Tbilisi and Istanbul

I'm not even sure where to begin with writing about this vacation. Maybe that's why I've procrastinated posting about it for so long! Needless to say, it was an awesome trip. The timing of it was perfect -- after being in Armenia for so long, I was very excited to get to more English language-friendly cities. Of course, not knowing a word of Georgian or Turkish, it still wasn't that easy. But at least it was easier than speaking Armenian all the time. Additionally, I think if I'd stayed in Armenia for the entire winter break from school (two weeks in total), I would've gone a bit nuts. Most of all, it was great spending time with my boyfriend and travel buddy! But I'll save that mushy-gushy stuff from the blog. Overall, Tbilisi and Istanbul were great vacation destinations; I really liked them both. So here are a few of the highlights...

The first stop on our trip was to Tbilisi, Georgia. Originally we were going to take the long, 14-hr, overnight train from capital city to capital city (Yerevan-Tbilisi), but opted against it at the last minute. This decision gave us an extra day in Tbilisi, which was definitely worth it. Tbilisi's a relatively small city, about the same size as Yerevan. It has some really interesting architecture, including an "Old Town" side that is just really quaint and charming. There's a hill overlooking the city with a giant Mother Georgia statue, holding a glass of wine in one hand and a sword in the other. My lackluster guidebook said something about how this symbolized Georgian's hospitality and also their willingness to defend their country. Plus, Georgian wine is generally pretty good! Most of our time spent in Tbilisi was just wandering around. It's not a very large city, nor is it easy to get lost in (but we still managed to do so once or twice). We hiked up & around the Narikala Fortress, situated atop the same hill as Mother Georgia. This offered great panoramas of the city. Tom and I found a new fun game, Count the Churches. At one point, I think I counted a dozen without turning my head! (This game was amended in Istanbul to Count the Mosques. But I'll get there later.)  Tbilisi also had a nice Freedom Square and Republic Square. The presence of both these squares in Tbilisi and Yerevan make me wonder if they're common sights in former Soviet countries. Anyone know? Another interesting thing we checked out in Tbilisi - that Yerevan does not have - were the sulfur baths. Below the fortress's hill were all these funky domes sticking out of the ground. You could smell sulfur from all around them. Sure enough, there are a bunch of spa-like places with sulfur baths underground in this part of the city. Definitely worth checking out if you ever go there.

Really, our time in Tbilisi was a bit short. But we managed to hit the big sites, drink some good wine, and even bump into other Armenia PCVs. It's a small world, my friends.

The more exciting part of the trip, in my mind, was Istanbul. That's not to say that I didn't want to see Tbilisi or didn't like it. In a sense, though, Tbilisi was a convenient stop over point, since flights from Armenia to Turkey are very few & far between (if you weren't aware, the two countries aren't the best of friends).  So, after traveling to Tbilisi by bus and spending a couple days there, we took an early morning flight to Istanbul. This day of travel was busy, but surprisingly not too stressful. We managed to wake up at 4am at our Tbilisi hostel, find a cab to the airport, make our 6:30am flight in time, arrive in Istanbul, take a coach bus from the airport, hop on a ferry boat from the Asian to European side of Istanbul, walk/get lost a bit, and take another taxi to our Istanbul hostel. WHEW. Despite all this changing of transportation, neither Tom or myself were too stressed out. I credit this to our excitement at being in Istanbul. It's a beautiful, breathtaking city from the start. Or at least from the moment we got on the ferry boat. I was blown away by the sprawling, beautiful skyline of Istanbul. It's a big, colorful city, surrounded by water. All things that I love!

from the ferry, entering Istanbul

Again, most of our time here was spent meandering around. Our hostel was conveniently located in the Sultanahmet neighborhood, where most of the main tourist spots are located. We visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Grand Bazaar, Suleymaniye Mosque, Spice Bazaar, Takism Square, Galata Tower... to name a few things. I particularly enjoyed the Hagia Sophia, Grand Bazaar, and a long tour cruise we took. The Hagia Sophia was just so amazing because of its history. Currently, it's a museum. Due to the number of times Istanbul/Constantinople changed hands throughout history, however, it has also been both a mosque and a church over the years. Inside are both Islamic and Christian designs and imagery. That plus the impressiveness of the main room were just breathtaking. Byzantine architecture, you've won me over. Also impressive, but in a different way, was the Grand Bazaar. I knew that this would be huge and intimidating, but I had no idea. Simply put, it's just a huge market. Quite true to its name, in fact. The whole thing is roofed, but it is massive. Very easy to get turned around once inside. Some areas resembled modern malls, with actual storefronts and shops. But the more interesting parts were the older areas, where antique shops were more prevalent. Tiny shops filled to the brim with jewelry, Turkish coffee pots, daggers, and other such items ruled in these areas. What can I say, the shopper in me was quite content (not that I actually spent any money here). Finally, the best part of our stay in Istanbul was just being near and on the water. Our hostel had a great rooftop terrace that overlooked the Bosphorus. We ate a great breakfast up here every morning.  And one afternoon, we took a two-hour tour up & down the Bosphorus. There was some tour guide speaking over the intercom, but we couldn't hear one word. The weather was surprisingly nice enough to sit atop the open-air section of the boat. So even though we couldn't figure out exactly what we were staring at everywhere, it was still easy to relax and enjoy the sights.

To wrap up, the trip was wonderful too short. It felt like a real vacation, probably the first one I've ever taken (meaning an actual break from work in which I get to relax and have fun). I would definitely enjoy going back to either Tbilisi and/or Istanbul, but also look forward to more international trips while I'm in this part of the world. Any suggestions or recommendations?