Iconic Istanbul

Tuesday 15 Sept 2015 – “Iconic Istanbul” Tour

We met our guide, Yildiz (means STAR) in the lobby of the Radisson Blu Istanbul Pera Hotel just before 9 AM.  There were 17 participants in this excursion, including 6 from Chicago.  We headed from the hotel to the Rustum Pasha Mosque, which is adjacent to the famous Spice Bazaar (a/k/a Spice Market.) 

Things have gotten more conservative since I last visited Istanbul in 2007 (not just my opinion; this was commented upon independently and repeatedly by our tour guide.)  I knew I might need to wear a headscarf while visiting mosques; now I also had to don a floor length – elastic waist skirt before entering.   The mosque itself is beautiful and a good choice for an introduction to Islam, courtesy of Gulse.  While small, it has the typical mosque setup, with the bonus of eye-height Ismir Tiles which are gorgeous and date back to the 16^th century.  We learned that some of the colors produced at that time are no longer possible to create, due to depletion of minerals used to create those colored glazes at the time.   We also learned that the color “turquoise” is (a) Turkey’s national color and (b) named after Turkey – TURQ Blue, or Turkish Blue. 

From this Mosque we took a quick walk down an alley, already redolent with fragrances from the spice market below, then around the corner.  Outside on the perimeter of the spice market is a fresh food market, with different stalls specializing in various items, e.g., fruit, fish, candy, meat, cheese, olives and grape leaves for dolmas.  Our tour guide kept emphasizing that at the time we were there (approximately 10:15 AM) it was NOT CROWDED.  Gulse shepherded us to one of her favorite stalls, where we sampled delicious LOKI (Turkish Delight) made with honey instead of sugar, and fresh honey roasted sesame covered pistachios.  We also sampled  a “BBQ spice” as well as saffron.  I was looking for a headscarf (which I forgot to bring with me) so I headed down the hall.  I found a stall with beautiful products.  A word here – the salesmen here (no saleswomen!) are very, very skilled at their job.  They have a preternatural way to create a rapport with one, which is quickly replaced with confusion/GUILT if you don’t buy anything.  Plus flattery!  We were on a schedule and I had a VERY difficult time extricating myself from a self-described former US Marine, who spoke perfect English,  Daoud (Call me Dave) at one stand…

From the Spice Market we headed to a spot that I had visited in 2007, and was delighted to return to, the Chora Church.   Istanbul had had many iterations, including Byzantinium, Constantinople, and finally Istanbul which we learned means “toward the city.”  This is the name adopted by the conquering Ottomans in the 17^th Century.  The Chora Church, as with many other monuments in Istanbul, was originally a church, with GORGEOUS mosaic renderings of biblical scenes.  The artwork concerned Jesus Christ, but even more, his mother, Mary.  We learned that the Eastern Orthodox tradition gives Mary a backstory…I had visited this site in 2007 and continue to be impressed by the incredible artistry of those unknown artists who conceived of these images, and even more to the three tiers of craftsmen who made their artistic and spiritual visions come to life – Three tiers?  One group of artisans composed the mosaic backgrounds, while a second crafted the clothing and background images.  The third, most skilled group, created the faces of the various saints.

After the Chora Church, we headed back to Istanbul, almost across the street from the Spice Market, to a modern restaurant called SURPLUS.   This is located on the Bosphorus, on the roof of what once was a prison.  We enjoyed a “set menu” during which I sampled Manti, a traditional Turkish dish, for the first time.  It sounds odd to western tastes – but it’s yogurt thinned with stock and flavored with lots of garlic, in which are floated small stuffed ravioli-type noodles. 

After lunch, we headed to the Blue Mosque and then the Hagia Sofia, which continues to amaze me, as it was built 1000 years prior to the Duomo in Florence.   We had a quick walk through both of these monuments before driving back to the hotel. 

There was a dinner party on our schedule but we elected to stay in to continue catching up from our jet lag!!!

Interior of the Rustom Pasha Mosque, which is situated partially above the Spice Bazaar.

 

Rustom Pasha Mosque Interior

Detail of 16th Century Ismir Tiles

Date Stand outside of Spice Bazaar

Fresh Fish on display

Olives, and grape leaves for dolmas

Demonstration of Persian Saffron

Display of Sweets

More Sweets

Cupola with disciples - Chora Church

Peacock detail on Mosaic

View of Galata Tower from Surplus Restaurant

View of Bosphorus from Restaurant

Blue Mosque - Interior

Prayer in the Blue Mosque

Rich with Hagia Sofia in Background

Hagia Sofia Interior

Hagia Sofia Dome

Ista'N'Bull

Well, that's the name of the steakhouse restaurant on the ground floor of our hotel.  Our chef trained in Europe, but according to huge pieces hung from the wall, all the food served here is sourced locally, and the meat produced in Turkey is the best the Chef has ever sampled.  Based on our dinner tonight, it WAS  pretty darn delicious!

