After the first few days in Istanbul, I thought that in the end Turkey would be an interesting place to visit but I wouldn't really like it. It was too hot with too many tour buses and tourists. (Truthfully, even though there were a lot of tourists, there weren't any really long lines to get in to see the sights. It wasn't like going to Versailles; the most we waited was about 20 minutes.) Anyway, the weather got a little better, and Istanbul starts to grow on you after a relaxing afternoon or two of sipping tea and sharing a nargile.
In our last couple of days in Istanbul, we went to the spice market,
which is near where we caught a 90 minute Bosphorus cruise.
There are lot of palaces along the way.
And the awesome looking Rumeli Fortress. It's giant and appeared to have all of 4 tourists inside, but it's so far from the normal tourist spots.
Next to the Galata Bridge, not far from the spice market and not far from where we caught the boat, there are 3 boats that sell 'fish bread.'
The boats rock back and forth to nearly 45 degree angles, but that doesn't faze the guys on board who are constantly grilling fresh fish. Toss a fish in some bread with some lettuce and onions and hand it off to the customer on land for 4 TL (a little more than 2 USD). On land, some guys sell drinks, and there are some scattered stools and tables with lemon juice and salt to put on your sandwiches. They taste awesome. 
In terms of activities to do, going to the hamam (Turkish bath) may be the most popular, aside from buying a carpet (people in Turkey will constantly ask you if you're going to buy a carpet or ask you to come see their carpet store). We went to Cemberlitas Hamam, which is in a historic (1500s) building and has nice but separate women's and men's baths and caters to tourists (so no one minds that you have no idea what to do or where to go). In the bath, you relax on a heated marble slab and then some old woman (or man, in the men's section) scrubs you down. Sean had an awesome time, but from his description of his experience, I think that maybe the women's experience is watered down: not as hot, less crazy scrubbing, no massaging component. On the other hand, the women's section had an awesome room with hot and cool water pools to hang out in.
The Great Palace of Constantinople once stood (AD 330 to 1081) where the Blue Mosque now stands. Excavations in the 1930s and 1950s uncovered some of the mosaics which decorated one of the courts and date to the 500s. It's giant:
Here's an elephant strangling a lion: 
And here's a monkey catching birds. Awesome!
Even though there's a walkway to keep the tourists off the mosaic, the janitor can just stroll on them to clean to walkway railing. 
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The Spice Market, the Bosphorous, Fish Bread, the Hamam, and the Great Palace Mosaic Museum
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Topkapi Palace
The Topkapi Palace is where the Ottoman Sultans lived. And what's this? 
This is a blurry photo of the Topkapi Dagger, one of the most famous pieces in its Treasury. Sean saw a picture of it in a book when he was a kid (here's a not bad photo of it) and was fascinated. So even though no photos are allowed, he tried to sneak a pic.
Here are some of the outside bits. The palace is made up of a series of courtyards, each more secluded from the public. 
Of course, if you're the Sultan, you build your palace with a nice view. 
And with lots of nice stuff inside. In addition to the Treasury, where I saw more emeralds that were larger than a fist -- and not my fist, my hand is tiny, but like a giant's fist -- than I imagined existed in the world, we also saw the Harem (the private apartment for the Sultan's mother, his wives, his concubines, and his children and where the battery on Sean's camera died), and the sacred relics ("in this case is Moses's staff" uh-huh). 
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Aya Sofia
The Aya Sofia was built in 537. 
It's been a church, a mosque, and since 1935 a museum. This is what it looks like inside. It's ginormous. 
Here's a mosaic of Madonna and Child juxtaposed with the minbar. 
This is the Omphalion, the spot where emperors were coronated.
This column is very crooked, most likely because it is very old and there are earthquakes in Turkey. 
Crosses can be seen through the geometric designs put over them.
The dome.
The walls have crazy, symmetric marble designs. 
There are a lot of mosaics. In this first one, the Empress Zoe is depicted to the right of Christ and her husband to the left. As she had three husbands, they just scraped off the old head and put up a new one each time. 
Outside the Aya Sofia but in the same complex, there are the tombs of five sultans. I think this one was my favorite. 
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, and the Basilica Cistern
In Istanbul, we stayed in the historic area of Sultanahmet where the most famous tourist spots are. In AD 330, Istanbul -- then Constantinople -- was the capital of the Roman / Byzantine Empire and the Great Palace of Constantinople stood next to the Hippodrome -- the stadium for horse and chariot racing. The palace is almost entirely gone; the Blue Mosque now sits on that site, but the Hippodrome is still there. They've paved the old racetrack and the surface is several feet above the surface in ancient times. There are three monuments in the Hippodrome. One was erected in the 10th century and was covered in scaffolding when we visited. The other two were were brought to the Hippodrome and erected in the 4th century AD as relics of the ancient world. One of them is the Obelisk of Theodosius:
It's from ancient Eygpt -- 1490 BC. The other is the Serpent Column. It once was 8 meters tall, with 3 serpent heads supporting a golden bowl and was created to commemorate the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC. One of the serpent heads is displayed in the istanbul Archaeology Musuem, but this is all that remains at the Hippodrome: 
Next to the Hippodrome is the Blue Mosque, built in the early 1600s and so named for the blue tiles in the interior. 
Next to the mosque (on the same grounds) is the tomb of Ahmed I.
Underneath Sultanahmet is the Basilica Cistern, dating to the 6th century. It's huge with columns everywhere. And a nice escape from the heat. At the back, there are two Medusa heads used a column bases and clearly taken from some other location and brought there for unknown reasons. 
Monday, September 12, 2011
Flying to Turkey
Sean and I took 1200 photos in Turkey. So it'll take a while to sort through them and write blog posts. Anyway, Sean bought my ticket to Turkey on miles and all he could get was business class. It was glorious (yes, I had lie-flat seats). This is my lunch on the Munich-Istanbul flight: 
From top-left, it is masarpone and rosewater mousse; salmon with arugula butter; duck confit, smoked duck, and chicken liver creme fraiche; and sbrinz cheese and roquefort.