Istanbul - Final Installment

For many reasons, time is passing more quickly than I've been writing in my blog.  I've been back in my busy weekly routine and I also had a few days of sleeping while not feeling well.  I'm good to go now and I've made an executive decision (easy to do when no one else is involved).  This final blog about my wonderful trip to Istanbul will focus on highlights during the last 4 days of my visit rather than a narrative, like I have been doing. 

Day 5, Thursday,  December 29

Our goal was to get to Topkapi Palace as close to opening time as possible to avoid crowds and we did just that.  My first “new input” for the day was the entrance sign with had two prices – one for Turkish citizens and one for tourists – which was significantly higher (something like 20 Turkish Lira and 35 TL). Apparently this is not uncommon – in Bulgaria as well – but it was news to me.  

Topkapi Palace is another amazing architectural feat from the late 1400s.  It has 300 rooms, 9 Turkish baths, 2 mosques, 1 hospital and a giant harem. Located in a spectacular spot overlooking the Bosphorus….It’s immense.  The museum has quite an assortment  of historical weapons, clothing and tools.  Many were splendidly designed with hundreds, if not thousands of a variety of gemstones.  I was most impressed with the 86 carat, pear-shaped diamond on display (The Spoonmakers Diamond).  Wow!  It was gigantic – very impressive.  There were other things that impressed me as well – a sword that was so huge I’m sure it was impossible for any one person to lift.  I’m not sure what the purpose was of this particular weapon – did more than one person lift and use it together?  There were also some articles of clothing in “XXX-Sultan” size.  When it’s a huge caftan it’s very big! Check out the Topkapi official website for lots of information, gorgeous photos and even a virtual tour. 

After 3 1/2 hours wandering the palace and grounds Tricia and I rendezvoused for lunch and then went our separate ways.  This was the beginning of our new traveling mode.  We've seen everything we both wanted to see and now our desires diverged some so we each headed in our own direction before meeting up for our evening activity of visiting a Sufi "Whirling Dervish" dance ceremony.  It was interesting, but I must admit I was a little disappointed from what the website presented.  It was a much smaller venue - there was only room for 4 dervishes (3 if they were moving in any direction rather than spinning in one spot).  That said, I enjoyed the meditative evening watching their peaceful spins and listening to the live musicians.

Had some fun on the mile walk back to the tram....usually Tricia is the one who gets noticed by men - she's young (30-something) and has a beautiful smile and infectious laugh. She is an obviously happy person. But this time it was my turn (another usually happy person).  We walked by a street hawker for a local restaurant (there were oh-so-many in Istanbul) who had a few gray hairs and he said to me...."You are a beautiful natural woman.  Marry me!"  Too funny!  I got my first European marriage proposal.  Love those light moments of being noticed.

It was a good day (actually they all were!).

Day 6, Friday, December 30

Finally we are going to the Asian side of Istanbul.  The boat ride is a very quick 10-15 minutes - almost too quick for me - I love being on the water.  We begin walking along the harbor and it's clear we want to go in different directions and agree to meet back at the apartment in the evening.  I head to the market area where there are once again fresh everything stands and hundreds of little stores.  

Aside - I saw one that was literally the size of a closet.  Many stores sell just one genre - leather goods (purses, wallets), shoes, electrical supplies, light fixtures, plumbing supplies, nuts and bolts, fabric for sewing, hair accessories, antiques, almost anything you can think of.  Many of the same themed stores are on the same block - so if you have a bathroom that needs work to go to the bathroom stores section.  One day I wanted to get a key made and had to ask where I could find the key cutting store (mostly in sign language showing the person I was asking a key and miming a key-cutting machine).  The first person I asked gave me directions including about 4 turns around corners. After 2 turns I asked someone else and again got several turns ahead.  And finally I asked a third person and in about 5 minutes found the key kiosk.

Back to Asia - sorry for the tangent, but it was such an interesting aspect to me.  On the Asian side I began looking for a well-known restaurant named Çiya (pron. Chia).  Found it!  It lived up to all I heard about it.  It had a salad bar with many unique salads - I'm not even sure what they were, but that's what I had for lunch. There was also a hot bar with cuts of meat, soups, vegetables and potatoes, but I was full after the salads.  I sat at a table with Warren and Annie from Los Angeles.  I met them yesterday in Europe at Topkapi Palace and there they were eating lunch in Asia at the same restaurant I walked into.  One of those small world moments (it turns out Tricia also had a small-world moment that same afternoon on her journey).

After lunch I walked around some more, but was getting weary of all the shops and afternoon crowds.  Especially since this is the sixth day of being in a city environment.  I headed back to the boat and took one back to a different location which gave me a little longer time on the water. And had a quiet evening in the apartment.

Day 7, Saturday, December 31

Happy Birthday Patricia. I am 58.  A few days ago I made an appointment to have a massage a yoga studio at noon.  Before that there is one more mosque I want to visit - the second largest in Istanbul - Süleymaniye Mosque built in the mid-1500s. Here's a link for those who want more info - including a virtual tour.

I found my way there pretty easily but once there, I couldn't find the entrance. 

Remembering that Omër told me there were multiple entrances at the Blue Mosque, I wanted to find the appropriate way in for me, a tourist.  I walked around the Mosque twice and only saw one entrance which had the water fountains just inside the door where people wash hands, feet and faces before worship. Finally I approached to a woman walking by who was wearing a hijab (scarf covering her hair) to ask here where I enter the mosque.  She spoke a little English and she said the door I saw was the correct door.  However, she not only told me that, she showed me to the door and escorted me into the mosque to show it to me.  Amazing.  How many people who are stopped on the street by a stranger and obvious foreigner, would take time out of their busy day, to give a personal guided tour?  She showed me the different areas including an area beyond the "tourist barriers."  This mosque is primarily a house of worship and secondarily open to tourists.  We probably spend 10 minutes looking at the interior of the different areas and as we approached the exit/entrance, she asked me if I wanted to pray.  I said yes.  It seemed like an important opportunity not to be missed.  So we knelt together and had a few minutes of silence.  This kind American, obviously western woman and this kind, obviously Muslim woman side-by-side. I felt such a deep sense of mutual appreciation and respect being there with her.

