Monday, September 22, Day 104
We arrived yesterday, and accomplished very little except for traveling, checking into our room, meeting with our local guide, eating Turkish pizza in a small nearby cafe, and going to bed.
This morning, we are up early, eating early so that we can meet up with Dalim by 8:30. In retrospect he is by far the most knowledgeable and helpful guide we have had. There have been 13 successive civilizations, spanning 10 thousand years in Turkey. Istanbul is the only city that spans two continents and has been the capitol of two major empires one Christian and the second Muslim. Fourteen million people officially live in Istanbul. The city is densely packed with multiple family housing units
Turkey is a republic and the only Muslim country that has included secularism in its constitution guaranteeing freedom of worship for all, including non-muslims. Twelve years of education is compulsory for boys and girls. The people here are Turks first, then Muslims by faith and degree of practice. Seventy-five percent of the population is Muslim with varying degrees of faithfulness (some pray 5 times a day others only once per week. some women wear head scarves, some do not). Belief and practice are considered separately. If one is a believer, that may be enough. How one practices what they believe is a matter of individual choice. Our guide, indicated to us that it is when belief and practice are melded together as a means of achieving paradise (as in some of the more fundamentalist countries, that tribalism of who is holier, better, right, and stronger, raises its ugly head.
We will be spending our day on the European side of the Bosphorous. The sky is blue and the weather is absolutely perfect for outdoor sightseeing.
Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. Big surprise, it is not blue! Apparently, this is a tourist name. The Turkish people know the mosque as Sultan Ahmet Mosque. It is distinguished because it was built by the Sultan and has multiple minarets. The interior domes are beautiful, but on a relative scale of beauty, it is not nearly as beautiful and blue one we saw in Samarkand, Uzbekistan (Timor's Tomb).
Our second stop was the Palace Topkapi Sarayi. We spent a couple of hours here roaming around the grounds and visiting the exhibitions of clothing, armor, and jewelery. There were also some "holy relics" displayed, such as David's sword with which he killed Goliath, Muhammed's beard, Saint Peter's skull and arm in a golden case, and the staff Moses carried when he parted the Red Sea. Later on the outside of the palace, we say a monument, under which Jesus's cross is said to be buried. Hmmm. Oh me of no faith.
From Topkapi Sarayi, we walked to a huge and beautiful underground cistern built by the Romans in the 4th century AD. This cistern (one of more than 20 in the city) is supported by huge marble columns and held millions of liters of fresh water that was transported from hills 26 kilometers north of the city via an aqua duct. The water was protected from poison and disease that could be inflicted upon the the population of civilians and soldiers during siege times. Those Romans were so intelligent. Their accomplishments are astounding and much credit goes to all the slaves who provided the labor and their lives working on these engineering feats.
We stop for lunch with some of our friends and to rest a bit before we carry on. We eat in a rooftop restaurant where we eat tomato and cucumber salads, lamb, and stuffed eggplant. The meal was excellent and refreshing.
Our last stop of the day was the Grand Bazaar. The main section of the Bazaar is behind a walled off area. The entire structure is covered with a roof. Candies (Turkish Delights) with pistachios (#1 agricultural product in Turkey), jewelry (bling, bling), purses, leather jackets, rugs, musical instruments, garments, dishes, Turkish towels, cotton goods, curtains, etc., each in little shops on a Main Street on both sides run hundreds of meters with several cross streets and parallel streets. The Bazaar was packed with people. SHOPPING is the primary activity of people here in Istanbul. We were told by our guide that it is said in Istanbul, that if you cannot find something here, you cannot find it anywhere else in the world either. I think this is more true than the staff of Moses.
Russ and I are not big into buying anything so we stroll through the streets window shopping much to the chagrin of the men sitting outside their shops on little stools beckoning us in with sayings such as "almost free today", "come in, come in, no charge to just look", "Hello, you speak English?" "Where are you from?" The best come on was a very nice older man who came up to me as I walked along side of Russ with my hands held behind my back .
