Wednesday, 14 August, 2013; 10:34 Pm; Orient Hostel
Today has been amazing. the last half-hour was the most informative and aazing for a personal level, some of which I probably shouldn't put here, or at least on the blog when I type this up.
STOP BLOGGING HERE.
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blahblahblah bla blah bla bla bla blah blah. Blah. YOUR FACE.
START BLOGGING HERE.
Right, so this morning, we went to a synagogue, which was really cool. There's a ton of security you have to go through before you can actually go in - passport, metal detector, the works. once we were in, we had to wait around a little fora guide to show us around. We also had to wait because the Olympics Application Committee for 2020 was doing a little bit of filming there while we were there.
Once the guide arrived, he talked a little bit about the symbolism of the various things (which I don't really recall) and how the various ceremonies were held. He did the talking in Turkish, so Mert and Can had to translate.
Once we left the sanctuary-type area, we went out into a lobby-tpe place where he talked about kabbalah (spelling?), of mysticism and intellect and such. It was really quite interesting.
As we were leaving, we asked about where the guide was from. His family came from Spain during the Inquisition, as well as another place I can't recall. His family his been in Istanbul for over 600 years, and we learned, on the tail end of the tour, that he also spoke Spanish. (Of the group, not counting the Turks, 5/6 of us have a functional or better level of Spanish).
After that, we went to a museum aboutJews in Istanbul. It was interesting, from what I read. The Turks were very good about being a known haven for the Jews during the Inquisition, and provided refuge for many Jewish families who didn't want to convert and didn't want to die at the hands of the SPanish. I don't recall what it said about World War Two, but I think that was a bit of a different sort of situation.
We had a really good lunch of beans and rice and yogurt and bread and deliciousness.
We went to a mosque afterwards. It was enormous and beautiful. There's an intricate amount of tiling and carving, all the way up to the top of the dome (well the inside of it, anyway).
We stayed there fora while, and it was really nice. We hung around on the grounds as well, which looks like a college campus, if your back is to the mosque. The courtyard, on the other hand, is a place that no college campus can afford - unless they can afford a crap-ton of marble and a time machine to go back and replicate how the people back then did it. There are pillars all around the edge, and above them were blue and white tiles - large ones - invoking the various names of Allah (Allah all-loving, Allah all-powerful, etc) After the mosque, we made a quick stop by the hostel to drop off Katie, who wasn't feeling too well, and to maybe change shirts before we went to Batu's house for dinner. We left an hour late, but we wound up getting there half an hour early.
His house is SO NICE. the rooms are HUGE. The family is so nice, especially his mom. It's turkish custom to give gifts to a host as well as to a guest. Also, she made THE MOST AMAZING FOOD I HAVE EVER HAD EVER. The appetizers were stuffed grape leaves (not at all like what you might get at Lebanese Taverna - they too much olive oil on, and I can't stand olive oil), as well as these things where the outside was sort of like a croissant and the inside had melted cheese and Turkish bacon. Then was the salad. Then was THE BEST RICE EVER as well as this... I don't know what the outside was, but it was stuffed with meat and deliciousness (A/N Update: it was eggplant). Also, for anyone who says that rice is only good with salt or sauce has clearly never had Turkish rice. Seriously. I don't know what Batu's mom did to it, but I didn't know rice came like that. It actually has flavor. Who knew rice could have flavor?
Dessert was three types of baklava that were all homemade, and it was the most amazing baklava that I've ever had. You could tell that it was fresh because it wasn't super duper dry and flaky and hard, like you get a a grocery. It was a bit dry and flaky, but it was clearly not hard, and calling it 'dry' is a bit of stretch. it was so good.
On the way back to the hostel, we had an interesting discussion about politics after we dropped off Can and Mert at the transit they needed. I put in a little bit (the topics were gay rights and abortion), but it was interesting to see Alex and Sean go at it. Alex has done many debate tournaments, so she knows about current events, and Sean is Sean, so he knows a bit about everything. Also, Sean is used to discussing points at length.
Also, when we got back, Jim found his camera, and the case in which he had left an exorbitant amount of money. Huzzah!
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