Istanbul and France ------ Sep, 2019

We left Friday night and started our 11hr flight to Istanbul, where we would have a free stopover for a few days to see the city on the way to France. In France, we would see Xavier's family and the wedding of our friends Camille and Guillaume (at a chateau!).

We arrived in Istanbul around 4pm and found our place to stay. The streets were lined with beautiful, old, buildings and numerous stray cats.  We missed restaurants that overflow into the street with people crowded around tiny tables and narrow cobblestone streets.
We missed being in places where strip malls and gigantic shopping centers don't exist. We missed our primary transport being by foot and metro. We were so excited to explore a new city on the way "home" to France.

Our first night, we learned that Xavier's cousin, Apolline, would be DJ-ing in an area called Taksim, so we went to a lovely dinner in this neighborhood before heading down the street to meet her at her venue. This was quite a coincidence as she lives in Berlin and just happened to be traveling in Istanbul at the same time as we were.
The Taksim neighborhood was full of energy and culture; it was full of cafés and outdoor seating with people enjoying themselves on the street and socializing.
We met in the basement of Temple bar where we could watch Apolline DJ. Her project combines electronic music and visual projections. We had another drink with her and then headed home to sleep.

Dinner! In typical Turkish hospitality, the waiter thought we may be cold and ran to find us blankets.

Xavier's Cousin, Apolline!

Sunday was going to be a day packed with touring the city.
We walked down the road  in the Sultanahmet area, where we were staying, to the tourism office for guidance and a map. There, we were told that we would probably enjoy doing the longer Bosphorus strait cruise, which takes hours and goes to the Black Sea (instead of a quick roundabout in the Bosphorus strait). 

We went to the ticketing office for the afternoon cruise, but the man working there took it upon himself to lead us to a nearby 6th century cistern that was free and open to explore. 

He toured us through before next taking us to his friend’s ceramic shop- Ruby's.
We had a look at some traditional hand-made Turkish pottery. If you ever go to Istanbul, I suggest going to this lovely shop.

We spent our time exploring the beautiful patterns and prints and enjoyed Turkish hospitality in the mean time. Our host offered us the traditional pomegranate tea and Turkish delights while he insisted we sit on pillows while comparing the ceramic bowls. We looked at each one and purchased several bowls for our home.

We first explored the blue mosque.
I had never before been required to wear head covering, so this was a new experience! Women are not allowed to wear pants, to show their shoulders. We removed our shoes and entered, but could only partially glimpse how massive and beautiful the mosque is as it was under construction.

The ceramic shop owner we had met with suggested that we skip the Hagia Sophia for now (as we would have other less-popular times to visit) and go to the "Little Hagia Sophia," which was less traveled and smaller. It was incredible- and completely empty. We could stand there and look around and enjoy the silence and peace of such an old building.

Our next adventure was to the boat tour, which was a lovely tour of the Bosphorus accompanied by fancy sit down meal, a full bar, and indoor and outdoor seating with our tour guide over loud speaker.

We had a stop at the side of the city in Asia and walked around the port area.  Technically, this was our "first trip to Asia."
The jet lag began to hit me as I fell asleep on Xavier's lap in the boat while the sun set over Istanbul.

As the boat was docking, we realized we were close to the town of Balat, which I had heard was a lovely and eclectic part of the city with antique stores and painted houses.
Balat did not disappoint- it was filled with cafes and art shows. The streets were lined with ivy and we passed art galleries and antique shops. We meandered through the streets and then were joined again by Xavier's cousin Apolline and some of her friends for drinks. 

Monday morning, we visited Topkapi palace and enjoyed seeing the historical home of the sultans. The amount of history to learn was incredible, and we both felt guilty that we hadn’t been more knowledgeable about Turkish history in the first place.

The palace was grand and beautiful, filled with beautiful Turkish tiles and intricate colorful and golden paint. The bookshelves were wood and mother of pearl.

We entered the area of relics, which contained "Abraham's Pot, Joseph's Turban, Moses's Staff, David's Sword, scrolls belonging to John, and Muhammad's footprint." We saw a piece of the Hajj on display. The area is considered a religious/sacred area, so we do not have photographs. However, It was interesting to see how memorialized these objects were.

They had a section of the palace built just for circumcision, a palace section built just in honor of the sultan having traveled outside of the empire.

Overall, Istanbul is an incredibly safe city. Xavier and I kept remarking how, since leaving Atlanta, we didn’t have to worry about which street we turned on, who was walking there, or shove our valuables away from sight.

Everything in Turkey seems to be constructed so beautifully. Their public transport is fast, affordable, and logical/easy to use. The Turkish people seem to make really unique old - and new- buildings that are functional while being architecturally beautiful. Even the Turkish airport is incredible- the whole thing is an architecture and interior design masterpiece.

Five times a day the muezzin calls from the mosque over loudspeaker to pray towards Mecca, although Turkey is secular/ not a Muslim country.
All I could think of each time was the movie OSS 177 (a French classic that Xavier and I had just watched) in which the Muezzin doesn't understand what all the singing is about and goes to the tower to 'shut him up' because he woke him up too early in the morning.

Before we knew it, we were on the plane to see Xaviers family- and we couldn’t wait to be in France. We both felt so relieved even being in Turkey and surrounded by culture and beautiful buildings and places.

Oh, the french bread... we missed it

The outdoor market near the home of Xavier's parents, where they do most of their food shopping, and have some of the most beautiful produce I've seen

The next day, we spent time with Xavier's family. His sweet maman made us specialty dishes that we love such as
quenelles, tartiflette, and tarte aux prunes

 We had a party with Xavier friends in downtown Paris by the Gare de Lyon and spent time with his younger sister as well.
We had dinner at Xavier's grandmother's house with his cousin Amandine

The next day, we rented a car and Drove to Bordeaux for the PhD défense of Xavier's best friend since childhood, Stéphane.

