The Adventure Continues...Istanbul!!

To top off a perfect summer, I am spending the very last weekend of it in Istanbul with my mom, brother, and sister – a celebration for my mom’s 70^th birthday.  Only after I landed and was looking at the window on the way to my hotel did I realize how little I knew about Istanbul – the culture, the history, the geography – I knew close to nothing.  Both because I had been planning travel itineraries for two straight months and because I was traveling with my very travel savvy and planning family, I figured the greatest contribution I could make to this adventure was to come in without any agenda of my own – happy to follow their leads.  But, my lack of knowledge bordered on irresponsible and disrespectful…I had some major learning to do! 

I landed a day before my travel partners, so had some time to explore Istanbul on my own.  My first stop was into the ceramics shop right next door to our hotel, promising the owner that I would return with my family…and then popped back in to get his recommendation for lunch.  He was the first person to greet me in Spanish.  The Turkish merchants are amazing linguists – and try to address everyone in what they think is their native tongue.  It made me so happy that they would often go through Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and even Turkish before thinking I might be American!  (Omer will play significantly in our story of Istanbul…stay tuned!)   Anyway, I took Omer’s recommendation for lunch and then just started walking. Traveling as a single woman is very different than traveling with two kids, and I made the mistake of speaking to anyone who spoke to me and getting into conversations I eventually learned to just walk away from, but I got the lay of the land and enjoyed seeing this beautiful city from the outside. I didn’t go into any sites, not knowing what would be on the family’s list (and assuming correctly everything would be).

Even though my family’s flight was delayed by an hour or so, getting them to the hotel on Thursday around noon, we still packed in a very full first day.  (It was also the end to my summer of sleep – one day with my family and I’m back to my old self on that point).  Jeff and my mom both arrived with their Rick Steves’ Istanbul guides in hand, so after moving into our room for four (with a couch on the balcony for us to compete for), we took Rick’s advice for a cafeteria style lunch place near the Mosques (Blue and Hagia Sophia) and started his walking tour of the center of Istanbul. 

Our first stop on the tour took us into Hagia Sophia – which was first a church, then a mosque, and now a museum.  It contains unique elements of both the Byzantine (Christianity) and Ottoman (Islam) empires.  Thankfully the Ottomans decided to plaster over the Byzantine church rather than destroy it, so both are visible today.  Hagia Sophia is an impressive piece of architecture that still dominates Istanbul’s skyline and for a thousand years (until the Duomo in Florence), it had the greatest dome in the world.  Walking in you can feel how striking it is and Kat even had to lie down to capture majesty of the dome fully in photos. 

Next we walked by the Golden Milestone (once considered the center of the world from which distances were measured) and stopped at the underground Cistern.  This massive reservoir that used to hold 27 million gallons of fresh water for the growing city of Constantinople is constructed from 336 columns – most recycled from earlier Roman ruins, including these Medusa heads used to prop up a couple of the shorter columns.  In the cistern they had one of those photo places where you could dress like a sultan with your haram around you and Kat decided we needed to pose.  The pictures were really funny (to be scanned later).  

We walked the rest of the Hippodrome, seeing the Egyptian Obelisk, the Column of Constantine, and the Column of the Serpent.  The whole area is set up with street vendors in stalls, because we are here in the month of Ramadan.  The city is very festive after dark, once the fasting has ended for the day. 

We stopped in to visit the shop keeper next door, and as I thought might happen, my mom made a pretty large purchase.  My sister and brother would follow suit soon, but I took longer to make up my mind – requiring many hours of sitting on his couch and looking at all of the beautiful possibilities.  The piece I would have liked, a huge plate in his front window, was totally out of range not only because of the $2000 price tag, but because I would have to buy a new house to put it in. 

At 6:00, my brother could wait for his Turkish bath no longer, so we convinced my mom to join us and headed for the baths.  After wrapping up in towels we were led to a steam room to sit for 10 minutes – and it was hot!  Then they laid us down on a warm marble slab, exfoliated our entire bodies with a loofah and then covered us with sudsy water for the cleaning and massage, followed by a dunk in a cool pool.  By the time we returned from the bath, we all (mom in particular) were very hungry and we went to dinner up the street.  Due to our proximity to the Blue Mosque, there was no wine with dinner – a mistake mom was clear would not happen again this trip!  Kat and Jeff walked back through the Ramadan festivities while mom and I went back to the hotel.  When Kat returned, we had some tea (Turkish apple) with Omer next door before calling it a night.  A very full first day!