We arrived in Istanbul yesterday at around1 PM local time, after leaving San Diego at 6:30 AM to Washington, DC, then leaving there at about 6 PM for a 6-hour flight to Frankfurt, then leaving there at about 9:30 for our 3-hour flight to Istanbul.  Simple, right?  Except for the little matter of time zones,  I have found that melatonin is very helpful, despite the very vivid dreams!  Plus I have a little ambien on the side.  I took 1/2  as the flight from DC to Germany was only 6 hours.

We arrived in Istanbul on schedule, and after retrieving our bags, we were met by a rep from the Cruise Line who directed us to the driver for our hotel.  We are staying in the Pera district, basically across the street from The Golden Horn (a waterway in Istanbul.)  Our hotel has a notable restaurant, called Hamdi, perched on its rooftop terrace which serves a huge variety of Turkish specialties cooked to order and served alongside a magnificient view.  We were very fatigued by the time we made it to dinner, but, dontcha know, at about 2 AM we were bright eyed and bushy tailed!  Managed to fall back to sleep until the breakfast room opened at 5:30 AM.

I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul once before, while my daughter was doing her study abroad program.  During that visit I stayed at a hotel near the Marmara Sea and the breakfast was hearty but limited - sliced cucumbers, tomatoess, fresh bread, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, fruit and lots of cheese.

This hotel is clearly geared more to a foreign expectation, and the breakfast buffet was incredible, incorporating elements both of US and UK breakfast buffets, but with a decidely Turkish spin.  There were FOUR separate areas - PIDE, (bread) featurimg not only bread and a toaster but also continental style pastries alongside typical Turkish baked goods.  The most unusual item was a "sleeve" from a honeycombe, wax intact, for absolutely local honey (alongside about 9 varieties of honey/jam and Nutella, Peanut Butter, etc.)  There was a salad stand with tomatoes, several varieties of lettuce, cheese, olives and lots of spices.  After that came an impressive display of olives and coldcuts (no pork.)  That moved along to beautifully presented fresh cut fruit, served with several yougurt flavors as well as dry cereal, granola and tons of dried fruit. There was a beverage station, too, with fresh squeezed OJ, water, boxed milk (white, chocolate, soya) and my favorite, a big pitcher of water spiked with persian cucumber slices, lemon slices, parsley and mint.  So tasty and refreshing!  Finally there was a hot bar with chef to cook eggs to order, including pork sausage and bacon on request, as well as baked beans, roasted tomatoes and potatoes, eggs cooked with tomato and scrambled plain, as well as hardboiled.

Upon arrival to the hotel, I had booked a slot at their lower ground spa, which is staffed mostly by immigrants from Bali. I had heard of "Turkish Bath" but was unfamiliar with the custom of Hammam, and made an appoinment on the recommendation of the desk clerk.

The Hammam Room was reminiscent of the Roman Bath ruin at Pompeii.  It's a round room covered with white marble, with drainage holes along the meeting of wall to floor.  There is a low round marble table in the center of the room, and large marble basins on either side.  My therapist, stripped down to bra and short shorts, directed me to strip and lie prone on a towel and pillow situated on the round marble table in the room's center.  I've had a LOT of massages/treatments where I was nude under a sheet or a towel - but never one in which I was totally nude.  In my mind, I thought, "it's just like the doctor!" and went with it.  What followed was an intimate but exquisite experience.  The therapist started by getting bowls of warm water from  the basin, and sort of sluicing it over my body.  She then put on a sort of loofah mitt an scrubbed me all over. This was followed by an amazing velvety sensation - when I opened my eyes and peeked, she had large bags of soft suds which were loosed all over my body, followed by another scrub.  Both Turkey and Indonesia (Bali) are predominantly Islamic, so I asked my therapist if she gives treatments to men as well.  Oh No!  There are male therapists for that.

After the bath, I chilled poolside for a few moments while she prepared the massage room.  The massage was basic but felt wonderful following the Hammam treatment, and was followed by a facial.  I swear, I have never been so beautiful :-D  The entire cost for this 2-hour session was a little bit over 300 YTL, or a little bit more than $100 USD.  I looked up Hammam and it's a very close relative to the Roman Baths of approximately 2,000 years ago.  Makes sense; Istanbul (nee' Byzantinium) was once the Eastern Seat of the Holy Roman Empire, after being renamed Constantinople (after Emperor Constantine the Great, in AD 330.)   It fell to the Ottomans in 1453; Istanbul is from the Greek "to the city" and the city was renamed Istanbul after the founding of the official Republic of Turkey in 1930.

While I was getting my treatments, Rich was working out in the adjacent fitness center.  We met at the room and then caught a taxi (TAKSI in Istanbul) for Sultanahmet a/k/a the Blue Mosque.  This was not our actual destination - we were headed instead to the Cistern, which was a water reservoir for the Tokapi Palace and "undiscovered" for hundreds of years - apart from the fact that residents overhead could lower buckets from their ground floor and pull up fresh water, sometimes with a fish!

School Trip?  All dressed up for a photo inside the Cistern

This is what it looks like in the cistern, without flash.

Cistern with Flash

The stone columns etc., in the cistern were "sourced" from ancient Greek and Roman buildings.  Two of the columns are supported by heads, one of Medusa, deliberately placed upside down. 

Fish in the Cistern

From the cistern we returned to our hotel, to rest up and get ready for the start of our tour on Tuesday.