on the Golden Horn

It is now Friday night in Istanbul and I am still unable to find the comma on this keyboard.

The morning after we arrived, (hey hey - just found the comma!!!!) Karen and I visited the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha (sp?) mosque, in a quiet neighborhood near the Hippodrome. It was a small mosque, very unpretentious from the outside, but a gem of classic construction inside (designed by the same renowned architect who built some of the major showcases in town). The caretaker let us in and answered all our questions. No photos were permitted, but he was happy to sell me a set of photos, showing the astonishing tile-work, for 10 lira.

After that, we wandered over to the Mosaic Museum - another must-see. Pictures wıll be posted one of these days, but you can look it up.

We headed back to our wonderful little hotel and relaxed on the terrace we had come to love, until it was time to take a cab over to the hotel where we were to meet up with our group. It took a while for everyone to assemble (different flights) but eventually all introductions were made and we went off for an odd dinner, which was in the former soup-kitchen attached to the Sulemaniye mosque.

Our hotel is the World Park Hotel, which bills itself as a 5-Star Establishment. Our room was very hot and we suspected that the air-conditioning was not right. We called and an engineer came up, fiddled with the unit, and assured us it was fixed. We turned on the TV and it did not work. We called and the same engineer reappeared, fiddled with the cables and then it was OK. Then we discovered that the bathroom ceiling was dripping water from the floor above. Aside from that (and the traffic noise and street lights), the room was perfect.

We complained this morning, packed up our bags, asked for another room, and headed off with the group for a full day of sights.

We went to the Turkish Arts museum, which was pretty good. The cruise ships were in town, so the Hippodrome and Blue Mosque area was swarming, so different from when Karen and I visited two days before. We stayed outside while the group braved the throngs in the mosque.

Then we all walked over to the Topkapi palace, but, there too, the tourist swarms were incredible. We saw what we could, but burn-out was happening. We did see some cool, historic rooms, and some amazing treasures (including a major diamond), but it was not a great experience. Maybe Karen and I will go back tomorrow afternoon.

We had a group lunch in a noisy, less-than-wonderful eatery, right near Aya Sophia. The tour company had obviously made an arrangement with this place, and there was the expected grumbling. However, after that, we went to a tourist stop that was perfectly cool.

The Basilica Cistern was built by those amazing Romans around 500. It collected water from various sources in a vast underground chamber, the roof supported by hundreds of enormous pillars, that had been plundered from various sources. It was largely forgotten for over a thousand years, until rediscovery in the 1700s. It was a haunting place. Look ıt up.

It was getting to be a long day by now, but far from over. We boarded our minibus and drove down to the docks near the Galata Bridge. The 11 of us boarded a mid-sized tour-boat and had our promised cruise on the Bosphorus. The rain we had earlier was long-gone, and our 90 minute trip was sunny and breezy. This was a historic passageway, going back to Jason and the Argonauts. This was a relaxing and scenic break in a busy day.

Coming back into the Golden Horn from the Bosphorus, the late afternoon sun highlighted all the palaces and minarets of the dozens of mosques on the hills overlooking this amazing piece of real-estate.

Back at the bus, most of the group was now prepared to head to the Grand Bazaar for more congestion and aggressive shop-keepers. Karen and I left the bus to wander in the neighborhood near the hotel, especially thru the fragrant and visually stimulating Spice Bazaar. We found the hotel and were astonishingly pleased to find that they WERE able to move us to another room, this time on the 5th floor instead of the 1st, with a spectacular vıew of the Golden Horn, Bosphorus, and Galata Tower neighborhood and, most important, a working air-conditioner!

We changed into our bathing suits, headed to the spa where we journeyed between the little pool and the sauna a couple of times, before going back to the room, then out to a wonderful neighborhood kebab joint (Hamdi Restaurant, recommended by the spa guy), for the best-meal-of-the-trip-so-far (and we had dessert, too).

Now we are back at the hotel, my bladder is full from the two beers I had with dinner, and I think I have written just about enough. don't (HEY - just found the apostrophe!) you?

Tomorrow is an optional (i.e. you pay extra) tour, that Karen and I are going to bail on. We will sleep late and then just see what comes. It's our last day in Istanbul - we fly to Izmer Sunday morning. We like this place.

Good night, all.