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February 06, 2005
Travel Story #5
We'd been drinking tea and walking around Istanbul all day stopping to see the oversized buildings on the map. "There's a bunch of stuff down here, the Hagia Sofia and stuff. Let's go see them."
"I bet they'll charge us a ton to see that stuff. These people are money hungry. remember they charged us to get into this fucking country."
"No way. Those are like national treasures. That'd be like charging to get into the Smithsonian."
When we got to the Hagia Sofia we found the wanted over $20. "It doesn't even look that impressive from the outside. Why would we want to pay $20 to see the inside."
"It's pretty big. I think the outside is enough. Now I saw the Hagia Sofia. Done. Hey, dad. The Topkapi is right over here. Let's go in there. They definitely can't charge us for that."
Sure, they could $35 a ticket. They made sure to charge in dollars so that you'd know exactly how badly you were getting screwed. "Fuck them. Fuck this country. I'm not going in there."
"I want to go in."
"Fine. You pay the fucking $35 to get in. I'll wait for you out here."
"I'm not paying. Let's see if we can sneak in."
"Oh. Good idea."
We spent the next few minutes wandering around the area looking for a way in. "This was a fotress. I don't think we'll find a way in."
"Come on, dad. They open the doors to let people in. Maybe we can sneak in the exit."
"Yeah. Let's scout out first."
We went over to teh exit and found the huge, 35 foot tall, doors opened to let tourists out. It looked like the tourists were opening the doors. We loitered around the doors for a bit to see if there was anyone to stop us. "It looks clear."
"Ok. I'm behind you."
We stepped in through the door and met almost eye to eye with a guard. He stood behind the door so we could see him until we walked in. I tried as naturally as possible to act like to appear to be a tourist stealing a glimpse instead of stealing entry. Then we ran.
We walked around the palace grounds trying doors and looking out for scalable parts of the wall. "Hey, we can fit in through that rusted out door. It doesn't look like it's been replaced since the sultans lived here."
We approached the doors and found it was the storage area. old parts of the palace and old automobiles lay in the open air. "It looks like they store the crap here, but I bet it's connected to the rest of the palace. Maybe we can see all the secret shit."
"You first."
I stepped in the door. It was an easy fit. I still had to be careful so as not to cut myself on the jagged rusty edges of the door. I had over half my body through the door; I had just fit my head through when a dog came charging out from behind one of the decrepit trucks. "Fuck!"
"What?"
"Ow. Fuck. Dog." I had hit my head on the door when the dog startled me. I hurried back through the door. The dog came up to the door and made no attempt to come through the crack. "Let's skip this one."
We walked around the palace. After an hour or so we came back to our approximate starting spot. "Let's see if the Blue Mosque is free."
"I don't know. It doesn't look all that great. I thought the mosques were really great around here. Like that one you always see when they show us bombing Baghdad. The one with all the tiles."
"Yeah. I guess they aren't as cool as that one. There are so many though."
"Let's jsut go to see what they look like inside."
We made it up to the blue mosque and were turned away at the door. It was almost prayer time. We couldn't go in during prayer time. The bouncer asked us to hang out in the plaza in front of the mosque. All the mosques in Istanbul have a plaza area in front of them. They are walled in on all sides, the main part of the mosque making the fourth wall. In the middle of the plaze is a small dome. The dome is supported by arches and the center of the dome is solid and lined with water spouts. The faithful respond to the call to prayer and stop at the small dome to wash their hands, feet, and head. Some are very dilligent about their washing others just get themselves wet.
"Did you see that? That guy just snot in there."
"What?"
"He didn't even wash himself. He just walked up and blew some snot at the thing. Disgusting."
"No way. What if someone else stepped in it?"
"I don't think he cares."
We sat on the marble steps on the outside of the plaza and watched the men come up and clean themselves.
"That guy has been there for, like, five minutes."
"He's going to miss the whole prayer."
"Hey. That guy just stepped up to the thing and left."
"It must be getting close to start time. -- Ew. Another snotter."
"Sick. Can't he do that somewhere else? -- That's probably why the guy has to keep cleaning."
