DAY 3 - Do I really want a Turkish Rug for $24,000 OR What to Sing in the Pouring Rain?

March 22 - Downtown Historic Istanbul

Today we enjoyed a day downtown and our first museums.  It started off with an amazing breakfast with THE WORKS!!  Mint, parsley, and dill were added to the eggs.  mmm...3 kinds of olives, three types of cheese, and in the 4 small covered bowls were blackberry preserves, honey butter, raspberry jam, and berry molasses for whole wheat bread.  It was delicious!

In the back are juice, candied oranges, cucumbers,yummy bacon

We drove with Kemal for 30 minutes as he had a work appointment downtown (Asian side).  We then caught a ferry across the Bosphorus Channel -beautiful ride although it was cloudy. Istanbul is surrounded by three seas - The Agean, Black, and Marmara.  Rich was designated to be the one to ask the questions or for directions. He would find the prettiest woman, asking if they spoke English. :)  It saved us several times, however.  We followed the first one off the ferry to the tram station, did another connection, and finally ended up where all the historical part of Istanbul is.

Basilica Cistern - 500 A.D.

Medusa Head Pillar

 As we were wandering around trying to decide what to visit first, a young Turkish man came up and was so kind to give us some tips and told us what we should see.  He insisted we see the Basilica Cistern because it wouldn't be very crowded at the noon hour, then we should come look at his shop. It is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city. The cistern was built in the 6th century.  It provided a water filtration system for that area and has the capacity to store 100,000 tons of water, despite being virtually empty today with only a few feet of water lining the bottom.  Ancient texts suggest that the tears on one of the columns pay tribute to the hundreds of slaves who died during the construction of the Basilica.  (7,000 slaves were involved in building the cistern.)


 
Back to the young man....he was waiting for us outside the Cistern (an hour later).  Turns out - his job was to haul in "would-be" buyers to a rug shop, then turn them over to his boss who would convince the tourist they just had to have a rug from Turkey.  Granted....they were beautiful, but $24,000!!!  We said "bye-bye" and left as quick as we could....lesson learned!

Shari admires this rug which is only 4 inches and has already taken 5 months to make

 We visited the Topkapi Palace next. This palace was home to Ottoman sultans for many centuries (1465-1856) and is the main attraction in Istanbul. It was built in the mid 1400′s.  Rich enjoyed the weaponry display the most.  It was amazing how many different weapons have been used from the beginning of mankind.
 We also saw the Prophet Mohammed's belongings.  95% of the 15 million people in Istanbul are Muslims, so this is a very important place to them.

Rich stands beside a 600 year old original pillar from Topkapi Palace

The Topkapi Palace

Hagia Sofia is a former Orthodox Patriarchal Basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum.   From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.. A masterwork of Roman engineering, the huge 30 m diameter dome covers what was for over 1000 years the largest enclosed space in the world. The church was looted by the fourth Crusaders in 1204, and became a mosque in the 15th century when The Ottomans conquered the city. It was converted into a museum in 1935.  The mosaics are simply amazing.

Inside the Hagia Sophia

 

Hagia Sophia - the most visited site in Istanbul

 We went to the market place to buy some groceries to breakfast to treat our hosts.  It was funny watching Rich ask for where to buy flour and salami and cheese when we had no idea what the Turkish names for it was.  Quite an experience!

Shari learns to do a Turkish folk dance with Mine & Ela

Our host family expected us at 7 p.m. and we tried to get back by catching a fast mini-bus....wrong choice as we stood in a line for over an hour waiting for it to come.  We were drenched as it poured rain the whole time.  BUT...we did come back to a lovely dinner, singing, dancing, and playing the piano by candlelight.   Their 8 year old daughter, Ela was so cute!  Shari even learned a Turkish folk dance!

Shari finally gets a picture of Ela!

Tomato-Herb soup, Meatballs, Semizotu, Sarma, Salad, 

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