Change In Plans

This short post describes what we have been up to over the last four days in Istanbul. Overall, we have found Istanbul to be an outstanding place to visit. The history is fascinating, the scenery and climate are great, and the people and culture are engaging. The language, of course, is impossible, but we are doing our best.

Over the weekend we saw many of the major Istanbul sights:

• The Grand Bazaar - a huge covered market in the old part of the city. Apparently it is the oldest continuously operated place of commerce in the world. Now it is about one third tourists and two thirds local people buying things they need.
• The Haghia Sophia - an ancient, huge cathedral which was converted into a mosque and then converted into a secular museum (good compromise). I found out that it is pronounced “I-uh so-FEE-uh.” The cathedral was built by the Emperor Justinian, starting in 532, designed as “an earthly mirror of the heavens”. It was finished in 537 AD, which was extraordinarily quick work, given how massive it is. 900 years later (!), the Moslems controlled Istanbul, and the building was converted into a mosque (minarets added, vestibule indicating location of Mecca, etc.). 500 years after that, Ataturk declared that it should be a museum, which probably prevented a lot of squabbling. Walking the marble floors, which are grooved with 1500 years of foot traffic, looking at thousand-year old mosaics, and thinking about the people who have worshipped there was truly inspirational. Haghia Sophia is a special building.
• Basilica Cistern - a huge underground water tank, also built by Justinian in 532 AD. The reservoir measures 165 meters by 65 meters, and is 8 meters high. It’s arches are supported by 336 stone columns. We drank coffee and hot chocolate at the small underground cafe, listening to the water dripping around us, and imagining the lives of the workers who built the cisterns 1500 years ago.
• Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) - with its 6 minarets, and beautiful tile and stained glass, built in the early 17th century. It is still used for worship, so the building was packed with Moslems coming in for sundown prayers.
• Galata Bridge - crossing the “Golden Horn” into the old part of Istanbul on foot, seeing hundreds of fishermen, and being tempted by the cafes and fish restaurants on the bridge’s lower level.

We have been able to walk and take the tram (which was fun on its own) pretty much everywhere.

Yesterday, we took an hour-long boat trip on the Bosphorus. It left from a little square just north of our hotel, with a picturesque old mosque next to the ferry dock. We motored up the European side, toward the Black Sea, and down the Asian side, looking at the houses and fishermen on the banks. We also saw dozens of huge jellyfish in the water.

This evening, we walked the length of Istiklal (Independence) Street, along a ridge in the Beyoglu district, from Taksim Square. The street is a mile-long pedestrian boulevard, lined with cafes, shops, backgammon parlors, and 19th-century apartments. We finally found an English-language version of the last Harry Potter book (at Robinson Crusoe, great bookstore). We also bought him an official Fenerbahce soccer jersey, which they customized with “zola 9″ on the back.

We had dinner at a restaurant, Leb-i-Derya, on the 6th floor of an Istiklal hotel. The windows looked out on the Bosphorus, on the Asian side of Istanbul, and down to the old city. The view was spectacular.

Overall, everyone in the family is giving Istanbul two thumbs up. It is not cheap (the Turkish lira feels overvalued by 30-50%), but maybe more on that later. Tomorrow we leave for Cappadoccia, and then for a week of sailing ont he Turkish coast.