It's 9:30am (i think) and Jordan and I were just awakened by a conductor to be informed that our sleeper car from Istanbul, Turkey to Thessalonika (sp?), Greece is half an hour from arriving. We were speculating last night abut where we were riding through and if we would have a shot at making it home if we fell out of the train without our wallets, as we were seemingly in the middle of nowhere. But this morning the landscape is beautiful - kilometers of wheat fields, a few red rick looking ruins, at the moment broken by one small mountain rising in the distance.
We are coming into the city now. I'd like to talk a bit about our nights out in Istanbul but I'm not sure I'll have time to finish now. We'll see how it goes.
Friday night we headed "downtown" without a clear picture of how we were getting where we were going, although I did know the name of the street from researching online: Istiklal Caddesi. After a few mishaps we managed to get on a tram going the right direction, and Terry was even able to meet 3 American girls, an Australian guy and a South African guy who were going the same direction (one of the girls even went to Bryn Mawr!) and knew how to get there, so we ended up tagging along with them, which was fortunate as we had a transfer to make. But we made it. We were looking to start with something more chill (it was around 11pm at this point) and the other group wanted something else, so we split with them (and frankly I think the other two gents were quite happy to be rid of us so they could have the girls to themselves). But little did we know that it would not be the last we saw of them...
Istiklal Caddesi is a wide walking-only boulevard in the middle of the Northern part of European Istanbul. It is about 2km long and goes from Taksim Square in the north gently downhill to a big tower in the south whose name I don't recall (Terry went there and knows, it starts with a G). Lined with bars, hookah, clubs, and live music on both sides and down most side streets, it is significant as the hub and nearly the extent of the night life in most of Istanbul, a fascinating place in a city otherwise much older and more conservative. This seems to be the line where the battle between new liberal and secular culture and old conservative and religious culture is being fought. Or perhaps the place where they are flirting, "talking", and thinking about going on a date. Hard to say.
[fast forward 24 hours.. now writing from our hotel in Athens. Back to back nights on sleeper trains takes a lot out of a man.. sleeping soon.]
After wandering down a few side streets we found a hookah bar we liked the look of and ordered a few milkshakes and some hookah. We ended up just chilling there for about an hour and a half, and it was very enjoyable. Great way to relax, place was cheap and the guys working there were friendly. Around 1:30am Jordan and I decided we wanted to hit some dancing, Istanbul clubs supposedly open until 4-5am. I knew the names of a few places that had stuff going on, but only had a sketchy map, so we wandered around more. We found some upbeat live music and the same girls again, but it was on a narrow street with too much traffic and too many Turkish guys creeping in the back and staring at us, so we left quickly. Josh and Matt split off to find something more chill (which they did, a guitar and violin playing chill schnazz on another side street where they stayed for a few hours) while Jordan, Terry and I wandered around looking for this club. We ended up walking up and down the boulevard a couple of times before finally zeroing in and getting someone to show us exactly where it was. Turns out the place, Club 360, is in an apartment building, so there is no indication of it from outside. We trekked up 7 stories only to find that Terry, wearing shorts, couldn't get in. So we did the friendly thing and sent him home so that Jordan and I could have a good time and he could live vicariously through us.
The place had no cover, was at the top of this building, had a deck where you could look out on the city, and the dj was bumping the house tunes. Even though it was after 2 there was more standing around than dancing, so we decided to get things bumping. Long story short, we danced for about an hour and a half and had a really great time. There was also an MC and he knew what was up, which was a lot of fun. And lo, the same 3 girls and 2 guys showed up AGAIN... although by this time they were all pretty attached so we didn't dance with them much. We ended up walking out with them and splitting cabs back since we were staying close by. We arrived to hear the Aussie yelling at his cabby for charging too much. They fought for a few minutes, threatened to call the police. We offered to pay both fares and ended up just paying reasonably for ours and peacing. Walking back to the hostel we met a dog, which we learned from the girls the turkish word was "chipek" (pronounced kuh-PEK). He was a great dog and followed us home after we ditched everyone else even though one of the girls seemed to want us to hang out...
Saturday night actually ended up pretty similarly (not by chance, we had a great time Friday so a repeat sounded good) except for a few key factors. I will highlight these. Foremost, Jordan's hair. Pics should be up soon. Second, the football match.. apparently the Istanbul regional team (Cola Turka? or something) beat another team in a big match that evening, and the streets were crazy. We took two cabs and almost lost each other since the cabbies wouldn't go near Taksim square. My cab also got ripped off pretty hard, with the guy charging a lot and dropping us far away. I think he also pulled some sleight of hand on me to get me to pay even more (switching bills when I wasn't looking), which I realized, but couldn't prove. I was impressed enough with the trick that I let him have it rather than argue for 10 more minutes...
