July 15, 2010
Today we docked at Monte Carlo and hopped on a bus for a nice French Rivera drive. We drove to Nice and to another couple of towns in France. We didn’t realize that we would be going into France as well. The French Rivera is absolutely AMAZING!! If we would rich, we would so live there overlooking the water. Just beautiful!! They took us to a perfume factory for a quick stop to show us how French perfume is made. Brice bought me some, but of course he got me the one he liked. (I like it too, so it was all good.)
We then drove back the other direction where we stopped at a really nice French market right on the coast. Everything was fresh and I enjoyed wondering around see what all was for sale. We got some ice cream at one of the little shops. I got cookies and cream and it was delicious. It’s not the same as what we have in America, but really good just the same. Dad got melon and it tasted like a really delicious cantaloupe sorbet. After the ice cream, Brice and I were still hungry so we stopped in another shop and got a couple of sandwiches. I have no idea what we ate but it was good. After that our time was up and had to get back on the bus to drive back to the boat. It was a short day, but the scenery was gorgeous!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Pisa and Florence, Italy
July 14, 2010
Our European Excursion took us to Tuscany today. We started the day pretty early and drove to Pisa first. We got lucky and were the very first tour bus to arrive so the area around the tower wasn’t crowed at all.
The busses aren’t allowed where the church and tower are, so we had to take a short hike through the town of Pisa. On our walk Meme and I started chatting. She told me about a picture she has of Papaw in his army uniform posing as if he were holding up the tower, so she wanted to take the same type of picture and put them side by side in a frame. We also think we drove past the Army base he was stationed at during World War II.
This is the whole reason for the trip. Papaw was stationed in Italy during the War and came back telling stories of Italy, so it has been Meme’s dream to see the places he talked about. And since I’m totally obsessed with Italy, we promised each other we would go. And you know we couldn’t leave Mom and Dad behind and since Brice was added to the family, we couldn’t very well leave him at home. So, there you have it, the whole reason for the trip. Totally worth it!!
After our silly pictures of holding up and pushing over the Tower of Pisa, we hopped back on the bus and drove the hour and a half to Florence. Our first stop was the Academy to see the real David sculpture by Michelangelo. No video or photos are to be taken of the art. So Brice and I couldn’t help but snicker at all of the people sneaking photos of the David. I happened to catch one guy in the act. When he looked up at me, I must have a smirk on my face because he quickly dropped his camera and turned around pretending to walk off.
From the Academy we jumped back on the bus and drove to a little restaurant for lunch. We had some great lasagna of some sort, but it was hard to enjoy because it was so stifling in there. We were glad to get outside where there were some awesome misters. Why we didn’t sit out there in the first place, I will never know.
After lunch we began our quick walking tour of the highlights of Florence. Our first stop on the walk was Santa Croche (Church of the Holy Cross). This is the church where Michelangelo, Galileo, and some other important people are buried. We then journeyed to the main square and the Palace of the Medici. This is where the original David once stood. There are a bunch of really famous and great sculptures in the square. Next we walked by the Uffizi (big museum in Florence) to the Arno River, where we walked down to the Pontie Vecchieo (Gold Bridge). After snapping some quick pictures, we moved on the see the huge Duomo. We then made a quick circle around the baptistery to see the Gates of Paradise and then made our way back to the bus where we drove the hour and a half back to Livorno and the boat. It was a long drive but the country through there is just amazing. There were huge sunflower fields all in full bloom. Beautiful!!! We also found the villa Mom and Dad are going to by when they retire. It’s up on a hill that overlooks Florence and the Arno. I told them that was fine, it just had to be large enough for me to stay there too! Tuscany is so beautiful!
Our European Excursion took us to Tuscany today. We started the day pretty early and drove to Pisa first. We got lucky and were the very first tour bus to arrive so the area around the tower wasn’t crowed at all.
