When you have a love for Norse history, what better holiday to have, then to sail the path of the Norsemen.
Tecla 24th Aug 2017
This would be our biggest trip together. This trip happened all because Matt has been wanting to go on Bark Europa to Antarctica forever, but Europa’s trips sell out faster than a Wiggles concert. Whilst googling about Europa and trying to get a berth, Matt discovered Tecla, a 100-year-old Herring Drifter, that was going from Iceland to Scotland following the path of the Vikings, and as mentioned in my New Zealand Sth Island blog, Matt has a love of all things Viking. He decided to book us onto Tecla, and then it began to grow. “Well while we’re over there we might as well see this, and this, and this” Matt says. And that is how our Iceland to Scotland trip turned into a trip to include Turkey, Norway and England. Whose complaining? Definitely not me. His reasoning is that it will break up such a long flight over.
Here’s the main reasons why Matt wanted to go to Turkey and Norway. Istanbul for some Viking graffiti in the Hagia Sophia, it’s a long way to go to see some Viking scribble, and of its Roman history. Norway because of the Oseberg and the Gokstad Viking ships in the Museum of Cultrual History, in Oslo. So, it all ties in with the Viking theme of the trip.
I will be writing this trip in four parts as its going to be pretty lengthy.
Part 1 – Istanbul – Turkey, Part 2 – Norway and Iceland, Part 3 – On board Tecla, Part 4 – Scotland and England.
Part 1 – Istanbul, Turkey
When Matt suggested Turkey, I did have a couple of those little “what if” thoughts. Turkey is in close proximity to quite a few “unstable” countries. But we were going to Istanbul, which is on the other side of the country, so the nerves where quelled a little. Although in saying that we did have a bit of a nervous event happen at the airport. As we were zig zagging our way to the customs desk, and were only about two rows from the exit point to a customs officer, we noticed a large sports bag on the floor, everyone was walking past it. Now, in most airports you are constantly reminded not to leave bags unattended, and no one seemed to be coming back for this bag. It was not only Matt and myself concerned about this bag, but the family in front of us and the girl behind us were also concerned, the girl was actually trying to get security to do something about it, but they just ignored it. Now when Matt was on Tenacious he had a gentleman, who was in the special forces, telling him some of his stories, some of these included how “packages” could be triggered, and one way was just to pick it up, so you can imagine Matt’s anxiety level rising through the roof when the guy in front reached over to pick up the bag. Obviously, nothing happened, but Matt said when we get to the front of the line go to the custom officer at the far end. But I can honestly say that was the only time we felt a little unsafe in Istanbul.
Matt and I both don’t sleep very well, if at all, on planes so when we landed in Istanbul around lunch time, we found our hotel transfer and couldn’t wait to just relax for the afternoon and catch up on some sleep. But even just the short trip from the airport to the hotel had us “wowing” at the scenery. We got our first glimpse of the Theodosian Wall, which was built around the old city by the Romans and that was it, Matt was like a little kid in a candy shop and was itching to get out and explore.
We arrived at our motel, which we were booked into for four nights. Everything looked nice, not anything fancy, but it was clean. I heard the clerk say something about being in the Junior Suite, up the elevator and then just up a couple of stairs, and thought “wow, top floor suite”. There were a few more then a couple of stairs, once we left the elevator, which made me think we were in the attic. The porter placed our bags just inside the door and made his exit. Matt and I both walked in and looked at each other and laughed. It was pretty basic and a little shabby, but when inspecting the bathroom Matt came out with “The bathroom of an Emperor and the bedroom of a pauper”. Oh well, we thought, it’s not that bad and we are only sleeping here. We both had a nice hot shower to liven ourselves up so we could go out for a stroll. While we were getting ready the Call to Prayer started reverberating through the air. I went to the window to open it so we could listen, it really was that beautiful and I found quite calming.
We went for a wander through the streets, just getting a feel of the place. If you took all the people from Australia and put them in one place that’s just about how many people live in Istanbul. The traffic is chaotic with horns tooting all the time and the best thing to do when it comes to scooters/motorcycles that come up behind you is to just keep walking straight, they will duck around you.
As you wander down through the Egyptian Markets all the marketers are all trying to get you to buy their products and yes, I got ripped, but the chocolate coated coffee beans, pistachio and pomegranate are amazing. We made our way down to the Bosphorus with all the ferries and the smell is foul, I wanted to gag. Here I can go to two different continents without using a passport, all I have to do is cross the Bosphorus, either by bridge or ferry.
We meandered back up towards the Hagia Sophia, and a young good-looking guy sets his sights on a couple of “easy” targets… Us…. starts talking to us, and next minute he has us sitting in a Turkish rug store drinking Apple tea, with the slickest salesman throwing rug after rug on the floor trying to sell us “the best deal” because he “likes” us, “you are nice people, I can tell”. They also fed us; we were there for over an hour. The one thing I noticed is that they DO NOT pick up on body language. At the start it was all fun and it was quite interesting, but after about 30 rugs and being very tired from the flight, my arms went into the crossed armed position and the smiling face was fast becoming an annoyed one. It took a bit, but we finally were able to excuse ourselves and make fast for the door.
