Opposites attract… the same two American tourists: Part 1

         In the typical fashion of arrival in a new country, it took about 10 minutes for me to become completely confused in Istanbul. The metro works on a plastic coin system that was very hard to figure out on our own. Chuck E. Cheese is more legit. After that trouble, we took a LONG ride to Sultanahmet, the old part of town where we were staying. If you go to Istanbul, take the 10 or 15 euro shuttle from the airport. It´s worth it. 

On the second leg of our trip to the hostel, a random man asked where we from. He asked where we were staying... and I told him, immediately realizing my error when his creepiness started to emerge. He said he was from Libya and working on his PhD there. He seemed to be trying to impress us, which totally confused me since he was middle-aged and unattractive. Dude, I am 21. I am not interested. My sister is gorgeous, so she is not interested either. He wouldn´t stop talking to us and asked again where we were staying and I knew well enough not to tell him again. He kept pushing and pushing and we got more and more nervous. We were two foreign girls, American no-less, with backpacks and no clue about our surroundings. At the Sultanhamet stop, our stop, he got off and asked us to come to his hotel with him. WHAT??? No, thank you sir. I squeezed my sister to indicate not to get off at that stop even though it was near our hostel. We went to the next stop and turned around, catching the last tram of the night. When I asked a police officer to help with directions, I realized when I pulled out the reservation that I told the guy the WRONG name of the hostel! I screamed with delight and Fuddy did too. The creepy Libyan would have had to go to Budapest if he tried to find the hostel that I originally mentioned to him. A huge weight was lifted, but the ones on our backs remained. The backpacks were like targets on our walk, causing every man we passed to taunt us and attempt to solicit us to go into their restaurant, bar or shop. The voices of creepy Turkish men yelling at us became the soundtrack to our Turkey trip. 

We had the 7-bed room to ourselves, but the next day two more girls came, one from Sweden and another incredibly annoying girl from northern Californian who thought she was cool because she had a uniquely heinous lisp and “the only Europe (she) had been to was this side of Istanbul.” There was one point that I almost beat her up, but realized a Turkish prison would be no fun at all; the streets were rough enough.

We woke up the next day to go to the famous Blue Mosque, only about 60 meters from our hostel, but it was closed for prayer time. Istanbul was my first experience in a place where they have a call to prayer and although the prayer music is nice and I don´t want to be culturally insensitive, it is easy to get sick of it when it is blasting throughout the streets five times a day. We went to see the Hippodrome, a sort of ancient athletic complex built in 203 AD when Istanbul was Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, but it was kind of a disappointment.

Obelisk erected in 390 AD... so it is fairly old.

Fountain given as a gift to Sultan Abdulhamit from German emperor Wilhem II in 1901.

Next was the Grand Bazaar. The bartering is insane, almost as insane as how much we were solicited to buy things and probably less insane than the sheer amount of STUFF in this city. One store-owner with a championship unibrow (which says a lot, because most of these guys had unibrows) befriended us and gave us free apple tea, a staple in Istanbul. He was nice until he tried to get us to go out with him that night. He may have meant well, but after the first night, we did not trust any man in Turkey again. This same thing happened three more times that day, apple tea included.

Are you overwhelmed by all the pictures you just saw? 

Yeah. Imagine being there. There are over 4000 shops.

Fuddy and I and our free apple tea (the locals call it "tourist tea")

Silly little sister

Silly big sister

The activity of the night was the Blue Mosque, commissioned by Sultan Ahmet I in 1609. It is unique for it's six minarets, whereas most mosques have two or four at the most. The pictures do not display nearly how beautiful it is on the outside.

Blue Mosque excitement




Blue Mosque interior

The next day we went on a Bosphorous cruise, where we got to cruise along the Bosphorous strait and go to the Asian side of Istanbul. We got a really great deal with an overly friendly guide. He let my sister and I sit up front and gave us personal Turkish lessons. I learned how to say everything from “sisters” to “thank you” to “adventure.” The lessons were much more welcome than the incredibly strong drinks he gave us.

Europe side...

...Asian side. So different!

Unfortunately, our experience on the Asian side was… culturally unsatisfying. After we were haggled by 5 men at the same time to go their waterfront restaurant we chose one that offered us a deal on fish. We decided how much we wanted to spend and ordered accordingly, accounting for the fact that they would probably charge us for bread. We ordered a spicy tomato puree for the bread as we waited for our fish. The waiter brought out tea as well. When our fish did not come for an hour, we told them we had to leave to catch our tour group, they brought out the check that should have been for about 8 Lira, and the total read 22 Lira, charging us for the tea that is ALWAYS free, water glasses (with no water in them) and the bread. I was furious. Screaming and castigating does no good when the two parties do not speak the same language, but I did it just the same. The waiter at the adjacent restaurant laughed to himself as he looked on as if to say “this would never happen at MY restaurant.” The owner played dumb, but I played bitch. We left a pile of euros and lira equaling around 15 Lira, only because Fuddy insisted we compromise. I was so enraged during the entire trip about being scammed that day. It was not because of the 7 Lira I lost, of course, but because of the complete lack of business integrity I experienced. This will be one of my vivid memories of the trip and I could not be more upset about it. Things did get a little better once our captain gave us free gigantic fresh seafood sandwiches when we admitted we were hungry.

