You Look Hungry, or how Day 4 of Istanbul was

To start with, I got sleep! Still woke up at 6:45, but then, wonder of wonders, slept until 9!

Sorry, that was my first highlight of my day. Just a little joy.

So as my last full day, I had a bit of a bucket list:

• Topkapi Palace
• Chora Church
• the City Wall
• Dolmabahce Palace
• the Grand Bazaar
• see whirling dervishes
• smoke nargile (hookah)
• eat mezes (their version of tapas or appetizers)
  

and the only one that I didn't hit was Dolmabahce!

I actually did them in that order too. First, I spent the morning with Elyse and Anna, from Texas (minus the accent). It was pretty chilly this morning, and also threatening rain, but you know me, ever hopeful! (Especially after 9 hours of sleep.)

The Topkapi palace had not one, not two, but four courtyards. I mean, when you're the Sultan, you go all out.

Man, I have gotten jaded though. We were talking in English (as we do), and a guy goes, "Are you from America?" All of us had the first instinct to ignore him, but he tried to reassure us that he "wasn't trying to sell anything." But our radars were already on, so when he asked Anna her age... yeah, it was awkward. I'm sorry, random tourist guy (if you were one... I'm still suspicious) that we were so rude. But it's Istanbul.

The palace courtyards weren't that big, but they were confusing. We walked in and went straight to the Harem because the lines were pretty short.

Now, to clear some things up about "harems." The sultan had up to four wives, which his mother basically picked for him. He also had a "harem," a group of female slaves that served him and his wives (but not in THAT way... at least, not all of them.) Of that group he/his mother could choose up to four favorites. But it wasn't a giant orgy. In fact, every night that the Sultan spent with one of the wives or concubines was written down. The sultan mother was very powerful; in the Harem, she had the apartment between the sultan and almost all of his women. Rick says that that the strict hierarchy and creation of heirs was the reason that the Ottoman Empire lasted so long (and wasn't internally torn up by jealous siblings.) (I just realized not that hierarchy and heir have the 'i' and 'e' switched... interesting.)

I mean, there was also the part of the palace where the sultan put his brothers under house arrest so they wouldn't usurp him. Hey, better than death!

Into the sultan's privy chamber we went next, with another bit of a line to get in. This held many "strangely well-preserved" relics (as Rick put it), such as Moses' rod, a footprint of Mohammed, and David's sword. It was definitely interesting comparing Islam and Christianity. There was also a imam chanting verses from the Qua'ran; there has been some one chanting verses since the 15th century... very impressive.

Also along a wall in the palace grounds was the treasury, which now holds riches from the Ottoman Empire. I waiting in the lines to get in the rooms, but then buzzed around the inside track to get a glance at the robes and jewelry and thrones, instead of queuing up to see everything up close.

One of the impressive ones was the Spoonmaker's Diamond. Allegedly, this 86-carat diamond was found in a trash heap by a man, who then traded it for 3 spoons. This spoonmaker then traded it for some really low amount of money, for it being the 5th largest diamond in the world (and pretty sparkly too!)

I ditched the girls (nicely, and to their faces) and started heading toward Chora Church. It has been on my list almost my whole time here (well, since TJ recommended it to me), but I couldn't find anyone to go with, so began my venture. I looked it up online this morning, and it is a pain to get to. There is a tram and a metro that get within a mile of it, but that mile is the most confusing roads. So, I told myself I would take a taksi.

So a tram, a metro, and half a mile later, I found myself walking lost. I approached a man who pointed me in a direction, then I came across a younger guy and asked him. He actually walked me the final quarter mile to the church. With our lack of a mutual language, our conversation went something like:

Him: (gobblety-gock) some-word-that-sounded-like-university (more gobblety-gock)
Me: I'm a student, yes.
Him: (stare of attempt, then shrug of incomprehensibility)
Me: University?
Him: (same stare, then headshake and back to walking)

It was a great conversation. We did manage to learn each others' names! And I was very grateful, because the quaint back alleys were a pain to navigate.

