What Istanbul is Really Like | Turkey Travel Vlog

Auto-captioned from the film, lightly cleaned. Elena's words, not edited prose.

foreign to circle the entire Mediterranean this summer I'm finally turning this dream into a reality by traveling to six countries in just 40 days with my sister Sage together we really want to see these places through a feminine lens and specifically share the stories of local women along the way just east of Greece turkey is a literal bridge between Europe and Asia and not just geographically but also many ways that are cultural religious and political here the east meets the West modern meets ancient and religious meets secular while I've heard quite a bit about the Ottoman Empire and history books modern turkey or turkey a really remains a mystery to me still so I figured there's no better way to learn more than to book a flight to Istanbul and meet as many people as I can instead of focusing on just one woman starting to stumble we decided to switch things up and meet as many local gals as we could by hosting a Meetup Turkish culture is probably the one I'm least familiar with going into this whole trip so I'm really fascinated to hear all their stories and perspectives also Istanbul has been a major part of my own history my parents both lived in Istanbul in the late 80s as exchange students and that's where they met and fell in love since then my dad has become a turquo file if you will and for the past five years he has been studying Turkish every single day completely teaching himself on his own in December 2019 for Christmas I surprised him with two tickets to Istanbul for us to do a grand father-daughter trip but unfortunately we all know what came next and those plans fell through in 2020 so more than two years later we're finally making it up but instead things are looking a little different with sage my mom was able to come as well so here we all are hey from Istanbul we made it really I do but I don't I don't know the words we are at our next stop doing good feeling oh I'm tired but we are thriving we are very excited to be in a stumble for a variety of reasons for one it is my first time in Turkey or turkey we are going to be exploring for the next couple days we're gonna do a meet up so today we're gonna hit up the Grand Bazaar the surimanier mosque and a couple of things so let's go story of the tower we first talked about marriage on the top on the other side overlooking old Istanbul get married in 18 months and I said no I want to get married no I said 12 months so the golota tower is kind of seen as a symbol of a stone bowl and was constructed back in 1348 over the centuries its purpose has ranged from a prison to a watchtower to now the popular Museum it is today to our family though it's famous as a spot our dad first told my mom he wanted to marry her which is funny because there's a popular legend that whoever you climb this historic Tower with you're destined to marry no idea this big I didn't really do my proper research before but it is massive and from up here one of those touristy things you have to do it's touristy for a reason that was such an incredible view of the city you get a full 360 getting to see all the parts that are on me you should come to the parts under European content all the different mosques what do you all think oh my gosh oh it was so awesome it's so sweet it's being bad in this Fields you guys wouldn't be here if we hadn't had that conversation here it's true some other things so let's talk about Istanbul starting with the Byzantine Empire so around the year 300 the Roman Empire divided and the Byzantine Empire was born with Constantinople or modern day istanbos we know now as the capital so because of this really unique location linking both Europe and Asia the city quickly grew to be a beacon of the Silk Road and a total Melting Pot of races and cultures in the west the empire was crucial to the evolution of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and classical Greek culture but to the east a totally different way of life was on the rise Muslim Turks were making their way into Anatolia bringing a new language religion and culture along with them so in 1453 the Byzantine Empire finally fell to the Turks and the Ottoman Empire took Constantinople this Muslim ruled superpower came to include much of Eastern Europe the Middle East and North Africa and really left a lasting Islamic cultural Legacy in its wake around World War one which is really not that long ago I'd like to note the Ottoman Empire collapsed while much of its territory fell into the group of European Imperial Powers turkey emerged as an independent state under the leadership of Mustafa Kamal auditorg throughout the 20th century turkeys gradually transitioned to a democracy in a market economy now becoming a major player in global affairs the Grand Bazaar we're a 25 minute walk away and now what taxis are picking us out we're just gonna start walking might as well let's go you can really see the blend of the European influence it's like a little French a little greek you know what it really isn't Turkish we're in a region where there's been a ton of historical overlap exactly enjoy