Third Installment:
For the first full day of our tour, we were supposed to meet in the hotel lobby at 9:00 AM. Elena and I went up to the top floor again for breakfast and found that the Obelisk breakfast was even better than the Sphendon’s. In one area was a row of hot trays with some hot Turkish breakfast pastries, “sausage” (which was really just cut up hot dogs), fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, and fresh fried eggs (these went fast; you had to pounce when a new tray was brought out). There was also an area with fresh fruits and vegetables (apparently it’s ok in Turkey to have a tossed salad for breakfast), cold cuts, and cheeses. Another area had a few fresh whole loaves of bread (white and whole wheat) with a cutting board and knife, as well as four kinds of cookies and a coffee cake. Finally, there was an area with fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, and tea.
After having our fill of breakfast and showering, Elena and I met with the rest of the group in the lobby. We all took a walk (about 10 minutes) to the Topkapi Palace. The palace was already crowded, and Taylan took us to a quieter area of the palace’s main courtyard and gave us a little history lesson about Turkey. We then walked over to the harem area of the palace. Apparently the sultan in the palace had five wives, many concubines available to him, and a group of “favorites” who usually were chosen from to sleep with the sultan. According to Taylan, this set up wasn’t for the pleasure of the sultan, but rather was a way of carrying on the lineage of the sultan, to guarantee that there would be a male heir to take over when the sultan died. The harem area was simple but attractively decorated. We then went to the treasury of the palace and saw a lot of decorated objects and jewels. One of these was the famous Topkapi Dagger, which was the target of the thieves in the movie “Topkapi” (which I really need to see again now that I’ve been to Istanbul and have seen what they wanted to steal). We also went into the Hall of Holy Relics, which had a number of relics of religious figures and an imam reading verses from the Quran. Apparently an imam is reading like this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
After visiting the Topkapi Palace, the group broke up for lunch. Elena and I went to what Taylan called a “point and shoot” restaurant, which was really just a cafeteria where you point to the tray of food you want and they put a portion of it on your tray. I had lamb stew and I think Elena had a salad with chicken. It was pretty good food and not too expensive.
After lunch, the group reformed and we took a tram to the Burned Column, which is near the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is a huge shopping area with lots of small shops offering all types of goods. Taylan took us through the bazaar pretty briskly, but he focused a bit on some shops with an amazing array of solid gold objects and jewelry and some others selling objects of solid silver. Taylan said that Armenians are superb silversmiths, while Turks are natural salesmen who sell the Armenians’ goods. We also took a look at a number of men who were trading currency, a more modest version of Wall Street. These are the guys who affect the rate of exchange of the Turkish lire. We took a break for some tea in a nice little open café right in the heart of the bazaar. It was good to rest at this point, since we had already done a lot of brisk walking and our senses were a bit overwhelmed by the sights of the bazaar.
After tea, we continued our walk through the Grand Bazaar, and then made our way through very winding and hilly streets to the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent. Once again we saw evidence of the welcoming attitude of Istanbul residents toward cats: in a row of arched stone structures with bars, someone had put food for cats, and in each opening there was a cat enjoying the food. Again we removed shoes and donned scarves (in the case of the women) when we entered the mosque. Though the Blue Mosque is more beautiful from the outside (nothing much compares to it), Elena and I found the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent to be prettier on the inside. After a brief viewing, we put on our shoes and continued our walk.
Our final stop of the day was the Egyptian Spice Market. Here Taylan left us to shop, though he said that in an hour and a half, if anyone wanted help with getting back to the hotel, he would meet with them in front of the market’s entrance and get them back to the hotel. Elena and I, being severely directionally challenged, decided to take him up on his offer. But we took the time to stroll through almost all of the Spice Market, which specializes in souvenirs, spices, and sweets. This apparently is the best place to buy the famous confection, Turkish Delight (kind of like a chewy, solidified jelly, with different flavors and nuts added), and Elena and I sampled a number of different kinds before purchasing some. After browsing through the Spice Market, Elena and I met up with Taylan and about six other members of our group, and we made our way to the tram and back to the hotel.
After resting briefly, Elena and I walked to a recommended fish restaurant, just a five-minute walk from the hotel. One thing about eating fish in Istanbul: it seems that they really like to serve the whole fish, head, tail, eyes and all. So we specifically requested our fish to be filleted when we ordered our meals. The food was good, though maybe not quite worth the price. (Keep in mind Elena and I have spent a lot of time in Baton Rouge, LA, where food generally and seafood especially are taken very seriously.) One interesting experience we had in the restaurant occurred when a couple of colleagues from our tour spotted us and started to join us at our table. For some reason, the waiters wouldn’t let this couple sit right next to us. No matter how much the couple indicated they wanted to sit next to us and we indicated that this was fine, the waiter kept repeating,“Please, please,” and moved the couple over one table. Eventually, the couple capitulated, and we occasionally conversed across a couple of empty seats. I asked Taylan about this later, but he had no explanation for the waiter’s behavior. (I think maybe he thought a young to middle aged couple should be encouraged to spend quality time with just each other. Or maybe he just wanted to cause some mischief.)
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