A Little More Turkish, A Little Less Tourist...

 

Our first night in Turkey, I had opened up the door of our hotel balcony only to hear a loud sound that seemed to echo through the air. Unsure of what it was, having never heard anything of this sort before; I looked at my roommates to see if they could make sense of what we were hearing. As we listened closer, we realized it was a call to prayer coming from one of the mosques somewhere in the city below. Although it was 8pm, call to prayer is something that we noticed would happen several times a day throughout the city of Istanbul. The following day when I had heard the sound of call to prayer again, I listened and watched in more amazement as Muslims answered this call to prayer by going to a mosque. We had been very close to the Blue Mosque at this time, and I came to realize that I wasn’t just experiencing the city of Istanbul visually but instead fully on all sensory levels.

 

To me, there was something very beautiful about hearing this religious experience, as opposed to just hearing about it. Call to prayer, soon after, became a very distinct sound of Istanbul that I will always associate the city with. Of course the sounds of a city are very different than the sights or the tastes. While in Italy, I came to associate the country with the sounds of an accordion down a side street and several vespas that would ride past you on either side of the road. Istanbul’s very distinct sound of call to prayer is something that relates to its prominent Muslim population. Although there are a great deal of mosques in the city of Istanbul, there are also places of worship for the Christian and Jewish populations.

 

 

It is custom in Istanbul for women who worship Muslim faith to wear veils as a sign of their religious beliefs and customs. When we visited the Blue Mosque, I wore modest and respectable attire and a veil, or head scarf that would cover my hair, shoulders and neck. As a woman, I was happy to comply with this sign of respect before entering a place of worship. Every person who entered the mosque, regardless of gender, had to take off their shoes. Being inside the Blue Mosque, with a veil on my head, gave me a strong sense of cultural and religious tolerance. As an American woman in Istanbul, I thought more about what Muslims and the people of Istanbul believe rather than my own personal beliefs and expressions. This was my attempt to genuinely experience the Muslim faith and the city of Istanbul. Even though I am unfamiliar with the faith, the languages of Turkish, Islam and Arabic, I was still able to make a connection inside the Blue Mosque and respect and experience this place of worship for all it means to so many people world-wide.

The girls of our group wearing veils before entering the Blue Mosque.

 

Over my days in Istanbul, I thought about what it means to be a woman in the city of Istanbul. In a place where most women are covered from head to toe with clothing and a veil, I wore my American threads modestly realizing this city was unlike any other I’ve ever experienced. I questioned why it was so difficult for me to adapt to this place where men and women would look at you and see someone so very different than what they were used to seeing. Sure, this happens everywhere you go in the world, whether you’re in a city not far from the one you call your own or half way around the world. But what I was feeling was so very different and I wondered if it was due to the difference in our ideologies. Of if I had crossed some kind of boundary when I entered Istanbul that varied so greatly from Italy and even America? Or if there was some kind of cultural norm here in Turkey that was much more pronounced than I had expected?

 

 It didn’t take me very long before I realized I would do everything I could to both blend in and remain who I was while in Turkey. To do this, I kept my eyes open to the clothing I was surrounded by both on the streets and in shop windows. I figured the clothing of local people would clue me in on what it means to be someone living in Turkey and the narrative it tries to tell about itself. I saw the women who wore veils typically in long pants and long sleeve shirts, however they wore veils on their heads that had some of the most beautiful prints. The prints of the head scarves revealed a personality behind the veil and a very free expression to be one’s self. In many of the shop windows, I saw beautiful tiles that had vibrant colors and many different shades of colors. On the streets, I noticed modern dress, or what we might see in America, as well as more customary dress, something that was related to one’s faith. In one neighborhood, Taksim Square, I even made the comparison in my mind that it felt a lot like New York City’s SoHo. The shops and the people gave me a very trendy vibe that I found comparable to what I’ve experienced in New York City. It was here that I felt even more comfortable to wear my clothes proudly and comfortably.

 

After a great deal of observation both on the street and within restaurants, I found comfort in wearing long pants, a sweater to cover my arms when it got cooler at night, and a scarf to cover my neck even when my shirt was appropriate. I didn’t just want to come to Turkey to see Turkey, I wanted to experience Turkey and meet the traditions and customs in the middle. As I mentioned, I didn’t just want to blend in to the culture here, instead I wanted to continue to be myself but also experience who I am on Turkish terms. By doing this, I’d feel the way a visitor to New York would after buying their first Sabrett on the street from a vendor… a little more Turkish and a little less tourist.

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