I wanted to make a daytrip on either Saturday or Sunday to Edirne/Adrianople or Troy. I was kind of leaning towards going to Edirne on Sunday when I went to sleep, and that is what ended up happening, alhamdulillah. I will follow up about Edirne in the next entry - today I will just cover my shopping trip to Olivium, aside from the pictures.
I figured I would get some work done on Saturday, both in terms of business school (Berkeley) apps and preparing for Muhammad Baba's and Atiya's visit next week. I made decent progress on the latter issue, but none on the former. Certainly, not as productive a day as I would have hoped.
I got up late Saturday, and after getting ready and putting in a load of laundry, I headed to the internet cafe to send an email to call for a Skype telco with Osman, Mom/Rabia, and Muhammad Baba at 5pm Istanbul time (10am Eastern, 11pm Singapore) - it had slipped my mind that I could have done that on my Blackberry, but it was running low on juice anyways. In any case, I needed to access the internet to figure out where to go to buy towels and sheets, since Mom didn't want to send towels to a country that is apparently famous for producing nice ones. Aside from Bursa (where I should have found excellent towels but didn't know where to look), I found recommendations for a store in the Grand Bazaar as well as an outlet mall in Zeytinbornu, the Olivium. I was pretty certain that I would get ripped off in the Grand Bazaar, so I took my chances with Olivium, figuring I would be less likely to get ripped off in an outlet mall in working class Zeytinbornu than a tourist trap. Also, a trip to Zeytinbornu would be a test run for my trip to the airport next week in terms of timing.
After praying Zuhr at Konyali, I headed down using the Metro, funicular, Kabatas tram, and a dolmus/microbus to the mall. Alas, the trip to Olivium took a long time - 1hr 45min - longer than I expected. I thought I could walk from the Zeytinbornu tram station, but I ended up having to take the dolmus, which added 20-30 minutes.
The tram from Kabatas to Zeytinbornu was quite packed. I stood almost the whole time. Some people got off at the Sultanahmet station, but only after the A.O. Yurdu station could I sit. I had never been past the Grand Bazaar/Beyazit on this tram. There are twenty four stops in total, and I got off on the last one, Zeytinbornu. Some of the stops had rather interesting names, like Seyitnizam, or Akşemsettin (the light of the sun of the religion, or maybe white/pure sun of the religion; on a side note, I have taken to introducing myself as Şemsettin from Hindistan, since I had not heard of anyone named Nauman in turkey before; I still don't know how they pronounce it hear, but a week or two ago I learned that apparently there is an Islamist successor to Erbakan named Numan Kurtuluş who may challenge Erdoğan for power; alas, the AK Party has been undergoing some trouble in recent months; I will blog about it later, in sha Allah).
The trip was also a sight more expensive than it should have been. One way was YTL 5.4 (the microbus guy took 1.2 going, and 1.5 returning) and the way back was YTL YTL 5.7. If I had an AKBIL, the outlay probably would have been closer to half that. I need to get one in sha Allah. I have never seen them being sold though - only the recharge stations.
The Zeytinbornu area reminded me a bit of going down to Zablatani or parts of Midan from Mount Qasiyoon where I usually lived in Damascus. It was south, seemingly more polluted, more condensed, and just strangely, weirdly new and disorienting for a city I had been living in for two months. While in the dolmus/microbus, I had absolutely no idea where I was, where we were going or any sense of direction. That is kind of how I felt when I went to the southern areas of Damascus.
Olivium was a decent sized mall, but not as large as some of the ones near my apartment (like Cevahir or Profilo - more on that in the Mall entry, in sha Allah). It seemed like a typical outlet to me, with expensive stuff selling for less than normal, but still a lot of money. The place was about half foreign brands and half local brands. It wasn't packed, but there were a lot of people there. Apparently, it is a pretty well known mall, and my colleagues had been there several times before, I found out later.
I ended up staying in the mall area for almost six hours - I had reached at about 2pm and left sometime after 7pm. I had to pray Asr soon after I got there, but no one knew of any nearby masjid. Luckily, I knew that these big malls typically have a masjid/prayer area somewhere from my experiences at Astoria. I asked and was directed to the parking area (I guess this is the usual spot - that is where it is in Astoria as well). It was small and cramped, but it did the job. The one downside to the location is that I had to go through security again. I repeated the process at Maghrib as well. It felt like I should have been traveling, given the journey, but Zeytinbornu is only about 10 miles away from my apartment.
I walked around the whole mall, all four floors - I wanted to see everything, so I could make an informed decision if I thought of making the long journey again. Lots of clothing stores - typical. I did see three places that sold towels. They all had sale signs, but I tried to figure out what had the best deals. I ended up coming back to a place that seemed to be relatively specialized in towels and beddings. I just got some towels, after thinking for quite a long time - I think the salespeople must have thought I was quite strange, staring at the towels and bathrobes so long. In fairness to me, I did have a number of variables I was considering - cost, color, quality, towel vs. robe, weight, bulk, feasibility/logistics of taking home, purpose, etc. I settled on a large green towel for myself, and a couple of matching bathrobes and towels for my guests. We'll see how the washing process treats them - I have no fabric softener, and drying on a rack is no good. The only tip the guy gave me was to wash them at a maximum of 30 degrees (Celsius). Still, I was happy with my purchases alhamdulillah. I would probably go back for gifts if I decide to take back more than Turkish Delight for everyone. The robes were YTL 29 each, and I spent YTL 19 on the large towel and YTL 8 for each small towel - the total was about YTL 93 I think. It was a decent deal - I need to learn how to bargain though. The bulkiness and weight may preclude me from taking many back though.
I had some manti at a restaurant in the food court for dinner, as well as some soup. It was ok, and the service was quite quick, since the place specialized in manti. When I have ordered manti in the Astoria, it takes at least ten minutes usually. I also left the mall briefly to try and find an internet cafe for the Skype call. I did end up finding one - alas, however, the place did not have Skype. Quite a few internet cafe's do not have skype. Shortly after that, I prayed maghrib, got the towels, and left. It took another 1hr 45min to get back home. Alhamdulillah, at least the tram was not packed going from Zeytinbornu to Kabatas - it only filled up at Sultanahmet. Still, the Kabatas to Zeytinbornu tram I saw going the other direction was packed. I guess in the morning, it must be the other way around - there is no way the same direction is full all day long.
I stopped again at the internet cafe and Skype'd with the family. After going home, I did some more laundry - in sha Allah, more on Edirne tomorrow.
In the meantime, here are some pictures I have borrowed from the internet to illustrate my weekend (because my camera is currently out of battery). In sha Allah, I will try and upload what I have stored on my camera later, but these should suffice for now. In no particular order:
The Eski Camii, or Old Mosque (it had several names before this, but after the other ones came up, it got the name Eski; currently undergoing repairs):
The Üç Serefeli Camii, or Three Balcony mosque, built by Murad II, named after the three balconies on the original minaret, which was revolutionary at the time I guess (each minaret has a different style, built by a different Sultan; also undergoing construction):
Nice view of the Selimiye, Sinan's masterpiece, named after Selim II, the wastrel:
Dome of the Selimiye - very intricate:
You can see the nice park surrounding the Selimiye:
Inside of the Selimiye:
The Olivium outlet mall in Zeytinbornu - it reminded me a bit of Castle Wolfenstein or some other fortress, given the layout and the guards as well as people on the roof (they turned out to be customers):
1 comment:
:O those look like postcards!!
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