We were so ready to have our relaxing Turkish bath to wind down and went to the famous Suleymaniye Hamam to get our spa treatment. It was relaxing, but they were serious about the scrubbing, and I don´t even want to think about the cleanliness of the tools they used.

Inside of the Turkish Bath 

SO relaxed post-bath

After that we went to Rumist Café, a restaurant featured in the New York times and recommended to us by the owner. He gave us two recommendations for meals so we decide to trust him. We did the same for dessert. All good decisions. We met a bunch of Americans there, a huge black guy from DC, a recent graduate from Ohio, and two students from Walpole. It was such a homey place with authentic and quality food, not to mention the great people who work there; it turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the trip.

Our new friend from the local travel agency who we saw literally everyday
during our time in Turkey. Becoming a local and meeting people in
our neighborhood was one of our favorite parts of the visit.

My delicious dinner that came OVER A FIRE. Awesome

The next morning we went to Hagia Sofia. Built in 360 ADIt was once a church, then a mosque and now a museum. It was completely breathtaking inside. One of the major facets was the alter- the only place in the world with both the Virgin Mary from Christianity and a Muslim "Mihrab". 

Insanely beautiful

Alter-piece.

The last stop before we left was the Spice Market to sample a little too much Baklava and Turkish delight.

The site of our lovely and gigantic 2 Lira sandwiches. 2 Lira = approximately $1.60

Turkish Baklava, Hazelnut candies, Turkish delight

Spice Market craziness

Although it was an exciting and different experience, when we left Istanbul, we were ready to go.

Here are just some of the Famous lines from our unofficial Istanbul soundtrack that Fuddy and I heard every hour of every day:

“Lady lady lady, you beautiful. Would you like to come in my shop?”

“You. Eyes. Very nice”

“Kebab lamb? Chicken? Lady, you hungry?”

“Lady look at bracelets 10 Lira, but I give you special price. 8 Lira. Just for you. Lady! Lady!!!!”

“Hey girl. Hello lady.”

“Hola guapa”

“Hola eres española?”

“Angelina Jolie???” This one was our favorite, naturally.

Two Mollohan girls in Madrid

Of course there was a 4-hour delay for my sister’s flight. It was hard to mind though. The arrivals section of Barajas has free wifi, but more importantly, the arrivals section has… arrivals. At the risk of getting too sappy, I will just say that if you ever loose faith in love or the significance of human connections, go hang out at arrivals in your nearest airport (free therapy!). I have never seen so much live emotion in one place in my whole life. When I finally saw my sister, Stephanie (who I have called Fuddy since I could talk-there is really no need to explain this) emerge from the luggage claim section, I was feeling more warm and fuzzy than ever, even though my plans for the day got completely messed up by her planes delay.

On our walk to El Parque de Buen Retiro later in the day, Fuddy was pick-pocketed. This further delayed my plans. One good thing about the tragedy though, was that I learned I am much better at Spanish in stressful situations where I am trying to help English speakers. Yay! We decided I would lend Fuddy money for the entire trip until she could get to her money again in the U.S. Fun stuff.

After the wallet fiasco we went home, with nothing on my daily to-do list checked off. I was very unhappy.

We started early the next morning with Templo de Debod and Plaza de España, then to El Palacio Real, Museo de Reina Sofia, Puerta del Sol, El Tigre (for cheap Tapas and Sangria), El Palacio Cristal, Mercado de San Miguel (coffee to recharge), La Plaza Mayor and El Museo del Prado. I know, I know; I may have overdone it, but we were on a tight schedule. 

Epic guide with a moustache in Museo de Reina Sofia 

Vertical Garden at Caixaforma


Sissy and Templo de Debod


Mercado de San Miguel


Sisters and Sangria at El Tigre Bar


El Palacio de Cristal at El Parque del Buen Retiro


El Palacio Real

At night, we went to get Indian food in the Lavapies neighborhood then to Sol to get some drinks. We planned on just beers at Dubliners until we saw my friendo Guillermo, who works at Kapital so we decided to go there with him. Now, we had an amazing time and I love my sister, and she doesn´t LOOK 9 years older than me, but she is, so I have to admit it was the slightest bit odd to be get down on the dance floor with her at club Kapital.