The busses aren’t allowed where the church and tower are, so we had to take a short hike through the town of Pisa. On our walk Meme and I started chatting. She told me about a picture she has of Papaw in his army uniform posing as if he were holding up the tower, so she wanted to take the same type of picture and put them side by side in a frame. We also think we drove past the Army base he was stationed at during World War II.
This is the whole reason for the trip. Papaw was stationed in Italy during the War and came back telling stories of Italy, so it has been Meme’s dream to see the places he talked about. And since I’m totally obsessed with Italy, we promised each other we would go. And you know we couldn’t leave Mom and Dad behind and since Brice was added to the family, we couldn’t very well leave him at home. So, there you have it, the whole reason for the trip. Totally worth it!!
After our silly pictures of holding up and pushing over the Tower of Pisa, we hopped back on the bus and drove the hour and a half to Florence. Our first stop was the Academy to see the real David sculpture by Michelangelo. No video or photos are to be taken of the art. So Brice and I couldn’t help but snicker at all of the people sneaking photos of the David. I happened to catch one guy in the act. When he looked up at me, I must have a smirk on my face because he quickly dropped his camera and turned around pretending to walk off.
From the Academy we jumped back on the bus and drove to a little restaurant for lunch. We had some great lasagna of some sort, but it was hard to enjoy because it was so stifling in there. We were glad to get outside where there were some awesome misters. Why we didn’t sit out there in the first place, I will never know.
After lunch we began our quick walking tour of the highlights of Florence. Our first stop on the walk was Santa Croche (Church of the Holy Cross). This is the church where Michelangelo, Galileo, and some other important people are buried. We then journeyed to the main square and the Palace of the Medici. This is where the original David once stood. There are a bunch of really famous and great sculptures in the square. Next we walked by the Uffizi (big museum in Florence) to the Arno River, where we walked down to the Pontie Vecchieo (Gold Bridge). After snapping some quick pictures, we moved on the see the huge Duomo. We then made a quick circle around the baptistery to see the Gates of Paradise and then made our way back to the bus where we drove the hour and a half back to Livorno and the boat. It was a long drive but the country through there is just amazing. There were huge sunflower fields all in full bloom. Beautiful!!! We also found the villa Mom and Dad are going to by when they retire. It’s up on a hill that overlooks Florence and the Arno. I told them that was fine, it just had to be large enough for me to stay there too! Tuscany is so beautiful!
Rome, Italy
July 13, 2010
Today we decided to depart from the typical tours and see Rome on our own. So we hopped our shuttle armed with 2 books on Rome and different 4 maps. We then gained 2 more maps when we got on the shuttle. On our 2 hour drive from Civitacchia into Rome Brice and I looked at every book and every map for about the fifth time in 24 hours to make sure we knew where all we were going to attempt to go. We finally settled on one map, grabbed a sharpie, and drew out our plan. We were ready!
The shuttle dropped us off in Vatican City at around 10:00 am and were told to meet back there at 3:55 pm. We had roughly 6 hours to go see as much as we could and get back. So we snapped a few pictures of St. Peter’s basilica and the square and off we went. First we walked over to Castle del Saint Angelo, snapped some pictures and crossed the Tiber River via the “Angel Bridge”. We then made our way to Piazza Novana, where we saw Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. From there we went to the Pantheon. Walked inside, snapped a few more pictures, and then moved on the Trevi Fountain. Right as were snapping our pictures of the fountain, I happened to look down and see Mom and Meme about to throw their coins in the fountain. So Brice and I ran down the steps and I jumped right in front of Dad who was just about to taking their photo. We successfully freaked all three out! We all got a good laugh out of it. So we all took turned tossing our coins in and taking more photos. After a few minutes of quick conversation, Brice and I were off again. This time we headed toward the Spanish Steps. The entire hike to the steps was up hill. Luckily we came upon the Steps at the top, so we walked down and snapped some more pics of the fountain at the bottom of the steps and looking back up at the steps. We did all of this by 11:30 am!
