Istanbul: Day 7

Our last full day in Istanbul! Boo! We started it out by visiting the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. The was a lot of stuff. A lot of it was very old. I think they were undergoing some renovation, or maybe they just desperately need to, because it seemed very crammed together and overwhelming. Seeing one or two 6,000 year-old jugs seems like a treat because you'd imagine they'd be very rare. It seems like less of a treat when they're flanked by two dozen others. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but we found ourselves moving through the exhibits fairly quickly, even though some of them were quite interesting.

We spent the afternoon exploring the Grand Bazaar. I don't think I took any pictures for fear that any pause in purposeful pacing would result in my immediately being accosted by the nearest salesman. Still, it was fun to see all the sights!

A few highlights of the evening were the crescent moon hanging out in the perfect spot just above the roof of a mosque and some band covering Beyonce while being carted up and down Istiklal Caddesi on a trolley. A picture of the former and a video (of course!) of the latter follow.

Istanbul: Day 6

Whew! Big break in updates. Sorry! Combination of being super sick, super lazy, and a little bit of being overwhelmed by the this post. On Day 6 we visited the Topkapi Palace. This was the primary residence for the Ottoman sultans for around 400 years and is a massive place (hence being a bit overwhelming). It's funny to start out being completely awed by a place and end up being exhausted of yet more examples of the most beautiful tiles you've ever seen. I'll just jump right into pictures, leaving most of my commentary to their captions.

We weren't allowed photographs in some parts of the Topkapi museum. Particularly in the areas with holy relics. I won't go into too much detail on those, but I will share at least some snark: it was certainly impressive that they were able to assemble so many swords of the prophet's companions and other artifacts you would imagine to have been lost to time. Fortuitous.

After the Topkapi Palace I'm not entirely sure what we did. I think had lunch? Or maybe we went directly to the Blue Mosque. Either way, we eventually ended up at the aforementioned, though were initially turned away as it was prayer time (the Blue Mosque is still active). We wandered around outside for a bit to kill time before being let in, taking a few more pictures.

Finally, we headed to Altan Sekerleme (a fairly famous, family-owned candy store that is apparently something of an Istanbul institution). We tried some of the Turkish delight (delightful!), but I think I may have been most impressed with the Jordan almonds, which actually had a substantial (and delicious) chocolate component. They also had some delicious gummy candy which Grace and I shared while waiting on the metro (and taking embarrassing pictures of each other).

Istanbul: Day 5

Today was a relatively short day. We started off with the Hagia Sofia. Not sure I have all that much to say about it. It's big, beautiful, and particularly impressive given that it was completed in 537. The last part is totally nuts to me. Its history is pretty interesting. It started out as a church, not a mosque, because Islam had not even been invented, yet. It spent around 900 years as a church then another 500 as a mosque before becoming the museum it is today.

The interior seemed surprisingly haphazard to me (perhaps an inevitability in a building so hold that has been re-purposed several times). I took a fair number of pictures and will share a few despite there likely being better ones all over the place.

After the Hagia Sofia we went to the Basilica Cistern, conveniently located across the street. Also built in the 6th century, it was used as a source of water. It was pretty interesting - very atmospheric, almost spooky.

We then had lunch at a thoroughly and unfortunately unremarkable place. Our afternoon was devoted to a (perhaps) requisite experience: Turkish baths. We found a well-regarded place near our apartment. The only issue was that, like pretty much all hamams, this one was gender segregated. Some places segregate physically, but others (like this one) segregate temporally. So Grace went earlier in the afternoon and I went later, meaning it took pretty much the whole afternoon. We could hardly begrudge the time, though, as the experience was very enjoyable (and, to me at least, very novel). Not sure it's something I'd feel the need to do again or on any sort of regular basis, but I'm glad I tried it out.

You basically arrive, change (into a towel), and then get rinsed down before hanging out on a giant, heated marble slab for 20-30 minutes. This was very relaxing, particularly as I went early and was pretty much alone. Then again, I can see the appeal of going with friends and just hanging out. The building itself was very pretty. Obviously I didn't take any pictures, but I'll include a few from the website. After the marble slab, I was thoroughly scrubbed by a burly Turkish gentleman, a phrase I'm not sure I ever anticipated writing. The most interesting part of this was the suds-generation device, for lack of a better term. Basically a large, porous sack that the scrubber would dunk it soapy water, puff outs (like you might with a garbage back) and then wring out to generate a huge quantity of bubbles and suds. Somewhat comical, but effective. I'm not sure my skin has felt quite so smooth in many years.

Istanbul: Day 4

Another fantastic day. For Christmas, Grace bought us tickets for a walking culinary tour of Istanbul. This was an absolute blast! We tried many, many things, some of which I'm sure I'll forget (or at least be incapable of describing correctly).

We started off the day in one of the city's many fish markets, just to see the sights there. Next, we worked through a sort of neighborhood market. There's a Turkish word for it that I'm blanking on. Basically, stores of a certain type will cluster together. So you'll get a small neighborhood comprised entirely of hardware stores, underwear stores, whatever stores. The one we walked through was a cluster of hardware stores. We stopped and had simit (basically a circular soft pretzel encrusted with sesame seeds) with aged kashar (a type of cheese similar to Swiss) and tea. A sort of pre-breakfast breakfast.

Breakfast itself followed. Similar to what we had two days prior, but honestly not quite as good. Except for the clotted cream with honey. This was the establishment's specialty. The cream is from water buffalo raised on a farm owned by the same family. Very, very tasty. Also had a few new things, including rose jam and some sort of cured meat - like a stronger version of prosciutto.

After breakfast stopped at a baklava shop to pick up some pastries and then boarded a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul. Our tour guide prefers the Asian side, and once we got there we could understand why. It's a lot less touristy, the shopkeepers are a lot less pushy, and it's generally a bit more relaxed.

While wandering the market here we tried a bunch of things. Fried clams, mussel shells stuffed with rice and other tasty things, a rolled beef and bread dish that basically amounted to a Turkish burrito, some bulgur-based soup, and finally Turkish coffee. After the coffee our guide left us to our own devices. Grace and I wandered the market some more, found few cool shops, and then crossed back to the European side right at sunset, which was very pretty.