When we awoke the next morning, we went down to get a coffee, asked the receptionist if there were any coffee shops open and he looked at us like we were mad. “It’s 6am you do realise” he said. “Yes, we know, so is there anything open?” “Its 6 am” he repeated, guess that means no, they don’t get up so early in Istanbul, I’m presuming. As the bed was terrible, we decided to change hotels and ended up staying at the Orka Hotel, where the bed is sooo much better, not to mention the whole hotel. Note to self, and any of you avid travellers, don’t always trust travel agents to arrange accommodation.
We met up with our private tour guide, that we had booked for the next three days, Ness, the name she prefered as we couldn’t pronounce her name. It was something like a Turkish coffee, Nestalelhah. Our first stop was the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, or the Blue Mosque, as it is commonly known, and all we can say is WOW what a beautiful place it is. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. The interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade İznik style ceramic tiles, which are all hand painted, it is truly amazing that the patterns are so intricate and exact. The Blue Mosque is still used for Prayer to this day.
Next stop the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, which later became an Ottoman imperial mosque, but is now a museum, but not as we know a museums to be, it’s basically the building, no real artefacts. But of course, The Hagia Sophia held one very important thing to see, one of the main reasons why Matt wanted to visit Istanbul, the Viking “graffiti” believed to have been scratched into the balustrade by a Varangian Guard, possibly named Halfdan, but due to the inscription been worn down, they are not quite sure what it says, but it is surmised it may read something along the lines of “NN carved these runes” sort of like an ancient “Sue Mills was here”.
Halfdan was here 
Our next stop was the Basilica Cistern, a massive underground water tank, which has about 330 columns in it supporting the roof. Very little water is stored in it today, to allow for tourists to visit.
Onto the Grand Bazaar. It’s like Paddy’s Markets in Sydney only BIGGER. With 48 streets, they call them streets but are really more like isles. You see the same things in every street, two or three times, its not my cup of tea but it is certainly worth a quick stroll through, and hope that you don’t get lost.
Finally we ended the day with Ness with a coffee in the cemetery, yes the cemetery, because that’s what they do. Oh, and the coffee was, for us, undrinkable. It is very strong, you can almost stand your spoon up in it, and gritty.
Another thing Matt wanted to do was to get a haircut and a “cut throat” razor shave, so we found a barber shop close and handy, with a sign saying 35 liras and they were able to fit him in. Matt’s visit quickly went from a “haircut and shave” to having his cheeks, ears and nose waxed, and to top it off a black face mask …. cha ching cha ching… I could see the $$$$’s racking up. I was literally pissing myself laughing, so a 35 lira haircut turned into 100 liras’, which is only $35 roughly. It was the best $35 spent on entertainment I have ever had.
There are a lot of cats and dogs here that are stray which you are not recommended to pat. Some dogs have tags in their ears, this is a government project where they test the dogs, if they are disease free you can give them “much love”, which is nice to know, as being animal lovers, we wanted to be able to give them a pat.
Then it was over to Topkapi Palace. In the 15th century, it served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans. Construction began in 1459, ordered by Mehmed the Conqueror, six years after the conquest of Constantinople. We went into the weapons room, unfortunately no photos are allowed, where there are some amazing pieces of armoury. There are swords there that are at least five-foot-long, I have no idea how any soldier would have been able to swing it at their enemy.
Day two was a trip on the Bosphorus checking out all the buildings along the banks. It was a great way to be able to sit and take in how huge Istanbul is. We went to see the Milli Saraylar, National Palaces. OMFG, what opulence, it was totally crazy. The main Sultans room was just gobsmacking, the height of the main dome, the giant pillars and the unbelievably massive chandelier, with hundreds of crystals and candles. Every roof had over the top ornate cornices, all gold in colour. The ceilings are all painted with flowers and swirls, all the corridors had large mirrors so the Sultan could see if anyone was trying to sneak up behind him and kill him, as even family members would try so they could be Sultan.
We went to one of the main shopping streets and it was so busy, but Ness said it was “not so busy today”. Ness took us to this little restaurant up a side alley. You chose what you wanted out of the display cabinet, and I was thinking to myself, Matt’s not going to like anything here, as he’s a very fussy eater, but he pointed to a few things and we sat down to eat. It was really nice and I couldn’t believe how full we were after only having, what I thought, was a small amount. After that we made our way back to our motel to freshen up before we found somewhere for dinner.
That night we went for another wander back down to the Hippodrome. It is hard to believe that the Emperor Justinian ordered the massacre of around 30,000 people who were gathered in the Hippodrome, to regain control of the city after people were rioting, he sent his armies in from both ends so there was no escape.
If you are interested in history buy The Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler. I wasn’t, until I met Matt, so now I am finding it really interesting.
Our last day in Istanbul, Ness took us to one of the cemeteries that had the best views in town, Eyup Cemetery. It is on a very steep hill and we took the cable car up, stopped at the local café and had a tea, staying well clear of the “cemetery coffee”, then wandered our way back down through the cemetery. From there we visited the St George’s Cathedral. I just can’t believe the money people would spend on building and furnishing churches, to me it’s ridiculous and nothing changes through history. Ness took us to a restaurant off the tourist track where we had lunch, which was delicious, we tried the Ayran, it’s a type of yoghurt drink, it’s really different, and would take some getting use to. Having a guide was a great idea, as we went to places we would never have found, ate traditional food, and went to the not so touristy parts of town.
I found Istanbul to be a very friendly place, although I do recommend for the ladies to dress modestly, especially if you are going to parts of Istanbul that are not so touristy.
We would love to go back and spend more time in Turkey as there is so many amazing things to see.
Cash Strapped Travellers 