Leaving today! It has been a great trip and I have learned sooooooo much!!!

Yesterday we took the ferry to the Prince Islands. We can see these from our hotel so it didn’t take too long to get there. What is unique about these beautiful islands is that no cars are allowed. There are horse and buggies, and bikes. The town we went to was quite quaint and had a lot of Ottoman style houses. the flowers looked like they were on steroids. After a lunch on the water, we lounged and swam at a private beach. It was nice but not Cape Cod. However, the water was much warmer than the Cape! It was nice to spend our last day on the beach. Then it was back to Istanbul and our last dinner together. We ate at a fish restaurant and had sea bass. There was a calamari appetizer that was the best I have ever had.

I can’t say I will miss the crowds of Istanbul but I will miss all the history and the views of the water. I will really miss all the wonderful people in my group and my great roommate, Deb.

Bye, bye Turkey!

The tour guide took us on a fast paced tour of the Dolmabahce palace. It.was so fast it would make your head spin! I’m not sure why they did this but we passed four huge cruise ships anchored in the harbor, on our way to the palace. Maybe they were expecting a very busy day.

This palace was built to rival Versailles and the other massive European palaces. It does this in a very garish way. To give you an example, the Grand Ceremonial Hall has the largest chandelier (four-and-a-half ton), room, and carpet in Europe. Can we say overcompensation? There is a huge center dome and balconies for the orchestra. High in the wall are windows for harem ladies to watch from above. It was built from 1843-1856, to prove they weren’t, “the sick man of Europe”. They borrowed heavily to build it and this of course, made them sicker! They were bankrupt within twenty-five years.

There is such a a big contrast between the Turkish style,Topkapi, and this very western, and garish style of the mid-1800’s.

This palace was fascinating in a couple of ways: The multi-faceted mirrors above the fireplaces are angled to provide more heat into the room, good thing, these are huge rooms. An even bigger surprise was that the Sultan’s apartment has a squat toilet!

As we were rushing through our visit I wondered if this palace also had a harem and sure enough, it does. Harem means protection and it is a separate section for the women. The most clever and beautiful girls are chosen. Often they were slaves purchased at an early age of nine or ten. They would be educated for seven years. The girls not chosen by the Sultan as a “partner” are married to other high officials. They were given dowries, jewelry, and a salary they could take with them.

Fun fact – All the clocks are stopped at 9:05, in memory of the death of Ataturk.

I’m including some sites from our scavenger hunt that started in Taksim Square. It was very quiet, no protests, and the road we walked down was filled with very nice shops and restaurants.

I think they have been building us up to this. Each day we seem to walk further and further, up and down more hills. This is a good because we continue to eat too much food and are given scrumptous sweets by people on the street and when we stop for tea.

We took a historical walk around the city comparing older Ottoman style buildings with those from the 19th and 20th century. The Ottoman style encorporated upper story windows that extended outward from the building to catch the breeze. The earliest buildings were built of wood and there is a tall stone firetower because fire was a major threat. Public buildings are created of marble, cement, and such but still have some of the same architectural features, the later ones encorporating elements from the west. As we walked, there were many narrow, twisty, two-way, one lane streets. People walk down these streets and then move to the sidewalk when a car comes along. We ran into a film crew as they were filming down one of these quaint streets.

We took the tunnel up to the Gelata tower, it is the second oldest subway built in the world, and thank god it is there. This is a very steep hill. We drank Raki, a tasty anise flavored drink, in the hotel next to the tower and we had an excellent view. Galata was a Genoese (Italian city-state) colony from the Byzantine time into the Ottoman.

Rule #1
Always observe where you are walking or else you will fall flat on your face! Several people in the group have bit the dust. Luckily, I’m not one of them. I just hope that by stating this, I’m not jinxing myself. The ground is very uneven and there are holes and steps where you least expect them.

Energy conservation seems to be a theme;

The escalators in the mall only turn on when someone walks onto them.
The light in the hallways and stairwells come on as you walk into it and go off afterwards.
The room key goes into a holder on the walls and then you can use the lights and air conditioning. It all goes off when you take the key out.
The air-conditioning won’t work if the windows are open.
Quite a few houses have solar panels on their roofs to heat water tanks.
We saw a couple wind farms and personal wind turbines.
The shower must be short or the water will run out all over the bathroom
Recycling bins at the University
Blow dryer – the buttons must be held to use it, this gives your finger a work out!

