Last post from Istanbul

You're probably tired of hearing about Istanbul. Just a few last notes. We did get to the Dolmabache Palace. It was opulent beyond belief. Versailles on the Bosphorus, with more furniture. My recollection of Versailles is that many of the rooms were empty. This place is still furnished as it was when the Sultans lived there.

Here is a pic of me with one of the guards at the Bosphorus gate. Here is the gate that faces the street. We were moved through the required tour (it would be dangerous to let tourist roam through such valuable items by themselves) so fast there was no time for pictures. I'm sure you can find some on the internet if you are really interested.

We made it to the Hagia Sophia - another splendid creation - full of beautiful mosaics as well as the ubiquitous Isnik tiles.

We continued to hunt for restaurants that had fish.
Here's one display.

We also ate under this bridge one day with the fishermen above dropping lines right outside the restaurant windows. One of my favorites was the grand bazaar. 4000 shops under one roof with many more in the alleys outside the main building. It is sheer luck alone that I made it out of there with only 3 shirts and a copper coffee set. I nearly succumbed to the extremely good knock off designer bags. I still think about the red Prada knock off I walked away from. Its hard to walk away in this country. Every store and restaurant has a roper standing outside entreating you to come in. They follow you down the street ---"lady, lady wont you come and see my store, no obligation, come in, please...." The only way to deal with this is to treat it as their accepted cultural behavior, say no thank you, walk on or make a joke and leave. Doesn't matter if they are still talking when you walk away. Its a special challenge walking down a street of restaurants, most of which are offering the same thing and all insisting on you coming into their place.

We also walked around neighborhoods where real people lived. I like this shot of the house that's seen better days with the crisp white dresses fluttering outside. This is a park that is just like any other park except the women are all wearing scarfs.



Patti and I are hanging around the last few hours before our plane. Time for one more meal. Today was the perfect day climate-wise. Temp had to be in the mid-60s, sunny with only a slight breeze. Perfect for the last tour of the spice bazaar.

Back to Armenia and winter.

Istanbul, March 2

This palace is the dolmabache, where Ataturk spent some time after Turkey became a republic. One of the Sultans built this place. It looks glorious from the outside. We are going to try to get there but our things to do list keeps getting longer, not shorter. We have decided one more visit to Istanbul is a must while we are in Armenia.

This is Ataturk's yacht.

Not all boats are that glamorous.

This is an old fortress. I think it started in the Roman times and after the turks took over, was rebuilt to defend Istanbul in one of the many wars that were happening in the 15th and 16th centuries. This is the narrowest part of the Bosphorus.

After the river trip, our guide took us to the spice bazaar. Again, pictures can't capture the size, bustle, energy of this place. A huge covered area filled with spice vendors and about everything else, all wanting your attention. We had a big advantage when our guide took us to her favorite place. The owners spoke English, were very friendly and patient, had us taste many of the their wares and fed us apple tea and sweets while we were buying like it was the last shopping trip of our lives.

What a place.

This guy was a real sweetie. "here, miss, look at this... taste this... etc."

After we filled out bags, we left them in the store to pick up later and wandered around the bazaar for a couple more hours, continuing to be amazed at the variety of products available, particularly after the paucity of even basic on Armenia.

We are continuing to eat well, and have kept our promise to have fish at every meal. We have broken that promise in favor of some kebabs. We do eat fish at least once a day.

The next day took us to Topkopi palace. We spent several hours gawking at the spendor in which the sultans lived. The jewels alone present an unimaginable opulence. The kitchen serving dishes were giant ming dynasty blue and white platters and exquisite celadon porcelain. Pots for cooking for 400 of your closest and dearest friends. And again, those beautiful, beautiful tiles.I'll include a couple of pictures of some of the tiles in the various rooms. I'll leave more on the dropshots website so dont forget to look there (www.dropshops.com/elizpou).

In the evening, we went to a big train station where we saw whirling dervishes. It is a religious service for them so we werent sure whether we should be clapping or not.

You'll have to look pics up on the internet. We didn't think cameras would be allowed so didnt bring them. They were mesmerizing, graceful and neither of could figure out why they didnt throw up or fall down when they stopped whirling. The exhibition lasted about an hour. The first half hour sufi (their sect) musicians played. Then 5 men came out wearing long black cloaks with full white robes underneath. Their hats are about 15 " tall boiled wool stovepipes. They look like the coneheads except they were flat instead of pointed on top. After what seemed like some prayers and other ritual movements (lots of bows and walking around with their hands crossed over their chests), they started turning --- and turning--- and turning, their arms unfolded and stretched out above shoulder height, their heads tilted to the right, circling the floor and spinning for as long as 10 minutes at a time. They would stop, fold their arms, do a few more bows and ritual movements, (all the while the music is continuing), then unfold and start again.