I missed french streets and the beauty of this country

We spent the night in Bordeaux after having dinner with Stéphane's family and walked around to the mirror fountain. It’s such a cute town! We enjoyed walking on the cobblestone streets and just exploring for a little bit as our stay would be short.

 The next morning was his PhD defense and we were so proud of him! Stéphane gave a presentation on his work in math that was well above all of our heads. Apparently, it is tradition that he presents by hand writing his formulas and concepts on the chalkboard, all by memory. No powerpoints or computerized visual aids!

We're proud of you!

His defense

The next day, we were on the road again to Clermont Ferrand to the marriage of one of Xavier's best friends, Camille!
We arrived and had a planning meeting for the festivities, as Xavier would be a 'Timoine' or wittness for Camille and Guillaume. A Timoine is a "witness" and the french (unisex) version of a bridesmaid or groomsman.
We stayed at the château with the other timoines. Camille and Guillaume's friends we’re lovely and we all had a great time preparing for the ceremony and spending time together.

In France, everyone must be married at La Mairie, which is the equivalent of a town hall, as it is a truly secular country. Citizens may then have their own private service that is religious if they wish, then a large celebration wherever they want  as well. Saturday morning we all went to the Mairie in Clermont Ferrand to witness C&G's ceremony. The town mayor was the officiant and wore a french flag sash across his chest. He then awarded them both with a "livret de famille" which is a book to officially enter their joint family history. 

 Returning to the chateau, we helped C&G prepare for their private ceremony and reception. We celebrated the vin d'honneur, which is the appetizers and champagne toast before dinner and the party. C&G really had the time to talk to and spend time with everyone there.

Their ceremony was so intimate and meaningful for them as a couple. The two of them wrote long vows to each other, really just long declarations about why they love each other, and put them in a 'box of memories' which will be saved to open on their fifth anniversary. Camille’s dad gave a speech of at least 30 minutes about his daughter. Xavier made a sentimental speech about his time in school with Camille and everything they've been through as friends. It was a beautiful ceremony and Camille looked stunning.

 

The french know how to party---we danced all night long- the DJ didn’t stop until 5 am! As he put it, "I just played until the last person stopped dancing." This isn’t an American ceremony of hard time stops/schedules, quick turnover times, or venue closure. We were overwhelmed with cheese and champagne. 

Xavier and the other Timoines performed skits of how the C&G met each other and we all enjoyed a compilation video all the guests made for the couple full of their wishes for their future. We played some of the traditional French wedding games, my favorite included a competition among each table to find different objects in the room (for example, the bride's left shoe or a red lipstick) in order to win a monthly "assignment" for each month of their first year of marriage (such as bringing the newlyweds dinner).

The next morning, the weather was warmer and beautiful. We had a brunch of the specialities of the region and leftover food from the night before.
There was bread almost my size at brunch!

We spent that afternoon cleaning up the wedding reception room- cleaning the reception area and  moving each chair, table, chair cover.  The Chateau owner only makes enough money from hosting weekly weddings to pay for the electricity for the home, and does almost all of the upkeep himself. I couldn’t help but compare this to American venues, which would likely be 3-4x more expensive for profit.  

We made a dinner 'picnic' out of the champagne bottles and plates of food from the night before.

The next day, Xavier and I started on the road to Toulouse via Rocamadour and saint Cirq Lapopie in la Valée du Lot while on the way to visit his sister in Toulouse.
These are some of the most beautiful places you could imagine. Xavier had only visited them on his trips biking across France, so it was a new experience to not only drive to them, but to bring me. We enjoyed just admiring each village. 

 

My handsome frenchman being so goofy :)

Arriving in Toulouse, I finally had the opportunity to meet Amélie's boyfriend Vincent and we had dinner and drinks with Vincent’s family. Amelie and Vincent live in a co-op with several roommates, pet chickens, and their pet pig named Bacon! 

Pigs are incredibly smart (smarter than dogs) with an excellent memory. Bacon was still fearful of people but they were working on his socialization. 

The next day, we took a hike in the Pyrenees to a place called the "blue lake," and it was astoundingly beautiful. 

We climbed straight up the mountain 2000 feet while our thighs killed us, but it was all worth it when we ended at our lunch spot at the top.

We laid there and enjoyed the beauty for about an hour before our slightly treacherous descent.

That night, we went with Amélie and Vincent to a Korean restaurant and saw a little of downtown Toulouse.
The next morning, we drove 9 hours back to Paris and had a lovely dinner waiting for us at Xavier's parents home.
During this trip, in our little stick shift red Fiat, Xavier drove us over 2,500 kilometers across France!

Once we were back in Paris, we had lunch with our friends Julie and Marouane (who set us up!) and did some shopping before heading home to make sushi with Xavier's family.

On our stopover on the way back to America, we returned to Istanbul and stayed this time in the more local Taksim area.
We had a traditional Turkish dinner where we ate cantaloupe with feta cheese, sharma, eggplant w/ yogurt, basil and feta cheese, baba ganoush, and split a whole bottle of raki.  Raki is the turkish version of pastis, a black licorice liquor. We thought we were drinking a lot of Raki before we realized that we were having about 1/2 of the traditional Turkish serving size.

On the shuttle into istanbul from the airport

We returned to a restaurant we first visited in Turkey to have another "Katmer," which is heaven in philo pastry. Imagine a large, thin, baklava stuffed with warm pistachio and other nut compote.
Our final day in Istanbul before leaving we had breakfast in a café and went to do some shopping at the Grand Bazaar.