We then made our way to the “Wedding Cake”, where a guy dressed up as an ancient Roman guard freaked out that I happened to take his photo. He came at me yelling “You can’t take my picture! You must delete!!” I told him I was sorry and would delete it. He kept saying “No, no! You delete!” I told him I was trying, but by that point he was right up on my shoulder making gestures like he was going to take my camera. So I told him to just back off, I was trying to delete it. Then he went into to this whole spiel about how disrespectful we were to him and what he does. He kept asking us why we were so disrespectful of him and that it was so hard for him, but everything is so easy for us. After about a 5 minute ordeal, we just walked off. By this point I was not too happy. I think I chewed him out in my head for some 30 minutes after.
So then moving on after the ordeal, we made our way toward the Colosseum. We picked up our tickets at the Palintine Hill because the line was WAY shorter than the one at the Colosseum. The same ticket can get you into the Colosseum, Palentine Hill, and the Forum. After wondering around through the ruins on the Palentine for around 10-15 minutes and seeing the Circus Maximus from above, we moved on the Colosseum. We bypassed the incredibly LONG line to buy tickets there and walked right in. We walked around what would have been the floor level then climbed a set of crazy steep steps to the second level, wondered around up there for a few minutes and then move on the Forum. Again our visit to the Forum was quick but really neat. You don’t realize how big the columns and buildings were until you are standing at the bottom looking straight up. As we stood there looking around, we could just imagine what Rome looked like at the height of the Republic. What a sight to behold, I’m sure.
After about 10 minutes of wondering around the Forum, our time was up and we had to start making our way back to the Vatican. But first we had to get out of the Forum and to do that we had to climb this set of NEVER ENDING stairs. By this point we were so tired and our feet and legs hurt so badly, but we couldn’t stay in the Forum forever. We began to climb. It took everything we had to get up those stairs. Just about the time you figured you were at the top or at least close, you looked up the rest of the way and wanted to just sit down because you still had a long way to go, but if you did, you knew it would be an hour before you could get up again. We finally made it to the top. After looking back down, we think we climbed somewhere around 2 ½ to 3 stories straight up. The Forum itself is well below street level and the stairs ended on top of one of the seven hills in Rome. At the top we had to sit and rest for a few minutes to catch our breath. We also discovered the Capitoline Museum (the one I’d been looking for all along). By this time we had to start making our way back and didn’t have to go in. I was sad, but I at least got to snap a photo of the famous sculpture of the Shewolf suckling Romulus and Remus, which is used as an image for Rome quite a bit.
So our trek continued as we made our way back to Vatican. It was incredibly hot and our feet and legs were killing us by this point, but all we could think about was getting to Vatican City and finding something cold to drink. It was the only thing that kept us going, well that and the fact we didn’t want to get left by the shuttle. We decided to cut our way to the River and follow it until we reached our destination. It was a great decision because there were huge trees lining the River and they provided some much needed relief from the sun. All day long we’d been taking advantage of Rome’s many ice cold fountains. Thank goodness for them, otherwise we would have never survived! It took us around an hour to make it back to the Vatican, but we finally made it. We picked a couple of souvenirs and then found something cold to drink. We couldn’t get enough liquid. After sitting in the shade and resting a bit, we made our way to the meeting point where we happened to run into Mom, Dad, and Meme again. We finally were able to get back on our bus and crashed! We both slept the whole way back to the boat. What a day!!
Today we decided to depart from the typical tours and see Rome on our own. So we hopped our shuttle armed with 2 books on Rome and different 4 maps. We then gained 2 more maps when we got on the shuttle. On our 2 hour drive from Civitacchia into Rome Brice and I looked at every book and every map for about the fifth time in 24 hours to make sure we knew where all we were going to attempt to go. We finally settled on one map, grabbed a sharpie, and drew out our plan. We were ready!
