Turkey: Day 2

After hours of flying and a jam-packed first day in Istanbul, we wanted to find a way to relax. To do that we signed up for a massage at the historic Hurrem Sultan Hammam. There were many other Turkish bathhouses we could have gone to, but we read that it was considered one of the nicest in the city and was hundreds of years old which added value in our minds. As well, it was in an ideal location directly across the street from the Hagia Sophia. When I arrived for my massage, I was stunned by the beauty of the waiting area in the Hammam and the quality of the service from the workers in offering free drinks and snacks, toiletries, and generally getting you prepared for your massage. After getting changed into the disposable underwear they provided, I went in. The start was interesting to say the least, where I was walked into a private bath area and given a golden bowl to scoop out water from a fountain onto myself to get prepared. It was nice at first, but I was given 10 minutes for this which I felt was a bit much, and got bored rather quickly. Luckily the echo in the all marble room was immaculate so I started banging the metal bowl on the fountain to make beats to entertain myself. Eventually the masseuse came back in and he used a very rough scrubber over my skin, which did feel kind of nice but painful at times. After that I laid over a towel and received what can only be described as a bubble bath from a grown man; an interesting experience. It was a rather intense massage despite me asking for them to go easy, leaving me with a sore shoulder for the remainder of my time in Istanbul. But having the bubbles pour over me and coat me in a warm soapy layer was very relaxing. Once the massage portion was done, the final steps were for the masseuse to throw some cold water on me. I was not given a warning that this was happening by the way, so I was a bit stunned. I may have let out a high pitch yelp, but the only witness is the masseuse, so it's up to you to find him. That wrapped up the massage, and before leaving the bathhouse I treated myself to some tea and Turkish delight.

After leaving the bathhouse, our first stop of the day was the Grand Bazaar. We had read it was a popular attraction so we were very excited to see it and maybe buy some local goods. Quickly upon entering, however, our expectations were shattered as we realized it was simply a tourist trap for the most part. With many stores selling the exact same things that we had seen all over other tourist-filled areas.We were wrangled into a Turkish Delight store by a very sociable worker, who proceeded to overcharge the hell out of us for some product. I didn’t realize at the time until I did some Turkish Lira to USD conversions after leaving the store, but we were ripped off badly. The only positive part of visiting the Bazaar was that we saw a cute kitten climbing a tree outside of it.

After grabbing a quick snack, we headed to the Egyption Obelisk outside the Blue Mosque to meet a tour guide for a free walking tour. The company is called GuruWalk if anyone is interested in signing up for them; they provide free tours where the only price is if you decide to tip at the end. The tour hit a lot of the historic stops we had visited the prior day, but provided a lot of interesting history about each structure which was fascinating to hear. While we didn’t go into the places due to time and financial constraints, you can get pretty views from outside everything. This was a three hour walking tour, so my feet were barking by the end but we did walk through a local book bazaar that wasn't on any top attraction lists online that was far more interesting than the Grand Bazaar, we walked through the local university campus, saw a few smaller mosques that were super pretty, and ended with a lovely view of Istanbul from a hilltop. 

While you may think a three hour walking tour would be enough for the day, you would be oh so wrong. We decided to walk over to the other part of the European side of Istanbul to see the Galata Tower at sunset. It was about another half hour walk to that neighborhood, but little did we know to get to the tower required walking up some of the most vertically steep hills I have ever seen. I felt like I was in San Francisco, and my cardio was letting me down severely. Eventually we reached the tower to our relief, but we were drenched in sweat. We were afraid we would then have to walk up stairs to the top, but thankfully there is an elevator, so after a brief wait in line we were at the top and had 360-degree views of Istanbul in all its beauty. With the sunset it was truly breathtaking and worth the absolute trek to see it. 

Once we left, we walked around a bit more to get some baklava. We earned it after all. Then we found our way to a tram station to make our way back to our neighborhood. This is where we were scammed once again to end the day. I was trying to figure out how to buy a tram card, when a man walked up and grabbed my credit card and took over the machine. He did so with such confidence that I assumed he was a tram worker. He was clicking a bunch of buttons at rapid speeds in Turkish, so I had no clue what he was doing. He did this on two machines so I thought he might be buying two tickets, one for me and one for my friend. After my card was dispensed he said we were all good and handed me back my credit card. Me thinking he was a worker believed him and left. Little did I realize until I checked my account later, he actually had bought a second card and kept it for himself. It wasn't the biggest cost in the world, but it did set me back an additional $15 USD. Apparently this is a relatively common trick, so be on the lookout for this. But despite being scammed, I still enjoyed my day, but my feet were dead by the end.