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.