Sunday April 26 2009 - Istanbul, what can I say, I loved it, it’s exciting, visually stunning, friendly people and all at the price you want to pay. This morning our breakfast was interrupted when the captain announced ‘brace, brace, brace‘, he told us later that as the ship was coming in, an unexpected current pushed us quickly toward the dock, fortunately they just managed to avoid a collision using the thrusters.
Me in the Blue Mosque - it was a little dark
The Blue Mosque - Istanbul
We left early this morning to visit one of the city’s most recognised landmarks, the Blue Mosque. Since we were early, it wasn’t very busy, but the vendors were there waiting to pounce as soon as we stepped off the bus, if I was asked once to buy souvenir book of Istanbul, I was asked a hundred times, usually 5 or 6 times by each guy. We removed our shoes at the entrance to the mosque and carried them with us in the bags provided by our tour bus, the tour company also provided headsets and receivers which picked up from the microphone worn by the guide, so we could hear him easily even in crowds. The mosque was most impressive, the interior is decorated with more than 20,000 blue Iznik tiles and 216 stained glass windows, it is an active mosque and most of it is cordoned off for use by worshippers, but we were able to admire the entire area as our guide outlined the practises and uses of each area. Outside the mosque, we walked through the Hippodrome, once the site of a Roman circus with it’s giant obelisk transported from upper Egypt over 2000 years ago.
We moved on to the Topkapi Palace Museum and Harem, contrary to what you might think, the harem was not specifically a place for the Sultan’s women, the word ‘harem’ means ‘private area’ and it was used as living quarters for the Sultans entire family, not the least of which was his mother, who was responsible for picking new wives for him. The harem was bare and devoid of much in the way of furniture but it was still fascinating to see the inner workings of the great dwelling.
Cats at Topkapi Palace - they were very friendly, especially that little black one
A short walk took us to the museum and its’ magnificent collection of jewels, including the massive 86 carat Topkapi diamond, Izzy compared it to the diamond on her ring and gave me such a look. We passed a gold and glass chest filled with emeralds, some the size of goose eggs, other piddley little ones only about the size of a grape, then a beautiful suit of gold encrusted with jewels and sceptres and swords and sash badges and crowns all laden with gold and precious jewels and only a thin sheet of glass stopping you fondling it all and rubbing them over your naked body, Izzy drools at the thought. But the best thing about the palace was all the little cats wandering about, they were very people friendly and we found out later that they were all cared for, micro chipped, registered and fed by the state.
Since it was almost noon, our guide directed us to a picturesque spot, the Konyali Restaurant, overlooking the Bosphorus, where we had lunch, typical Turkish fare, some good, some not so good, but I got enough to eat.
Inside St Sophia church/mosque/museum
The museum of Saint Sophia was our first stop after lunch, it was built in the 4th century as the Holy Roman Church of St. Sophia, then in the 15th century, when it was converted to a mosque by the Ottoman Empire, 4 minarets were added and finally in 1936 it was transformed into its’ current use.
Izzy with water jar inside St Sophia
The interior with its’ massive dome rivals the Vatican for sheer space and grandeur, impressive giant marble jars, each carved from a single piece of stone, occupied the corners, their function to provide running water in the winter months when outside wells were frozen. Around 02.00pm we made the obligatory visit to a carpet store for a glass of apple tea and a demonstration/sales pitch on carpets, after an informative 20 minutes, we left and went shopping in the bazaar, Izzy bought a genuine Turkish carpet, we know it’s genuine since we paid $10 for it. After a while, we returned to the bus and were back at the ship by 04.30pm, in time for sail away at 05.00pm.
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