Stray cats and dogs are all over the place, mostly cats. The dogs have their shots and are tagged. The cats appear to be well fed and there is food set out for them in many places.

Fun fact- The Mediterranean Sea is the White Sea in some languages. There are two theories about the name of the Golden Horn. Number one reason, the sun sets in the west and colors it gold, or because of all the money that flowed in on this waterway from all over the known world.

I’m attaching some random pictures. One is of the fish from the Seafood restaurant under the bridge. Some are of the excellent food we had at an Armenian restaurant and a few of the mosaics at a Greek Orthodox church now the Chora Museum, the bus doing a U-turn in the middle of traffic, Taksim Square, and an Afghan War rug woven in the 1980’s when they were fighting the Soviet Union. It has guns in it!

There is a picture of the old Byzantine wall and a place where the group, without a few of us chickens, climbed up.

Another walking tour! I feel as though I logged a hundred miles yesterday. I know this is an over exaggeration but it felt like this because it was our first really hot day and there were Saturday crowds in the streets. In some areas, it really was a swarming sea of humanity!

First we walked past Istanbul University. It is very large and stately but we couldn’t go in for security reasons. Then it is on to our first mosque of the day.

I’m starting to get “mosque weary” but the Suleymaniye Mosque really was beautiful. It was created by the great architect, Sinan, in 1557. It is a mosque complex which means it was built to contain a school (Medresse), hospital, a market, bathes, … These can be used by the public, all designed to make everyone happy! 🙂 it also contains the tombs of Suleyman the Great and a separate tomb for his wife, Roxelana (a former slave from probably the region of the Ukraine). it is a very large complex.

The central dome is supported by smaller domes. Sinan has pushed the supports back into the wall to open up the space. The dome is large but it’s not as big as the AyaSophia, the ancient Byzantine church they were all trying to outdo.

Iznik tiles are used in some places for decoration and the red color is brought in. Some of the painting in the dome shows a connection with western style.

The next mosque we visited was the Rustem Pasha mosque. Wow! It is full of beautiful Iznik tiles! Rustem Pasha was the Grand Vizier and married Suleyman’s daughter. Talk about sleeping your way to the top! As this mosque attests, he apparently did very well for himself.

From here it was a fight through the crowds to visit the spice market. It was an assault to the ears, eyes, and especially, the nose! I liked this better than the Grand Bazaar, it is smaller, and smells a whole lot better!

In the evening we attended a Whirling Dervish performance. It was very cool. They slowly turn around and around and then while spinning, they circle around each other. Everything is representative of God and the cosmos. The idea is to become closer to Allah, It is all very mystical. We couldn’t take pictures so the I’m including the journal entry of a fellow teacher, Stacey Fisher. As you can probably tell, she is an art teacher.

Today we started with a carpet crawl, as we learned about Turkish carpets, we literally crawled on the floor looking at them and trying to choose the best ones. A very interesting man told us what to look for. He showed us some carpets that were a couple hundred years old and still looked great. A good carpet lasts forever. Some of them he referred to as “ugly old carpets”.

After the carpet experience we went to a craft school and watched a demonstration on paper marbling, it was incredible. They start out with a tray filled with what looks like gray, muddy water. Then colors are added, swirled, brushed… When the paper is put in it and lifted, a picture is present. They are very pretty and this looks like a difficult skill to learn. (Note- The pictures are in the opposite order of production)

Our next stop was a carpet store for another lesson and a demonstration. A traditional weaver showed us her skills, she was amazingly fast. Unfortunately this is a dying skill and fewer and fewer people choose to do this as a profession. This will also raise the price of authentic carpets. 😦

On to the Market, the Grand Bazaar, to practice our skills in ignoring the hawkers and saying NO! As we walk the streets we are constantly accosted by carpet sellers, trinket sellers,… You name it, they want to sell it to you! For those people who made purchases, learning to bargain was another skill added to the list.

