Touch Down Istanbul

Bridge over the Golden Horn and Galata Tower.

Sheri, Curtis, and Norma jetted out of Portland at o’dark thirty (thanks Nadine) and caught a flight to New York then a 10.5 hour jump to Istanbul. Unfortunately there was a two hour delay which stretched out what was a long trip to start with. We touched down in Istanbul and rolled into the Polat Renaissance Hotel which is located at the edge of town on the shore of the Sea of Marmara. Sheri loved the Olympic sized pool; Norma enjoyed the sea view from the room; and Curtis pigged out in the executive lounge.

We took in some sights which included the Hagia Sophia which is a monstrous 1500 year old church which has been switched over to a mosque.

It is full of history and has been added onto a hundred times and buttressed up and its art has been created, covered over, and uncovered again. The floors sags and the columns are crooked and the paint is peeling.

The central dome is 15 stories high

Sultans were crowned here and even Obama has visited. There’s a hole in one column where if you insert your thumb and spin it around you get your wish (like birthday candles on a cake).

We saw some other sights including Topkapi Palace where they have the famous Topkapi dagger. The sheath for the dagger is gold and studded with diamonds and rubies, and the handle is decorated with three emeralds the size of chestnuts. Topkapi Palace is where the ruling Ottoman Sultan lived. His residence, along with his mother, was in the harem along with several hundred eunuchs and 300 to 500 concubines. So there was never a dull moment there.

The Blue Mosque

We went to an underground cistern that was built 1400 years ago. It was nicely lit and at one end they had used a large stone block as a column base and on the side of the block was a fabulous carving of the face of Medusa. Mysteriously the block was installed with the face upside down.

Haggling in the Grand Bazzar

We took a boat up the Bosphorus to near the Black Sea. The Bosphorus is something like the Columbia River Gorge and it is the geographic divisor between Europe and Asia. The water was quite busy and the boat made a few stops and ended at a village on the Asian side.

After a fish lunch and trudging up to a fortress castle we hopped on a water taxi and crossed back to the European side. The plan was to catch a bus to Istanbul touring along the European side of the Bosphorus. Well it was an hour wait for the bus and then it was packed to the gills and traffic was horrendous. After a few hours we arrived at a tram and escaped the bus and connected to the commuter train that took us to our hotel where a few beers poolside took off the edge.

We were all impressed as to how modern Istanbul is and generally how nice and organized it is.

Turkey is an Islamic country, mostly Sunni, and everywhere we’ve been at some point we hear the call to prayer. So far when the prayers start the locals are unfazed and carry on chatting and smoking and doing whatever it is they’re doing. We did see an Islamic funeral. Some men were sweatially shoveling dirt on the grave.

Islamic Graveyard

There were three Imams and each one in turn sang out or preformed the service or proselytized. While one Imam was speaking the others chatted on their cell phones.

Turkish is Tricky