The shuttle dropped us off in Vatican City at around 10:00 am and were told to meet back there at 3:55 pm. We had roughly 6 hours to go see as much as we could and get back. So we snapped a few pictures of St. Peter’s basilica and the square and off we went. First we walked over to Castle del Saint Angelo, snapped some pictures and crossed the Tiber River via the “Angel Bridge”. We then made our way to Piazza Novana, where we saw Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. From there we went to the Pantheon. Walked inside, snapped a few more pictures, and then moved on the Trevi Fountain. Right as were snapping our pictures of the fountain, I happened to look down and see Mom and Meme about to throw their coins in the fountain. So Brice and I ran down the steps and I jumped right in front of Dad who was just about to taking their photo. We successfully freaked all three out! We all got a good laugh out of it. So we all took turned tossing our coins in and taking more photos. After a few minutes of quick conversation, Brice and I were off again. This time we headed toward the Spanish Steps. The entire hike to the steps was up hill. Luckily we came upon the Steps at the top, so we walked down and snapped some more pics of the fountain at the bottom of the steps and looking back up at the steps. We did all of this by 11:30 am!
We then made our way to the “Wedding Cake”, where a guy dressed up as an ancient Roman guard freaked out that I happened to take his photo. He came at me yelling “You can’t take my picture! You must delete!!” I told him I was sorry and would delete it. He kept saying “No, no! You delete!” I told him I was trying, but by that point he was right up on my shoulder making gestures like he was going to take my camera. So I told him to just back off, I was trying to delete it. Then he went into to this whole spiel about how disrespectful we were to him and what he does. He kept asking us why we were so disrespectful of him and that it was so hard for him, but everything is so easy for us. After about a 5 minute ordeal, we just walked off. By this point I was not too happy. I think I chewed him out in my head for some 30 minutes after.
So then moving on after the ordeal, we made our way toward the Colosseum. We picked up our tickets at the Palintine Hill because the line was WAY shorter than the one at the Colosseum. The same ticket can get you into the Colosseum, Palentine Hill, and the Forum. After wondering around through the ruins on the Palentine for around 10-15 minutes and seeing the Circus Maximus from above, we moved on the Colosseum. We bypassed the incredibly LONG line to buy tickets there and walked right in. We walked around what would have been the floor level then climbed a set of crazy steep steps to the second level, wondered around up there for a few minutes and then move on the Forum. Again our visit to the Forum was quick but really neat. You don’t realize how big the columns and buildings were until you are standing at the bottom looking straight up. As we stood there looking around, we could just imagine what Rome looked like at the height of the Republic. What a sight to behold, I’m sure.
After about 10 minutes of wondering around the Forum, our time was up and we had to start making our way back to the Vatican. But first we had to get out of the Forum and to do that we had to climb this set of NEVER ENDING stairs. By this point we were so tired and our feet and legs hurt so badly, but we couldn’t stay in the Forum forever. We began to climb. It took everything we had to get up those stairs. Just about the time you figured you were at the top or at least close, you looked up the rest of the way and wanted to just sit down because you still had a long way to go, but if you did, you knew it would be an hour before you could get up again. We finally made it to the top. After looking back down, we think we climbed somewhere around 2 ½ to 3 stories straight up. The Forum itself is well below street level and the stairs ended on top of one of the seven hills in Rome. At the top we had to sit and rest for a few minutes to catch our breath. We also discovered the Capitoline Museum (the one I’d been looking for all along). By this time we had to start making our way back and didn’t have to go in. I was sad, but I at least got to snap a photo of the famous sculpture of the Shewolf suckling Romulus and Remus, which is used as an image for Rome quite a bit.
So our trek continued as we made our way back to Vatican. It was incredibly hot and our feet and legs were killing us by this point, but all we could think about was getting to Vatican City and finding something cold to drink. It was the only thing that kept us going, well that and the fact we didn’t want to get left by the shuttle. We decided to cut our way to the River and follow it until we reached our destination. It was a great decision because there were huge trees lining the River and they provided some much needed relief from the sun. All day long we’d been taking advantage of Rome’s many ice cold fountains. Thank goodness for them, otherwise we would have never survived! It took us around an hour to make it back to the Vatican, but we finally made it. We picked a couple of souvenirs and then found something cold to drink. We couldn’t get enough liquid. After sitting in the shade and resting a bit, we made our way to the meeting point where we happened to run into Mom, Dad, and Meme again. We finally were able to get back on our bus and crashed! We both slept the whole way back to the boat. What a day!!
Day at Sea
July 11, 2010
Our highlight of the day was cruising between Sicily and the toe of Italy. We got to see the “heel” of the boot all the way past the toe from the back of the boat in a hot tub. At first we didn’t realize what land we were looking at, but the more we looked and thought the geography started to make since when thinking about a map. Also when we were passing by Sicily, we started hearing this “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” off in the distance. I jokingly stated that I wondered if it was the Mafia was shooting at us. As the sound continued, we started looking around to figure out what the noise and sure enough there were the perfect towers of gun smoke that were the same number of rounds we heard. So we don’t know if Sicily was saluting us as we past, something like they do in College Station when trying to get rid of the birds, or if it really was the Mafia shooting us. Well the ship wasn’t hit and we didn’t sink, so it probably wasn’t the Mafia, but the channel was still beautiful.
Our highlight of the day was cruising between Sicily and the toe of Italy. We got to see the “heel” of the boot all the way past the toe from the back of the boat in a hot tub. At first we didn’t realize what land we were looking at, but the more we looked and thought the geography started to make since when thinking about a map. Also when we were passing by Sicily, we started hearing this “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” off in the distance. I jokingly stated that I wondered if it was the Mafia was shooting at us. As the sound continued, we started looking around to figure out what the noise and sure enough there were the perfect towers of gun smoke that were the same number of rounds we heard. So we don’t know if Sicily was saluting us as we past, something like they do in College Station when trying to get rid of the birds, or if it really was the Mafia shooting us. Well the ship wasn’t hit and we didn’t sink, so it probably wasn’t the Mafia, but the channel was still beautiful.
Mykonos, Greece
July 10, 2010
We spent half a day on the island of Mykonos. It was beautiful, but it was a different kind of beauty. The island is very rocky and not green at all. I guess what made beautiful was the quaint little houses. They are all square-ish in nature and painted white. The law mandates that all the buildings must have this design and can’t be more than two stories per level. However they can paint the doors and window shutters any color they want. Most are a vivid blue that you see a lot of in Greece, but many are painted a really deep red.
We did “The best of Mykonos” bus tour which took us around the island to see the highlights. Our first stop was at a small pier to see the island of Delios. This is the island where Apollo, god of the sun, was born. Our next stop was a monastery that was run by to very old monks that had been there for fifty plus years. The inside of the chapel was crazy. It was completely decorated from ceiling to floor in the Baroque style. Everywhere you looked there was something to see. We then drove to the opposite side of the island to one of the beach resorts and got to stick our feet in the ocean for a few minutes. We also got our first exposure to European beaches where people like to sunbathe topless…
We then rode to the town and did a short walking tour to see the town and the famous windmills. In the town the building as pretty close together and the streets wind all around. It is extremely easy to get lost! Our guide told us this was a defense mechanism back when there were tons of pirates around. When the pirates would attack the people would run to the back of the city and hide there. The pirates would then be forced to split up to move through the city. Some streets are so narrow only one person can get through at a time. So then the people of Mykonos could pick off the pirates a few at a time and defend their city.
When our tour was finished, Brice and I walked up the hill to the windmill. The view was amazing! But we went back down pretty quick because it smelled like fish. We then attempted to make our way back through the town to the main square and the harbor. On our way we stopped at a hole in the wall place to try an official homemade Greece gyro. It was pretty good. It was lamb cut from a big round hunk of meat wrapped in fresh pieta break with red onion, tomato, french fries, and some sort of ranch/mayonnaise sauce. Pretty tasty!! Brice didn’t want any of it, but he “held” it for me for just a second and when I turned around it was almost gone. I got the last bite. It was a good thing I got a few bites in before he “held” it. We then strolled back to the boat.
