Note: I wrote these remembrance posts a few weeks ago, and I was feeling nostalgic and looking forward to my next trip to Istanbul, which looked to possibly be in 2027. Unfortunately, with the news that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarian arrests and intimidation of members of the LGBT community, I can no longer plan to visit or suggest anyone else visit. Back in 2018, we had discussed that this is where things were heading, but after eight years, I was hoping Istanbul, at least, would be spared. These writings were from happier times for the city.
I’m going to try to wrap this series up with this part. Now that I have escaped to Prague and then Athens for a couple days, between going out and one more major day of site seeing, my big vacation adventure is quickly coming to a close. Plus, my recollections are becoming a little fuzzy about things I didn’t really spend a lot of time taking pictures doing. We’ll get to that.
After I landed back at Sabiha Gökçen, I made my way back to the flat in Galata. It was either this trip or the one back from Athens that Burhan had me hand over my phone to the taxi driver, and he basically told him not to take me the long way. It is definitely a perk to know someone who can speak the language! Once I got back, we hung out and drank a bit, and then, if the time stamps are to be believed, we headed out to Club Tekyön, which is one of the largest and oldest gay bars in Istanbul.
By then, I was likely very tired from the travel day, drinking, and more drinking, but again, thanks to the timestamps, I know we were out well past 4 AM drinking and watching the drag show. I crashed hard, and the next picture to pop up is when I went exploring on my own in the afternoon the next day.
I really stayed in the neighborhood, but I walked in areas that were not nearly the touristy traps I had been to so far. I also made my way to Firuzağa Himam, which is basically one of Istanbul’s baths catering specifically to the gay community. I won’t be going into great detail here, but it was certainly an experience. It was mid-day on a rainy and cool afternoon, and it wasn’t exactly hopping. I am glad I went, though.
Later on, I met back with Jerrad, who had been invited on a boat trip around the Bosphorus by some work colleagues. I won’t go into great detail of what he does for a living, but these people on this boat were not typical of the people I usually hang out with. One was, allegedly, a scion of the Rothchild family. I have no way of verifying that, but I absolutely picture the Illuminati. The rest of the group were surely much more first class than this yokel from Indianapolis could hang with, but they were all very nice and welcoming of me. Plus, it was an open bar, lots to snack on, and I was able to experience beautiful Istanbul from the water again. We also made a stop on the Asia side of Istanbul, and I was able to stand on land and say I was in Asia – hopefully not for the last time.
Once we were done with the boat ride and feeling the buzz, Jerrad suggested we go to a new bar called Heart. It was a relatively small club, and there was a line to get in. Once we were inside, it was packed to the gills. I don’t recall too much about it other than meeting some fun drag queens, listening to Madonna music, and continuing to be very hammered, which lead to one of my favorite memories from the trip, following Jerrad drunkenly stumbling up five flights of steps to the flat. He should be extra lucky that I can’t add videos to my photo carousel at the end of this post.
This was another sleep in day, September 10th, if you are keeping track, and I had five more days to go on my trip. The first picture was at almost 4 PM. I mainly stayed near the home base and İstiklal until meeting up with Jerrad for fancy cocktails at a rooftop bar. Unfortunately, I do not have the name of the place in my notes, but I believe it was on top of a hotel. Whereas Snog was a much shorter building roof, this showed panoramic views of the city. It was breathtaking.
After that, we went to a “Mexican” food place, mainly because Jerrad wanted to show me just how “off” the flavoring is in Istanbul, which was a source of great frustration to him because they have all the spices imaginable and lavash is basically a tortilla. I don’t recall it being that egregious, but once we were done with dinner, it was an early night for me because the next day, I hopped over to Athens for my next adventure. Again, we’ll do that on another day.
I arrived back in Istanbul for September 12th, and the next day, Jerrad dropped me off on his way to work at Cafe Privato for an amazing Turkish breakfast, which was a great start to my final sightseeing day in the city.
After breakfast, I made my way back across the bridge and up to Hagia Sophia, which was a gorgeous Byzantine cathedral dating back to Emperor Justinian in 532 AD. The Ottoman’s turned it into a Mosque until Atatürk turned it into a secular museum, which is what I was able to experience. I am grateful that I was able to see it then, because in 2020, it was converted back into a grand mosque, and I doubt I would have as much access now as I did then.
One little side story is that wide eyed tourist Nick basically got “took” by a man offering to be my guide into the museum. I hadn’t really planned for tickets, and of course, there was a long line. This man saw that, and he offered to take me past the line into the museum. He was able to do that, and I don’t even really recall how much I paid, though it wasn’t enough to feel like I was being robbed (remember the exchange rate?). Plus, I got to skip the line, and he did eventually leave me to my own devises to explore. No harm done. Hagia Sophia was gorgeous, and I have a nice little anecdote, too.
The next stop was a Jerrad suggestion, the Basilica Cistern, which is another Justinian construct built to provide water to the palace. The cistern is more than just a water storage structure. It is gorgeous to behold with its use of hundreds of rows of marble columns, some from ancient Roman and Greek temples, to hold up the ceiling. There are even two columns with the face of Medusa placed sideways and upside down to keep onlookers from being turned to stone. Being a lover of Greek myths, this was very much catnip to me.
I did wander a bit more around the Grand Bazaar, but I did not spend a lot of time there. It is really an intimidating structure, and it was one of the few places where my not being able to speak the language really hampered my resolve, but I then made my way back to the flat to meet up with Jerrad and Burhan for dinner and a fun night of karaoke.
While I do recall trying very hard (and eventually convincing) the karaoke DJ to sing Cher, the thing I remember most about that bar other than, AGAIN, fireworks inside, is that the steps up to the restroom were basically a ladder. I can only imagine the people who have drunkenly fallen on those. When I went to Homo Erectus in Brussels this year, they had similar steps down to their restrooms, too. This bar was very much on my mind then!
This pretty much brings us to September 14, 2018 and the final day of my adventure. Jerrad had the day off, and we made our way to the spice market because I wanted to get vanilla beans and any other spices I could easily get through customs, and while he was not exactly fluent in the language, he could at least more effectively haggle than I could or would have. We had some final cocktails at Snog, and I was in bed at a reasonable hour of 1:30 AM, but not before taking what turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. It is from the balcony of the flat towards an illuminated Galata Tower, with a solitary person walking in the middle of the cobblestone street. I will likely make this the cover photo of this post, but I also have it hanging in my living room.
I went to the airport with plenty of time, but my flight bdid get delayed. I didn’t get back into Chicago until after 10 PM. On the bright side of that, getting through customs was a breeze. I had originally planned on taking the train back to Indianapolis on Sunday, September 16th, but ironically, Jerrad was flying back to Chicago. I decided to stay until the 17th, and I was able to hang out with him and Ian in Andersonville, which is now my home.
I don’t want to make any grand allusions or proclamations that my first major international trip changed the trajectory of my life, but I would say it pretty much did. I broke the bubble of never leaving the United States, and after starting to work from home in early 2018, I came back from my adventures in Istanbul, Prague, and Athens with the decision made that it was time to make drastic changes. I then put into motion my move from Indianapolis to Chicago, and the rest is history.
I hope you enjoyed this recollection of Istanbul. From not exactly being on my radar to becoming one of my favorite cities I have visited so far, I fell in love with the ancient and chaotic city, and the fact that I have only really seen main tourist area, makes me want to travel back and explore more.
