Istanbul

Istanbul for both of us was the most anticipated: for Jay because he’s a roman history buff and was excited to see the city’s monuments from its days as Constantinople, for Pat because he was supposed to visit here on an extended trip back in 2011 but instead he spent his time in Vancouver instead... :)

Our cruise arrived in port early and we checked into our hotel early. We stayed in the Sultanahmet district which is right amongst most of the key monuments. We were so excited to start sightseeing though that a 5 minute walk “right” of the hotel turned into an hour and a half walk to the “left” with a tram trip - we definitely got to see a lot of the city but we felt silly for walking the wrong way for so long. We discovered where you can buy really cheap bags, shoes, etc and also got to see the great Theodosian Walls which protected the city until the gunpowder age and the Ottoman siege of the city in the 15th century.

Once in the right spot.. The first major sight we went to see was Topkapi Palace. If you’ve been to Versailles in Paris or Schonbrunn in Vienna and expect the same sort of grandeur, this is nothing like that and both of us were somewhat underwhelmed. The palace itself is a sprawling complex of 1 and 2 storey buildings, for the most part modest in decorum. A few rooms feature the beautiful iconic blue tiles. The views from the palace over the Bosphorus are the worth the journey alone, and to see the throne rooms which have beds that the sultan would have stretched out upon. Definitely take the add-on entrance to the sultan’s private chambers - it’s a very interesting insight into imperial family life. 

We next went to the Hagia Sofia. Definitely a sight that both us have been looking forward to see for year. The impression you get as you walk in is that its seen a lot of change over the centuries. Distinct Christian and Muslim iconography the place really is symbolic of the city. After the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 they converted the Christian basilica into a massive mosque. Evidence of the christian mosaics and paintings are slowly being uncovered and right now half of the interior is (unfortunately) behind scaffolding. 

Feeling like we had both just checked a massive thing off our bucket-list, we walked down to a bridge to watch the sunset. Underneath the bridge is a bustling dirty-looking food court, and a sea-bus terminal, complete with floating restaurants. Almost every inch of the bridge was occupied by someone fishing for mackeral. We got some shots of the sunrise then wandered to the Galata tower district and looked for a place to eat. We ended up eating at a turkish restaurant right on the water. For the record, turkish food is awesome. 

(Sunset pic )

Day 2 in Instanbul was filled with seeing the things we ran out of time with on day 1. First we went to the cathedral cisterns - massive underground water storage built by the romans. The columns inside consist of bits and pieces of reused-temple from all over the empire in the day. Most interesting to people are the weeping column and the medusa head capitals which are mounted sideways so as to prevent anyone turning to stone by accident. 

Next we found a time slot between prayers to go see the Blue Mosque. Built on top of the former roman palace, its right across a park from the Hagia Sofia. On the way in, men and women’s dress is inspected carefully and loaner bags for your shoes and sheets are provided - even men’s knees can’t be showing. Inside, we were taken aback by the vastness of the space; it’s completely empty other than modest chandeliers and comfy rugs. We took a break here and took in the detail of the tile work. Apparently during construction, all tile makers were forbidden from producing tile for any other purpose than the mosque.

Jay was particularly excited to see small pieces of what’s left of the once-great roman hippodrome which could hold 100,000 spectators for chariot races and public events. Below is a pic of one of the last remaining pieces of the enormous structure - we were quite surprised how little recognition of the site there is when you're there.

From here we decided to wander and hit the Grand Bazaar. On the way we had some Turkish delight - probably our favorite flavor was pomegranate and pistachio. What we found was that the grand bazaar is just the tourist-ey focal point for a whole district of street vendors that stretches on for miles and eventually meets up with the more authentic Spice bazaar. 

That night, we cashed in some vouchers Pat bought Jay for christmas to go and see a Mevlevi Sema Ceremony - more commonly known as whirling dervishes. It’s about an hour long performance and is an ancient islamic prayer ceremony.  We were both amazed at the level of mental focus and discipline required to spin and spin and spin for over a half an hour without any sign of fatigue.  Highly, highly recommend anyone who makes the trip go see a show. 

After the show we wandered around looking for an authentic experience and we found it on the roof-top with pillows, free wifi, turkish music and water pipes.  We would come to think of this as our spot when as we kept going back. 

Our last day in Istanbul, we decided to take it a bit easier. We went to see the ancient aqueducts, which like the Theodosian walls, the city has built itself around and preserved them nicely.  From here we took another sweaty crowded tram ride over to what would be the newer part of the city around Taksim square. From what we had seen in the “old city” you wouldn’t recognize the “new city” as being in the same city. It really reinforced for us how progressive and modern Turkey is, despite some of the challenges it faces. We were both disappointed to hear that the city won’t host the 2020 Olympics as it would have definitely helped modernize the city and perhaps brought some stability and hope to the region. 

After this we hit the spice bazaar for some shopping, got some great deals like Jay’s  $5CAD equivalent “diesel” watch. 

After dinner at “our” place we stopped to soak in the sights of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia one last time before heading back to pack.