I love the sounds of the five times a day call to prayer for Muslims. Different chants can be heard throughout the city in an almost competitive environment.
The plan today was to get acquainted with the he old part of Istanbul were staying in, without doing the major tourist attractions that we'll be covering tomorrow with a private guide. Alex had put me onto Rick Steve's travel guides that included many walking tours (then I found out my Dad also uses them, so check check!) of various European cities. The tours seems to be a little unique, often covering small or little known things that are of interest.
We walked over towards Sultanhmet station to start our walk. I had my kindle for the walk description in one hand, phone in the other for blog pics and my camera for the important photos (:-)), so Abby is guest shooting all the blog pics today.... Except this one...
The walk started on Divan Yolu (the 'Road to the Imperial Council'), the main commercial street in the area. Divan Yolu is a cobbled street with shops and restaurants lining both sides with extra wide sidewalks. The main tram runs along the surface of the street every few minutes. It's where we ate last night and is quite picturesque.
Along the walk, we passed the Column of Constantine. It's really cool that as you look carefully when you're walking, you'll see all kinds of artifacts exposed and interwoven into the modern city that sits on top of it. There were lots of pieces of wall from the ancient hippodrome that we'll learn more about tomorrow.
I stopped in to Starbucks on the way, and had my first chai tea latte since Singapore. At home I get Greg, Crag and I've even had Keg.... but I've never had Crack.....
We passed through the courtyard of one of the many beautiful mosques in the area, but as Rick Steves pointed out, we didn't want to get "mosqued out", so we continued by it and ended up at one of the main entrances to the Grand Bazaar. The kids were so pumped up.
The grand Bazaar is kind of exactly how I pictured it. It's essentially a maze of streets and shops that were eventually joined together and covered under one roof. With 4400 shops, our initial plan was to follow the self guided walk, and come back later for shopping. With that many shops, although there is a lot of repitition (carpets, lamps, jewelry, earthenware, metal works and leather seemed to be the main themes, with many knock off shops sporting Gucci, Hermes, Rolex, Nike and Aeropostale bizarrely in one shop). Abby spotted this alluring little display for baby bracelets and a silver soother.
The cool thing about the walk was it took us to places that were empty of tourists - mainly the "Hans" which are little open courtyards on the edge of the bazaar that are essentially open, two storey areas with groups of related trades. The first one we checked out was a silver smith area. When you enter the Han, you immediately drop into a chill, quiet space away from the main bazaar that really looks like it is for local businessmen rather than tourists.
We went upstairs and checked out one little shopkeeper that has been making silver items in there since he was seven. He was now sixty, and just like the picture in our guidebook, he was standing at his lathe shaping something. His son was there to give us some explanations in English which was nice. The family was Armenian, as were most of the people in that Han The shop was tiny and crowded, and we excused ourselves shortly, not wanting to interfere.
Beth was drooling at some of the silver pieces in the wholesale shops on the main floor - they were quite beautiful, though maybe a little ornate to actually consider buying.
One Han we visited had a bored looking TV crew taking a break, and when they saw us, the lead interviewe, a guy formerly from Pittsburgh, lept up and asked to interview me. They were dong a short spot on the economy of Istanbul and felt I would be the perfect sound bite for an expert opinion on that..... Ok... Well, I out in my two cents but I'm not sure I'll make the final cut!
One Han we visited to was a big open courtyard that had groups of textile wholesalers. There was a cool automated loom making gold thread that was a little mesmerizing.... The machine was a hundred years old and still working away.
We took a break at the "most famous coffee shop in Turkey" that was smack in the middle of the bazaar.
Beth ordered the sacrificial Turkish coffee, while we all opted for apple tea. We did try the coffee, which is super thick and disgusting (as all coffees are) but we were glad we had the tea to chase it down. Even Beth was not a fan of the local fare. What remains after you finish the liquid part at the top is a thick muddy residue at the bottom. Yuck.
We checked out the antique market which was a standalone area with its own roof structure that housed dozens of shops with old antiquities as well as a number of jewelry shops. It was a Robin dream/our nightmare place.... Rows and rows of small trinkets and she had to pick up and touch almost every little piece. When we're in markets, you can always hear someone in the family saying "Robin, look with your eyes, not your hands!" Lol.
