Life in the Old World: Istanbul July 21-24

We arrived into the city about the time people start gathering in the parks to break the fast for Ramadan. In addition, the plaza we had to walk through to get to our hotel had entertainment so we were fighting our way through 1000s of people to try to get to the other side. Once we got cleaned up we headed out for dinner. We ate at an outdoor cafe that had some live music and a man doing the traditional dance for that area: whirling dervishes. It is a very fluid dance that involves only spinning. The man reminded me of a spinning dancer on a music box. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and hung out on the roof top terrace which overlooks the Bosphorus Strait and you can also see the Blue Mosque.

Our second day we enjoyed a delicious breakfast on the terrace and then headed off to the Topkapi Palace. We saw elaborately decorated rooms and an impressive treasury with lots of diamonds, emeralds, thrones, bejeweled knife cases etc. The Holy Relic rooms has an imam (religious leader) who reads verses from the Quarn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. An imam has been doing it in that very spot for centuries now. After the palace we went to the Harem. I learned that a sultan only has up to 4 wives and 4 'favorites', all chosen by his mother. The concubines that live in the harem are there to serve the wives and the favorites, not the sultan. The sultan's mother is called the Mother Sultan and is a very powerful person! If you got on her bad side, good luck! Generally the Mother Sultan held more power in the palace and even kingdom than the sultan. Next we went to the Grand Bazaar. It is the world's oldest shopping mall with 4,000+ merchants. Ben got to practice his bartering skills for a scarf. It was funny for me to watch but at the same time I did not like it! I am the perfect prey for a greedy merchant so I just stood there quietly and watched or wandered off to look at something else. While in the bazaar we tried Turkish coffee, aka coffee ground sludge. They grind the beans very fine and don't use a filter so it is quite gritty. After lunch we went for some Turkish ice cream. It's really yummy! It's very creamy and almost chewy. The servers make a game of it when you order it. Check the video out. The guy totally got me the first time. Ordering Turkish Ice Cream

After the ice cream we headed back to the hotel and rested for a bit. We tried to figure out how to wrap a head scarf since we were headed to the Blue Mosque later. By the time we got to the Blue Mosque it was closed to visitors so we hung out in Sultanahmet Park for a few hours. We ate watermelon, honey soaked churros, some sort of flat bread and watched the people gather to break the fast together. While we were sitting on the bench an Australian couple joined us and we chatted with them for a bit. As soon as the call to prayer sounded people started eating, drinking, and smoking. It was fun to watch.

Our third day we went to the Blue Mosque. It was very different from any other place of worship we have visited. Instead of icons, chapels, long narrow aisles with lots of benches and paintings it was a giant wide open space, no seats, no depictions of humans, only geometric decorations. It was beautiful! Next we went to the Hagia (eye-uh) Sophia which was originally a Christian church (537AD) during the Byzantine empire and turned into a mosque during the Ottoman empire. We also saw the mausoleums while there. Next we went to the Suleymaniye Mosque which can hold 8,000 worshipers and it still has overflow seating outside! We went to the Spice Market and got some yummy Turkish Delight. For lunch we went to the Galata Bridge and had some fish sandwiches at a restaurant underneath the bridge. Later in the afternoon we went to the Basilica Cistern and then hung out in the main square and had some snacks. For dinner we went to a couple different eateries to gather food for a picnic dinner on the terrace.

Our final full day we went on a cruise (read: large public ferry boat) up the Bosphorus Strait where we stopped in Anadolu Kavagi, Turkey, Asia. We spent a few hours in the village, hiked up the hill to Yoros Castle which has a good view of the Black Sea. We had lunch at a cafe on the sea and then got back on the ferry for Istanbul. Our picnic dinner was so good the previous night we did the same thing again. We went to bed early because we had to get up at 5:00 to catch the shuttle to the airport.

Hanging out in the airport at Ljubjlana, trying to figure out what the deal is with our tickets. We spent a good 8 hours on that bench.

Our hotel room:

Topkapi Palace

You weren't allowed to take pictures in here hence the blurriness but we couldn't resist a quick one. The swords were so big!!

The sultan's throne. I would not mind having a throne like that!

Entering the harem:

The Grand Bazaar:

The mess of wires in there was crazy.

A whirling dervishe

Baklava. Yum!

Fail on on the head scarf wrapping.

The Blue Mosque:

Breaking of the fast during Ramadan.

Inside the Blue Mosque:

No shoes allowed!

Hagia Sophia:

If you can twist your thumb full circle and if it comes out slightly damp you have received healing powers.

The mosaics were insane! The tiles they used are minuscule.

Vikings and other people that came here would get bored up in the balcony and graffiti the railings.

The particular lady sultan married and divorced numerous men so instead of re-tiling her husband's face each time they left the same face and scratched the name out and replaced it with the new one.

The minbar (staircase) that the imam stands on during a service. He only goes halfway up because only Muhammad is worthy to go all the way to the top.