Merhaba (hello) from Istanbul, Turkey

As Jeff said in his previous post, I’m not a good haggler. Shopping in Turkey is definitely not like shopping at Nordstrom’s, although if the Nordie staff starting giving out steaming cups of apple tea in cute little cups, maybe some of their prices wouldn’t be so shocking! There is more variety at the Grand bazaar than at Nordstrom’s. Every step you take someone is trying to get you to come into their shop. There are bowls, tea sets, spices, clothes, jewelry, rugs, cups, beads, lamps, and so much more. It’s a beehive of activity and despite being approached at every step, its quiet fun. The Turkish people are so friendly and interactive even when they aren’t trying to sell you something. One shop owner simply told Jeff he looked happy.

Outside the entrance to the grand bazaar

Inside one of the many hallways of the Grand Bazaar

Jeff, in action, haggling for peanuts at the spice market

Attempting to haggle at the spice market

There is so much more to Turkey then shopping though. We toured the Aya Sofya which is over 1500 years old.  This building is magnificent.  It was originally a Greek Orthodox church, but was converted into a mosque in 1453.  In 1935, it was a made into a museum and all the Christian mosaics were uncovered from the plaster that used to cover them up.  They are the most beautiful mosaics I have ever seen.





Inside the Aya Sofia

Outside the Aya Sofia

One of the mosiacs inside the Aya Sofia

We paid our ticket fee to see the Topkapi Palace where the Sultans used to live…. Unfortunately, the day and the time we went, it was clogged up with cruise ship tours. We, sometimes not so patiently, had to wait in long lines to see some of the rooms and the crown jewels.  The crown jewels were amazing though.  Gold thrones and baby cradles, crystal goblets and flasks, candle sticks, jeweled swords and daggers,  emerald & gold balls that would just hang room the ceilings, and an 86 carat diamond (the world’s 5^th largest).  Instead of using wallpaper and fabric to decorate the walls like the Europeans, the Ottomans used hand painted tiles that were beautiful. 

The room where the Sultan used to hang out with his four wives and his concubines

We visited the Basilica Cistern which was built in 532 AD and could once hold 80,000 cubic meters of water.  It was used to store water for the palace and was constructed with columns from ruined buildings.  Two of the bases of 336 columns were Medusa heads that looked eerie in the dim lighting.  

We had to go back several times to the Blue Mosque before we finally were able to go inside.  The mosque is closed to visitors during prayer times which happen five times daily.  The first call to prayer happens at 6am (we know this because our room is across the street from a mosque) and the last is around 6pm.  The prayer is chanted over loud speakers from every mosque in town and although its different then the clanging bells of the Christian churches in Europe, I still like it.  

We walked along water front and crossed under the Galata Bridge.  Under the bridge there are many cafés and restaurants.  We stopped at one, had a few beers, and puffed on some apple tobacco from a nargileh (water-pipe).  It was really relaxing sitting on a bean bag, watching the people walk by, the boat traffic, and seeing the fishing lines being reeled up from the top of the bridge with their catch (or lack of).  On the other side of the bridge is a fish market, where all kinds of sardines, tuna, salmon, flat fish, shrimp, anchovies, and other fish are sold.  We ate some little fried anchovies and a fish sandwich at one of the stalls. 

We took the tram to the old city walls which were disappointing.  You could still appreciate how high and how thick they were, but when we tried to walk along their base, it was sadly just a huge garbage dump.  So we ended up walking through a neighborhood to get to where the water taxi was.  Groups of kids would come up to us and ask us where we were from and locals sensing we might get lost always pointed us the right direction.  We came across a pigeon market where hundreds of birds where being kept in cages and people were haggling over them.  No one around spoke much English, but the guy grilling mystery meat for sandwiches told us that the birds weren’t for eating.  We never did figure what the birds were used for despite Goggling it when we got home.

We took a day cruise up the Bosphorus Sea to see Istanbul from the water.  The boat stopped at Anadolu Kavagi which is northeast of Istanbul.  We hiked up a hill to where we could see the mouth of the Black Sea.  There are some castle ruins at the top of the hill, but they were closed for excavations.

Tomorrow we move onto Egypt and get another stamp in our passports!

Cheers!