Trip To Istanbul and western Turkey

Istanbul or Bust!
6/9/11

Well we finally made it!
After months of planning, changing plans, booking minibuses(vans) for 7 hotels, boats and planes the departure day has arrived.
I have a friend staying in my house so I didn’t have to shut it completely down this time, which was nice. A shout out to Christopher! Enjoy the treehouse.

As of bedtime last night I didn’t know exactly how we were all getting to the airport. I was thinking we would leave at 9:30 but at 8:38 a text came in from my neice Estill that a limo is picking me up at 9:05! I ran around like a nut for 40 minutes and got dressed and took care of the last chores. I was just taking the trash to the alley when this party bus rounds the corner and stops out front. My nieces Estill and Winfree jump out and run up to my front door. They help me with my suitcase. The limo has two drivers and my sister-in-law Martha is onboard. We olad up and head for my father house for he and my step-mother Pippa. Then off to Space Machine for my brother. And finally we unload at Tampa International Airport and haul and drag our Family Circus through Security and onto a Delta Flight to NY. We heave time for A slice of Pizza for lunch and then onto another Delta Flight to Istanbul. Then we sit…. And sit.. and sit….

We had to sit on the plane at the gate in NY for 7 hours as departures were backed up and a bad lightening storm rolled through.
At one point they let us back off the plane for a while. My father and I got gelato Dutch Chocolate yummy even at $5+ for a smallI got to chatting with to women on the flight and they wanted gelato so I walked them down there and the server gave me a free scoop for bringing more business. Nice!
Then back on the plane to wait some more…

Finally we got wheels up and arrived in Istanbul at Attaturk International Airport at 5:30 pm instead of 10:30 am. It is so nice to finally be in Turkey. We bought our visas and got out passports stamped and hit the cash points for Euros and Turkish lira and found our taxi to the hotel and off we went in a light drizzle to the Hotel Ahmet Efendi Evi.

The Hotel Ahmet is a cozy hotel with wonderfully helpful staff. They greeted us in English with tea in the living, dining room kitchen and told us some helpful facts and assisted me with booking a car ferry for Sunday to Yavlova so I won’t have to drive out of Istanbul the long way around which can be very difficult. Plus that will put us near the hot springs at Thermal. And near to Bursa where we have a hotel reserved for Sunday night.

We sorted out the rooms and settled in for a few minutes then gathered for a stroll and to look for a place dinner. Just down the street we found a place with a display full of fresh fish that smelled great. We ate wonderful fresh fish (sea bass, shrimp, swordfish and calamari for dinner and toured the Blue Mosque It is an amazing building with huge columns holding up an immense dome.

Pictures can be seen https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish:Sultanahmet Camii) is a historical mosque inIstanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the capital of the Ottoman Empire (from 1453 to 1923). The mosque is popularly known as theBlue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior.
It was built between 1609 and 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, amadrasah and a hospice. While still used as a mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction.
More info at:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque

After we got back to the hotel I had a shower and then Winfree and I played Boggle and wrote in our logs before bed. She snores like the cutest little buzz saw! Buzz… snork Buzz snork snort!

She slept pretty soundly through the night. I didn't sleep much and was wide awake for the dawn call to morning prayers at about 4:30 am. Which are projected very loudly off the towers around the minarets. Now is 7:30 and Winfree is in the shower as it's almost time for brekkie.

6/10/11
I love the Turkish breakfast. We had a huge selection this time. Museli, yogurt, grape syrup, sesame oil, fresh bread and sesame ring bread, honeydew melon, raisins, dried figs, yellow cheese, salami and a feta like cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, French toast, honey, cherry jam, tea and coffee.

After breakfast we gathered and we head off in the direction of the Hagia Sophia but get sidetracked by the goodies in the windows of a shopping street. A few scarves, towels and blankets were bought many more intems like, rugs, shoes and lights were lusted after.

Then we worked our way over to the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia (from the Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, "Holy Wisdom"; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia;Turkish: Aya Sofya) is a former Orthodox patriarchalbasilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedralof Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.[1]

More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

I was in it last time I was here 15 years ago but the line was too long today so we walked over to the Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Saray) which was built in 525 AD and toured this huge underground water storage room that is lit with theatrical lights. It is very cool!

This cathedral-sized cistern is an underground chamber approximately 143 metres (470 ft) by 65 metres (210 ft) - about 9,800 square metres (105,000 sq ft) in area - capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres (2,800,000 cu ft) of water. The ceiling is supported by a forest of 336 marble columns, each 9 metres (30 ft) high, arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns spaced 4.9 metres (16 ft) apart. The capitals of the columns are mainly Ionic and Corinthian styles, with the exception of a few Doric styles with no engravings.

