Istanbul - Day 2

Our next day in Istanbul we joined a boat cruise / tour up the Bosporus strait.  Our first site and stop was the "Maiden's Tower" also known in earlier periods as "Leander's Tower".  Both names have their root in the same story: The ancient Greek myth of Hero and Leander. 

Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite who lived in a tower. Leander, a young man on the other side of the strait, fell in love with her and would swim every night across the strait to be with her. Hero would light a lamp at the top of her tower to guide his way. One stormy winter night, the waves tossed Leander in the sea and the winds blew out Hero's light. Leander lost his way, and was drowned. Hero threw herself from the tower in grief and died as well.

Views from inside the Maiden's tower

Views from the island of the Maiden's Tower

Continuing up the strait we we passed by the Dolmabahce Palace.

 

Our next stop was in Ortakoy, a small district of Istanbul further up the Bosporus. We stopped at the Ortakoy Mosque which, though closed for renovations, was the Grand Imperial Mosque of Sultan Abdulmecid.

While there Chris had some traditional turkish coffee which is truly thick with grounds.  It looks like and has the consistency of mud.  Pinky's up!

Our next stop was the Beylerbeyi palace located on the Asian side of the Bosporus.  This imperial Ottoman summer palace was built in the 1860's.  Sadly, no pictures were allowed to be taken inside the palace, so its splendor (which is remarkable) will require you to visit yourself.  We did manage to take a few pictures of the gardens outside.

 

 Our final stop on the boat before heading back was the Rumeli Fortress (which ended up being immediately next to the restaurant we met Seda and Berkay at for dinner the previous day).  Though the fort was closed for the day, we were able to get a few outstanding pictures from outside.

Istanbul - Day 1

We arrived in Istanbul and, after sleeping in; we tried to go to the Dolmabahce Palace in the afternoon.  Walking along the Bosporus strait we finally arrived at the palace to discover a long line for tickets.  After waiting for about an hour, Chris went up to the front and found that the palace fills up and when it does they shut down the ticket office.  Realizing that there was very little chance of getting in to see the palace, we decided to come back another day and try again.  Instead we went and grabbed a Turkish coffee and a sandwich.

The very long line to get into the palace.

Walking around the palace, we discovered a side gate, which was guarded by soldiers in boxes!  Not understanding the point of this, we took a picture and then moved on.

We walked around the city for many hours, but took very few pictures.  Eventually we went home and started preparing for dinner.  One of Chris’s friends and former coworkers from Dallas, Seda, lives in Istanbul with her husband Berkay and they had picked a seafood restaurant to meet at for dinner!

In the cab ride to the restaurant, we passed this old aqueduct which we managed to grab a photo of.

At the restaurant, Seda recommended we try the flounder as it’s a specialty of Istanbul.  It is not an attractive fish, but it sure is tasty.

It is so great to have wonderful friends living all over the planet.  Seeing familiar faces and the joy of catching up with old friends truly makes the world feel like home. 

We want to thank Seda and Berkay so much for taking the time to meet us for dinner (we were eating and chatting for hours).  The food was great and the company was even better.  It was a very special part of the whole trip for both of us.

Dubai (with Summary and Review)

Dubai was a bonus stop for us on this trip.  When booking our flights, our travel agent said we could save $2,000 if we connected through Dubai on our way from Delhi to Istanbul.  We were also able to fly Emirates Airlines which is known for being one of the best airlines in the world to fly.  Our stay in Dubai only lasted 2 nights and like Koh Samui, we used this stop to relax on the beach.  We did some pretty heavy, exhausting touring in India and expected to tour a lot in Istanbul so we welcomed the break in Dubai.

Dubai is a very interesting city and we were curious about it before arriving.  It was the hottest and most developed city we visited.  In the U.S., Dubai is known to be a big business town with a trendy party scene. Coming from India and other developing or third world countries on our trip, it was nice to arrive in such a developed city with paved roads and traffic laws.   It’s funny what you come to appreciate after being in less-developed countries!