We were in the market for a couple of hours, but it was time to move on. We exited out of the opposite gate to the one we came in, probably close to a kilometer away. It opened on to a busy local street that is full of clothes and shoes vendors. We got Robin some replacement shoes, and she of course bought herself a shirt and pant outfit. The girls are so different when it comes to clothes shopping: Robin can't leave a market without buying something, but you have to pull Abby's teeth to consider even looking at anything.
There were dozens of twenty something year old men selling hot or knock odd perfume and cologne bottles from mobile stores featuring their forearms as the display case. We must have been asked a hundred times, sometimes by the same people, if we wanted to buy any..... No thanks!
We checked out the old book market, which I think has turned in to mostly a textbook for students market now. They did have some cool looking artwork and older books there too.
It was time for a quick bite to eat, so we saw a guy across the street who was beckoning us over. We each had a delicious chicken domair...so good. The girls have been raving about the food since we touched down in Turkey!
We were going to visit the Süleymaniye Mosque but it was closed for prayer for an hour, so we continued winding down alleyways towards the spice market. We followed the guided walk into a non description doorway and up the stairs to a little hidden gem called the Rüstem Pasha Mosque. It was also closed for prayer (I hate when organized religion interferes with good old tourism!), but it was so cool to go up this little hidden stairway and at the top it opened up to a huge courtyard in front of yet another very big mosque.
We wound down the busy cobbled alleyway and eventually reached the spice market. The market is a giant L-shaped building that has spice, tea, Turkish delight, caviar, cheese, soap and souvenir vendors packed into a single indoor walkway up both lengths of the L. It was a feast for the eyes... Here's some tea (Abby bought a bunch of apple tea):
Dried fruit:
Of course, spices:
More tea (Abby obviously loves tea...):
We bought a half kilo of random Turkish delight to do a taste test later:
Of curse they also had a huge selection of baklava!
It was time for a break. The girls were doing really well, but Beth looked like she'd hit a bit of a jet lag wall. We had to get her coffee.... stat!
Mission accomplished - we stopped at a little coffee shop around the corner from the spice market. Apparently, it was good.
I can confirm that the Turkish delight was also really good. I actually have never had it - my only knowledge of it was the same as Beth's - the ugly looking chocolate bar with gross red jelly in the middle. Well, that was ignorant, as this Turkish delight was varied and quite delicious. Not overly sweet with a nice chewy texture and many different flavours.
With a little boost of energy, we walked up from the spice market to the Süleymaniye Mosque. The story behind the mosque (you can read it at the link above) was pretty interesting. The mosque itself is the biggest in Istanbul, and in many ways overshadows the more popular blue mosque in every way except the location. Apparently, one of the reasons this mosque is not as popular as the blue mosque is that it is difficult to access by tour buses.
We visited the cemetery first, which was very different from Christian cemeteries, and more beautiful in some ways.
Inside the cemetery are two large mausoleums - one for the sultan, and one for his primary concubine who basically ran the empire "behind the curtain", so much influence did she have over the sultan.
The mosque itself was beautiful. It was so peaceful (and it was really quiet, with maybe only forty visitors inside). We sat inside for a while, just taking it in. The story of the architect, Sinan the Architect, is fascinating - he was often compared to Michalangelo and one of his apprentices would later help design the Taj Mahal. Abby took some great pictures of the mosque:
I loved the massive chandelier that hovered just above head level to spread the light from the former candle lit lights.
The girls had to wear head coverings in the mosque - a cute look for all three.
I tested Abby on navigating backwards on our route back to the hotel, and she dutifully led us all the way back through the grand bazaar, down cobbled streets, across the grounds of the hippodrome and back towards the hotel - impressive. The girls spotted outdoor gym equipment and had to test it out - it was the first equipment we'd seen outside since Ho Chi Minh!
Dinner was at a nearby place recommended by our super friendly hotel hosts. It was another great meal.
Our first day in Istanbul was fantastic. We got a really good feel for the main streets in the area, saw some world class architecture and buildings, and enjoyed some great food. We were all feeling a little tired after dinner and it didn't take long before we were all unconscious. We have a fairly big day planned tomorrow.
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