it for what it is I think well that's part of what we're searching for is the overlap we have reached the bridge reminded me of something and I had to look it up I knew it was from Star Wars and I feel like when the Star Wars creators were coming out with the architecture for playing that new oh they must have looked at the mosques here in very distinctive and reminiscent from that planet in Star Wars look it up actually you know what I'm just insert a photo here beautifully created and very unique to anything I've ever seen Moscow over there is a Bosphorus Strait so here's the European side that's Asian side it's the only city that touches two continents and then this is like a little Peninsula we're gonna go meet our parents there's that the ottoman are some crazy Intrigue and drama we're talking assassinations crazy wives poisoning about it it's crazy that we're literally 100 yards away but because of the way like the lights didn't get and it's so beautiful and like clean it looks like a CGI image and the fact that there's like three different that's pretty crazy like I feel like I'm seeing an image of Istanbul with someone like computer generated knees like that's stunning never seen anything like it so we're currently on our way to the iconic Grand Bazaar which dates back over 500 years and it's one of the largest and oldest markets of its kind in the world it existed along the Silk Road for many years and became an engine of trade and then during the height of the Ottoman Empire the bazaar was a hub of Mediterranean trade and today it has over 4 000 shops and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors each day so now we're meeting up with a family friend who lives in Istanbul Salim to show us around winner of the spice trade this is a big part of this Silk Road the Egyptian spices lots of the shops this isn't like the main tourist area you can find for one a lot of knockoffs um jewelry gold rugs oh my gosh this is massive so do you think you need to try it okay for this one we got options oh we could about half rude this reminds me of our Persian upbringing yeah guys now we're gonna check out this spider mask I love these so many comments I love being called Baby gosh just doing a tour with this lady and you're in the suleimania mosque in Istanbul and fatty the tomb of this is the king of too much magnificent yes the last Sultan of the Ottoman no 10th 10th the last about 400 years later I have never seen anything like Turkish architecture I feel like I've traveled quite a bit but from everything I've seen nothing quite compares to this despite the Ottoman Empire having stretched so far this Turkish architecture still feels so distinctive and it's so beautiful across the way so it's super easy to walk from one to the other so we're gonna go check out the Blue Mosque apparently it's undergoing some construction so it's not and it's full Glory also if you're coming as a woman you need to cover your hair and if you don't have your own scarf they provide them which is really helpful history lessons around about 700 BC and it was about I don't know in the 300s that Constantine called it the new Rome the center of the Greek Empire reigned until the fall of Constantinople which was in 1453 when the Turks came in the Conqueror came in and made it to church it was a I mean a mosque for I don't know 500 years until uh auditor made it a museum until 2020 when it was made a mosque Again by the state mom you got all that yes I did very good all right should we go check out the Blue Mosque okay let's go look at it love to see The Monuments especially with the little nostalgic anecdotes from my parents sage and I really wanted to learn more about Istanbul from the local women who actually live here so I took to Instagram and posted about a little last minute meet up in Texas Square hoping that a handful of subscribers would show up and I could chat with them we are currently now on our way to Texas Square where I'm going to do a little Meetup so let's go I'm kind of nervous no one shows up well I still love you even if no one shows up oh my God there's so many hi guys wow there's so many people hello I was so stunned and so moved to see dozens of people show up on such short notice it's often hard to visualize the names and faces behind like the stats and the numbers I see online so this was really powerful moment for me and I was so impressed by everyone I met most of whom are pursuing really crazy careers as engineers and doctors and scientists and creatives and had such educated stances on politics and culture yeah then images thank you I know our social anxiety okay okay go for it hi I'm Zayna I'm 18 my name is Miriam I am dilai I'm Indonesia my name is Daria my name is we are friends so what you love about Istanbul I love everything about it I like the diversity it is so diverse they have created nature and also the city life it's really chaotic that's actually one of the things that I like about it so many opportunities now Islam is my home I love my house can you tell us a little bit about what it's like to be a young girl in Istanbul today it's hard unfortunately it's kind barely made complex topics to talk about it there's a lot