We saw everyone leaving the mosque and went to see what it looked like inside. "Take off your shoes before you go in" the guard told us. I stepped up onto the first step, the blue marble step, and walked toward the door. I was reaching down to untie my shoes when someone grabbed me. A couple people pushed me and I heard some yelling. What the hell is going on?
"Take off your shoes here." They pushed me off the step.
"Brian. Why didn't you take off your shoes?"
"I was going to. I didn't know you had to do it before you step on the blue part."
"I'm surprised they didn't kill you. Maybe they're gathering everybody outside to cut your balls off when you leave. -- Stay away from me."
"You'd let them cut off your own son's balls?
"Shh. Don't let Allah hear you saying 'balls.'"
We had seen most everything of interest on the map. Everything but a Roman aquaduct and a mosque on the other side of town. "Let's go check this aquaduct out."
"That's a long walk."
"So what? You need it. You're getting old."
"Let's go, you little shit."
We walked across town to the aquaduct. It now served as somethign for cars to pass through instead of something to carry water. It was hot. I needed some water."Hey, look that store has juice outside."
The store had two juice machines. The type with the clear plastic top. The kind that squirts its liquid up and it drains down the clear part for you to see. It looked like orange juice and something red. Maybe cherry. There was cherry juice everywhere.
"You think that's cherry juice?"
"Maybe, but I'm not drinking it"
"Why not?"
"It's sitting out here on the street. You never know how long it's been out here. It's probably hot too."
"No, it's cold. And it's only 500 000 lira."
The juice seemed to be self serve. A stack of cups sat in between the two machines. But it didn't look like there was any place to pay. I grabbed a glass, filled it up and drank the juice. It was delicious. It was cold -- but where do I pay?
Some Turkish guy came up and grabbed a glass of what must have been orange. I figured I'd watch him to see where he paid.
He paid me. What the fuck? He just gave me the money. That's means I'm an employee. I should get paid for this. I grabbed another glass of juice, drank it down and lay two 500 000 lira coins on the table - one for him. one for me.
"Did that guy just pay you?"
"Yeah. What is it, just because I'm light skinned he thinks I'm a servant?"
We walked on toward the outmost mosque highlighted on the map. The neighborhoods were getting visibly worse until we got to a huge mosque. It sat in a park-like setting. It was call to prayer again.
"Let's just skip it."
"We came all the way out here."
"Once you see one mosque you've seen them all. Besides. I want some tea."
"Whatever."
We walked along side the mosque to get to the road on the other side. The mosque grounds were filled with kids. Kids of all ages running around, some playing soccer, some screaming. Some screaming, "American. American."
"I think we're on the wrong side of town."
"No way. It seems safe."
"They don't seem to like us."
A soccer ball few within inches of my face. The kids laughed. "Alright. Let's head out."
We hurried out of the mosque grounds and come out on a commercial street. It was a walking street of sorts. "I need some tea."
"I think those guys have some. Maybe that's a tea house." A handful of men stood around a doorway. As we walked toward it they stepped out of the way. Some went back inside. It looked like some public establishment, so we entered.
It was a long hallway. After about 15 feet it turned to the left and opened to a large area at the bottom of a stairway. There was a cart next to the stairway with men standing all around it. It was a tea cart. A tea house. Good.
We stepped up to the tea cart and tried to place our order. An old man standing next to the cart set down his empty glass and grabbed my arm. He motioned down another hallway and said soemthign in Turkish. What does he want?
He started walking and motioned in a friendly way for my dad to follow us. I was going with him because he held my arm. As we started walking he dropeed my arm.
We entered a part of the hallway that was barely light. There he motioned us into a dark, dank room. It had dirt floors and smelt of mold. Six men wlaked with their shirts off digging in the floor, their workspace light with floodlights.
Someone came in behind us ushering us out of the doorway so he could move a wheelbarrow full of wet cement into the room.
The old man became animated. He motioned to the ceiling. To the walls. To the small high windows. What the hell is going on?
My dad tried again to ask for tea.
The old man yelled to one of the men with a shovel. The younger man left the room. Everyone else with a shovel stopped what they were doing. I looked over at the old man and noticed he had his finger to his throat. He was making the "slit your throat" move across his throat. What the fuck is going on here?
Posted by calculatoronfire at February 6, 2005 03:20 PM