Whew-what a whirlwind shift, going from Greece to Turkey!
To me, Istanbul was full of surprises. First of all, the city was very green, as we drove along the road to the Old City from the airport, we passed grassy parks with playgrounds and bright flowers. I noticed it was a very modern city with deeply historical roots, on both sides of the Bosphorus Strait you can see a skyline of apartment and business highrises interspersed with the minarets of domed mosques on every corner. The remains of seawalls and aqueducts dating to the Byzantine era stand near the coastline, and large ships cruise through the sparkling blue waters dividing this great city.
Turkish food was always a discovery, from different eggplant toppings and shaved lamb meat to baklava and other super sweet desserts drenched with honey. Vendors handed out free samples of Turkish delight in every market and put on the act of being friendly and personable in order to sell you their wares.
The Westmont group and I stayed near the mosque of Suleyman’s son, a mosque I thought completely grand until I stepped into the Blue Mosque tiled with gorgeous geometric patterns and intricate calligraphy.
My roommate, Susan, and I went on our own walking tour around the neighborhood of our hotel. It was late Friday afternoon and these back streets near the university were quiet. Following the cobblestone roads, we passed through archways that led to different, larger mosques.
On the way, we passed Turkish men sitting in barbershops and smoking outside at little tables playing backgammon. Women with decorative scarves sat in small groups in the mosque courtyard sharing an afternoon picnic. And when 5:10p rolled around, shop owners hurried out to the local mosque for one of their 5 daily prayers. Their prayer times when we were there were approx. 4a, 6a, 1p, 5p, and 10:30p. In fact a local band covering popular hits at our hotel restaurant stopped their show completely at 10:30p out of respect for the call to prayer.
Each night during our time in Turkey, we met with Jim Wright and Heather Keaney, who lead the Westmont in Istanbul program and are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to history of the Middle East and Islamic culture. Leaving those talks, I always felt I had a much better grasp on the current situation in Turkey, the parallels and differences between Christianity and Islam, and the Orthodox Church.
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