Greetings everyone and welcome to what will probably be my last post of the blog. I just got back to Geneva from a four night trip to Istanbul and, rather than sleep for four hours, I've decided to write this blog entry while waiting for my taxi back to the airport to arrive. I'm back in the States tomorrow (the 18th)! It shall be a long post, so enjoy! I'll likely finish it after I get back to the States.
Ah Istanbul. It goes without saying that I can hardly go somewhere without picking up another country, and since I have been to virtually all of Western Europe, Turkey seemed like a good choice. Particularly as Istanbul only barely counts as Europe.
I went on this excursion with my friend Laurel (of previous blog posts fame) from the ATLAS experiment. Neither of us had been before, and we both wanted to go. Thus, we began looking for flights, which was an adventure in itself. For a while it didn't look like we would be able to go, so we had vaguely planned on Amsterdam instead which, while it would have been fun, would not have been new (for me at least).
We looked at all kinds of flights from various airport that even had a remote possibility of being called "nearby" the furthest of which was Lyon (a good 150 km). For some reason, Thursday the 12th was a bad day for going to Istanbul because there were no direct flights from Geneva to Istanbul. The fact that Dhaven in my office had gotten a 200 dollar flight from Geneva to Istanbul booking at about the same amount of time in advance as we were with no trouble seemed lost on Kayak, Travelocity, Ryan air, easy jet, Turkish airlines, and many others that we searched. Eventually we got one that got in past midnight (when the public transportation no longer operates) that wasn't too bad except for four hours in Amsterdam airport. There are a lot of horror stories online about Turkish cab drivers, so Laurel found a shuttle service that was about the same price as a cab that worked fine to get us to our hostel.
The hostel, Sur Pension, is on the north west corner of Sultanahmet, the district that contains most of the major tourist attractions. No one spoke any English, but we managed to get checked in and crashed, ready to start the day bright and early around 10 am. So we slept in, oh well.
One of the first things I noticed about Istanbul was the truly spectacular number of stray cats roaming the streets. They seemed quite tame, at least in the tourist area, and have definitely learned the art of looking cute, no doubt because tourists feed cute cats. Natural selection at work, even in unnatural circumstances. There was one in particular who found its way into the hostel a few times, being adorable. I didn't feed it, however. I suppose the cats are preferable to rats and they may even all be pets, though I find it hard to believe, especially since Sultanahmet has roughly 50 times the number of cats as other, less touristy areas.
Our first day in Istanbul involved getting up, having an amazingly greasy kebab at a cafe (we found less greasy ones later that were also better), then finding a walking tour. I have had great success with free walking tours of various cities in the past, but I could not find a free one of Istanbul, unfortunately. So we had to pay. Sadly, we were pretty disappointed. At 35 Euros a person, one would think they at least could stick to a schedule. The tour guide may have been fairly new on the job. The afternoon tour was supposed to start at 1:30, but we caught up with the guide at around 1:35 with the mourning portion of the tour group still eating lunch. Not only still eating it, but only part way through. It was a ways past two by the time we actually got moving and started the tour, which is a bad move since everything closes by 5.
The first stop wasn't one of the listed attractions, though really my only objection is it ran us up against closing time on those sites advertized. We stopped at a carpet maker (though a big one, not a smaller possibly more interesting one) which doubtlessly has a deal with the tour group to bring people there for a 30 or 40 minute presentation on different times of carpets. They were neat and the main guy told a little bit of the making of the rugs, but mostly it was very much "look at these rugs, won't you like to buy them?" sort of thing. Which was annoying because we were already running late and the tour wasn't cheap. We then had "free time" to shop if we wished before moving on.
After the rug place, we went to the Topkapi palace which is where the real tour began. The palace is large and eclectic since over the many centuries of the Ottoman Empire at least 25 Sultans lived there, many adding their own living quarters or other improvements. We got a bit about the history of the palace from the tour guide, though it was all standing in front of a miniature of the palace rather than, say, wandering through the palace. We did, of course, wander through the palace, but the tour guide didn't say much. She also wasn't terribly good at herding tourists, particularly the bunch of Americans, Brits, Canadians, and Aussies that made up this tour. The two Brits were an elderly couple, one English one Irish, who were a complete delight to talk do. We had fun in between tour stops.
