TOO MUCH TO TELL, TOO LITTLE TIME!

Lee and Heidi will need to wake up, ready to fly off to Kayseri  at 4:00 AM, Istanbul time, tomorrow.  This evening's post, consequently, consists mainly of several collages illustrating today's adventures and little else.  We have a long flight ahead of us, though, so look for an editted version in the near future ...

We began the day with an early morning visit to the nearby Sultanahmet Mosque, completed in 1616.  The extensive use of Iznik tile throughout the interior has earned the mosque the nickname "the Blue Mosque".  Many consider the building the most beautiful mosque in all of Turkey, if not the world.

Later the two of us lunched at a charming Art Nouveau cafe in the heart of the fashionable Iskikal district, after visiting Taksin Square and strolling the boulevard, carefully dodging its vintage streetcars and taking in all its rich European architectural heritage.

The afternoon passed pleasantly enough as we sailed the Bosporus, admiring how the global "one percent" lives along the shore. 

More tomorrow.  Now, to bed!

LA VIE EST BELLE

Julia Roberts got it right!  Life is beautiful, indeed!

This morning, following an general tour orientation, our newly assembled group of ten (two others were off on an independent excursion) under the expert and informative leadership of our guide, Elvan Birisik-Albayrak, set off on our first full day of activities with (for us) a return visit to Topkopi Palace.  We were happy to return, since it gave us the opportunity to visit parts of the place we had missed on our earlier visit, particularly the sultan's prized clock collection and the recently-installed (and excellent) display of weapons and armor.  Lee took advantage by snapping some additional pictures of the elaborately-decorated interior of the Divan, the hall in which the administrators met when discussing state policies and the bureaucratic apparatus maintained its document library.

After a quick lunch at the Pudding Club (!), we then walked over to Haja Sophia, one of the highlights of any visit to Istanbul.  For a thousand years, the building served as a Christian cathedral; for another thousand years, as an Islamic mosque. Since  1924, however, it has been recast as a secular museum.  Currently undergoing some significant interior renovation and renewal, Aya Sophia (as its known in Turkey) is still very impressive.  The surviving mosaics, dating back centuries, were particularly interesting; both Heidi and Lee, nonetheless, noted the distinct absence of any kind of spirituality associated with this supposed "sacred space" -- it seemed somehow hollowed out and empty of meaning, however architecturally significant, indeed more museum than either church or mosque.

A quick visit to an ancient underground cistern came next on our walking tour.  The bases of two pillar in the HUGE underground chamber were stone deity Medusa heads installed upside down or sidewise!

We then boarded our tour bus for the first time for the Spice Market where we were guests at a "spice tasting" led by a charming young entrepreneur who, having completed a degree in marketing in the United States, was clearly intent on leading her family-run business (she's the fifth generation owner) well into the future.  Among her employees was a young man who had studied at Ohio State University in Columbus and who had even visited Cleveland ("A real comeback city" in his opinion).

Our final stop of the day took us through the Grand Bazaar, a huge area filled with some 4000 shops.  We two didn't visit them all, opting instead for an early supper and a easy return walk to our hotel.

After all, we still have days and days ahead of us sure to be as interesting and informative (and exhausting) as this one has been ...

             

But, as Julia says, "Life is beautiful!",  and we aren't complaining!

Dinner this evening was a relaxing affair in a small restaurant attached to a hostel.  A boistrous crowd of Dutch college students were finishing up when we were seated; once they left, quiet descended. much to our waiter's relief.  Later, as we ate, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong's signature song, "What a Wonderful World", wafted into the room, setting the perfect mood by reflecting just what we ourselves were thinking at that very moment -- a reaction made even more satisfying when our waiter brought us some complementary hot apple tea "to make up for our earlier being inconvenienced by all the noise".

We had two items on our agenda today, both museum visits.  First up, a trek out to see the Byzantine era mosiacs at the Church of Saint Savior in Chora.  The mosaics (and associated frescos) date from the eleventh century.  They depict significant events in the lives of Mary and Jesus in exquisite and quite lifelike detail.  The audio guide commentary helped us figure out what to look for in each image and what Biblical text was being illustrated.  Best of all, because the mosaics are all overhead, high up on the walls and ceiling, it mattered not at all that there were throngs of other viewers sharing the same rather narrow space below and listening to the chatter of their respective guides.

The area around the Chora church features a number of the traditional wooden homes common in earlier eras of Istanbul's historic domestic architecture, many of which have been charmingly restored, largely due to the efforts of a local restauranter devoted to the preservation of the past, both in terms of architecture and cuisine.  Having spent years accumulating recipes from all over the country, he opened his own restaurant, Asitane, in 1991.  We had lunch at his place, then photographed some of the restored structures nearby.

