Settling In

Trip Start Jun 05, 2010

Trip End Jun 19, 2010

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Where I stayed

Cordial House Hotel Istanbul

Flag of Turkey Istanbul, Turkey
Sunday, June 6, 2010

We arrived in Istanbul around 6pm after our 10 hour flight from Chicago, which was surprisingly bearable. We were welcomed with a sign saying "Tara and Brandon Scholten;" a nice way to enter a foreign country. With the simple sign, though held by a Turkish guy who doesn’t speak English, our nerves were settled and we felt like we were in the right place. We enjoyed a 20 minute ride to our hotel. Along the way we saw the oddest work out equipment in all the parks, and we continued to see it throughout our trip. My guess is some president’s wife started a campaign to make the Turks healthier, as I did hear they were ranked #1 in the world in heart attacks, with the principal application being this work out equipment. In the end I’m sure a manufacturer and a few installers made a fortune, and a handful of people lost a few kilos. As you would expect, I only saw a couple guys using the equipment on one occasion during our whole trip, despite seeing park after park in every city with the same awkward work out equipment.

workout

It was also cool to see a large portion of the 13-mile long castle wall that surrounds the European side of Istanbul along the water. We arrived at our hotel, the Cordial House, and checked into our room. I could tell Tara had to dig deep to keep it together, with it being her first time outside the Americas and as the hotel accurately fit Rick Steves’ description of “no frills.” It didn’t help that outside of our only window was a very narrow courtyard shared with the flats right behind us. You could just about reach out and touch the flats.

We settled in a bit and went for a walk to get some fresh air and check out the area around our hotel. We discovered we were a stone’s throw from Cemberlitas, a historic column built by Constantine in 330 A.D. Supposedly when building it, the orb he carried was said to contain a fragment of the True Cross. And also at the foot of the column was a sanctuary which contained relics claimed to be from the crosses of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus Christ at Calvary, the baskets from the loaves and fishes miracle, an alabaster ointment jar belonging to Mary Magdalane and presumably used by her for the washing of the feet of Jesus, the palladium of ancient Rome and a wooden statue of Athena from Troy. Obviously there’s no way to know if any of those items are really there, but sometimes folklore is just as much fun as actual history.

I found a shop and ordered a couple pastries containing sausage and potatoes. We did our best to stay up as long as possible to fight the effects of jet lag, but couldn’t make it past 9:30. I woke up at midnight, feeling refreshed and ready to go, so I did my best to go back to sleep and slept on and off the rest of the night, unable to relax and contain my excitement to explore the city.

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