We spent half a day on the island of Mykonos. It was beautiful, but it was a different kind of beauty. The island is very rocky and not green at all. I guess what made beautiful was the quaint little houses. They are all square-ish in nature and painted white. The law mandates that all the buildings must have this design and can’t be more than two stories per level. However they can paint the doors and window shutters any color they want. Most are a vivid blue that you see a lot of in Greece, but many are painted a really deep red.
We did “The best of Mykonos” bus tour which took us around the island to see the highlights. Our first stop was at a small pier to see the island of Delios. This is the island where Apollo, god of the sun, was born. Our next stop was a monastery that was run by to very old monks that had been there for fifty plus years. The inside of the chapel was crazy. It was completely decorated from ceiling to floor in the Baroque style. Everywhere you looked there was something to see. We then drove to the opposite side of the island to one of the beach resorts and got to stick our feet in the ocean for a few minutes. We also got our first exposure to European beaches where people like to sunbathe topless…
We then rode to the town and did a short walking tour to see the town and the famous windmills. In the town the building as pretty close together and the streets wind all around. It is extremely easy to get lost! Our guide told us this was a defense mechanism back when there were tons of pirates around. When the pirates would attack the people would run to the back of the city and hide there. The pirates would then be forced to split up to move through the city. Some streets are so narrow only one person can get through at a time. So then the people of Mykonos could pick off the pirates a few at a time and defend their city.
When our tour was finished, Brice and I walked up the hill to the windmill. The view was amazing! But we went back down pretty quick because it smelled like fish. We then attempted to make our way back through the town to the main square and the harbor. On our way we stopped at a hole in the wall place to try an official homemade Greece gyro. It was pretty good. It was lamb cut from a big round hunk of meat wrapped in fresh pieta break with red onion, tomato, french fries, and some sort of ranch/mayonnaise sauce. Pretty tasty!! Brice didn’t want any of it, but he “held” it for me for just a second and when I turned around it was almost gone. I got the last bite. It was a good thing I got a few bites in before he “held” it. We then strolled back to the boat.
Istanbul, Turkey
July 9, 2010
This morning from the dining room, we could see the Blue Mosque and Haiga Sophia, as well as quite a view over the city. From the time we stepped off the boat, we knew we were in for an adventure. It was raining, so the second we got off the bus, the little street vendor guys were in our faces trying to sell us umbrellas. Every single one was shouting “Umbrella! Umbrella! Umbrella!” as fast as they could to each person they came across without one. They would say umbrella so fast and in such a way that it sounded more or less like one word or phrase. If I would have bought an umbrella from each person that offered me one, I’d probably have somewhere around 75 or so. These people were EVERYWHERE!
Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. This was also my first experience with a Muslim Mosque which was interesting. Once we got to a certain area before we walked in the entrance we had to take off our shoes and put them in a bag. Each area was marked with different colors. For example, you took your shoes off in the red section and could walk in that area with your shoes on, but once you got the blue section you had to have your shoes off. There was also an attendant standing there making sure you were dress properly. Your shoulders as well as the bend of your knee had to be covered; if they were the little attendant lady gave you a wrap to cover yourself. As you walk into the Mosque, your eyes are drawn upward to the ceiling. It was huge and every square inch is covered with designs and the blue tiles! In the Islamic religion they do not use any images because of the fear of idolatry. As a result, artisans created these beautiful floral type designs.
Our next stop was the Haiga Sophia or St. Sophia. As big as the Blue Mosque, Haiga Sophia is bigger. It originally was built as a Christian church, but was converted into a mosque. It is currently just a museum. The majority of the ceiling was decorated with gold, which they are in the process of cleaning and renovating. When it was converted into a mosque much of the beautiful mosaics were covered up, as well as anything that had an image of any sort on it. They have begun to uncover anything that was covered up. For example, there are four 8 winged figures around the central dome. They have found that were originally faces in the center of these figures and have uncovered one. They rest are still covered by a gold star type shape.
