two sugars and a dream

Melissa, Lauren and I bought our tickets for Spring Break a week and a half ahead of time. The most money efficient way to travel? No. Adventurous? Yes. I think we spent the remainder of that time waiting for our trip by jumping on beds and telling everyone we knew where we were going. We paid for the bragging rights, after all.
Going along with the adventure theme, there were a lot of unexpected occurrences throughout our trip. We didn't expect the snow. We didn't expect the Spice Girls references. We didn't expect the sink to be in the shower. One of the better surprises of the trip was a nighttime layover in Rome where Kat Vochoska gave us a professional tour of the city we basically had to ourselves. We tossed out coins in the Trevi Fountain, ate a pricey crepe and spent the better part of four early morning hours walking the cobblestones of Rome. Rome one night, Istanbul the next.


I measure Turkey by what we drank. Obviously it would be obnoxious and tedious to read an account of every ounce of liquid consumed over our 5 day stay. But here is a list of some of the highlights and what they meant to us.

Day 1
-Free tequila shots at Siva where we ate dinner to the sounds of a Turkish girl with a horrendous voice upstairs singing every Madonna song in the history of Madonna songs. "That Hakan Guy" coerced us into taking her place, because obviously we have way more talent. The shots came after we promised to dance. One the song list for the night-Dog Days Are Over, Tik Tok, Wannabe, Party in the USA, and Don't Stop Believing during which we swayed in a circle. With one arm around the bartender (Ash) and the other around our new friend Iliana (studying in Athens), Turkey gave me it's first taste of the hospitality it should be famous for.


Day 2
-Turkish tea with our free breakfast at the hotel, complete with a view of the Hagia Sofia outside the terrace window.

-Fresh squeezed pomegranate juice from a stand outside the Grand Bazaar where we browsed for hours and bought Pashmina scarves to wear into the mosques. We made the decision to purchase our own after we visited the New Mosque and had to wear scarves that the women coming out of the Mosque had just taken off, which made Lauren a bit uneasy.

-Sahlep for the first time. This is the thing I miss most about Turkey. It is a hot, creamy drink made with milk and honey and cinnamon. Starbucks, take note.

-Apple tea with Ugur, whoc lured us into his carpet shope by impressing us with more trivial facts about America (where he has never been) than I even know, and asking to show us his state quarter collection. Only Pennsylvania, Hawaii and North Carolina missing. We talked to him for about an hour about Turking and American culture. He told us that Turkish people are very hospitable and that "one cup of tea earns forty years of friendship." Ugur is stuck with us for awhile then.

-Rakhi which was the cheapest mixed drink on the menu at WeekendPlus in Taksim (Turkish Times Square) where we managed to get in for free (from 35 lire!) after talking to the PR guy outside. It was quite a surprise considering we had left our new friends Iliana and Jordan when the first 2 clubs wanted to rob us of 25 lire each. Anyway, rakhi turned out to be a foul black licorice tasting drink which the bartender warned us we wouldn't like. Oh, he was right. We chased it with handfuls of popcorn and cocktail nuts. Lauren couldn't even finish it and had to hold her nose while taking sips of her water. Does that make sense? No! It's the rakhi.


Day 3
-Turkish tea after we signed up to go to a traditional Whirling Dervish show that night at Alemdar restaurant. The man working out front (he likes to be referred to as Antonia Banderas) said he would buy us tea if we sat outside for awhile because :having three pretty girls enjoying tea at our restaurant will increase business." Done, Antonio.

-Turkish tea for a third time that day at Siva where we sat and talked with Ash about the life he has built for himself in Istanbul, where he moved after finishing his mandatory term in the Army. Maybe about Katy Perry too.
-Free Turkish and apple tea thanks to Antonia Banderas after the show and his attempts to get us to dance. He made us laugh and could dance on wine glasses, even if he was slightly inappropriate.


Day 4
-Apple tea when we went back to visit Ugur in his carpet shop. He is still a friend for 40+ years, but this time he whipped out his salesman skills and tried to sell us a carpet. Sure, I like the green silk one but that doesn't mean I have room for it in m carry-on.
-An awful, orange "veet-a-meen" drink from a man dressed as a wannabe Sultan who so generously "allowed" us to take a photo with him before he poured us a drink we didn't ask for and demanded 4 lire. We gave him 2.50 and took off.

-Tubes, yes tubes, of Chokocrem, the Turkish version of Nutella. Shhhhhh.

Day 5
-Turkish tea with 2 sugars, please.
-The best Sahlep of the trip from outside the Spice Market to accompany all the Turkish delight--rose and lemon and cinnamon and mint.
-This was the only day in Turkey that we didn't get tea for free. But we won't hold it against the country. Istanbul was good to us.


Final counts
Spice Girls: 11
Charlie's Amgerls: 6 (and everyone wants to be Charlie)