After passing the Dardanelles during the night, we arrived in Istanbul which was still shrouded in morning fog. Graceful minarets lined the top of the hills, towering over the slopes covered with palaces, ancient walls, towers and citizens houses and apartment buildings.
We docked almost in the city centre, near the famous Galatea Bridge. The harbour makes the 401 in Toronto look like a peaceful retreat. Ferries, fishing boats, freighters passing to and from the Bosphorus, run abouts....all cruised at top speed without paying any attention to our big ship.
What a city....going back thousands of years, there are massive mosques with their needle sharp minarets throughout the city. Some of these mosques started out as Christian Basilikas, under Constantin and earlier, to be converted to Islam shrines during the Ottoman Era. But more of the two most famous ones, the magical Blue Mosque and the Haga Sophia in a later Blog - with mostly photos only of these magnificient structures.
Spring in Istanbul...the Magnolias are blooming. The tulip festival just around the corner. The tulip was exported from its original source in Turkey all over Europe several hundred years ago; and so were lilac, hyacinth and a number of common garden plants and bushes which have their origin in Turkey.
One walks around, and happens onto one of the frequent demonstrations...which went by without much further ado, and not much attention from people in a pedestrian street.
Closer inspection of Turckish carpets (exquisite) and Turkish Mosaiks and Tiles show motivs almost identical to this natural little piece of garden: daisies and tulips.
However, details of Turkish carpets are intricate, graceful, with artistically matched colours even when showing other themes than tulips. The best silk carpets have 1700 knots per square inch.
Being a muslim country, call to prayer happens six times a day according to the prescriptions of Prophet Mohamed. Times change almost daily, depending on sunrise and sunset and four other times in between. Mosques sometimes have a daily schedule with the prescribed prayer times shown. Makes for interesting listening, as dozens of mosques all around the city start up their loudspeakers at the same time, and the air fills with competing exotic chants at decibels to bust ones eardrums. Quite impressive, especially during morning prayer, which happens at sun rise. At this time of the year, that occurs VERY early, and it is rather frightening to wake up to a cacophony of calls to prayer.
In many mosques, women are not allowed to 'clean up' for prayer in the same public space as men. In Turkey, there seem to be some exception to this rule. Apparently not only feet and hands need to be cleaned, but noses as well. As an aside, in Turkey it is considered terrifically rude to blow ones nose in public. Pointin ones finger is frowned upon, and showing the soles of ones shoes/feet equally offensive.
Some women still wear metal frames over their faces...as well as being covered from head to toe in black garmets. Others (and the traditional older Turks are not too happy about that) wear a very strict covering of their head and hair, even donning an undercap as not to show off the slightest curl, but then squeezing into the tightest jeans and the most provocative clothing. Following the letter of Islam Law, but maybe not quite the spirit.
Belly dancing is offered in many venues, including aboard our ship one evening. Whirling Derwishes also perform for tourist, instead of sequestering themselves when dancing their trance-like whirls.
Old romance, old Agatha Christie Novels, spies, intrigue...all comes to mind when entering the old Istanbul railway station.
Trains - modern now - still carry passengers over the famous orient express line into Western Europe, but the fabled part of the station is now a restaurant and a venue for evening Whirling Derwish performances.
Trains - modern now - still carry passengers over the famous orient express line into Western Europe, but the fabled part of the station is now a restaurant and a venue for evening Whirling Derwish performances.
Agatha Christie was here...the Old Station of the Orient Express.
And then there is the Mother of all Shopping Centres in the world: The Grand Bazaar.
It goes back a couple of thousand years or so, is surrounded by a high wall, has twenty gates, countless streets, alleys, fountains etc and houses 4000 shops under one roof - all vaulted, painted and nowadays sporting electronic overhead signage. Despite that, one needs a GPS to find ones way through this maze of colour, sound and smell - and even then one will definitely get lost amongst the areas for leather, jewellery, silver, textiles, carpets, lamps, shoes, knitwear, spices, belly dancing and muslim outfits...all seem to have their own quarter. This thing is immense!
Gold necklace...
Dripping with honey, Turkish sweets filled with Pistacio nuts - absolutely decacent.
The alleys, halls and lanes of the Bazaar are quite up to snuff, despite their advanced years.
Turkish glass mosaic lamps
The main halls are quite airy, but the little side alleys are like rabbit warrens.
The Grand Bazaar Entrance....and one hopes to find the same Exit....
Well, the spell check wants me to write in Turkish....there may be a few typos which I did not catch. More about this city full of wonders in a couple of segments for Topkapi, Blue Mosk and Hagia Sophia, the crown jewels in all the many treasures Istanbul has to offer...
And the food is fantastic!