We had one full day in Dubai and spent the whole day relaxing on the beach or at the hotel pool.  We had to pay a small fee to use the beach but it was a very clean beach with a small amount of people.   As you may remember, we got sunburned pretty badly in Thailand so in Dubai we rented an umbrella.  This also helped us stay cool; the ocean certainly didn’t help!  Normally, no matter how hot a beach is you can count on the ocean to cool you off.  Not in Dubai.  The ocean was bath water, probably 80 degrees.  

Another interesting note on the Dubai beach, there’s no cameras allowed. We can only assume this is due to their conservative dress.  The men and women wear burkas, or long cloaks that women wear to cover their bodies, heads, and faces.  We even saw some wearing these clothes on the beach.  It wasn’t until Kate asked Chris to put some sunscreen on her back at the beach when we remembered the conservative nature of Dubai.

We spent our nights in Dubai at the pub in the hotel bar.  They had a great band, drinks and food.  And honestly, after our time in India and in the heat in Dubai, we were too exhausted to reallly venture further out not to mention we didn't exactly bring any "going out" clothes with us.   We would like to go back to Dubai or even Abu Dhabi as we’ve heard they are great tourist spots and we’d love to do a desert excursion.  However, Dubai was all we could hope for.  It was relaxing and we even got some much needed grooming in – Chris got a haircut while Kate got a pedicure.  

India Summary & Review

We weren’t quite sure what to expect in India.  Our friends who were either from India or had visited recently all had different opinions.  We knew we had to see the Taj Mahal and wanted to go to Delhi but outside of that we weren’t that familiar with what there was to see and do in India - let alone how to get around in India.

To resolve both these problems, we booked a private tour with GAP Adventures.  If you find yourself traveling to India and it’s not part of a large tour or school group, we encourage you to try the private tour.  We had our own driver for the entire trip in India and in each city we were provided with a local guide to take us around the monuments and explain what we were visiting.  It was truly a great, and more importantly, safe way to travel – not to mention, it was reasonably priced.

Traveling in India –

India has some of the craziest traffic we’ve ever seen.   Cars, motorcycles, trucks, tuk tuks, camels, oxen, and elephants all share a road.  Like other developing countries, piling 20+ people in a tuk tuk is almost an art form, but India’s roads and infrastructure are not well developed (except for big cities like Delhi).  What India needs more than anything else are the giant expressways we have in the US with minimum speeds and no intersections.  Honking on the road is India is not considered rude, in fact, it’s expected and slower vehicles like trucks or tuk tuks have signs requesting passing vehicles to honk.  As you can imagine, it’s a stressful environment to travel in – or it was for us, especially during our 6-hr drives to Agra and then Jaipur.

We did encounter a problem in the airport when leaving Delhi (just in case anyone is interested in visiting). We were expected to check in for our flight before entering the airport, so we couldn’t get into the airport without a boarding pass, but we needed to enter the airport to get to the ticket counter to check-in for our flight (a kind of “catch-22”).  We were able to pay an airport employee to print our boarding passes from the airline’s website but in the future, we will be printing from our hotel for free!

The People –

Like other developing countries, the people of India were very curious about us.  They stared, asked if they could take pictures of us, and just wanted to be near us.  One man even sat next to us while our tour guide was explaining the history of the Mahatma Gandhi memorial.  We were a little nervous and concerned about pick-pocketing but spent a few minutes talking with the man (translated by our tour guide, of course), who turned out to be from a small Indian village and was just curious.  

