Arabian Nights

I'm back from my adventures in Istanbul! The city is, as my mom described, "sticky with history." What follows is hopefully a comprehensive account of my recent escapades.

The first couple of days I have already described in my earlier blog post. I saw three main tourist attractions in the first couple of days: The Haggia Sophia (or Aya Sofia to Turks), the Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar. These are amazing, as I have already described. However, another tourism destination is the Topkapi Palace. This is where the various Sultans of the fallen empires resided. While the grounds have been preserved and/or renovated, the treasury of the palace was transformed into a museum of the valuables gathered throughout the days of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. There was an 86 karat diamond on display, thrones made entirely of gold, studded with huge rubies, pearls, and emeralds, pendants worn by daughters of sultans or given as gifts to tombs that featured emeralds the size of the palm of my hand. What I found interesting about the huge diamond was that after the empire fell, it was found in a rubbish heap by a merchant who in turn sold it for the price of two spoons. Eventually its authenticity was determined and it was placed in the museum. Set aside and out of place was the arm and skull of John the Baptist. I'm not sure how they ended up in a Muslim country such as Istanbul, but it was cool. Further in the depths of the castle there was a sacred room which many Muslims observe as a pilgrimage destination. In it were relics of the Prophet Muhammad, including his seal, a letter written in his hand, hairs from his beard, hairs from his head, and his tooth (these latter parts contained inside magnificent boxes). There was even the original binding of the Qur'an. It was truly chilling. We paid extra to go into the Harem of the palace. It wasn't really that cool, honestly. However, the quarters of the Queen Mother were quite stunning, as was the bedroom of the Sultan.

One day we climbed to the top of the Galata tower. The history of this tower is really amazing. It was built originally for defensive purposes, and changed over the years to suit different armies, and even an astronomer. One of the first men to fly jumped from this tower. He devised a sort of hang-glider and leapt from the top, landing some distance away. He was originally going to be commended by the ruler, but reconsidering, he was deemed a threat to security and executed. Anyway, the view from the top was amazing. We had to cross the bridge to the "new" part of the city to reach this tower. The bridge is a destination for fishermen, and every inch of the side is lined with locals hoping to catch the big one. Near this bridge there is a fish market. I have an extreme fright of fish so I didn't go to this landmark, but apparently you could pick any fish you wanted and they'd fry it for you on the spot. Yuck.

Much cooler than the icky fish was the Spice Bazaar. This place sold mainly spices, teas, and Turkish Delight. There was the occasional vendor who sold henna or Baklava, but mostly there were bins and bins filled with the oranges and browns of spices, and the brilliant colors of the teas. I bought some of my favorite tea I've ever had: some sort of rose hip tea. I think it's actually an instant tea mix mimicking the real tea, but it's what they serve at restaurants and it's absolutely delicious. I also bought some Turkish delight. My mom asked me if it was good enough to sell my soul to the White Witch and betray Narnia (sorry, C. S. Lewis reference) and I think that while it's veeery good, only the Chocolate Turkish Delight would tempt me into the treachery of Edmund Pevensie.

Continuing along the vein of Narnia, anyone who has read the series knows the city of Tashbaan from "The Horse and His Boy." Similarly, readers of "Arabian Nights", or the book "Phantom" can visualize precisely what Istanbul looks like. It's a city built into a hill with Mosques everywhere. Dark skinned vendors spread through the streets calling the merits of their wares. People carry huge trays of bread on their heads past open air markets of huge pears, pomegranites and pineapples. Walking through the streets is like rereading a favorite book.

We took two day trips: one down the Bosphorus strait to a village in Asia, the second to the Princes' islands in the Marmara Sea. The Asian village was beautiful. There were palm trees and grass everywhere with adolescents selling ice-cream at family-owned shops (the father was busy selling his fresh fish). The main attraction of this place was the ruins of a castle at the highest point of land visible. This castle was built during the Byzantine empire and are slowly crumbing down. There's plenty of it left, though, and people are welcome to climb around on it. Should a tourist fall, they would no doubt plummet to their death, but we all helped each other and climbed all over the ruins, taking in the magnificent view of the strait. It was fascinating standing where armored soldiers stood years and years ago, fighting for their lives with medieval weaponry. The second trip we took was to the Princes' Islands, called this because often nobility of sorts were crowned on these Isles. There were no vehicles on the island we toured. There were only bicycles and horse-drawn carriages. We rented bikes for a few Turkish Lira an hour and toured the entire island. This unfortunately involved going uphill for half of the time since we ended up at the top of the island. This particular endeavor left me sweaty, panting, grouchy, and all too aware of my two month hiatus from dancing and being in shape. However, we ate a picnic on a ledge looking over the sea. It took a bit of agility to reach the spot, but after getting there we lay and stared and stared and stared at the view in front of us. It was all green with purple flowers and fuzzy yellow bees zipping around. After resting and eating (and getting magnificently sun burnt) for an hour and a half, we continued on the bike ride, which was, to my intense glee, downhill. On this side of the island we got a view of the sea rather than forestry, so it was hard to watch the road with sparkly water just to the right. We made it back to the ferry and returned to Istanbul. We set off at 9 am and returned at 8pm, when we went right to dinner without even stopping at our rooms. We were all too tired even to eat (well, except for some of the boys, who could eat anything at any time of the day or night) which was a pity because it was a beautiful meal of hummus and eggplant and almond and pistachio and chicken and lamb and..... everything.

Some observations about Turkey:
*There are tulips everywhere. It's beautiful. It's not just a tulip here and there, there are fields of them. I guess this derives from some Sultan who especially liked tulips.
*The olives are really great.
*Everything is made from Pistachio, and nuts are sold on the street at ridiculously cheap prices.
*After finding out we were from America, the first thing Turkish people asked us was simply, "Bush??" If we implied that we didn't like the current status of our government, they laughed, gave us thumbs up, and were very friendly. Americans are obviously not too popular in the Middle East. In fact, to make life easier, when we bartered at the market we often said we were from Canada to avoid any nasty political situation.
*More women had their heads covered than not. However, these women would walk around holding hands with their husbands and kissing the children. I think we often give these Muslim women the stereotypes of being "untouchable." Only a few women (although more than I'm used to seeing) wore full Birkas.
*There is a problem with stray cats and dogs. They are everywhere, although some appear to be tagged, as though the city knows they're out there. It's heartbreaking to see all of them, yet we didn't even pet them because who knows what they pick up on the streets.
*The inequality of the sexes was very apparent. There were never women working in any establishment. Occasionally there would be a woman selling scarves on the street, but there were never women in paid positions. This prejudice was also apparent in the restrooms, where the facilities were merely sanitary holes in the ground.
*The security at Arabic airports is even harsher than in the United States, with several checkpoints, including one before you even enter the main part of the air port.

That's all I have the energy to write at the moment. I will upload pictures soon, but I have been lurking in this tea shop for the better part of two hours, and since it's Easter Sunday I feel like I should leave and maybe let them close up a bit early. I will write a comment as soon as I put pictures up. I have hundreds! Happy Easter!