Yesterday, we walked across one of the bridges between old and new Europe and spent most of the day wandering around the main pedestrian street. Its a beautiful area, full of gorgeous 18th century 3 and 4 story buildings, interspersed with some pretty ordinary modern office and apartment buildings. The pedestrian street is loaded with every kind of shop you can imagine. The side streets lead you down narrow passages also chock full of retail opportunities. This is a picture of a second hand book store. Notice the "working" cat in the box outside the store. Cats in Istanbul seem to have a pretty decent life. Here's one we saw in an area of fish stores. The fish looked very fresh so we stopped in that block and gorged on fried mussels and anchovies. I've not had anchovies except in the can. These fresh ones were about 3 to 4 inches long, fried whole and eaten bones, head, tail and all. Yum.

Last night, we were tired from our day of walking and decided to eat close by the hotel. After looking at several places (Istanbul is full of choices), we settled on one that looked very Turkish. Lots of rugs and water pipes. The people in it were youngish and looked to me like 1969. Must have been children or grandchildren of hippies. Smoking tobacco (I think) from giant water pipes, drinking beer and talking. I forgot my combo dining/event motto (never order Chinese food in a restaurant that features punk bands, even if it is named Madame Wongs) so our dinner was not up to par of the other meals.

Its raining this morning. Cant decide between the grand bazaar and Hagia Sophia. Another post later.

Istanbul, February 27

Here I am in Istanbul. I've just finished the third day. Patti and I left Yerevan at 3:30 in the morning Wednesday morning. No easy flight opportunities out of Armenia. Our country director did us a wonderful favor. Because of political rallies, travel to Yerevan was prohibited so we needed special permission and would have been confined to the peace corps office until time to leave for the airport. The director invited us to her house, where we had a lovely dinner, great conversation and a peace corps driver to take us to the airport. Other than the hour, a very painless travel experience.

Istanbul has 3 areas divided by water. The Bosporus runs to the Black Sea and divides the city into Europe and Asia. The European side is divided into old and new. Our hotel in Istanbul is in the old section, about a 10 minute walk to the blue mosque, hagia sophia and Topkopi palace and a 15 minute walk in the other direction to the spice bazaar. It is a modest place with a modern bathroom, three twin beds (one for our suitcases) and a small TV with BBC. In fact, I'm watching the news now. I don't think I'm missing too much.

The city is full of the contrasts you would expect in a place inhabited by Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks over the centuries – 14 million people in Istanbul alone. Old vs. new is one of the contrasts – very modern buildings adjacent to majestic structures several centuries old.

Here's a pic of a cemetary on an active city street with modern shoe stores across the street.

We took a little rest after we arrived at our hotel, then started acting like tourists. First was a 6^th century cistern built by Justinian – 336 doric, ionic and corinthian columns apparently constructed from ruining buildings, each 9 meters tall. Its an erie sight.

Two special treats –

throughtout the

cistern, little tables with old hats and jewelry.

And two Medusa heads supporting columns in one corner. One of the heads is upside down, the other sideways. If y

ou look at the attached pic carefully, you can see the carved snakes in her hair.

Next was the Blue Mosque. Pictures really don't tell the story of how beautiful the tiles are.

As we walked around the neighborhood, we were solicited by every vendor on the street wanting to show us his wares. "Come in, come in, come to my store, let me show you my beautiful..........". After three days, we are much better at saying no thank you and moving on while they are still talking. However, on the first day, we ended up looking inside many more shops than we wanted. Patti and I were lured in there, then involved for over an hour seeing dozens of rugs, drinking apple tea and learning that the man in the pic has a father who has a carpet store in Charlotte, NC of all places. This pic shows me perilously close to buying $4000 worth of rugs – beautiful but not exactly in a retiree's budget.

When we finally escaped from the rug store, we wandered around the neighborhood awhile, enchanted with the people, the architecture, the ambiance, the warm weather, etc. We stopped at a charming place for our first Istanbul meal, and in keeping with our pledge to eat fish every day, ordered a plate of mezes (wonderful little appetizer dishes – think tapas) and grilled calamari. Like eating manna.

The next day found us taking a ½ day cruise on the Bosphorus. We were a group of two, so it was essentially a private tour.

Our guide first took up on top of one of the 7 hills of Istanbul, giving us details that included the romantic story of its name (Pierre Loti, an adventurer in the 19^th century who ended up spending most of his time in Istanbul in a star-crossed relationship with a married woman). We walked around a perfectly sited outdoor cafe, overlooking the Bosphorus and a hillside graveyard, also perfectly sited so the departed will have good views of the river.

Then we mounted a boat and motored up the Bosporus around the Golden Horn and then back, seeing sights on both European shores and the Asian side. Amazing to think about a city bridging two continents. Here are some of the things we saw: I loved the contrast of the modern bridge and the 19th century mosque. I'll post the next several pics and dialog tonite. Right now, Patti and I are going to walk across a bridge that will take us from old Europe to new Europe where we will spend most of the day exploring that part of the city.