We then walked over to the huge Cistern. It was a pretty cool experience, but pretty creepy at the same time. There are tons of columns and the majority of them are lit with red lights that shine from the bottom of the column towards the ceiling. Since it was raining, you could hear water dripping all around you. The city doesn’t use the water from it anymore, so it is more of a tourist attraction than anything. Artists are also now using it as a display for modern art. They also sometimes use it for concerts, because the acoustics are amazing.
After the cistern, we went to a local hotel for a traditional Turkish lunch. We got to eat in a glass garden house. It consisted of cold sautéed peppers and onions, rice of some sort stuffed in a green pepper, and some other stuff. The main course was “Sultan’s Delight” lamb in some sauce on top of puréed eggplant (which was the consistency of mashed potatoes and tasted a whole lot like them). That was pretty tasty. For dessert was some sort of cake type stuff rolled into balls and soaked in some sort of sweet liquor sauce. Neither of us were fans and nobody ate more than two. While we were eating, we got to hear our first call to prayer.
After lunch we walked to the Topkapi Palace which was the residence of the Sultan. While we were walking we got to hear a call to prayer. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before. It had a strange and exotic beauty about it. I recorded it on my camera so I could share it when we get home.
The entire Topkapi Palace palace complex is pretty huge, but we just saw a little section. We couldn’t believe all the gold used to decorate the buildings. We did get to see quite a collection of jewels and jewel incrusted things. Objects such as armor, weapons, and a baby crib totally covered in gold and stones. We also got to see the third largest diamond in the world. The diamond is 86 karats and surrounded by a whole bunch of other diamond. The story goes that it was found in a trash heap and was sold to a peddler for three spoons.
From the Palace we went to the store of a Turkish Rug making company. The owner told us all about how they are made then tried to sell them to us. When he was done presenting, he sent all of his salesmen out to talk to us. One guy came up to us and asked Brice and I if we were interested in buying a rug. We told him we didn’t know. So he told us to come with him and we could see some. He started showing us several and then we saw prices. For a 3’x5’ not top of the line rug, the prices ran between $1500-$2000. The salesman was trying his hardest to get us to buy. He finally came down to $500. We just couldn’t fathom buying a rug that small for that much, especially right now while we are in school. He must have been crazy!
Once we finally got out of the rug shop, we walked over to the Grand Bazaar. I at least wanted to see it. It was CRAZY!!!! Everywhere you looked there were shops and each shop was jam packed with stuff. Everyone was trying to get you to buy something, plus it was packed with shoppers. One could get lost in there and never be found again. After about 10-15 minutes we were done and headed back to the bus. We then drove back to the boat.
There are well over 100 mosques throughout the city, so I really wanted to hear a call to prayer over the whole city from the boat but we just had just missed it. Brice and I got to stand on the top deck and watch us sale away as we sailed between Europe and Asia. The skyline along the coast is just beautiful.
This morning from the dining room, we could see the Blue Mosque and Haiga Sophia, as well as quite a view over the city. From the time we stepped off the boat, we knew we were in for an adventure. It was raining, so the second we got off the bus, the little street vendor guys were in our faces trying to sell us umbrellas. Every single one was shouting “Umbrella! Umbrella! Umbrella!” as fast as they could to each person they came across without one. They would say umbrella so fast and in such a way that it sounded more or less like one word or phrase. If I would have bought an umbrella from each person that offered me one, I’d probably have somewhere around 75 or so. These people were EVERYWHERE!
Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. This was also my first experience with a Muslim Mosque which was interesting. Once we got to a certain area before we walked in the entrance we had to take off our shoes and put them in a bag. Each area was marked with different colors. For example, you took your shoes off in the red section and could walk in that area with your shoes on, but once you got the blue section you had to have your shoes off. There was also an attendant standing there making sure you were dress properly. Your shoulders as well as the bend of your knee had to be covered; if they were the little attendant lady gave you a wrap to cover yourself. As you walk into the Mosque, your eyes are drawn upward to the ceiling. It was huge and every square inch is covered with designs and the blue tiles! In the Islamic religion they do not use any images because of the fear of idolatry. As a result, artisans created these beautiful floral type designs.
