This is our "free" day so we get to choose what we want to do! Actually, we've picked everything that we do, it's just that those decisions were made before we left home, so this feels like a brand new opportunity! We're meeting for breakfast at 8:30 and although Nick is the last one downstairs, we are all satisfied and ready to adventure by about 9:30. Did I mention that I have a new noise on my iPod? It is called SciFi and boy did it wake me up this morning!
Our plan is to head for the Archeological Museum and the Topkapi Palace, which are quite close together. We come to the first and decide that it is as good a place to start as any! What a treat and a bargain! I can't begin to list everything we saw! I feel as though I've visited Egypt and Greece and gong back in time to the Sumerians and the Hitites and all the other civilizations that have occupied this land! There was cuneiform writing from 5,000 years ago! Unbelievable! There is one building devoted to the famous blue Iznik tiles!
This relief shows Athena battling the Gigantes, from the second century, A.D.
We have seen lots of school children learning about their history and culture, but today we encountered an entire art class taking up temporary residence in the museum and refining their skills. And have they got some skills! Check these out!
This is called the Tomb of the Weeping Women.
Here's the entrance to the Tile Building!
There are a million more pictures!! We spent hours and could have spent more but this is our last day in Istanbul, so we move on to the Topkapi Palace. It is beautiful, too, with lovely grounds and lots of people taking advantage of the marvelous weather!
The Topkapi Palace overlooks the Bosphorus, as you would expect, and there are lovely views and even lovelier buildings adorned with the blue Iznik tiles we have come to expect.
We are amazed by the huge trees which appear to be completely hollow and yet are covered with green leaves! Early on we agree to meet at one of them at 2:30, so that when we inevitably get separated, we can regroup. We lose Nick pretty quickly, but the rest of us separate and come back together like some sort of creatures on a microscope slide! Along the way we also run into the other folks from Emerson UU! Here, as everywhere we’ve been in Istambul, there are some ladies in head scarves, hardly any in full burkas and most in western attire. It will be interesting to see how this changes when we get into smaller towns.
One of the most beautifully decorated buildings houses the circumcision room. Honest! I don’t know how beautiful it would have to be to overshadow other emotions!
There is a long line to see the royal treasury, but it moves quickly. There are jewels beyond belief, everything is adorned with gold and diamonds and rubies and emeralds. There is even a bowl just filled with loose gems and not one but two sultan’s headdresses.
This is Ginger's harem! She was kind enough to take of photo of me, too!
I told you the hollow trees were amazing!
We have reached the saturation point with opulence and beauty, so we gather the troops and head back down the hill. Along the way we find another group of school kids on an outing in their uniforms.
There is a tiny little music store and we stop in to look at the instruments and CDs. Nick and I each purchase one and will swap them later. Mine will be perfect for yoga and might make an interesting change of pace for tai chi. I haven't heard a lot of it yet, so who knows?
There really are a million cats here! Nick befriended this one.
After lunch we are off to The Grand Bazaar! It is like a shopping mall except that most of the stores are only about four or five feet wide. You can buy anything, I think, if you know the right people. Since everyone shops at different speeds and with different intensity and interest, we agree to just meet back at the hotel for dinner.
Ginger is looking for a teapot and she and Nick choose one he can give her for their anniversary. Andy wants a scarf or pashmina for Ti and is successful. The rest of us are just looking, thank you, but I do find a gift for a friend and i buy Ginger two cups and she buys me two bowls in the same remarkable color pattern. If you know either of us you will be able to spot the pattern on the left side of this photo!
It's not an optical illusion, that really is as wide as the shop is. And it is typical! Next door is a rug seller and even though we don't want a rug, we promise to give him five minutes. He uses them well, but doesn't make a 2,800 sale, as he had hoped!
Time to take our ill-gotten gains and head home. We are pretty sure we can find our way home if we can just follow the breadcrumbs back to the bazaar's entrance! We don't do too badly and get back to the hotel in time to check in with the menfolk about dinner plans. Nick has been researching restaurants and has found that our hotel cafe on the roof top is ranked number three in all of Istanbul. And we don't have to walk anywhere before or after dinner! That wins!
We start with three appetizers to share and more of that lovely olive bread and little rolls with a cheese spread to die for! And the local beer, Efes for most of us! Then we order entrees but the guys order two for the three of them and Ginger and I split a veal stew with greens. Everyone is stuffed but Nick wants dessert. We compromise by getting liqueurs - cherry, banana, the local anise one whose name sounds like "raki" and mine is cocoa. Yum!
And to bed before we all keel over. We have to be downstairs at 5:30 for our ride to the airport! I am determined to get yesterday's blog done and posted, so after we both shower and pack, I stay up to accomplish that task. It is nearly one when I quit and set my iPod for 4:15 so I can be sure to stretch before we leave!
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