Istanbul and Sicily

I have been wanting to go to Istanbul for quite some time and my friend Kay-Lin and I cancelled a trip there in 2013 because of the political climate. I have also been meaning to visit Sicily, since my mother’s side of the family is from there (and so is Michael’s maternal side of the family). So after a bit of planning this summer, we managed to execute the trip at the end of August. Here’s how it all went down:

Friday, August 28 Our departure from NYC’s JFK. I get ‘randomly’ selected to be questioned and am mildly interrogated by US Homeland Security at our departure gate. (They ask me how much money I’m carrying, what my final destination is, whether or not I have plans to go to Syria and if I have been to Istanbul before–among other things).

Blue Mosque

Saturday, August 29 Our arrival in Istanbul. We stayed in an Airbnb in Sultanahmet (the heart of the touristy area). We met Hamza (our host) at his rug store to pick up our keys and get a brief introduction to the city. He welcomed us with Turkish tea and gave us a map of the city with a few recommendations for what we should cover. After getting settled in (and a nap), we went to the Grand Bazaar and walked over the Galata Bridge. We hadbalik ekmek (fish and bread) sandwiches, sold straight from boats in Eminonu Square for only 9 Turkish lira (about $3 USD). At night, we walked over to a hookah bar/restaurant near our apartment for tea and hookah; we had a really friendly Syrian server. We finished the night with a bottle of wine on the rooftop of our Airbnb (that overlooked the city) and a series of checkers games.

Istiklal Avenue

Taksim Square

Sunday, August 30 We checked most of the must-see touristy items off of our list including: The Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern and then we headed over into Beyoglu where we ventured into Taksim Square and walked down Istiklal Avenue (where a lot of Western chain shops are located). We also visited Taksim Gezi park (underwhelming) and went to the Sirkeci train station to see a Whirling Dervishes show. Before the show we visited the New Mosque (which was a lot more peaceful than the Blue Mosque).

Mihrimah Sultan

Monday, August 31 We visited the Asian side of Istanbul–took the ferry from Eminou to Kadikoy and happened to randomly run into Klaus and Angela from PS1 who were there for the biennial. We explored the neighborhood of Moda and went to a park on the water there. Also walked through a cemetery on our several mile journey to Uskudar. There we ate an amazing meal at a restaurant called Kanaat Lokantasi. We had lamp, beef, okra, rice and then semolina pound cake topped with kaymak (similar to clotted cream). After dinner, we visited the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque–where Michael went in and I sat behind (because women were not allowed to be fully inside and were only allowed to go into a segregated, partitioned section). After taking the ferry back to Eminou, we went to Beyoglu to explore the nightlight a bit (but unfortunately, since it was a Monday, not a lot was happening). We found a great wine bar called Nola and had a glass of wine before eating a fancy McDonald’s dinner (since nothing else was opened at 2:30 am). I had a McChicken and Michael had a Big Mac and fries.

Istanbul Modern

Tuesday, September 1 Our last day in Istanbul–we visited the Istanbul Modern and had an amazing brunch at a little place in the backstreets of Karakoy near the museum. The rest of this day was spent in a frenzied state as we navigated our way to the Istanbul airport, to Rome, barely caught our connecting flight to Palermo (due to delays) and the arrived too late to get our rental car to Linguaglossa (so we had to get a hotel in Palermo for a night).

Autostrada

Wednesday, September 2 Woke up in Palermo–made our way back to the airport, picked up our Fiat Panda rental car (it was an awesome little car) and drove to Linguaglossa on the east coast. Unfortunately we got there pretty late (around 5 p.m.) and only had a short period of time in our amazing Airbnb (it was on a farm property with fig trees, grape vines, over 500 species of cacti, tomatoes, etc., etc.) belonging to a couple–the husband was from Linguaglossa and the wife was American. Our guesthouse was stocked with homemade olive oil and wine and we went into town to pick up some things to make dinner. Went to sleep pretty early–exhausted from our entire day + of travel.

Messina

Taormina

Valley of the Temples

Thursday, September 3 Not sure how we managed to pack it all in–but we departed from Linguaglossa, drove to Messina (because that’s the town where my grandfather was from and I wanted to see it), went to the Duomo there, stopped in Taormina (went to the Greek amphitheater there), drove down to Agrigento to the Valley of the Temples, then met up with our Airbnb host in Palermo. Exhausted from all of travel (again) we called it an early night. Palermo was pretty dirty–a lot of garbage/litter/dog poop everywhere.

San Vito

Zingaro

Friday, September 4 Our beach day. Went to San Vito and the Zingaro Nature Reserve. Breath taking views and amazing swimming.

Palermo Cathedral

Saturday, September 5 Our last day/night in Sicily. We visited the Monte Pellegrino and went to the shrine of St. Rosalia Palermo cathedral (and went on the roof), saw the catacombs (super dark, super disturbing), and briefly went to Monreale to see the church there. Went to dinner near our apartment at a place called Cin Cin. Mourned the end of our trip and our imminent return to real life/New York City.

Sunday, September 6 Our (sad) return to the States.