As you probably know, India is one of the most populated countries in the world – over 1.2 billion people.   While China has tried to control their population, India has tried to help their people understand that having many children does not mean more workers for the farm or the family business; it means more mouths to feed.  There really were people everywhere!   And there were a lot of people (of all ages) trying to sell us something.  In Jaipur, rode an elephant up to the Amber Fort/Palace.  There were a few photographers trying to get our attention to take our picture and once we were off the elephant they asked if we would purchase them.  We weren’t interested as we had pictures on our own camera so we drove off to the next site.  On the road, a motorcycle came up next to our car trying to get our attention – it was the same guys with our pictures on the elephant.  We pulled over and our tour guide asked if we were interested – “No, we’re not” – and then told the men we weren’t interested.  As we now felt like we were being followed around by men trying to sell us our pictures we were pretty freaked out; too freaked to even view and consider buying the photos. We went about our day, and about 6 hours later, at the end of our day, the men with our photos appeared at another site we were touring!  Our tour guide assured us this wasn’t unusual and the men knew the “tourist” spots that we might visit.  With some comfort provided by our guide, we were now amused that these men had successfully found us after an entire day and we finally did buy the four photos for $1 USD - mostly to have as proof for this crazy story.

Although some of the richest people in the world live in India, most of the population is very poor.  There were some early touring mornings when we saw families still sleeping on the street from the night before.  Many children don’t wear pants or clothes and for the most part, a toilet was the “good ol’ outdoors”.  Needless to say it’s pretty dirty (again, this is outside of the very developed areas of large cities).

Food & Drink –

The one comment we did hear from our friends, repeatedly, was to be careful what you eat (only cooked veggies, fruits with a peel and no meat) and don’t drink the water.  .  We stuck to this for the most part but did venture out and tried some meats.  We felt comfortable with the food because our driver and tour guides took us to nice, clean restaurants where it was safe to eat the meat.  Kate had never tried Indian food before.  She thought it would be too spicy for her so we ordered everything “mild.”  This means there was still flavor but it wasn’t the famous spicy foods Indians eat.  Kate really liked the food!  The bread is amazing, too.  We were both very lucky and did not get the “Delhi Belly” or upset stomach in India like many of our friends before us.  Although Kate did have some stomach cramps coming out of Thailand, it wasn’t anything that kept her from touring and was gone in a few days with over-the-counter medicine.

Overall –

The heat and humidity was almost unbearable.   Especially considering we were wearing pants and Kate kept her shoulders covered to respect the culture.  (To enter most of the sites, we had to be dressed appropriately, covered up, and had to take off our shoes.)  Even the people there all wore pants and long-sleeved shirts.  Other than the heat, we really enjoyed our time in India. The sites were amazing, we liked the food, and it was just so different from anywhere else that we had ever been.  We would recommend having a personal driver and tour guide to help navigate the city and understand the people and culture.  Also, five days seemed to be the perfect amount of time and we were ready to leave the heat by the fifth day. 

Jaipur, India

We arrived in Jaipur after our visit to Fatehpur Sikri in the middle of a giant monsoon.  Rain was coming down sideways and the thunder and lightning was constant.  Luckily for us, we had the evening to ourselves and the sound of the storm was soothing as we rested up in our hotel room.

Luckily the next day was clear and sunny because we had a full day of sightseeing ahead of us.  Our first stop:  The Amber Fort / Palace.  The name is kind of a misnomer as we were initially expecting alot of "amber" or at least amber colors, but the complex is built of white marble and red sandstone.  The name comes from an English distortion of the original name, The Amer Palace, but the current name stuck.

The fort is known for its artistic style, blending both Hindu and Mughal elements.

The palace on the hill as we approached it.

We were able to take an elephant ride up the hill to the palace.  Truly, riding in style.

 

Once on top of the hill, we entered the palace courtyard.

We ascended the steps and came across the ornately decorated Ganesh gate.  The gate, named after the Hindu god Ganesh, who removes all obstacles in life, is the entrance to the private palaces of the Maharajas.

Crossing through the gate we found the "Charbagh" or Paradise Garden.  To the left of the garden lies the Sheesh Mahal, meaning "mirror palace", was the palace of the Maharajah and to the right is the Sukh Mahal, where the women of the royal court lived.

