My flight home from Varna was via Istanbul with a 9-hour layover. I never was in Turkey before and instead of sitting at the airport decided to see a little bit of Istanbul. The flight to Istanbul was scheduled to arrive at 5 am. Tourist attractions open at 9 am. The boarding for the flight to Houston began at 1 pm. This meant only a small window for sightseeing and I had to plan my time carefully.
It took me almost 2 hours to get off the plane and out of the airport. The line to go through passport control was enormous. For a brief moment I thought of giving up and resting at the airport until my next flight. I did not sleep all night and felt tired, but I dismissed that thought and stayed in the line. My dual citizenship was an advantage. Russians do not need a Turkish visa. The border officer quickly stamped my passport, no questions asked.
While doing my homework for the trip I calculated that I needed to exchange $20 to Turkish liras to pay for transport and museum tickets. In case this amount was not enough I could exchange a few dollars more rather than be left with the liras that I could not spend.
Atatürk International airport is well connected to the city by metro. Tickets are sold by vending machines. It is always fun to figure out what buttons to press on these machines when using them the first time. According to my preparation notes I should travel to Zeytinburnu station and then change to Tram T1 (blue). That ‘blue’ puzzled me a bit, but the tram came. It was modern, air-conditioned and had a moving line that displayed the stop names both in Turkish and English.
It was 8 am when I got off the tram at Sultanahmet stop in the historic city center still too early to see any museum. My ‘bucket list’ consisted of Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and maybe the Underground Cisterns. The streets were quiet and deserted except for some solitary tourists who like me wandered around and snapped photos. I walked along the formidable Walls of Constantinople. The sun was low and even the previous sleepless night at Varna airport did not prevent me from enjoying the walk. Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamam (Turkish baths) were open. I poked in
to have a glimpse of their luxurious interior and wished that I had time for a hamam that included a relaxing bath, massage and a platter of fruit, nuts and Turkish delights. Ah, that would so good for a weary traveler.
Instead of getting a royal treatment at the baths I turned towards the Blue Mosque. Touts were already around offering their services. They were not particularly annoying and left me alone when I ignored them. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque, is a functioning mosque and a tourist site. It does not cost anything to see it. However, proper clothes are required. At the entrance ladies get a head scarf and a loose dress to cover themselves. Shoes must be taken off and carried in a provided plastic bag or left outside. I liked the Blue Mosque, but it was Hagia Sophia that I was looking forward to seeing the most.
The ticket to Hagia Sophia was 40 liras. Since it is a museum there is no need to take off shoes or to cover bare body parts. Hagia Sophia did not disappoint. Huge and magnificent, it was originally built as a Greek Orthodox basilica dedicated to the Wisdom of God. When Constantinople (renamed to Istanbul in 1930) was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque. Several Christian paintings and mosaics still remain inside, but everything else like the bells, alter and iconostasis were destroyed. The ramp leads to the upper level for a better view of the interior and the famous black with gold calligraphy medallions.
From Hagia Sophia I walked 2 short tram stops to the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. The Bazaar was dazzling both literally and metaphorically. Everything sold there was glittering. Gold shops stood out with their monochromatic bright yellow while others displayed all colors of the rainbow. Buying anything at an oriental market implies lengthy and slow bargaining that I could not afford. Therefore I limited myself to admiring the merchandise.
Soon it was time to go back to the airport. It was almost noon and I began feeling hungry. Turkish Airlines served hot breakfast on the 50-minute flight Varna – Istanbul with quiet efficiency. I also ate a sandwich that I had my backpack, but this was in the morning. A snack would help me to last until the next meal on the plane. I set aside enough liras for one tram and one metro rides and spent the rest on a small bottle of water and two grilled ears of corn that I bought from a street vendor. The corn smelled and tasted delicious.
As much as I wanted to see the Underground Cisterns I had no time for this fascinating structure. Istanbul has several hundreds of ancient cisterns lying beneath the city. First cisterns were built in the 4th century, originally designed to be an underground commercial center. Later the cisterns were rebuilt and enlarged to serve as a water supply system. These cisterns were filming locations for Indiana Jones and James Bond movies and Tom Hank’s ‘Inferno’.
Instead of visiting the cisterns I took Tram T1 which was not ‘blue’. I did that because everyone at the stop boarded that tram and I also noticed that there was only one line of tram tracks with no forks. My reasoning was that any tram would take to me Zeytinburnu metro station. It did not work that way. The tram did not go as far as Zeytinburnu. At the last stop everyone got off and changed to another tram. Now the tram colors made sense to me. They all go along the same tracks, but between different stops. Only ‘blue’ trams go to Zeytinburnu.
At Atatürk airport I quickly went through passport control and security and was at the g
ate just in time for boarding. My 12-hour flight Istanbul-Houston was stress-free, thanks to Turkish Airlines. The seats were wide and comfortable; the meals were of restaurant quality plus excellent service. Every passenger received a kit with onboard necessities that even included lip balm. No wonder that Turkish Airlines was voted Europe’s best airline six years in a row. Not being in the mood for watching movies I played computer games, dozed off, woke up and played more until we safely landed in Houston.