European Cruise Day 7: Istanbul, Turkey - Day 1
Disclaimer: These are all unedited and uncensored. They are raw emotion, intellect and information. I hope you enjoy my experiences.
*Miranda and Alyssa are my sisters and Thomas is my soon to be brother in law.*
Istanbul is the oldest city in the world. 3% of the country is on Europe while 97% is on Asia. From east to west the city is 120 miles long and the population increases by 3.5% every year.
The sea is pretty rough today. It seems to be reflecting the way I’m feeling. I’m feeling stressed and I miss home. There are a lot of police on the streets with their lights flashing. They have a Kennedy Street that was constructed after the assassination of the president in the 60s. That’s interesting. They have been a member of NATO since 1952. The Hippodrome, an old roman meeting place, has only one remaining wall. It is used as a foundation wall for other businesses.
We reached the blue mosque, the biggest mosque in the world. It’s minarets (spires) reach at least 100 feet in the air and there are 6 of them. That’s where they make their calls to prayer. I’m only on the outside now, waiting in the tourism line. There are constantly lines as you see some of the oldest buildings in the world. We must take of our shoes and carry them with us through the mosque. It is closed to visitors during prayer times. It’s important to respect the process.
It is called the blue mosque because of the color of the tiles. There are some 21,000 tiles, all hand painted. The 2nd story is for the women to pray while the first floor is for the men. The Sultan Ahmed had it build so it is commonly referred to as the Sultan Ahmed mosque. There are verses from the Qur’an on the pillars of the mosque. It is all written in sanskrit I think. When you first walk in you can barely believe your eyes. The stained glass is among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Prayer is at sunrise, lunch time, one before sunset, one right at sunset, and an hour and a half after sunset.
These grounds are gigantic. There are many Muslims walking around. More than anywhere I’ve seen in turkey so far. Obviously makes sense. Water had to be gathered by hand before the 18th century. It was considered sacred and all the money gathered was for the mosque. We walked through a beautiful courtyard and into another which is the archaeological museum. She’s gives us a quick overview while my mom complains about how long it takes. I mention that it’s ok to wander off now and she says she doesn’t know of she should. Then stop complaining. I think I’m PMSing.
The doors are so heavy that they have to be on tracks with wheels attached to them. They are about 20 feet tall and look like oak. I always marvel at what people are able to do without construction machines. The treasury is the best exhibit in the museum. It’s got 4 rooms and displays an 86 karat diamond. There are displays of the original Mohammed’s (the messenger of Allah) beard, hair and teeth. Also the walking stick of Moses. I’m not into organized religion but it’s amazing that these relics actually exist and are still kept in safe keeping. I can’t help but wonder who are trying to steal these things. We’re not supposed to take pictures inside the exhibits. I want to get a picture of this diamond though. I’ll try not to get caught like in the museum of Sicily. :-/ I decided not take a picture but it was brilliant. First sold for just three spoons and later, once discovered as a diamond, it was taken to the sultan who had it polished and cut.
We just walked into the exhibit where Moses walking staff, among other ancient religious relics are located. It’s got the same tiling as the blue mosque and as we walked in there were prayers over the loud speakers. It’s 11:46. It must be the lunch time prayer. We had to rush through the exhibit to get back to the meeting place in time. I did see what is claimed to be Moses’ staff and a few other relics that are pretty interesting. The sword of David, the hand of John in it’s case. There are so many jewels here. Primarily emeralds.
It’s amazing to think that throughout all of history this has been a main trading route for all of Europe and Asia. In the exhibits there’s everything from gold to ivory to jade to emeralds and diamonds.
We all finally got back on the bus. The sheer number of people at the palace makes it very overwhelming. There were probably 10,000 people there. All waiting in line to see the relics. Aye aye aye. We’re now headed to the grand bazaar that has existed since the 15th century. I’m about to get my barter on! It’s a tradition to barter at the bazaar.
We’re going into the bazaar which is almost all inside. 54,000 square meters! The largest and oldest bazaar in the world. We stumbled upon a carpet salesman that led us to an amazing and cheap restaurant around a corner. We had lamp kabobs with really good rice. Now we’re having the sultan’s dessert which is a pastry with syrup and frosting. Yum! Thomas and I keep singing “Grand Bazaar, Grand Bazaar!” like the song, “how bazaar, how bazaar”. It’s fun and silly. It keeps us sane with all the stress of being with the whole family.
We are now in the carpet shops that the kind man that led us here owns. The carpets are all very expensive. A runner about 3x14’ is about $1,300 dollars for a silk with a cotton base. Those are the most beautiful. The silk changes color depending on the light. When I’m in the money, I’m planning on returning for a carpet. I’ll come to the grand bazaar, grand bazaar! {do do do, do do do}. That was crazy awesome! I got hit on like ten times. They all “can show me a good time…” Hahaha. After experiencing the barter world, getting a good deal on two beautiful shoulder bags, we had to leave. Alyssa and Thomas got a beautiful handmade lamp for $200 which when you see it you’ll see is a great deal! Hopefully we can go back tomorrow.
Now for a crazy culture shock, we wandered into a Starbucks for Alyssa to get coffee. All the decor is on English and there is jazz playing over the speakers. The daily specials are in Turkish but it’s like home, and that’s weird but awesome. I’m not sure if globalization is a blessing or a curse.
Once we got back on the boat we had a couple hours before dinner. Miranda and I got a little bit of emailing out of the way and Thomas joined us. After that the three of us just kicked it in Internet cafe and talked about Miranda’s love life. That was really cool. We went to the 11th deck, got a drink and talk for about a half hour more before dinner. It was good tonight and Marius was awesome as always. I haven’t spoken about Marius yet! He’s our awesome waiter from Romania. We’ve requested him every night since the first when we got his section. He’s so nice and always has great convo and is generally a great guy. After dinner I got a chance to play guitar for about a half hour before this great I’m at right now. It’s a Turkish Folkish show with all the different Turkish dance and music. All from ottoman culture from 7000 yrs ago to belly dancing that is still very popular today. The music is great; simple but great and I’m really enjoying it. The belly dancer just had an old man come on stage and dance with her. It was hilarious! Good stuff! I think my dad and I are gonna go roam Istanbul for a bit now!
We caught Miranda and mom and Miranda chose to come on our little adventure. We walked all the way across the Golden Horn. It’s a water way that splits two parts of European Turkey. Another waterway, called the Bosporus, splits the Asian and European sides of Turkey. We walked across a large bridge then passed back under the same bridge where there are a lot of restaurants. We got hustled a bit to come in and eat but kindly declined all 15 or so offers. It’s definitely a hustling kind of culture. we walked about three miles and my knees hurt pretty bad. They hurt this morning and I took some IBU, and just took more so hopefully the pain will subside. After joining dad and Miranda while they got a quick bite, we’re all headed to bed for another early Istanbul morning.