The Sheesh Mahal across from the Paradise Garden

Mirror work in the Sheesh Mahal.

Mirrored walkway of the Sheesh Mahal.

Looking out from the terrace of the Amber Fort, we could see other large structures built on mountainsides.

Passing through to the next portion of the palace we discovered the Palace of Man Singh I, which is the oldest part of the palace fort. In the central courtyard of the palace is the pillared "baradari" or pavilion. This pavilion (which used to be curtained for privacy) was used as the meeting venue by the maharanis (queens of the royal family).

Leaving the palace we stopped to take a look at the "Jal Mahal" or Water Palace located in the  middle of the Man Sagar Lake.  This palace was built as a summer palace for the royal family, but is now in disrepair due to polution in the lake and general neglect, so it is impossible to actually visit the building.  It does, however, look great from the shore!

Our next stop was the Hawa Mahal whose name means the "Palace of Winds" or "Palace of the Breeze".  Built in 1799, it was meant to resemble the crown of the Hindu god Krishna. Its unique five-story exterior is also akin to the honeycomb of the beehive with its 953 small windows called jharokhas that are decorated with intricate lattice work. The original intention of the lattice was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life in the street below without being seen.

Built of red and pink sandstone, the palace is situated on the main thoroughfare in the heart of Jaipur’s business center.

From the front

Entering the palace.

Inside the palace.

From the top of the palace looking out onto the street below.

We now ventured over to the nearby City Palace, which is the residence of the Maharaja's family in Jaipur, and still today functions mostly as a royal residence.

The palace was built between 1729 and 1732 and fuses Indian, Mughal, and Europoean architecture.

The entry gate to the palace.

The Diwan-i-Khas

The Diwan-i-Khas was the hall of private audience for the former Maharaja's but is now dedicated as a school for the study of dance for Indian girls. 

Next to the Diwan-i-Khas is the Chandra Mahal, a 7 storied building that is the current residence for the descendents of the former rulers of Jaipur.  The ground floor leads to the inner courtyard.

Chandra Mahal on left and Diwan-i-Khas on right.

In the Diwan-i-Khas resides the two largest silver objects in the world (according to Guinness): water containers known as the "Gangajalis".  These jars, made of 14,000 silver coins melted into sheet of silver, were built in 1894 and stand more than 5 feet tall, have a capacity of 4,000 liters and weigh more than 750 pounds.  These vessels were specially made by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II, who was a highly pious Hindu, to carry the Ganga river water to drink on his trip to England in 1901 (for Edward VII's coronation) as he was finicky about committing religious sin by consuming the English water.

Walking through the Chandra Mahal, we arrived in the inner courtyard through the spectacular Peacock Gate.

Finally, we visited the Mubarak Mahal, meaning the "Auspicious Palace".  This building in the City Palace complex was built with a fusion of the Islamic, Rajput and European architectural styles in the late 19th century as reception centre.  Today it houses a museum of fine textiles.

Our final stop for the day was the Jantar Mantar (meaning "Instrument of Calculation"), a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built between 1727 and 1734.  A total of five such facilities were built at different locations, but the Jaipur observatory is the largest and best preserved.

The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars' location as the earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and determining the celestial altitudes and related ephemerides.

The Samrat Yantra (meaning the "supreme instrument"), the world's largest sundail, is 90 feet high, its shadow carefully plotted to tell the time of day to an accuracy of within 2 seconds.

The Samrat Yantra

View of the instruments on the complex

The Narivalya Yantra is a massive disc shaped sundail that also tells the time of day and has two sides for each half of the year depending on the tilt of the earth.

Finally, we returned to the city center and found more roadway friends.  Nothing better than watching the camel cart rolling by the HSBC Bank.

Obviously, we had a long and full day in Jaipur and were ready for some rest.  The next day we drove back to Delhi to catch our flight out of India for Dubai.