Anyway, the palace. Now it is a sprawling museum with various areas to visit rather than still being set up like a palace. Half of it was made for state visits where important political and military officials would hold the Ottoman equivalent of court and discuss important matters with the Sultan. There was one particular room where there was a screen where the Sultan would sit behind and listen into the conversation to see what people were saying about them behind his back. Given the location (middle of the wall with a gold grating) and opacity (or lack thereof) of the screen, I imagine it was taboo to notice the Sultan's presence rather than actually a secret.
There was an excellent weapons and armor display, some of which was even from Turkey! There was a surprising amount of western and even some Japanese swords, though most of them were in fact Ottoman in origin. Everything in there was ceremonial rather than practical. You had the usual ornate if mostly functional weapons various sultans wore, but then you also got spiral shaped spear points and swords that were so big that I doubt three men could wield it, even with lots of training. There was one Norse style weapon that was about eight inches across on the wide end of the blade and probably eight feet long. That one didn't have any inscription, so I haven't the foggiest idea why it was there.
The palace was beautiful all through, and one can certainly see that Muslims have and have always had an eye for beauty. I didn't know that tulips were a normal thing for Istanbul, but they were everywhere (at least in the tourist areas) and the palace had many other kinds of flowers arranged beautifully with well watered grass, nice benches for sitting, and several fountains, none of which were running (a disappointment for me).
Here is where the tour ran up against the closing wall since, as we were getting close to the treasury and were going into a few old Sultan-oriented meeting rooms to see truly immense emeralds on incredibly uncomfortable thrones and jewelry, the palace closed for the day, thus cutting the tour short. None of us was terribly happy with this turn of affairs, but such is life.
There was one thing to brighten the spirits as we were leaving the palace, and that was Salep. Salep is a kind of spiced flour (the cinnamon genre of spices) that, in this particular case, was in hot milk making for a warming gelatinous milk-shaped cinnamon ooze that has EXACTLY the look and consistency that one might expect from something called Salep. It, however, tastes like a little bit of paradise escaped whatever dimension heaven resides in and found its way to an untimely if significant end on your taste buds. It has the heat capacity of lead so it keeps warm for a long time, even in the small cups bought from the vendors. These attributes combined with the Hagia Sophia looming in the background made for good stuff.
Our last stop on the tour wasn't so much a part of the tour as it was a method of getting directions (since we were out of time) to that immense looming tribute to the fundamental capitalism of the human soul: the Grand Bazaar.
Now, I have been places bigger and I have been places more crowded but it needed to be Harrods to be bigger and the start line for Running with the Bulls to be more crowded, and this place frankly was a little of both. Though there were no actual bulls, those who have seen an American tourist on a rampage will understand what I mean. The lights, sounds, mass of moving people, people trying to pull you into stores if you so much as blinked in the direction of their wares (or, just as often, were looking in the opposite direction heading away from their wares). There were limitless shiny things and many pointless trinkets and numerous tea sets all of which were doubtless exorbitantly inflated in price and none of which I needed, save for one item I will get to in a minute. The Bazaar is great fun and very worth the visit if you're ever in town.
I liked it, and I had a mission to accomplish. Lauren Wilhelm, a friend from LA who doesn't read this blog and consequently does not deserve a great friend like me to do such things for her, tasked me with the acquisition of a Turkish tea set for her. Those of you who have seen me at garage sales may have an inkling as to my negotiation abilities and shamelessness. Well you're wrong because I'm a terrible negotiator outside of garage sales and the people selling things in the Bazaar are a hundred times more experienced anyway. I remain shameless of course. Nevertheless, I acquired a tea set at a price that seemed ok to me (40 Lira or around 22 dollars) and while I could probably have brought it down to 30 if I were good or maybe even 20 if I were very good, I can deal. Besides I'm being paid back. I also acquired a couple of real authentically made for tourists Turkish cushion covers that count as my souvenirs for the trip.