Our next goal was to take in exhibits at the Archeological Museum.  To get there, we required the use of a taxi.  Our driver offered to take us for a flat fee, one not requiring the use of a meter.  Since we had come to Chora by taxi, we had a sense that the thirty lire cost was in line with expectations.  We hopped in and moved along quickly through the narrow city streets over to a boulevard along the Golden Horn.  Then traffic crawled to a halt.  Not to worry: our taxi took off "overland" - back and forth across the Golden Horn, uphill and down, in and out of impossibly narrow streets and alleys, often crowded with pedestrians, vans, trucks and parked cars.  No matter.  We zipped along and made good time to within a thousand yards or so of our destination.  

Lee recognized where we were, so we abandoned ship, with much gratitude and an extra tip for our  talented, experienced and knowledgeable driver, and made our way on foot to our next objective.  The museum exhibits (including some fantastic sarcophagi and beautiful tile work), however,  seemed quite pale in comparison to the wild ride we took to get (nearly) there!

What a wonderful world!

STILL NOT ALL ALONE

Heidi and Lee spent a fascinating five hours on our first full day in Istanbul roaming through the Topkapi Palace, home to Ottoman Sultans since 1478.  First chore, however, was obtaining the needed entrance tickets.  That took an hour, again due to the crowds who have all gotten the word that Istanbul is THE city to visit in 2014.

Nonetheless, once inside the palace complex, we found lots to occupy our senses, particularly our eyes.  So much intricate detail to observe!  So many colorful tiles to see!  So many diverse structures to wander through!  According to the brouchure accompanying our audio guides, the harem alone had 300 rooms, nine Turkish baths, two mosques and even a hospital within its private precincts.

Here is a set of collages illustrating aspect of the palace architecture, the exquisite tile work found everywhere, several of the decorated domes overhead, and a few of the more fanciful windows and doors encountered on our visit.

Other highlights: great food all day long, including a hearty beakfast at Turkish Kitchen near the Topkapi, a pleasant lunchtime chat with a Dutch couple from Leiden, and a ferry boat ride across to Kayakoy on the Asian side of the city for dinner,

NOT THE ONLY ONES AROUND

Three flights with two intermediate stopovers (Washington's Dulles and Frankfurt) plus well over an hour negotiating Immigration proceedings eventually brought Heidi and Lee, some thirty hours later, to Istanbul at long last.

Our hired car-and-driver, with cellphone help from our host, finally deposited us on the doorstep of our AIRBNB rental apartment in the Galata neighborhood.  Lee got right to work, camera in hand, while we waited for the arrival of the key.

Once in the apartment, we found it much to our liking.  Settling in took very little effort; we even had time for a brief but relaxing rest before setting out on our initial explorations.

Our first stop was the two level apartment house rooftop deck with its stunning city views, taking in the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara as well as the Topkapi Palace, Haga Sophia and the Blue Mosque across the Golden Horn.

Then we trekked downhill and up, out of our quiet hillside neighborhood, into the midst of the tourist swirl around the Galata Tower.  Dating back to the sixth century, the tall stone tower has been used as a watch tower, a prison and a naval depot.  Today -- as the crowds attested -- it is the most recognizable landmark on this side of the Golden Horn.  We ate nearby outside on the square at the Guney Restaurant, basking in the sunny, late afternoon, seventy degree weather - a satisfying conclusion, indeed, to our first afternoon in Istanbul.

HEY, GUYS, WHERE YAH GOIN'?

Our travels over the next eighteen days will take us from Istanbul and Cappadocia in Anatolia to the Turquoise Coast and Ephesus.  We arrive two days prior to the start of our OAT tour, so altogether we will have five days in the country's largest city, followed by three days in Cappadocia.  The drive to the Mediterranean coast takes two days with several stops along the way (including a village overnight homestay).  The next four nights are spent cruising along the coast between Fethiye and Marmaris.  Our final day will be spent exploring the archeological remnants of Ephesus before flying home from Izmir.

 

As the map indicates, this itinerary doesn't extend beyond the center of the country but covers those parts of Turkey most travelers find of interest.  The challenge, Lee suspects, will be to keep all the disparate parts within some sort of organized framework that adds up, in the end, to a fuller appreciation of what "Turkey" is really all about.

Our AIRBNB apartment arrangements in Istanbul have (finally!) all fallen into place.  The reservation to be met by a car and driver at the airport has been finalized.  The suitcases are all packed.  Our OAT guide has been in touch by email and phone.  Cat care has been taken care of, together with lawn mowing and the power-washing of the back deck.

We're ready to go!

THE EARLY SPRING WE LEAVE BEHIND ...

Lee has settled on a slideshow display mechanism but needed to test out the complete process involved, everything from capturing the original images, transferring them to the iPad, editing the results, chosing which images to include in the slideshow, arranging the slides in an interesting order, uploading them all to an appropriately named PICASA Web Album, inserting the necessary HTML code into a BLOGSPOT post, changing the code as needed to incorporate the new image album, writing the accompanying text, previewing the overall result and finally posting the completed entry to the blog

Here's the result - some images of an early Spring: