The Turks seem to have two sides 1) The business side it takes to cope with stressful life in Istanbul 2) And the social side needed to unwind from this hectic city. So what is one thing Turks do when they want to relax, you may ask? They smoke Nargile, which is a water pipe that has been in Anatolia since the Ottoman empire in the 1600's. Now I am not a smoker, but I have been curious to try this since I knew I was going to Turkey, so last night my friend Berke brought me to my first Nargile. Berke explained the place to go is Tophane, so I followed his lead, first taking some very cramped public transportation, but eventually we made it to the couch filled, dimly lit establishment of his choice. When we arrived everyone was kicked back chatting away, and after we sat down, we started with an apple flavored tobacco. It was a lot to take in. A dramatic Turkish show played on the TV's, a minaret loomed over us, and the colorful lights and sweet aromas played with my senses. While we smoked we talked about friends, religion, made jokes, and I practiced my Turkish. I too felt some of the stress of my first two week disappear, and from them on it was pure Istanbul fun.
The Turkish Republic today owes its existence to one man, Mustafa 'Atatürk' Kemal. With out him at the end of World War I what remained of the Ottoman Empire would have been divided up and shared among the victors. As the first leader of Turkey he laid the foundation for this modern state by establishing a secular nation with a constitution, developing The Turkish Economy, and by renovating its language and education system. He is the face of Turkey and their most celebrated figure.This past week I traveled to Ankara to visit his grave and the memorial and museum dedicated to his life and the Turkish Revolution.