A bit about Tea, Turkish Sets Of is in order now. The tea sets are designed with the idea that people prefer to have things look cool rather than being able to touch them. They are glass bulbs with a flared top on a plate that are very effective at displaying the lovely reddish brown color of traditional Turkish tea but less effective for drinking from because every part of the tea cup is too hot to touch except for the very rim, and that only if you didn't fill the cup too high. The teas I tried were the apparently traditional tea which tasted a bit like regular Lipton black tea to me and was improved by sugar but otherwise not really worth it. The apple tea, however, is delicious and is very worth consuming large quantities of any time you stop for food in most of the cafes around the city. We generally ate at cafes and often with apple tea because it was delicious.
An interesting thing to note about Istanbul is that people, at least during this trip, often can't be bothered to make change if it falls within a Lira of the actual price. This can happen in either direction. You can pay 39 lira for something, handing them a 50 and getting a 10 back or you can pay 41 lira and get a 10 back. Both happened to me and until I finally saw one, I wasn't sure they HAD change in increments less than one lira. It turns out they do, but from the evidence I've accumulated they are rare and precious and possibly only consist of 50 cent (or whatever) pieces.
One final thing to note before moving on is something that both Laurel and I noticed, though she doubtless noticed more immediately. This is that from shop owners to people trying to get us to take their tours, everyone talked to me. Not her. This is of course a cultural thing: the guy makes the decisions, but it is strange for an American whatever gender you are. They would always ask me any questions, ignoring Laurel's presence entirely. Even when she was standing in front of me. Even when she was saying that no she didn't want to buy a little spinning top. I had to say no for them to go away sometimes. She isn't exactly a quiet, shy person. She's from the east coast and her university is on Boston, so she is perfectly capable of making her opinions and desires known when needed.
There were a few notable exceptions to this trend. One was in the spice bazaar that we went to on our second day (which I will get to later) where a guy asked (me) "who's in charge?" as we walked by his shop. I of course pointed at Laurel (a decent survival strategy in any situation, even when one is not dating the person one is going around with, is that the woman is in charge) and we both continued on with him saying "Of course! Always her!" This at least indicated that he was familiar with Americans. Another shouted to her from across the street "Come in! Low calorie!" about his restaurant which was rather hilarious really since we're both in good shape and were walking everywhere every day. The last and strangest was a guy sitting on the sidewalk eating peanuts who offered them to Laurel as we walked by saying "no obligation, free!" So apparently women do get some of the attention, if only from the strange ones.
For dinner our first day we stopped at a touristy cafe (as opposed to what, one might ask) on the way back from the grand bazaar. I had a Turkish style fish dinner: sea bass with head, tail, and fins still staring pleadingly up at me. Delicious but very high maintenance until I learned how to get the meat off the bones without getting all the bones too. Towards the end of the meal they kept insisting we must try Turkish coffee or tea or some dessert or other no matter how many times we said we didn't want any. They even brought us the dessert that we had refused in a misguided, or at least misinterpreted, display of hospitality. We didn't eat it and fortunately they didn't charge us for it. By that point it had become a battle of wills. Or maybe they wouldn't have charged us for it if we had eaten it. Mostly throughout this trip I was on guard for people trying to force me to buy things. It can be quite annoying, though honestly the salesmen and tour groups usually didn't press the issue if we said "no thanks." Sometimes, however...
We got back to the hostel a bit before dark, planned that way given accounts of being mugged several times from a friend of ours. He was out drinking late which contributed to this. We had no mugging issues during the day and money belts are a good defense against pick pockets. The hostel was quite nice and while not the cheapest I've been in, a reasonable price. Of course, my definition of "quite nice" means I won't get lice from sleeping in the beds, but this hostel actually was nice, even if the room didn't have a 90 degree angle in it (by design) and the two beds were at awkward angles to everything else since they consisted entirely of 90 degree angles. The bathroom was also an adventure (we sprung for the twin room with our own bathroom) since the shower was about two feet to the right of the toilet and the toilet about two feet to the right of the sink and the walls about a foot on either side of that setup. Not big and the shower flooded the floor which, fortunately, was designed for this to happen.
