Day 11: Istanbul, Day 1
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2008
1
10
14
Trip End
Jul 19, 2008
Istanbul,
Turkey
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Istanbul is actually a friendly place for tourists to visit and there were tourists of many nationalities visiting. I won't go into the rude ones I ran into on this trip. I will say that at least Americans know how to queue up and wait their turn.
When in Istanbul, one has to become hard of hearing. Many shop owners will accost you to look at carpets or jewelry. They are very aggressive and don't take no for an answer. I wanted to get a T-shirt that said "No" in 50 different languages. We were looking at a map trying to get oriented when one such store owner took it upon himself to be our personal guide. His goal, of course was to get us to come into his carpet shop. His son lives in Arizona and he just stated he would show us the way and off he went. We could have turned around, but we aren't rude or confrontational by nature and figured we would just politely thank him and get rid of him. After taking us all the way to the Blue Mosque, taking us to the entrance and literally taking off my shoes, we finally had to tell him thank you, but we didn't want to go to his shop at the moment. He then resorted to flattery (he said he wasn't use to seeing an American woman who was slim. He wasn't the only man who tried that line). We did give him a small tip for his trouble and he went on his way and left us to explore on our own.
B;ue Mosque
Blue Mosque 2
The Blue Mosque, or the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet, gets its name from the interior decoration of more than 20,000 blue Iznak tiles. Its most distinctive feature are the 6 minarets, which when it was built, caused hostility since only Mohammed's mosque had 6 minarets. The outside is appealing to the eye, but the inside is nothing like the
graceful interiors of the Cathedrals of Europe. The columns that support the central dome are massive and disproportionate. The tile work is impressive, though, but I got the feeling that less would have been more and at some point it got a bit overdone.
From Outside
There is a beautiful park in front of the mosque and the Haghia Sophia. A large fountain is in the center and it makes for a picturesque spot with the Blue Mosque on one side and the Haghia Sophia on the other.
Mosque from Park
The Haghia Sophia was dedicated by the Emperor Justinian in 537 AD. The massive cathedral was topped by the largest dome ever constructed until the dome at St. Peter's was built in 1590. Columns for this cathedral were taken from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. It was looted by Crusaders in 1204, but was lost to Christianity in 1453 when Ottoman Turks breached the Wall of Constantinople and turned it into a mosque. Minarets were added and it remained a mosque until the Ottoman Empire was abolished and a new Turkish republic established. Both sides petitioned the government for ownership; instead it was turned into a museum. It is being slowly restored-its beautiful mosaics, covered over by the Muslims, are being restored and there is an odd dichotomy of mosque and cathedral, with Arabic symbols next to mosaics of the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and Christ. Even in its shabby state, the architecture is airy and the interior impressive. 
Haghia Sophia
Hallway
Mosaic of Christ
One feature at the Haghia Sophia that is interesting is not an item that one would normally even consider worthy of mention, but I can't leave it out. It is the public restroom. Most public restrooms (Water Closets or WC) in the places we visited cost you to use, about 1 euro. The one at the Haghia Sophia was free. So, why am I mentioning the restroom? It was normal until you entered the stall. There, instead of the usual toilet, was a hole in the ground. It was lined with porcelain and a small trickle of water was flowing into a metal pot on the side. To use the restroom, you had to squat. I am not making this up. The pot was to rinse the porcelain after you were done. I wish I had taken the camera in with me.After the Haghia Sophia, we went to the Roman Cistern. This underground structure was known as the "Basilica Cistern" as it was built underneath the Stoa Basilica, a large public square on the First Hill of Constantinople. According to ancient historians, Emperor Constantine had already constructed a structure, which was rebuilt and enlarged by Emperor Justinian after Nika Riots of 532. The Basilica Cistern was used to store water for the Great Palace , among the other buildings on the Firth Hill. During the Justinian time, after the Conquest, the water in the Basilica Cistern was used for the garden of Topkapi Palace. It is 140 meters long and 70 meters wide. The twelve rows of 28 columns each, 336 altogether, provide the support for the cistern which has a capacity of eighty thousand cubic meters of water. James Bond fans will recognize it as one of the locations in From Russia with Love. It was nice and cool down there.
Cistern
Cistern
A brief walk took us to the Hippodrome, which was the location of the chariot races. Today it is a square. The track was U-shaped. At the track were 4 bronze horses. During the 4th Crusade, these horses were taken, their heads detached and shipped to Venice, where they were reassembled. A bridle now covers the mark that shows where they were reconnected. If you go back to the Venice pictures, you will see one of the horses in a photo of the Campanile.In 390, Theodosius the Great brought an obelisk from Egypt and erected it inside the racing track. Carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor in about 1490 BC. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. Only the top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition.
Obelisk/Hippodrome
After that, we went back to the shuttle drop off and walked through the Grand Bazaar. It is one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 6,000 shops. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of goods, with special areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like. We didn't buy anything and the owners of the shops here seem to have finally gotten the message that harassing the tourist isn't a good idea. We got to explore pretty much unmolested. 
Grand Bazaar
Grand Bizarre 2
We took the shuttle back to the ship and had dinner in Silk Road, the Asian restaurant. This restaurant was designed with the consultation of Nobu Matsuhisa. It was a bit noisy and we had a table near the kitchen. The tables were too close together, but the food was incredible. I had a lobster roll, which was more like a cigarette shape. It was a chintzy item, but tasted great. We had been warned that the portions were small, so we ordered accordingly. I decided to try something new and had the sashimi salad and it was very good. We both had the Nobu box and loved it. It was a sampler of 3 popular entrees -a beef, a piece of cod and some shrimp. Although the beef was WAY too spicy for me and I had to give mine to Keith to finish, I loved the flavors in it and the Cod was incredible. Food and Wine Magazine has a simplified version of that dish in the July issue. In the original recipe, the cod is marinated in saki-miso for 2-3 days.
After dinner, we went dancing.