Christmas at La Puerta del sol

Kapital craziness

I had to show my sister La Chocolatería de San Gines and introduce their chocolate with churros, so we went Sunday morning before the Rastro Market. The Rastro was the typical stressful experience, but I am glad we went as it proved a lovely warm-up for the crazy shopping experiences in Istanbul.

When we got back from the Rastro, we packed quickly (and I really DID lay out all the things I wanted to bring, removed half, and put the remainder in my backpack) and headed to the airport. Destination: Istanbul, Turkey.

Almost Amsterdam

My flight was scheduled for December 2 at 8PM. After I had packed in my usual way, ten minutes before leaving, I headed to the metro to go to the airport. Before making my first transfer, Natalie called, presumably to remind me to bring my passport or boarding pass (because she is the mother in the travel relationship and I the trouble-making son who is good with directions and bad at remembering to bring… anything tangible).

“OUR FLIGHT IS CANCELLED,” she said flatly.

It took a second to process before I started cursing. This would not have been SUCH a problem if we had not already gotten all our non-refundable museum tickets online and paid for hostels.

When I called the travel agency, a very sympathetic and USELESS man told me the next flight available was Sunday (it was Thursday at this point) , due to the bad weather in Amsterdam. This was not a very viable option since my return flight was Monday. I had him cancel my flights altogether.

Natalie’s guy was a little more helpful and offered a flight departing on Sunday morning and arriving very early Thursday, just in time to get to class. Perfect. We were so excited to be able to go.

Then the strikes started. On Friday at 5PM, after a group walkout by the Spanish air traffic controllers, Barajas airport was basically on lockdown. Keep in mind this was during a 4-day long weekend in Spain, one especially popular for traveling. It was no problem though; I was flying on KLM (A REAL AIRLINE!). Surely the strikes would not matter to me. I obviously did not know the severity of the situation. An estimated 330,000 passengers were affected. Planes were turned around on the runway and flights could not arrive. If you want to be a masochist and feel the pain I felt, click HERE

Flights were to resume at 6 AM on Sunday. Our flight was at 6:20AM. Things did not look good. On Saturday morning, I woke up to a call from Natalie telling me our flight was cancelled. It was time to make calls again. While the person Natalie talked to said we will get our money back Sunday, the woman I talked to said we had to go to the airport to make sure the flight was really and truly cancelled because if it left, we wouldn’t get our money back. Keep in mind it had been OFFICIALLY cancelled already.

A 6:20AM flight means there is no Metro-to-the-aiport-option. Natalie and I decided to meet at 2:30AM to take a quick cab to Cibeles Circle and get the night bus to the airport. We waited at the KLM desk for two hours, unsure whether anyone would come. The flight was still officially cancelled. FORTUNATELY, the airport personnel arrived and we got through the line and picked up our boarding tickets. We literally danced and jumped off to security, corroborating those silly American girl stereotypes. Even when we got through security, boarded the plane, and waited in our seats, I still didn’t know whether we would go or not. Not until we LEFT the ground (I still had doubts when we were accelerating on the runway) did I believe it. WE WERE FINALLY, REALLY AND TRULY, ON OUR WAY TO THE NETHERLANDS.

Our hostel was perfect. We were greeted with a cat and an adorable Dutch guy to check us in to our 32 person room. Yes. 32. Did I mention that Natalie and I were sharing one queen size bed in the room? At least we got a bottom bunk. It was actually incredibly quaint and not at all what I expected.

We immediately headed to the Anne Frank house to get our daily dose of culture and history and to make our reservation on time. We arrived and saw a line of about 150 people. We went to the side door, rang the buzzer and entered immediately. Moral of the story? Get a ticket online and receive celebrity status.

Anne Frank House


Hell yeah we put our moms' maiden names in the guest book

We walked around a bit and headed back to our hostel to hang out for the rest of the day. We hung out in the smoking room, above the influence, and met some hysterical guys from Brighton, England. I knew bringing cookies would help us make friends. They were silly and called them biscuits. Average age? 28, of course. They were all very good-looking though, so Natalie and I did not mind. We are starting to be ok with not meeting people our own age. We sat in the smoke room for about 5 hours, then headed to our queen size-bed.

Early the next day, we went to the Rijksmuseum, which has some famous Vermeers and Rembrandt paintings. Naturally, Natalie enjoyed it more than I did.

Such a happy Natalie

Next was the Heinneken Experience, a completely commercial tourist trap. I was NOT happy to hand over 15 Euros for the ticket but it was TOTALLY worth it (I can be a little fickle). This place was a playground for adults (did I just call myself an adult?) complete with interactive beer brewing activities, Clydsdale horses, simulation 4-D presentations, 1 small sample and two large glasses of Heinneken beer. At the end of the tour, there is a bar where you get your two included beers and mingle with other tourists. I saw a couple standing at a high-top table that looked our age so I headed over. I was shocked when the guy looked familiar. The couple were my friends Joe (who is studying in Madrid) and Lara (who goes to BU and is studying in Paris)! Complete instantly. 

