Some highlights of istanbul

the last two days we went on tours and saw most of the highlights of the area. here is a thumbnail description of them:

Spice bazaar - this is as its name suggests a place where the locals and visitors go to buy spices. the stalls are small, and each has a fine assortment of bulk spices, and some gadgets to attract tourists. there are also stalls that sell turkish delight, and some others that sell handicrafts. the sellers are much like those in the grand bazaar, enough english to attract english speaking tourists, and enough german and italian i expect as well. i was looking at one stall and Bob was ahead of me a bit and the vendor said - come here, see my stall, and i said, i can't or i will lose my husband, and the vendor said, don't worry, you can find another one. the place is a complex of little streets and alleyways and it is easy to get lost, or to find yoruself recovering old territory. I bought some iranian saffron and some turkish delilght - a treat made of sugar and water boiled to a certain stage and flavoured usually with nuts or dried fruits.

boat tour of the bosporus - the bosporus connects the sea of marmara, where istanbul is, to the black sea. it is fairly long, and both sides have many beautiful homes , palaces, mansions etc along the water's edge. Two bridges cross the bosporus into asia, and we travelled on one of them to visit a summer home of the sultans, and then back again. there is a lot of boat traffic on the bosporus. they go in one direction for part of the day, and then boats travelling in the other direction have the use of the strait. there is a lot of traffic, much of it oil tanker traffic. There are little areas along the way. one was a former greek fishing village named tarabya. that is where we stopped for lunch. it was assorted cold mesas, then hot mesas, then grilled local fish. dessert was watermelon.

blue mosque - this mosque is so named because of the blue tiles on the inside. they are quite beautiful,. although the mosque is a little dark and so it is hard to see them. when you visit a mosque you have to take off your shoes, but ladies do not have to wear a scarf on their head. the toursit visiting area is separate from the praying area, so the faithful can come pray even when tourists are there. the caretaker was vacuuming the prayer space when we were there today. There are many many tourists here, especially today when a big cruise ship was in town.

hagia sophia - this was built as a catholic church, after some occupations it was a greek othodox church, and then for a few years it was a mosque. now it is a museum, which means you DO have to pay to get in, but you do not have to take off your shoes. there are some interesting mosaics from the 1100's, and lots of special rooms for the rulers. the special place for the important people was on the second floor, and instead of building stairs they built a ramp so the royalty could be taken up by horse and wagon. it was narrow and slippery. poor horses.

topkapi palace - this was the home of the sultans, and it was very grand. it is situated on the banks of the sea of marmara, and has a lovely view of the european side and the asia side, and of the golden horn which separates the old city from the new city on the european side. from the grounds you can see the "maidens tower" where they kept M in the james bond movie the world is not enough. we visited the treasury which had all the treasures from ottoman times, and all the jewels and gold and opulence was stunning. then we visited the kitchens where they could prepare food for 15,000 people. the pots were enormous, as were the serving dishes. we had a meal in the restuarant there. salad, burek( puff pastry filled with cheese), chicken donair meat and lamb donair meat, rice, potatoes and veges. dessert was a rice pudding. we also visited the divan, where the sultan's advisors met, and the armory where there were lots of old rifles and swords. but the most interesting part was the harem, where they kept the concubines, guarded by the black eunuchs. bars on the windows, sumptuous rooms for most of the occupants, and the whole thing was ruled by the sultan's mother. very very interesting. once they got rid of the sultan in 1923 they did not allow them to return to turkey. when the last sultans grandson was 90 they let him back. the people really hated the sultans, especially since they left the country so poor because of their grand stype of living.

Today is the first day of Ramazan ( not a typo - that is how they spell and pronounce it here). they set up little stalls to sell food at sundown, and that is where we will eat tonite. tomorrow is our last day here - we will probably go back to the spice bazaar, maybe to one of the cisterns, and get packed. our flight leaves very early friday morning, and i am most unlikely to get to a computer again until monday or tuesday.