We arrived, got through customs much more quickly than last time, after a five hour flight. Went to the hotel in the old city which is on the European side. Istanbul is the only city that straddles two continents, Europe and Asia. The European side holds the old city and the financial district. The Asian side tends to be residential. They are separated by a body of water each side lined with beautiful old and new homes, clubs, hotels, restaurants and resorts.
We ventured out to walk in the neighborhood a bit and changed money, ate at the cafe in the hotel and called it a night.
Morning brought introductions to the new group members, Al, Patty aka Boo and Carolyn. We began the tour of the city at the Blue Mosque, named for its shimmering blue tiles that line the interior. It is an example of Ottoman Architecture built from 1609-1616. It has six minarets which is unusual and were created by the architect to make this a unique mosque and thus one of the defining elements of the Istanbul skyline.
The Topkapi palace was built beginning in 1459 and was the royal palace of the Ottoman Sultans until 1853. It is one of the richest museums in the world—think crown jewels multiplied, including an 86 carat diamond, box of emeralds the size of easter eggs and rubies everywhere. It is a large complex and it took us several hours to just get a taste of it grandeur. The tile work and museum collections are magnificent.
Off to the grand bazaar—with explicit instructions about how not to get lost. 3600 shops and 58 streets in a covered bazaar which is one of the largest under one roof. You can purchase anything from fine jewelry to trinkets, antiques to pottery. One could spend a lifetime just looking, we will be back here during our five days in Istanbul later in the trip. We found a little cafe at junction of five streets where we and enjoyed people watching.
Before dinner we took a cruise on the waterway to see both sides of Istanbul. It was cold, cloudy and windy but enjoyable never the less.
We had dinner at an old soup kitchen, now restaurant, which is part a lovely mosque compound. We drove home under the roman aqueduct to retire for the day.
Morning rains, but it did not stop us. Back to the old city which is full of stunning palaces, mosques and other building bearing the mark of the Ottoman period. First stop Hagia Sophia, the “Church of Divine Wisdom” built in 537 AD. It is an absolute wonder. The dome takes your breath away. This massive building was a Christian church for 1000 years until it was claimed as an Islamic Mosque. In 1934, the founder of the new republic proclaimed it as a museum. The tile work is nothing short of phenomenal, with representations of Christ, Mary, Joseph, and the arc angels. Touches of Islam exist in writings in the stained glass and large medallions hung on the walls. There was a calligraphy exhibit of modern day artists that was stunning. We know we are using a lot of adjectives and are running out of them but we could have spent days looking through this museum.  |
| Turkish Delight |
Lunch and then crossing over one of the three bridges to take the oldest subway in the world, aka funicular in a tunnel, up to the top of the hill. This is art nouveau part of town with little ally ways, trendy shops and small bazaars. It is also the home of many consulates in renovated old palaces. We stopped at several churches and went in an Armenian church with was very peaceful. The alter was engulfed in a stunning deep blue glass dome of light. Quite the sight. The rains were now torrential with water running everywhere. Soaked to the bone it was time to go back to the hotel.
Dinner was in a small local bazaar of which the highlights were the bread, and the Turkish hats they brought for us to wear. Early night before an early morning flight is Izmir on the way to Kusadasi. Today’s highlight was a home hosted lunch in a village of approximately 300 farmers. We were divided into two groups for lunch, one hosted by Grandma and Grandpa, the other by daughter and son-in-law. The food was traditional with rolled grape leaves, stuffed green peppers, cheese rolls, pickled beets, delicious lentil soup, a yogurt eggplant salad and fresh bread. Then came the main course of eggplant with minced meat stuffing and bulgar. We all voted that the restaurants are ok, the home cooked meals are wonderful. Desert was made by the fifteen year old son who is studying to be a chef, poppyseed cake and milk pudding. Turks love their milk puddings in all varieties. We gathered in Grandpa’s house to have tea and conversation. The village administrator joined us and with Grandpa’s english and our guide we were able to discuss the village and politics, weddings, matchmaking and farming with lots of laughter. The 6 year old grandson took great pleasure in presenting evil eye keychains to each of us. We past the village center with mosque, coffee house and villages office before heading to Kusadasi, a popular seaside town, for the next two nights. We are tucked in for the night and off to Ephesus tomorrow.
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