Similar story with the hookah, except we got an especially good waiter at a different bar, which was very enjoyable. We also tried Ouzo, which was delicious and a great experience. All this time people were marching up and down the street with flags and jerseys, cheering, singing, and blowing air horns. Fortunately we were down a side street far enough that it was chill. Terry wanted to see 360, so we headed back over for more fun. The girl at the door had told us the previous night that usually they only let people in with 1:1 gender ratio, so we were concerned. Fortunately, Terry worked his magic and we met a group of girls and a few guys from Rutgers at the door who we walked in with and hung with for a while. One of them I think had a younger brother in Wharton that Jordan and Terry knew. We hung with them for a bit but then a bunch of them left so that was mostly it. This time they forced us to buy drinks or pay cover, so we first picked up glasses off another table, but ultimately bought some 12 lira beers (which were worth probably a fifth of that). The place was a lot more crowded, so we danced in the back for a while. They also had a drummer playing along for a while with the dj which was pretty cool. Terry met some awesome people as usual and left around 2:30.
We danced all around again. Jordan and I are really great dancers, and also generally awesome looking (especially in a club mostly of guys in jackets) so we always attract a lot of attention (the good kind), and tend to get things moving. It is a lot of fun. This was true both nights. The DJ was also really great both nights, doing a lot more mixing and scratching than I have seen in a while, and his musical picks were spot on. At one point, the waiter came into the middle of the crowd to get us to buy more drinks. One of the girls from before was still hanging around. I turned to Jordan as if to talk, and the waiter then turned to the girl. She started arguing with him, and we used the diversion to escape to the other side of the room and avoid paying anything else. Maybe a dirty trick, but it worked out. We danced next to a couple of other girls for a while and watched maybe a half dozen guys make advances on them, which as always was hilarious. And ended up being the last people dancing before leaving around 4am when they hit the lights.
This is where things get really interesting.
We skipped the guys trying to sell cabs by the door and walked up a block to catch one in an alley. As we had learned, we said "meter, meter" instead of haggling a price (the meter price to the hostel was around 12-15 lira, negotiating usually got us 20-25), and the guy assented. We told him the district, but he didn't seem to speak english. 5 minutes into the ride we got off a highway and instead of crossing the bridge as we had on other rides, got on another highway. Jordan and I started wondering what was going on as the price went up to 15.. then 20.. the guy was flying down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic very closely, and we had no idea where we were. Signs were unfamiliar, and we started repeating the district and asking where we were going, with no response except him pointing vaguely. 25.. 30.. We seemed to be at an airport, and he missed a turn that was supposed to be where we were going. We started raising our voices, wondering if we were being taken somewhere to be mugged, or what. Finally we were on the coast, but approaching from the other side. The cabbie seemed to have gone up to a much further away bridge and driven across the whole island only to circle around from the back side. By the time we got somewhere vaguely familiar the fare was 40 lira. We asked him to stop on a side street outside a hotel. I handed him a 20 and we got out. He also got out and started yelling at us in Turkish.
I pulled out the map to show him the route and try to explain. He grabbed the map, then opened the door and grabbed me as if to pull me back in the cab. We were also basically yelling at this point, although there was no sign that either of us understood the other in the slightest. He continued to pull on me. He turned an grabbed something small out of the door of his car. He said something about the police, and at first I thought it was a phone. "Fine," said Jordan, "please call the police so we can explain this." To make things better, a call to prayer started from the nearby mosque. He gestured at it as if to say "how dare you fight me during this." Jordan indicated his respect for it and said, "you are the one being disrespectful by trying to cheat us in front of this mosque." He grabbed Jordan, who shook him off. Then grabbed me. I couldn't see his other hand, holding what was not a phone. I heard a flick and saw something shiny in my peripheral vision.
"Oh shit." I thought, "he's got a knife."
I turned (still in his grip) to look. Thank goodness, it was not a knife. It was a telescoping metal night stick that looked like it would hurt quite a bit, and he was brandishing it at me and looking more upset by the second. I pushed him away from me and backed up. We traded more verbage and didn't let him gain any ground on us. He didn't make another move, and we turned (cautiously) and walked away. He continued to yell, but the crisis seemed to be averted as we moved off the street into the hotel courtyard where we figured we were safer. A few minutes later, we looked and he had driven away.
We began to walk "back" (not too sure where we were), both completely amped. I'm sure that was more adrenaline than I've had in my body in some time. I would have pitied anyone who tried to jump us at that point. Happily, we found chipek again and I felt even safer walking back with him (he always barked at taxis so we figured we were safe if the guy showed up again). We found our way back safely and hit the sack, although after the events of the night it took a while to fall asleep...
Epilogue: we found chipek again the next day on our way out (he was a great and loyal dog) and he followed us most of the way to the tram. We got some pictures of him before he headed off into the sunset, so if you see the ones of the big yellow dog with Jordan, those are him.
John covered much of the daytime stuff. Lots of people harassing you to eat at their restaurant. Beautiful views - walking/driving along the coast is incredible. We also went in the Hagia Sophia, which was one of the first big Christian cathedrals to be built, back in like 400AD, although it has been a mosque since 1453. Very grand, incredible to be inside, and some amazing art and architecture. What scope and breadth of history we have seen on this trip.
I sure do like to write long posts. Sleep now. Athens later [we met some Athenian girls at the train station last night who gave us some good tips]. Home tomorrow for me, so this might be my last post. Miss y'all.
-jc
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