We got up and she said her good-byes.  I lingered for a few more minutes savoring what just happened.  Finally I headed to the door and pushed aside the heavy fabric covering and stepped out.  Apparently I wasn't grounded because I didn't see the step down and I took a hard fall.  A Turkish man came running over to me to see if I was alright and to help me up.  I was shaken and a little bruised,  but o.k.  Now it was definitely time to head to my massage - and how grateful I was to have the appointment! 

Need I say how exquisite the massage was?  It's the first one I've had since I left Sedona.  I realized how much I needed it, not only after the fall, but to help process this wonderfully challenging and intense year of my life.  My masseuse had a deep-tissue touch and the only areas which were really tender were my neck and shoulders (typical for me - where I carry stress) and my calves - probably all the hill walking in Istanbul!  I want more massages in my life.  I also splurged on some organic hazelnuts and raw (!) crackers.  Treats - oh boy!

After my massage, I treated myself to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant and walked home along Istiklal Street at a leisurely pace to rest into feeling so good. A great beginning to a New Year.

Day 8, Sunday, January 1, 2012

Today I am "psyched" to go to the Princes Islands off the Asian coast in the Sea of Marmara.  It's a 90 minute boat ride to Büyükada, the largest of the islands.  At 9:00a.m. on New Years Day it was very quiet in Istanbul and there were only a handful of us on the boat that can probably hold a couple hundred.  The good news is that shortly after pulling away from the dock I saw a pod of dolphins swimming in the sea..  Maybe they were reveling in the quietude too. For the whole 90 minutes - Istanbul stretched along the Asian coast - there was no end in sight.  It's the largest city I've ever seen.

It was a cool and cloudy day with drizzle, but not enough to curtail any activities.  Transportation on the bike is limited to feet, bikes and horse carriages.  First stop, Starbucks.  Can you believe it - this tiny island has one.  I warmed up a bit with a cup of Christmas blend, visited the kitty outside the door and then headed out for a walk.  It was lovely - out of the hustle and bustle of the city, quiet streets and scattered forests.  I loved this "completion" to my vacation to Istanbul - a day in nature, breathing deeply and reflecting on this amazing week.  

I returned on the mid-afternoon boat, and this one was packed with people.  There were also salesmen selling their goods to the captive audience.  One was very entertaining in his presentations of a multipurpose, collapsible walking stick/flashlight/crook/and a host of other features I don't remember (no, I didn't purchase one).  His other "hot" item was a plastic tube with a cap on top that you can stick into a lemon, squeeze the lemon and then the tube is full of juice.  Several folks bought one or both!

Walking home, I had a wrap called a duner.  It's like a small gyros - meat cut off of a rotating skewer roast the chicken, lamb or pork.  I passed on the skewer of layers of roasting intestines, even though I was assured they are delicious.  I figured this would be a good, light dinner and I wouldn't need to make much at the apartment.  When I walked in the door, Tricia said we were invited out to dinner my our property manager.  Her colleague has a fish restaurant just a couple of minutes away from us.  O.K. - great - I had 3 hours to get hungry again.  No problem. It was a nice visit with another Turkish person.  She told us of her family’s home in Cappadocia (where my rug is from) and yes, indeed, it's carved out of the rocks there.  She also talked about the still common practice of arranged marriages, but she was never married (she's about 40).  The man she loved, disappeared several years ago.  He was someone her parents would not have chosen for her.

The most wonderful thing she shared with us was how long to give ourselves to get to the main bus station tomorrow.  We thought 1 1/2 hours would have been plenty of time but she said leave  3 - 3 1/2 hours ahead of when it was scheduled to leave.  Thank heavens we received and followed her advice.

Day 9, Sunday, January 2, 2012

It's time to go home to Bulgaria.  We would have gone yesterday, but the buses were not running on the 1st.  So today is a bonus day, until our bus leaves at 7:45pm.  I head out to a place Tricia went a few days ago.  It's a little French community, called Pierre Loti, on top of one of Istanbul's many hills.  I took the bus to where I could catch the cable car - like the ones at ski resorts.  Once again I had an image in my head that did not fit the reality.  I thought it would be a really big hill (o.k. maybe even a mountain), but no, it wasn't.  I was in the little bubble car for about 5 minutes and got to the top of the hill I could have walked up in 20 minutes.  It wasn't as high as the 55 story building we went to the top of on our second day.  But it did have a nice view and a different look to other parts of Istanbul.  

I spent a little more time wandering on my favorite street - Istiklal.  I sat in Starbucks for the last time and just people watched and wrote in my journal.  I was ready to head home.  And how different it felt to be heading home to Bulgaria.  It gave me a sense of the life I am building in Bulgaria over time. The past 10 months have passed very quickly.  On the bus I wondered for a while what it will be like in another year and a half to head home to America after being gone for so long and having spent so much time assimilating to a different culture.

I'd like to thank Tricia for her companionship and sharing her travel logistics insights with me.  It's been a long time since I've traveled in a foreign country and she's gotten really good at it over the past 3 years. So I was very happy to learn from her and for her cheerful company.  We enjoyed many things together and respected each others "space" for doing things alone and/or just "being" alone.

That's it for my overview of my trip to magnificent Istanbul.