"Madam," he said quietly in my ear, "Do you know what it means when a woman walks with her hands together behind her back in Turkey?" Thinking I had breached some code of conduct, I looked at him inquisitively. "No," I replied. "What does it mean?"
"It means that you want to buy a carpet from me!", he smiled a toothy grin, and we both had a good laugh! Then of course he tried to lure us into his carpet shop which we politely declined.
On our return trip to the hotel, our guide explained different tour options we could sign up for if we so wanted the following day. He also explained to all of us how we could self organize to take subway, tram, funicular, and ferries on our own. The Hagia Sophia would be one of the places we would want to go (closed on Mondays), along with a tour of the Bosporus, and the old Spice Market.
The group tours were far too pricey for our tastes and the Travel R's indicated that we would go on our own. Actually, the group tours were far too pricey for most of the other folks as well, but some of the other folks had little experience negotiating their own travel, and inquired if they could come along with us. Ah, this was going to be a real adventure.
We returned to our hotel after a full day and now had to do a little recon work of our own to make sure that tomorrow's expedition would work smoothly for a group. Our guide had told us about getting a city card for the subway system. You had to buy the card at a kiosk and charge it up with local currency. One card could be used for multiple passengers, but we wanted everyone to have their own card in case some decided to leave early, late, or separated from the group.
The kiosk was closed although we had been told it would be open. We ducked into a nearby convenience type store to see if we could buy a card. They spoke no English and I thought the counter guy looked a little shady, but he produced a card, and told us it would cost 10 Tl (Turkish Lira). Russ gave him a 50 Tl expecting change. The counter man put the 50 in his cash drawer while his friend took the card and ran down into the subway to presumably charge it up. In a few minutes he came back with the card. We tried to inquire how much he had put on the card so that we could figure out the change we would get, as the counter man did not seem inclined to give us any money back at all, and now the two men seem to speak and understand even less English.
Fortunately, there was a nice looking young man customer who stepped up and asked in English if he could help us. We learned later, he was a Palestinian from the West Bank, married to a Turkish woman, and had done his graduate work in America. He eventually extracted information from the counter man, that the card cost 8, not 10 Tl, and 17 additional Tl had been charged to the card for our use, for a total of 25. He reluctantly gave us 25 Tl change. Our new friend who was also questioning the honesty of the counterman, suggested that when we left, we go into the subway and check the balance on the card. We should have 17 Tl on it. We did what he suggested and discovered it only had 12.50 on it. So we got cheated by 50%. One Tl is about $.44 cents, so financially it wasn't a big deal, but annoying. We decided to just chalk off the experience rather than go back to the store and put up a fuss.
This experience was useful in that we decided, that our traveling group would just buy tokens from the machine and skip the card experience. Our recon mission took more time than we anticipated, and we had just enough time to get back to the hotel to meet up with friends for another great dinner out.
Tuesday, September 23, Day 105 - Group adventure
By 9:15 our group of 7 intrepid adventurers, plus ourselves - 9 total), prepared for our trip. Some members of our group are resting today and others are going off on their own to the hop-on-hop-off bus or cooking classes they have arranged. It had rained all night and the clouds were still thinning with 60% chance of showers during the day.
We explained to our little group that it would be easier if everyone bought tokens, and explained the importance of each carrying their own tokens and own money (for taxi if necessary), and paying attention to number of stops on subway before getting off. If they realized they missed the stop, they should get off and come back. We would wait. Everyone was instructed to spread out and not all try to get in at the same door if the train was crowded. I told them of my "left at the station" experience in Moscow.