Our next stop was the Haiga Sophia or St. Sophia. As big as the Blue Mosque, Haiga Sophia is bigger. It originally was built as a Christian church, but was converted into a mosque. It is currently just a museum. The majority of the ceiling was decorated with gold, which they are in the process of cleaning and renovating. When it was converted into a mosque much of the beautiful mosaics were covered up, as well as anything that had an image of any sort on it. They have begun to uncover anything that was covered up. For example, there are four 8 winged figures around the central dome. They have found that were originally faces in the center of these figures and have uncovered one. They rest are still covered by a gold star type shape.
We then walked over to the huge Cistern. It was a pretty cool experience, but pretty creepy at the same time. There are tons of columns and the majority of them are lit with red lights that shine from the bottom of the column towards the ceiling. Since it was raining, you could hear water dripping all around you. The city doesn’t use the water from it anymore, so it is more of a tourist attraction than anything. Artists are also now using it as a display for modern art. They also sometimes use it for concerts, because the acoustics are amazing.
After the cistern, we went to a local hotel for a traditional Turkish lunch. We got to eat in a glass garden house. It consisted of cold sautéed peppers and onions, rice of some sort stuffed in a green pepper, and some other stuff. The main course was “Sultan’s Delight” lamb in some sauce on top of puréed eggplant (which was the consistency of mashed potatoes and tasted a whole lot like them). That was pretty tasty. For dessert was some sort of cake type stuff rolled into balls and soaked in some sort of sweet liquor sauce. Neither of us were fans and nobody ate more than two. While we were eating, we got to hear our first call to prayer.
After lunch we walked to the Topkapi Palace which was the residence of the Sultan. While we were walking we got to hear a call to prayer. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before. It had a strange and exotic beauty about it. I recorded it on my camera so I could share it when we get home.
The entire Topkapi Palace palace complex is pretty huge, but we just saw a little section. We couldn’t believe all the gold used to decorate the buildings. We did get to see quite a collection of jewels and jewel incrusted things. Objects such as armor, weapons, and a baby crib totally covered in gold and stones. We also got to see the third largest diamond in the world. The diamond is 86 karats and surrounded by a whole bunch of other diamond. The story goes that it was found in a trash heap and was sold to a peddler for three spoons.
From the Palace we went to the store of a Turkish Rug making company. The owner told us all about how they are made then tried to sell them to us. When he was done presenting, he sent all of his salesmen out to talk to us. One guy came up to us and asked Brice and I if we were interested in buying a rug. We told him we didn’t know. So he told us to come with him and we could see some. He started showing us several and then we saw prices. For a 3’x5’ not top of the line rug, the prices ran between $1500-$2000. The salesman was trying his hardest to get us to buy. He finally came down to $500. We just couldn’t fathom buying a rug that small for that much, especially right now while we are in school. He must have been crazy!
Once we finally got out of the rug shop, we walked over to the Grand Bazaar. I at least wanted to see it. It was CRAZY!!!! Everywhere you looked there were shops and each shop was jam packed with stuff. Everyone was trying to get you to buy something, plus it was packed with shoppers. One could get lost in there and never be found again. After about 10-15 minutes we were done and headed back to the bus. We then drove back to the boat.
There are well over 100 mosques throughout the city, so I really wanted to hear a call to prayer over the whole city from the boat but we just had just missed it. Brice and I got to stand on the top deck and watch us sale away as we sailed between Europe and Asia. The skyline along the coast is just beautiful.
Past Days
Internet on the boat is crazy expensive and we had to make sure Brice had enough minutes to do stuff for his class. So, here is what's been going on the last several days.
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