by (kinda smelly) horse-drawn taxis. After walking around a good deal of the island, I took a break at a cafe overlooking the docks with a wonderful view of Istanbul.
After a little more touring of the island,I hopped a ferry back to the European mainland, and decided to make the hour long walk between the ferry docks and my hostel. As I walked home, I was reminded that Istanbul is certainly one busy place.
After stopping for a doner kebab along the way (disappointing again), I reached my hostel about 8.30pm. By the time I had showered, I was due to meet up with some other hostelers that I've met over the last few days: two Canadian girls, Jamie and Emily, and a English guy, Stewie. We were joined by other travelers from England and Sweden on the hostel roof, who were also staying in the hostel's 30-bed dorm room that goes for about $9-$11 per bed per night. Although the 30-bed dorm room apparently is a dump and has a resident cat, the room seems to create a strong bonding experience and results in a lot of new friendships. I'm still feeling pretty good about the premium I'm paying for a pretty decent 6-bed room, but I'm glad I've been invited to join this group's evening hangouts without having to suffer the colossal dorm room. The hostel I'm staying at has been a fun place to hang out; both the staff and the guests are very fun and friendly.
I've got one last day in Istanbul before I'm off to Amsterdam. I'm planning on taking the last day easy, before trying to fit in a lot of Amsterdam in less than three days. I'm hoping for a break from this heat, too!
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