The church... just amazing. The mosaics and incredibly small and detailed, with action and emotion depicted. It makes me glad that I'm a Christian, because I could actually follow the storyline throughout the church (with a bit of guidance.) There was Mary, and Joseph, and Jesus, from birth to Judgement Day. The miracles... it was pretty.

Well, I made it to the outskirts of the city, so I decided to just take the guidebook "City Wall Tour" and walk back to the Golden Horn and take a taxi from there.

The wall was a piece of history... I loved walking along it (even in the sprinkles. I had to break in my guidebook sometime!) One image that stands out in my memory is a playground situated at the base. How amazing is it that children play meters from where guards used to protect them?

I ended up right by the Golden Horn. Now, I knew that the bridge I was near wasn't the Gelata Bridge (which is an easy tram back to the hostel area), but I wasn't sure how far down it was. So I looked, and the next bridge was far, but not super, super far.

Well, an hour and 4 miles later along the Horn later, I found the Gelata Bridge! It was only another mile maybe to the Grand Bazaar, but I took the tram. Which only really resulted in me getting held up my a throng of people, and have some wandering hands dancing around my body. (And he didn't look Turkish, so no one make that connection. As in-your-face as they are, I have never ever feel in danger of more than my money being "taken" as I was forced to buy something.)

I wandered the Grand Bazaar, but without the squeamishness this time. It was loud and there were plenty of people -- the "first shopping mall," as I read. And interesting back alley intrigued me and I bought an "authentic" 18th century page of Arabic "literature." I bargained! I can do it! The validity of the page is in question, but I don't much care. If it isn't the real thing, it is close enough and pretty enough that I'm happy with my 20-euro-turned-20-lira page (that converts to $30 down to $14, if my memory about the original price serves me correctly.) Dad should be proud.

I had plans to meet up with a group from the hostel to get dinner, see the dervishes, then go out after, so I got back to the hostel to dump my extra jacket and discuss which of the two shows we wanted to see.

Option One: a 25-lira, 1-hour show of a dervish ceremony
Option Two: a 35-lira, 1.5-hour show of dervishes and a few other cultural dances and music

We originally chose option two, because we had heard the dervishes could be a bit repetitive. After a dinner at what we thought was cafeteria-style (it turned out to be a menu), we rushed to the location of option two. There, we were told that the performance had actually been at 17:00, so arriving there at 19:30 didn't help much. So we booked it to the next one, which was sold out. There was, however, light at the end of the tunnel when there was also a 21:00 show.

So we discussed, 3 of us bought tickets, and we headed back to the hostel. I taught Brett backgammon (tavla) on the board he had just bought while watching Turkey's version of "The Next British Superstar" (or the one with the "X"s that the judges can buzz), then went back out to the performance.

If it was a "fake" ceremony, it was done in a believeable way. I was expecting the dervishes to keep there eyes focused on one spot, but during this cleansing ritual, they had them tipped to the side, sometimes with their eyes closed. Yet, they stayed in one place and their footwork was amazingly accurate for spinning for about five minutes each time during three or four parts of the show/ceremony.

It did get repetitive, but only in the last minute. Otherwise, they "perfomed" a good "prayer."

We met back up with Brett, and walked in the sprinkles to a very impressive (and very crowded) hookah bar. As we were walking, a guy walking beside began to invite us to the very place we were already going, so it must have been good.

It was filled with both locals and some tourists, but we got a corner by the television playing, of all things, the Turkish superstar shows again. I tried my first apple tea (delicious, like apple cider), orange tea, and lemon tea. All were sweet and will probably be what I spend my last few lira on.

But, after a day of good company, I didn't have much time to write this. So, now, at a silly hour, I will post for all to see! Goodnight, Turkey. Tomorrow is a travel day. Doha-ho!