This grand building was built by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian, in 532 A.D.. He wanted to make a big statement and create a religious building to exceed Solomon’s ancient temple in Jerusalem. Built as a church, it was changed into a mosque when the Ottomans took over in 1453. The Muslims eventually covered the mosaics, and the icons were taken down. The Dome has collapsed twice (from earthquakes) and been rebuilt. When Turkey becomes a secular country in the 1920’s, Ataturk makes it a museum. There are some pretty fabulous old mosaics that have been left uncovered. This building is huge and heavy! Call me crazy but all I could think about as we were in the upper balcony, way up high, was how heavy all that marble is resting on those 1600 year old columns, and the earthquakes. I was glad to go back downstairs and out the door!

The Vikings were here! There is also graffiti carved into the marble on the upper balcony by 9th century Vikings! Yes, really!

The Best Thing Ever! I got my picture taken with the famous Aya Sophia cat, also known as Obama’s cat because they say when he came to visit, this cat kept twining itself through his legs. Cats are such a good judge of character! I’m sure it would have bit our previous president!

Down on the lower level is a marble urn from the Hellenistic period, during the time of Alexander the Great. It was used in Dionysius ceremonies and filled with wine. 🙂 A shame that religion fell by the wayside!

We rode the ferry back to Asia for dinner. Doesn’t it sound amazing? Actually the ferry ride is only about 20 short minutes across the Bosporus strait. The culture on the other side seems very different, much more western. I guess that’s because we are staying in the part of the Old City where the largest mosques are, and there are a lot of visitors from other countries observing Ramazan.

The dinner was much more traditional and very good. As usual, there were four or five courses. Just roll me out of here!

Built – 1459-78. This palace was inhabited for four centuries and additions and renovations were made over time. There is a succession of courtyards from semi private to less private. Unlike many western European palaces it is a multi- purpose building, functioning as the treasury, government, court, home, stables, bath, dormitory for pages,… These are all wrapped into one palace, not separate buildings. It does have a wall and is a fortress but this is more a symbol of Imperial seclusion, it’s not very defensive.

By the way, not to rub it in but the weather was perfect today! The palace complex sets at the tip of the peninsula and there is a constant breeze. The view is of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Golden Horn. Fabulous!

I know there are a lot of pictures here but this is only a third of what I took.

I’m heading to the top floor for our info session at 8:00 a.m. after another late night (I’m not complaining). I step off the elevator and WOW! The Blue Mosque is right in front of me. Yes, I walked around it last night, I know it is there but to exit the elevator on your way to class and see it right in front of you is truly spectacular! It reminds me I am in Istanbul, Turkey, in this wonderful historical place.

I Passed the Dress Test!
So, today we went to the Blue Mosque. It is called this because the tiles inside are the famous Iznik blue tiles. It was so crowded with tourists that it made me really appreciate the mosques we visited in the other towns. Yes, it is beautiful but it still doesn’t compete with the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. So, as we get close to the entrance there are racks of robes with scarves and two guys telling people to take one or motioning them through if they are dressed appropriately. I Passed The Test!

This mosque was built to rival Hagia Sophia which is right across the park from it. It was commissioned by Sultan Mehmed who was suppose to be rather absent minded (Katie, you will like this story). At the Sultan’s entrance there is a chain part way up. It is to prevent the Sultan from forgetting to dismount and riding his horse into the mosque courtyard. It is built by a student of Sinan, 1100 years after San Sofia (Hagia Sophia, this building has three different names, four with the translation, “Holy Wisdom”). The dome of the Blue mosque stands on elephant legs, four marble pillars. It would have been lit with olive oil lamps.

We also walked through the location of the Hippodrome, built for horse races and festivals. There is a large Egyptian obelisk brought to Constantinople (the other name of this city) in the 390’s A.D. from Egypt.

To get a feel for the Byzantine era we visited a museum with the mosaic floors from the palace. They were amazing.

Then it was on to the cisterns, built by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian, they supplied water for the Hagia Sophia. They are deep underground and for years they had been filled with garbage and forgotten. Finally they were rediscovered, cleaned out, and opened to the public. I’m told they even hold concerts in them. The pictures turned out pretty dark but yes, those are fish swimming in there!

This evening we went to Bahcesehir University and met with the teaching department at the university to compare education in both of our countries. They have a fabulous view of the Bosporus and rolled out the red carpet, with a reception following the meeting.

As we returned to the hotel, the park was filled with people picnicking and enjoying the Ramazan festival. Unfortunately for us, their festivities went on until about 4:00 in the morning, or maybe longer, that is when I stopped hearing them and finally fell asleep! :(. It is going to be a “two Turkish coffee day”!