I'm writing this at 10:45 at night... the call to prayer is sounding out in the street, as are car horns and the occasional siren. Istanbul does not sleep. It's been another very full day and the wake up call is for 5:30; breakfast at 6, luggage in the hall at 7, on the bus and rolling at 7:30. If that's Turkish time it may be JUST a little later, but we are 12 school teachers, so we'll be on time.
Today we started with a mosque.. this one the Queen Mother's Mosque just above the Spice Bazaar. The mosque was similar to most of those we've seen..it is a very active community center, and was just pulsing with people at prayer, people chatting, people hurrying thru..... I don't think even the small neighborhood mosques are ever empty or idle... ... kind of nice in a way.
Then we did a bit of exploring in the Spice Bazaar. It is not just spices by any means, but it smelled wonderfully of things like saffron and cumin and cinnamon and all sorts of other mystical things. But there were touristy things too and many practical household items. I bought a few little things and will probably finish up any last minute stuff I don't find elsewhere there in our last couple of free days back in Istanbul at the end of the month.
By 10 they herded us under the busy highway to the boat docks and we boarded our people ferry for an hour and a half trip up the Bosporus. The views were breathtaking, there was a splendid breeze, and it was wonderful to just sit and enjoy it all. We were told the Bosporus has some challenges for boats and swimmers because of two competing and non compatible currents, from the Black Sea at one end and the Sea of Marmara at the other.... but the ride was smooth enough that even our more seasick prone members seemed to be okay. Or else they put on a very brave front.
We landed, walked around the little resort seaside down of something I didn't write down. Some of us found the local specialty for lunch: borek.... basically a meat or cheese filled pastry surrounded by filo dough. Others went and had fish and we were all happy.
Our bus met us and took us to .... a mosque. This one at Uskudar (imagine umlauts over the U's). It was also built by Sinan who I mentioned before. This was commissioned by Suleiman to mourn and honor the death of his favorite daughter(he outlived several of his kids, clearly). It has an extensive community complex, with hospital, soup kitchen, etc. What made it relatively challenging to design was the fact that it is on a hillside directly by the Bosporus, leaving no spare land for courtyards, etc. It's pretty much a vertical complex. My screaming knees were glad we didn't climb to all of the parts, but it was good to see them from the bus window!
Today was the first day we touched on Asia. For a few of our party it was a whole new continent... we crossed one of hte massive bridges and drove back on the Asia side and saw a different side of the urban sprawl that is Istanbul. Much of this was massively built new European style suburb and business quarters that could have been in the edges of Frankfurt or London... except for the omnipresent minarets.
We passed a huge soccer stadium where the local team just won some important international championship...banners are flying everywhere.
On a side note, I must observe that of all the countries we've visited, I've never seen another country that flies its flag as much as the US till I came back to Turkey. I don't remember it being flown as constantly when we were here before. Both of our local guides have alluded to a growing (and uncomfortable) nationalism that they are observing and feel this is a part of it. Of course, there are all those soccer banners, too!
After the drive we got back to hotel, had an hour or so to do this and that (like pack... we're leaving for a week, so we're leaving some stuff in storage here since we'll come back to this hotel. Then our whole group walked the length of a very trendy walking mall, about half an hour walk, and had dinner at a highly recommended restaurant called Haci Baba (In Turkish the "c" is pronounced like "j" in English. Haci/H aji, by the way, is a term of respect reserved for those devout Muslims who have made the hag, the trip to Mecca that is expected of all Muslims.. and baba simply means "papa" so Haci Baba turns out to be a term of affectionate respect. We had a sumptuous dinner.. started with meze of eggplant, fresh and beaut filly arrayed veggies, yogurt with dill, bread, more eggplant in different forms, etc. Then a variety of kebabs, kofte (ground meat in kebab form) and lamb stews, etc. There was a lot of sharing. We ended uo with two different forms of baklava (one with shredded yufka (file) and the other the form most of us are more familiar woth. And Turkish coffee.
From my place next to a large open window I got to watch a pair of very self assured geese stroll back and forth/ Then, when the meat and otehr foods arrives, do did the neighborhood cats. Tehy serenaded us from the ground below the window and a couple of them made the four foot jump to teeter on the sill before we shooed them off.American health inspectors would have had a fit, but we rather considered it to be a part of the floor show. One of our waiters entertained us too... he loudly announced(in English) that he didn't like Turkey. We were aghast till he explained he preferred chicken. We laughed....
I'll try to upload a few random pictures.... if you've stayed awake this long, so have I but bed is looking like a good place to be!
Tomorrow we head for Iznik, a former capital of the Ottomans (for those 0f you up on church history, it was the ancient city of Nicaea, which gave us the Nicene creed. It is also widely noted for its exquisite 15th and 16th century pottery and tiles. We'll see a few more old Ottoman sites and a couple or dozen mosques and spend tomorrow night in Bursa.
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