Epic 6 foot long foosball table

Where brainwashing occurs, clearly.

We all went to a coffeeshop together, then they had to leave to catch their flights back home. Natalie enjoyed a waffle and a KINDER CHOCOLATE BAR crepe for lunch and they were both insanely good.

Natalie and our waffle

We ended our touristy day at the Van Gogh museum. Van Gogh has been by far my favorite artist since I knew what art was. I have dressed liked Van Gosh for presentations, made Van Gogh models out of paper mache, and written about 3 papers about him. Needless to say, I was very excited to go to the museum. It did not disappoint. The famous “Sunflowers” was there (you know the one), “The Potato Eaters”  and “Wheatfield with Crows” just to name a few.

Childhood dreams coming true picture

Natalie and I made sandwiches for dinner with boursin and smoked salmon (in honor of it being the 7^th night of Chanukah) and a lot of stroopwafel and then made our way to the famous Red Light District.

Insane amounts of stroopwafel.

If you’ve been living under a stupid rock, you may not know that prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. The government regulates and enforces rules at the ‘sites of business,’ making sure there are no minors working and that conditions are sanitary. The ‘working girls’ get tested every other month as well. Because it is legal. the Red Light District includes a bunch of windows along the street with prostitutes in lingerie, trying to get the attention of any passerby who is willing to pay for sex. Walking by felt unnerving, awkward, and perverse. It definitely gave Natalie and I a lot to think about.

The start of the Redlight district

We spent the next morning in Utrecht, a really cute smaller town outside of Amsterdam. It was a nice change to be able to explore another town in the Netherlands.

The Dom Tower of Utrecht, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands 

Absolutely freezing

Adorable cheese shop

We were told that we HAVE to go to a Sex Museum and since it was only 4Euros, we decided to head to one near Central Station. Even with my best friend, it was a very uncomfortable experience that included life-size moving flasher-dolls, graphic photos, and ancient sex toys. Oh, and a gigantic 6 foot tall black penis.

We visited the IAMSTERDAM sign after that for a photo-op, then to a restaurant on the main strip to get a Dutch Pancake. We got a ham and cheese one. We were extremely happy with our choice. The pancake is a mixture between a crepe and a typical American pancake. We ended the day at BABA coffee shop- definitely my favorite one that we visited.

Ham and Cheese Dutch Pancake

We had decided that three days was enough in Amsterdam so the next day we went to Brussels, Belgium. We went to Galeries Royales St. Hubert to get Chocolates to bring home, walked around Grand Place to see the town hall and some cool churches then got (what else?) a Belgian waffle with Belgian chocolate on top. Heaven.

Pretty chocolates

Natalie and her waffle

Please note the only thing that matters in this photo: the Asian to my right

Then we headed to Atomium, a structure built for the 1935 world’s fair in Brussels and is the most recognizable piece of architecture in Brussels. It was WAY cooler than I thought it was going to be, I have to admit.

Try to top this jumping picture

We went to the European Parliament and the European Commission next. We were a little confused when we got off the train and went into a building that looked important. So, I walked up to the desk to ask a worker if it was, in fact, important and/or a place that people visit. He replied that no, it was a place where people work. Fail. Infant/Brussels-Noob status. The European parliament was a much more successful visit and even better, free. 

EU flags

Our one picture without coats

We went to Maison Antoine for “frites” next, and got  directions from a French woman along the way who assured us they were terrible and disgusting (typical French buzzkillers). WRONG. We shared a big cone with curry ketchup to dip and they were the most delicious French fries I have ever had.

So. Good.

We made our way to a desserted Cinquatenaire next, basically a poor man’s Arc de Tiomf, but it was still pretty beautiful.

Why yes, we DID mount the camera on a car and use the self timer
because there was absolutely NO ONE at this place

Next we had to see Manneken Pis, a tiny (and I mean tiny) statue of a boy peeing. I am not really sure why it is famous. At any rate, it was underwhelming, even though we were told not to expect a lot.

That little thing behind us, yeah.

We reflected on the day and the trip over drinks before we boarded our train to the Amsterdam airport.

Grand Place in Brussels by night

We arrived there at midnight and our flight was at 6:30 AM. Yeah. It did not help matters that I had to turn in a 10-page Spanish paper on Don Quijote upon my return (AND that Natalie and I had to literally run for the airport to catch our 10:30), so I frantically tried to finish all night and morning, successfully turning it in at 1:30PM.

In summary, Brussels can be done in one day and Amsterdam is amazing and everyone MUST go, whether it be for the history, the art, the food, the architecture or just to get high. Put it on your list. Now.