Armed with tokens, money, and subway smarts, the group successfully, made our way to the transfer station, made our transfer to the underground funicular which took us from the top of the mountain to the bottom tram station. From there we walked a hundred meters to the city ferry line, where we purchased tickets for a 1hr and 15 minute tour of the Bosporus. The Bosporus is a narrow strait on the East end of the Marmara Sea which connects to the Black Sea. ( In the West the Dardenelles Strait connects to the Agean Sea) By now the sun was out and the humidity was rising, but we were on an open air, shade covered ferry. We made one quick stop a couple of miles north of our start to pick up some additional passengers, and then were on our way up the coast line towards the Black Sea and then across the Bosporus to the Asian side and south again to the ferry terminal. The scenery along both sides with forts, palaces, and millionaire homes was lovely in the morning light. Again we made one short stop before returning to our destination. When we got off the ferry, we did a head count. Oh no. We were missing one person, Pam.
Pam's husband, Shelly, got back on the boat to look for her thinking she may have gone into the restroom and had not yet come out. Nope that wasn't the case. By this time Shelly was thinking worse case scenarios of falling overboard or abduction. Russ and I were convinced that Pam had probably gotten off with some of the other passengers at the short stop just before arriving at the terminal. Shelly wasn't sure that Pam had enough money for a taxi if this was the case, so he and Russ decided to walk the mile or so north to see if Pam would be walking south towards the terminal. The rest of us would hangout at the terminal until everyone was rejoined.
Within 5 minutes of Russ and Shelly leaving on their stroll north, Pam appeared having taken a taxi to the terminal. She had indeed exited with a group of tourists at the last station, and realizing immediately her mistake, was too late to get back on the ferry as it sailed off. She was a good Girl Scout and was prepared with map, digital photo of funicular stop, and money. The rest of us enjoyed the morning on park benches at the terminal, chatting, and just watching people. A few of us went to the little outside cafe for water and Turkish tea. Within an hour, Russ and Shelly returned and we were all reunited. Yeah! Onward!
By this time we were all hungry, as it was now close to 1:00 pm. We found a little restaurant near the Spice Market and Pam treated us all to lunch. Thank you Pam, not only for lunch, but for a little adventure that will always be a highlight of our trip! We agreed to a meet-up time and place after some shopping in the Spice Market. Like the Bazaar their were tons of little shops with all kinds of goods, but most of the shops were food oriented with dried fruits, nuts, spices, and candies. Outside of the Bazaar building, fish and produce were sold. Those who were in the nearby mosque for noon day prayers filled the bazaar. It was shop, shop, shop.
We eat a lot of nuts and dried fruits, but as picturesque as the open market is, we don't want to buy our food there, especially when you see people picking through the nuts and trail mixes taking samples in their fingers to eat. After we all returned to our meeting place, those of who can, cram onto the crowded tram, 3 of our group are left behind, but they know we will wait for them at the appropriate exit at the Sophia Hagia.
The Sophia Hagia was built in the 4th century as a Roman Catholic Church before the Orothodox split in the 1100s. During the Ottoman reign, the church became a mosque with minorets. The Sophia Hagia is now a museum for all to see. Currently, it is being refurbished. When converted to a mosque, all of the mosaics depicting people were covered over with plaster as this is not considered appropriate for Muslims who believe that human and animal forms should not be depicted. Islamic design is geometrical.. Mosaics are being uncovered, paint is peeling and being chipped off. Marble slabs and tiles still retain their color and brillance, as do many of the uncovered mosaics. Much of the paint is fading and falling off. Tall scaffolding reaches to the domes and work is underway. It is estimated, that the work will not be completed for at least 10 years. It is a magnificent building with marble ramps leading up to the balconies.
By the time we successfully complete our self-guided touring, and return to the hotel via tram, funicular and subway, everyone has had a fine day and few lasting adventurous memories. We rest for a few hours before a small group of us gather again for a guided dinner and cultural show where we once again enjoy a nice meal, folk dancing, and belly dancing. What fun!
Tonight is the last night for those of us on the Avalon tour to Istanbul. Tomorrow everyone will be heading off in different directions. It's been fun meeting people and making new friends. Thanks everyone for contributing to such a grand time!
All is Welll with the Worrall Travel R's in Istanbul.
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