of we still have safety issues unicorns people are kind of depressed because of political issues economical issues you know I have so many friends the young friends they're working they can't buy rent their pools Market foods and just Transportation you know and how do you see if you see it all women like overcoming these issues or facing this generation is standing up and we are trying to change something the days May might seem dark or young people but it will be better it will be better we talked about the struggles they face in their cities such as the criticisms they face from older Generations if they choose to act a certain way or follow more Progressive lifestyle some are considering moving to other cities for greater equality and opportunities While others want to stay in Istanbul forever while many of the girls were discouraged by the current situation they also remained very resilient and determined to pursue positive change we had really sweet moments too connecting over the things we love like art or the internet or fashion I think one of the beautiful things of Amita is like-minded people getting a chance to connect who may not meet otherwise some of the gals even exchange numbers and have continued to hang out since which warms my heart days like this really make this online community feel like a home around the world so today I'm doing a little father-daughter trip with my dad because that was the original plan for coming to Turkey so uh Sage is gonna have a little mother a daughter yeah she'd be really cute Mom I'm kind of getting homo you and Dad are getting out all day yes we're in the princess Islands really easy ferry ride if you come to Istanbul and you want to mix it up a little day trip what's up what's up what are we on the Hot For Mama June okay what does that mean uh it's just like the little Turkish Pizza we're gonna find it I Believe in Us what do we have here this reminds me of this flapper that I had in Lebanon it's like a flatbread okay looks at me she must be a sunlight shines a little more tonight hello hello live in Atlanta okay father and son and we're doing a little dance room we're going to view cut down one of the princess Islands what's it known for well she will go there there are no Cars allowed yeah you go over you can hike there's forests there's Hills you can print a bike there's restaurants there's gonna go chill love is hard to find let's go get each other Dad look at that Turkish ah that was so good audino's on camera that would have been stressful you did good she is help me you're like oh this would be a lovely little danger Adventure or misadventure so we're like oh we'll go to the the top peak point the auto bus line was taking like an hour so I wasn't gonna just walk it otherwise let's keep trying all right off we go there is no one in any direction but we're having a great time but it's really nice honestly to get this nature fix I've been spending a lot of time in cities he's been in European cities and now we're just amongst the trees and then to this side see these beautiful islands peeking through the tree which season the Sea of marmara what is it possession oh great and this is gonna be the end of the series because we're gonna be attacked by ghosts entrance inside is dangerous and forbidden oh oh gosh should you see that did you see that I did that was that the ghost pushing I wasn't a demon yep spooky okay well we came we saw we didn't conquer a little check-in we are about to take our boat ride back to Istanbul so my dad's been teaching himself Turkish for how long now well I started like 33 years ago took a 28 year break and then I picked it up again five years ago had a chance to live here for a year a long time ago deciding to be back and a lot changes in 30 some years I'll just say one of my life things because I'm always trying to teach my kids and others lessons is travel meet new people push yourself out of your comfort zones discover other worlds and learn to look at your own world through different lens and that's actually very transformative for just being like a good human a lot of it takes yeah being able to go outside yourself and understand other live in the discomfort learn from the discomfort if you can connect with somebody learn their name let them know that you see them that's very powerful because a lot of people feel invisible this week's been a stumble shout out to be a beautiful Enigma if you will stories of the women we met really reflected a theme that I feel like we kept observing in Turkey the tension of being swept towards the future while simultaneously still being surrounded by the past in many ways Istanbul felt more modern than Athens or even Madrid but the looming ancient mosques and the concert reminders of Ottoman history seem to keep it deeply intertwined with the past similarly the women shared their struggles of navigating the pressures of traditional value systems while also boldly pushing limits around them it was also so special to share this time with my family and reconnect with a little bit of my own past and the stories I grew up with so in the meantime I can't wait to see how turkey Compares with our next destination Beirut Lebanon