Istanbul

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Walking around in Istanbul (not Constantinople) today, I was struck by the massive scale of the city. About 10 million people live within the metropolitan area, and the city is divided into two sections: The European, or Thrace section, is further divided by the Golden Horn into Old Istanbul and Beyoglu. The Asian, or Anatolian section is on the East side of the Bosphorus, which is the name of the strait that flows from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. I ate lunch in a park in Old Istanbul, that sits right on the water. This park is the location of the Topkapi Palace, which I wanted to visit, but was closed today. I'll check it out tomorrow. From this park, I could see all the sections of Istanbul. It was really quite a sight:

For lunch, what I ate was nothing special; just a grilled cheese and some french fries. But to drink, I had Turkish tea. This was neat: the server gave me a small, rounded glass. He had a dual tea kettle; in the top kettle was the tea, which he poured into the glass with a strainer. He filled the glass halfway with the tea. Then, he filled up the rest of the glass with hot water from the bottom kettle, and added two sugar cubes. It was very interesting, and very good; it cooled off pretty quickly, and was not difficult to drink, even in the summer weather. I can see why it is so popular with locals; in fact, the Turks drink more tea per capita than the British. I didn't take a picture of the tea glass and kettle; I'll make sure to do this over the next few days.

After lunch, I walked to the Eminonu section of Old Istanbul. In this area was a spice bazaar. It was very different from the markets in Morocco-much more orderly, clean, and housed within an Eastern-European style open air building:

The last photo above shows something unique to Turkey. Well, actually two things unique to Turkey I guess. I'm sure taking Naturel Turkish Viagra is very interesting, and it's nice to have the long, chocolate covered things next to it to help drive the point home. But what I'm talking about is the white, pink and green stuff above and to the right of the "Viagra". Those are pieces of Lokum. You may know it better as Turkish Delight. This is a sweet jelly-like candy, usually containing different nuts. It was popularized in the West in the C.S. Lewis novel, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I remember reading that book for the first time, and wondering what exactly Turkish Delight was, and what it tasted like. Today I got to find out, and I can understand why Edmund liked it so much. It's really very good. I bought a package of it for 15 Turkish Liras, which is about 12 dollars. I probably overpaid a little, but the man who sold it to me was very nice; he offered me free samples, as well as some Turkish tea, while he packed my box. He also vacuumed sealed it, and told me that it would stay for 5 months. I may try to get it home somehow.

After walking around the bazaar, I understood why every tour book about Istanbul talks about the mix between the East and the West. Istanbul really is the link between these two worlds. The city streets have a very cosmopolitan, European feel, with narrow cobblestone roads, trams, and nice restaurants with outdoor seating everywhere. On the other hand, the city also has bazaars, carpet shops, and a middle eastern ambiance.

And mosques. There are so many mosques in Istanbul-almost all of them designed in the distinct Ottoman style of a large domed building surrounded by minarets. The muezzin also does his call here; it was interesting to hear the difference between this one and the ones in Morocco. The one in Istanbul has a more sing-song like quality; I'll try to get a video of it tomorrow.

I walked over to the Hagia Sophia after this. This massive structure was built during the days of the Byzantine Empire, by the emperor Justinian, as a church. It was later converted to a mosque, and then made into a museum (there are no longer religious services held here). Some pictures, day and night, of the Hagia Sophia:


The Hagia Sophia sits at one end of a large and beautiful courtyard, that has many other historical structures in it, including the Basilica Cistern, which I will visit in addition to the inside of the Hagia Sophia tomorrow, and the Sultanahmet Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque. This is still a functioning mosque, and sits directly opposite the Hagia Sophia. I went inside this one today; in order to go inside, you must be wearing modest clothing (no shorts, and women's arms and hair should be covered). You must also remove your shoes before entering, and non-muslims are not allowed into the prayer area of the mosque. They provide plastic bags for you to carry your shoes in though. This mosque was also very big, and very beautiful:


Finally, after visiting the Blue Mosque, I passed by an outdoor restaurant just below it, and caught the tail end of a Whirling Dervish show. The Whirling Dervishes were members of the Mevlevi Order, and used their dance as a religious practice. They were outlawed during the secular revolution of Turkey, but this ban was removed in the 1950s. Here's a video of part of the show:

That was it for today. More on Istanbul coming tomorrow...