The next day we decided to forgo any tours, but we did get up at 7 to beat the crowds since our main plan for the day involved the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and the Basilica Cistern. Let me tell you something about different types of religions based upon their buildings. At your base you have Christian architecture. I'm most familiar with this not only because I am a Christian but also because I have been in a truly impressive number of cathedrals during my various travels. Christian religious structures (I'm mostly referring to cathedrals here) are designed to be ornate, with the bishop and altar at the center of attention with all kinds of imagery, mosaics, paintings, icons, you name it. Fancy goblets are a must and ceilings are designed to make you forget that you're looking towards God rather than the fact that the roof is covered in square centimeter gold tiles in the shape of a giant Jesus face. Mormon temples, though I have not spent much time in them to know the inside so well, fill the architectural niche of making motorists drive off of highways as they appear over the hill with the requisite golden statue of Moroni trumpeting his presence from the steeple. Neither of these are subtle buildings.
After four days is Istanbul, I have come to the conclusion that mosques are designed and placed to loom over anything and everything around them, no matter how far away you are from them. The Blue Mosque does this and even more so the Suleymaniye Mosque atop its hill quite literally crowns the city. These are structures designed by one of the largest and wealthiest empires the world has ever seen. They are buildings that have entire other buildings to use as window dressing, spires that next to the massive, repeat MASSIVE, domes seem spindly and ornamental. A small mosque has at least one dome and possibly a spire. The Blue Mosque in Istanbul is a mosque raised to celebrate the grandeur of Allah who had overthrown the mightiest empire of the past thousand years, cracking the indomitable walls of Constantinople itself, a mosque that is the culmination not only of Ottoman design, but of the best influences of Byzantine architecture as well. The Hagia Sophia, conquered church that had stood for ten centuries in one form or another, was Islamified as well with its own spires added for good measure. Both are quite adept at looming and the combination of the two staring at each other a few hundred yards apart is quite impressive. Sadly the intervening courtyard was pretty torn up and dirt rather than the grass and fountains that can be seen in most pictures. I'm sure they're rushing to get it finished before the summer starts and the tourists REALLY start to come.
What is even more impressive about these mosques is the speed with which they were built. I do not remember how long the Blue Mosque took, but it was something like six years. I know the Suleymaniye Mosque (which is even bigger I believe) was only seven years in the making. The cathedral equivalent - Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome - took 120 years to complete, though admittedly it covers a much larger footprint with all accoutrements included.
The Blue Mosque was our first stop since we figured that it would take less time to visit than the Hagia Sophia. As it happens we timed this perfectly and arrived just around when the doors opened. The mosque has an outer, ringed courtyard through which people enter. Well, in this particular case only the Muslims can enter through that entrance. The tourist entrance is around to the back (makes sense to me). We removed our shoes, putting them in the readily available plastic bags to keep with us. Laurel had to put a head scarf on but, since she didn't have one, she made due with tying a sweatshirt over her head to comical effect. The tourist area is restricted to a particular fenced off section of the mosque, but it is a fair size and it is hard to miss the rest of the mosque. The interior is all one room supported by immense columns, with Arabic calligraphy adorning the ceiling in red, blue, green, and other bold but simple colors. Islam doesn't allow images of any kind, so most religious art involves this calligraphy. It looks nice, if somewhat plain compared to many cathedrals I've been in. However the sheer size and architecture of the building more than make up for it. It is magnificent.
The Haggai Sophia was our next stop, being across the square from the Blue Mosque. We dodged through the usual tour guides who thought that perhaps if they offered their tours a fifth time to us we would accept. Sadly they were out of luck.