Readmore: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Turkey/Istanbul_Ili/Istanbul-1837624/Things_To_Do-Istanbul-Palace_Cistern_Yerebatan_Saray-BR-1.html#ixzz1P1SNilNF

. A couple of which have Medusa’s face carved on them. One is upside down. There is a lot of speculation as to why as the reason is forgotten in time. There is also a café down there. It would be a great place to hang out on a hot day or Halloween!

Then we went looking for the Mosaics Museum and stopped in a café for lunch. Eggplant with souce (as written in the menu Eggplant with yogurt, hummus and lots of very fine pita bread almost a thin a crepes. The girls had a pancake each. Winfree Cheese and Estill potato. They were also crepe –like and very tasty. My brother had yogurt and cucumber and an eggplant- ground lamb kebab. It was all very tasty.

We found the Mosaics Museum and I realized I had seen it before so I walked around a bit in a light rain and looked at more shops while the others toured the Museum. It is full of beautiful tile pictures.

The museum hosts the mosaics used to decorate the pavement of a peristyle court, dating possibly to the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 527-565). It was uncovered by Turkeyarchaeologists from the University of St Andrews in Scotlandduring extensive excavations at the Arasta Bazaar in Sultan Ahmet Square in 1935-1938 and 1951-1954. The area formed part of the south-western Great Palace, and the excavations discovered a large peristyle courtyard, with a surface of 1872 m², entirely decorated with mosaics
Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Palace_Mosaic_Museum

Then we hiked around through some of the crazy winding streets over to the Sultanahmet area with the Egyptian Obelisk and bought tickets for the tram and rode it around to beside the Golden Horn which is the famous harbor of Istanbul. From there we walked to the Spice market. It was very crowded but we fought our way in and tried some Turkish Delight which is a sweet sticky candy and I bought a tasty spice mix. It was too crowded for my taste so I headed back out.

While I was waiting for the others to finish shopping I peered through some barred windows into a garden with beautiful old carved headstones. It was a beautiful, peaceful spot.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

We got back on the tram and rode it across the bridge over the Golden Horn and we could see Asian Istanbul on the other side of the Bosporus. It was rush hour and the tram was full so we stood. At the end of the line the driver switched ends and drove the tram back the other direction. The others got off to take a boat ride up the Bosporus which I have also done and I went in search of the Cagaloglu Hammam or Turkish bath. It took a bit of wandering around but I finally found it.
The Cagaloglu Hammam located just near the Underground Cistern in Cagaloglu. In 1741, Sultan Mahmut ordered for construction of this hamam so as to generate revenue for his library and the famous monument of the time, Hagia Sofia. This hamam happens to be the last hamams built in the city before Sultan Mustafa III gave orders for banning construction of any hamams in 1768 to meet the city’s increasing demand for wood and water.
More info at: http://www.sultanahmet1.com/ahmet/cagaloglu-bath/

A bath with a scrub was more expensive than I remember 66 Turk Lira ($.65-$1) I was given room to change a towel, key and a pair of Crocs. Stripped down, toweled and Croced I walked into the hot seamy marble room and lay on the hot marble slab. I relaxed until an attendant came along and took me to an alcove in the side with a bench, a large water basin with hot and cold taps. He poured a pitcher of hot water on me and scrubbed me to within a inch of my life with a luffa glove and rinsed me down then scrubbed my hair and then washed everywhere but my privates with a soapy towel and rubbed me down a bit. Then a good rinse with the pitcher. Wow! Was I clean. I washed a bit more, then poured many bowls of cold water on myself and then lay abck on the hot slab in the center until I was done. Rinsed again and back to my clothes. A tip for the scrubber and I wandered back towards my hotel. I found a nice Indian restaurant (DUBB) on a side street and had stuff grape leaves (dolmas), lamb in spicy tomato sauce and garlic nan for dinner with a dark beer and sat and watched people for awhile.

I walked back to the hotel to discover that Pippa didn’t go on the boast ride. She got on bit it was rocking against the dock so she got off and got a sandwich and went back to the hotel to read. The rest of the gang came back in a few minutes later. After the boat ride my father walked back to the hotel to eat with Pippa and got lost for while. The rest found him after they ate on the way home. He was just around the corner from the hotel. Since he hadn’t eaten I walked him back to the Indian place and he order dolmas and we each got a dark beer. They said they had one last dolmas, but the dish that was delivered was completely different from what I had eaten. He said they were very tasty and the perfect amount. We spoke for a few minutes with a young couple at the next table who were from Buenos Aries and they told us a bit about their wonderful trip and some places we might stop. They were leaving for London the next day. We bit them bon voyage and headed back to the hotel where I shaved brush my teeth wand was too tired to play Boggle with Winfree before bed. Goodnight!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos