Big Adventures, Little World

Getting to Turkey was tough, but it more than made up for it while we were there. It was amazing. Why was it tough to get there though? Well our plane left at 6.30 in the morning, so we had to be at the airport by about 4.30. Now this wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t had to have worked the previous 2 nights until 1.30 in the morning. So it was about 2.30 by the time I got home from work then we were catching the taxi to the airport at 3.30 so there wasn’t much point in sleeping. Thankfully Turkey is a 4 hour flight which gave me a small chance to get a bit of sleep which I definitely needed.

Once we arrived in Turkey we first had to line up to get our visa so we could enter the country. So 15 Euros later we were lining up to head through immigration and through the airport to be greeted by our driver holding a sign with my name on it. You know you’re important when that happens. Then it was in the car for the drive to the hotel which we mostly just slept through again.

After checking in to the hotel we just lazed around the hotel and found out how we had to get to the basketball stadium that night and wandered down the main street in Sultanahmet to get some food. Then it was time to make our way to the stadium and to see the Australian team take on Slovenia in the Eighth Finals. The stadium was huge, 15000 people huge, and looked great from the outside, although we had to walk all the way around the back to get to our entrance. We were excited to see the Australians play so we found our seats and sat there with our Aussie flags and boxing kangaroo flags waiting for the start. The team introductions were really cool with lights coloured with each countries colours and stars moving all over the court as the teams ran out to begin their warm-ups. Unfortunately, once the game started our flags didn’t stay out for long as the Aussies were playing so badly and Slovenia just couldn’t miss a shot. They ended up losing 87-58 but it was still good to see the Australian team play. Next up was the home country, Turkey, playing against France. The stadium started to get fuller by the minute after from the end of the Australian/Slovenian game with a sea of people wearing mostly red. It was just a sea of red and from before the Turkey team even came out on to the court it was deafening in the stadium with the chanting, singing, clapping and yelling from the fans. The place quickly filled up and when the Turkish team was lead out onto the court by Hedo Turkoglu (NBA player for the Phoenix Suns) they received one of the biggest cheers I have heard. One of the most moving and amazing things though was when the Turkish National Anthem was played before the start of the game and the 15000 fans were singing along to it. Having the crowd behind them definitely gave them the feel of having an extra played on the court I’m sure. They never stopped cheering throughout the game and whenever the French team got the ball they were greeted with booing, for no other reason than the fact they weren’t Turkey. They were very passionate about their team and country. Turkey went on the win the game 95-77 and barely even needed to use their star players in the last quarter.

The next day I needed some rest as I was still so tired from the night before coming to Istanbul so I rested in the hotel while Mark and Chandy went to check out the main street a bit more and see what they could find. Other than that, it was off to the basketball again that afternoon, this time to see the USA team playing Angola. We knew it wasn’t going to be the most competitive game but it was going to be a great experience seeing the Americans play, even if they didn’t bring their best players with them, and quite probably only had one player that would actually make their first team in Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA). We still saw some amazing plays and spectacular dunks which was to be expected from them. Angola didn’t really have much chance and the USA won the game 121-66. The next game that night was Russia versus New Zealand, so naturally we were going for New Zealand. They got off to a great start and even looked like they would go on to win the game, but after half time, they couldn’t keep it up and Russia ran away with the game, 78-56. The score line was nowhere near deserving of how New Zealand played, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

Our next morning we decided to go out for a walk and see the Grand Bazaar, which is one of the worlds largest covered markets which has 60 streets and over 5000 shops. Granted a lot of them do sell the same things, but that is still a lot. I’m sure we didn’t see it all either and we got lost a few times just wandering through there. I think that it would have been more fun if I had lots of money to spend, but didn’t really want to buy anything so was just looking around, which is a very different experience than being there to shop from what I noticed. Later that afternoon it was back to the basketball stadium for the last two games of the eighth finals. Firstly, Lithuania were playing China, and it became one of the first close games we actually saw. China started off well and took the lead early until Lithuania slowly came back at them behind about 100 of their supporters who made enough noise for 1000! Lithuania finished the game winning 78-67 in what was a good game, but not even close to how good the next game was. Next up was the two South American teams, Argentina and Brazil. Both had some big name players from the NBA, including Luis Scola (Houston Rockets), Carlos Delfino (Milwaukee Bucks) and Fabricio Oberto (Washington Wizards) for Argentina, while Brazil had Leandro Barbosa (Toronto Raptors) and Anderson Varejao (Cleveland Cavaliers). It was a close match all the way through with the scores changing numerous times, but in the end the tournaments leading scorer, Luis Scola, pulled Argentina away to win 93-89 for one of the best wins of the tournament so far.

Our fourth day in Istanbul was our last day of going to the basketball, but the first day of the quarter finals where we were excited to see the Turkish team play again. But before the basketball we went out in the morning to go to the must see Sultanahmet Camii, or the Blue Mosque as it is commonly known, as when the sun shines through some of the stained glass windows at the right angles, it gives off a blue glow inside. From the outside it looks very similar to many of the other mosques in the area, other than the fact that it has six minarets (or towers) whereas most only have up to four. Once inside it was stunning and enormous. The stained glass was beautiful, although we had come at the wrong time to see the blue glow cast throughout. The pillars in the middle were at least 5 metres in diameter, and rose all the way to the roof. The architecture and the fact that structures like this could be built so long ago and are still standing never ceases to amaze me. After seeing inside the mosque we wandered around the area for a while longer before making our last trek out to the basketball stadium. The first game of the quarter finals was Serbia versus Spain, where we got to see Ricky Rubio, the 19 year old star for Spain, as well as NBA players Rudy Fernadez (Portland Trailblazers) and Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies). Ricky Rubio was disappointing but the game was hard fought to the end and a great game to watch and was even better than the Argentina and Brazil game from the night before. Serbia ended up coming out the surprise victor 92-89. Turkey was up against Slovenia in the next game, so naturally we were going for Turkey as Slovenia had beaten Australia, and Turkey was the home country so why go against them. The Turkish fans were even louder than the previous game we saw them and there was even more of them. The stadium was full and Turkey once again started out well and finished the game without needing their star players, winning 95-68. As we left the stadium for the last time, it was all completely lit up out the front, with the whole front of the stadium having lights changing colour of the face of it every few seconds. It looked sensational, but we were unsure why they hadn’t done this every night.