The line to get in was still quite short and in no time at all we had paid the 20 lira and were standing in the shadow of one of the most famous buildings in the world. I decided to get an audio tour of the place since it didn't seem quite right just going through it. I felt oddly more at home in the Sophia than in any of the mosques, something that I'm sure stems from the underlying church layout of the place, even if it was re-purposed first as a mosque and later as a museum. Inside it is even more beautiful than outside. If the Blue Mosque is grander (slightly), the Hagia Sophia is more beautiful. Many of the original mosaics have been at least partially recovered from when they were plastered over during its conversion and it was odd to see mosaics of Constantine IX prostrating before Christ ringed around enormous, nine meter disks with calligraphy of the four Imams' names. Really not much was changed save for the addition of the Islamic version of a pulpit and a thorough redecorating from when the Hagia Sophia was a church. Apparently it was a well respected building even when it was a mere thousand years old. The walking tour took me all around both levels and even outside where plenty of roman ruins that were dug up or just found can be seen, including the original ground level for previous incarnations of the Hagia Sophia (of which the current model is, I believe, the fifth).
Following our Tour de Sophia of which I could write many things (but dang if this isn't already long and I'm only about half way through), we decided to head over to the Basilica Cistern which was actually where a large Basilica used to be in the 3rd century AD. Though not as grand or spectacular as some of the other items in the city, the Basilica Cistern is, there is really no other word for it, cool. It is essentially a forest of recycled columns in a manmade, underground lake with a few Medusa heads for character. The lighting makes almost any picture of it look otherworldly and amazing, and the constant dripping and plinking of water adds to the effect. There are quite a number of fish coexisting with an impressive wealth of coins tossed in by tourists. These are doubtlessly raked up every week since there weren't THAT many coins. The two Medusa heads for the base of two columns in the far end of the cistern from the main entrance. It is unknown why exactly they are there or why one is sideways while the other is upside down, but many theories abound. Personally I think some architect thought it would be the ancient Roman equivalent of a hoot to have medusa heads in the cistern.
We emerged from the subterranean depths of the Basilica Cistern to find it raining so we made a strategic retreat to an over decorated cafe for lunch. Actually most of this cafe (in the heart of the most touristy of tourist cafes) was decorated quite tastefully. The presence of 12384372234.6 lanterns hanging from the ceiling somewhat threw everything off, however. Personally I enjoy eccentricity, but for those who do not who find themselves in this particular cafe one day, it is quite nice. Just don't look up. Lunch was humus appetizer (delicious delicious humus) and chicken shish kebab (for my entree at least, I can't remember what Laurel had). Quite tasty.
We emerged to discover we had missed the rain storm, so we decided to head towards the heart of the city. I spotted a neat looking building across the harbor (inlet? bay? river? heck if I know) to the north of the peninsula that Sultanahmet sits on and we decided to head towards that. A piece of advice to those who don't travel so much, a good standby if you run out of places that are open is to point at various significant looking buildings and walk at them. In this particular case, however, the rain was lying in wait. As we got towards the water front it started lightly to lull us into a false sense of security but before long became a heavy rain, though it never did achieve downpour status.
While the rain was still pretending to be a drizzle and we were approaching the waterfront, we had a nice change of pace attack us out of the blue. Generally if people start to talk to you on the street in tourist ridden areas it is because they want to sell you something. And so we thought of the group of high school students who excitedly asked if we spoke English. I said we did but neither Laurel or I stopped walking. Eventually, however, it was shoved through our heads that they actually were just students doing a project for their English class, so we actually stopped while they filmed us speaking with them. They asked the usual array of basic questions you learn when studying a new language. Really their English was quite good for high school and their pronunciation was much better than mine is for French and I've theoretically had a lot more schooling in French then they had had in English. Go figure.
Anyway, once the English Assault was over, we continued on, past people asking if we wanted to buy boats. We're pretty sure they meant tours on the boats... but one can never be too sure. By this point the rain had made its presence distinctly known and my shoes were showing that while they are great for running, they are very bad for rain walking. Bleh. So we decided to turn away from the tower we were aimed at and find something to do indoors for a while. Thus we approached the Spice Bazaar.
Previously I stated that the Grand Bazaar was more crowded than any place I had ever been with the exception of the start line for running with the bulls in Pamplona. The entrance to the spice bazaar was exactly as crowded as that. I say exactly because there are only so many people that one can fit into one space before they cease being people and start being a neutron star, and both locales were juuuust below that limit.
Once we had gotten from the entry way to the bazaar proper (a trip of 30 feet that took 10 minutes) we were able to see what all the hubbub was about. Now, granted, people were in out of the rain just like we were and I'm sure that contributed to the crowd at the entrance (and, really, everywhere inside) but the spice bazaar itself was well worth the visit. Vast arrays of Technicolor spices in a whirlwind of scents and sounds (well the sounds didn't come from the spices) make for some cool displays and they didn't skimp. In addition to the piles of greens, golds, reds, and browns were artfully piled stacks of Turkish delight. For those who have not tried it, this is a confection that can give sucrose diabetes. It is a little bit much for my tastes so I didn't partake though I suppose had I been offered free samples I would have. It has been a while since I last tried it.
Wandering through the spice bazaar was well worth it (though the place was nowhere near as big as the grand bazaar) but all too soon it was time to go find something else to do. We wandered through the streets for a while, vaguely in the direction of the hostel, seeking something else out of the rain. Nothing beyond cafes presented themselves, so we went in and had chicken soup and delicious delicious apple tea. Delicious. It tastes mostly like apple cider but has a bit of an aftertaste that suggests tea. Well worth trying if you're ever in Istanbul and haven't tried it.
We sat for an hour or so, but the rain only got worse so we gave up, decided to be lame, and returned to the hostel in an effort to reclaim dryness of foot. We mostly read, tried to find an English speaking channel on the TV (only found one or two, one showing a movie I had never heard of), or played Settlers of Catan on Laurel's notebook pc. We stepped around the corner for dinner but aside from that nothing else exciting happened during that day.
The next morning the rain had cleared up save for a light sprinkle that soon gave way to bright sunshine. The rest of the day was perfect, which was good because that was the day we had decided to really explore the city. We decided to first go out to that tower we had tried for the previous day, so off to the waterfront we went!
As we discovered, most of the city of Istanbul is just a regular city (surprise surprise) but it has patches of tourist gathering places spread throughout the city. The tower we aimed at was some old watch tower (I think) built in the 1500's but now it is a place where you pay to ride the elevator up to the balcony. We were severely disappointed at this, so we continued on. Winding our way up hill with no target in mind, we eventually found our way to a long strip mall. This was obviously the diplomatic district as there were a number of embassies along the way (we didn't see the US one). It was all in all a very long shopping extravaganza, holding nothing whatsoever that we were interested in. It was kind of entertaining to happen upon that considering that twenty yards outside the main way there are no signs that tourists exist.
There was one thing that made walking over to this side quite worth the trip. At the far end of our journey in this direction we happened upon a church at the periphery of the tourist zone. Personally I like churches and being in them. I tended to find it comfortably familiar having been surrounded by Muslim imagery for days. Not that there's anything uncomfortable about Muslim imagery, it was just nice to be back in my own religious element for a bit. However, what made the trip especially worthwhile was what was going on inside the church. We were there on the Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday, shortly before noon. There was no service in the church, but it may well have been a Greek Orthodox church (everything was written in Greek lettering). However, the floor was strewn with leaves (quite obviously intentionally) and in the pews were a number of people sitting, and one of them was singing. It wasn't in English of course, but combined with the acoustics of the church and the sort of, I don't know, feeling of absence given by the leaves on the floor it provided an excellent ambiance. The woman had a great voice and for a long time we didn't realize that someone was actually singing it live. I thought it was a recording, specially as it seemed to come from everywhere. It was high and lilting and otherworldly, creating a mood that is difficult to describe, but was somehow well blended with a church strewn with leaves on Easter Sunday in a Muslim country. Well worth the walk in my book.
Upon leaving the church we went for lunch in (you guessed it) a cafe. We then turned our attention back south and headed for a different bridge than the one we had come across. On that bridge we had our first sight of the Suleymaniye Mosque. This is the second largest mosque in Istanbul, and is truly majestic sitting atop its hill. We were both shocked that we had missed it earlier, but then we had been down amongst the buildings on its far side most of the time. It is quite an impressive mosque to say the least with quite an impressive vantage point built by someone who was quite an impressive architect for a sultan who I assume was quite impressive.
However, before we went to the mosque we saw an old Roman aqueduct that screamed out for a visit. For those who have not seen a Roman aqueduct, they tend to be impressive feats of engineering with a remarkably steady downhill slope used to carry water for many miles into cities. This particular one was standing in the middle of the city with roads going through some of the massive arches supporting it. Grand and useful landmark to walk at though it was, there is only so much time one can spend looking at an aqueduct, so we turned towards the big 'ol mosque on the hill.
Outside, the Suleymaniye Mosque is ringed by gated walls enclosing a lovely courtyard before the mosque proper begins. It follows the same dome and spire design of the rest of the mosques we had seen and we had to do the usual head scarf/remove shoe thing to go in. We actually arrived in time for the tail end of a prayer session which meant we had to wait in the back quietly while they finished. This mosque was great because tourists weren't confined to a particular area except when prayers were in session, so we got to enjoy the full breadth of the carpeted floor to run around on. Literally in the case of an adorable little girl who was THOROUGHLY enjoying the immense open padded floor to the mild chagrin of her parents.
One thing that I have not yet mentioned about mosques is the, and this is the technical way of putting it, totally bodacious ceiling accoutrements. Many of them had absolutely immense chandeliers (20 or 30 feet in diameter at times) that, though they were not particularly ornate, hung down on long long chains to hang suspended a few feet above the heads of those walking on the floor. They were an interesting choice in my book especially since all I could think of was a combination of Foucault's Pendulum and the Sword of Damocles in the event of an earthquake during a prayer session... But they were neat.
After the mosque we got lost in the city for a bit but saw no other major landmarks nearby, so we decided to head to the south end of town to something called the Little Hagia Sophia which used to be an Eastern Orthodox church when, like everything else in the city, it was converted to a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople. It actually was great since it was out of the way with far fewer tourists than its larger cousin, and provided a nice quiet side event. While trying to find it we got help from a Turkish guy who spoke no English at all but knew we were obviously looking for a way through to (he thought) Sultanahmet who showed us a way through a parking lot and between some buildings that wound up heading to the Little Hagia Sophia.
For the last bit of the day before dinner we decided to walk down to the waterfront, which sported an impressive view of the fleet of ships entering and exiting the port. We walked back towards the Topkapi Palace along the water and got to see some of the original walls of Constantinople still standing, used as part of the fortifications of the palace (why waste amazing walls, after all). Outside the palace was a really pretty walk through a park full of flowers, particularly tulips arranged in the shape of calligraphy. It was pretty.
We decided for our last night to go have a more expensive dinner than those we had previously, so we found a nice, western style cafe and bar. The food was good and I recommend it if you're looking for something more Western in Istanbul: North Shields Pub. Hardly traditional Turkish, but oh well. There was even a hockey game on, making it an amusing blend of US, UK, and Canada. The people weren't pushy about getting us to try different teas or desserts either! A definite plus.
When we returned to the hostel after dinner I decided to try to figure out how to pay the people at the hostel. True to the trend, the person there spoke no English, but fortunately we have the miracle of technology! Specifically, we managed to hold a conversation over Google translate which he had open on his computer. This was actually quite entertaining as it actively translates, but the meaning can vary wildly across languages until you have a sentence long enough for context, so it lead to one or two bouts of confusing on both of our parts. We eventually got to the point that I would pay tomorrow at noon, which was acceptable to all parties.
The next day we went out to a cafe for breakfast, paid, and went to wait for way too long at the Istanbul air port. My fault since I'm paranoid about flights and like to be there early. Three hours early in this case. In my defense we had no idea how long the tram would take. We still had to wait about 45 minutes before the Air France counter opened.
All in all it was a fantastic trip and I highly recommend it to everyone. Since I am now back in the US and obscenely busy, I must sign off now and post this monster. If anyone had the patience to read down to this point, I commend and thank you.
Thank you all for reading this blog! I hope I have been informative and entertaining.
