Trips

Thursday - 9/10 – Kusadasi to Izmir to Istanbul

            We got up at our leisure, had breakfast at the hotel buffet, and repacked.  At 9:45 our private mini coach arrived with driver, Mustafa, and drove four of us to the airport in Izmir for our Turkish airlines flight back to Istanbul.  The ride took only 40 minutes and we got to see more Turkish hills, farms, and greenhouses.  Our flight was delayed one hour, but the flight was smooth and we were served lunch - sandwich, salad, and cherry cake.

            We took a taxi to our hotel in Istanbul (30 TL).  Our hotel (Crowne Plaza - Old City) is 5-star rated and beautiful. 

Our room is a suite with sleeping half and a sitting area with two chairs and a worktable and chair.  The bathroom is to die for - a real tub/shower, etc.  We have a mini-bar refrigerator (for my medicine), closet, and safe and are very comfortable.	Crowne Plaza lobby

            After a little unpacking and rest we went out to explore.  We walked down Ordu Avenue toward the Blue Mosque and then down to the little outdoor restaurant we ate at one night on our last visit here.  We had a chicken and a veggie casserole that were delicious.  The waiter remembered us (or my cane) from our last time.  We felt very welcome. It took us an hour and 10 minutes to find our way there and 30 minutes to get back. 

Friday - 9/11 - Istanbul on our own

            We ate breakfast at the hotel buffet.  The scrambled eggs are still kind of gross - all wet like they add milk to them and cold, but the rest of the buffet had a great variety, especially of breads and pastries and fruit.  The coffee was fairly good Americano, the orange juice is still Tang.

            We washed out more clothes in our sink because the hotel charges for laundry are outrageous - 11 TL for a T-shirt, 9 for undies, and 6 for a pair of socks - a Turkish lira is about 70 cents!  We looked at Marge’s pictures on our hi-def TV screen and then went out exploring.  We walked uphill to the Istanbul University founded in 1453! And then wandered through the Grand Bazaar hoping to buy some fruit for lunch.  We are in the wrong part of town for fresh fruit so we bought a Turkish chicken, tomato, pickle sandwich and came back to our room to eat it with instant Snapple ice tea and the remaining Oreo cookies.

            After more relaxing we saw a man with a cart of fruit on the street outside our window so we went down and bought 2 huge peaches, a pear, a plum, a fig, and green grapes - for 6 TL; less than $5.  We walked around a different block and bought a loaf of Ramadan bread.  It was still warm.  We had fruit and bread for dinner in our room and were very satisfied.

Saturday - 9/12 - Istanbul on our own

            After breakfast in the hotel (the buffet had cold French toast, sunny-side up eggs, and a Turkish variety of home fries), we did more laundry in our room and then took the tram (1.5 TL and new and quick) down to the ferry docks and the Spice Market.  We wandered through the menagerie selling dogs, fish, chickens, peahens, and all kinds of animal feed.  Next to it were the garden and green houseplants.  Inside the Spice Market we again admired the displays of spices, herbs, Turkish candy and pastry - and, of course, the ubiquitous jewelry and rug shops.  We have discovered a new, odd vegetable called a Kudret Nari  and wonder what it tastes like or how to eat it.  We bought some baklava (expensive - 4 pieces for 10 TL but very rich and gooey) to eat later.  I also tried a roasted ear of corn sold by one of the many carts outside the Spice Market.  It looked beautiful but was cold and tough.  (Previous Spice Market pictures - use your "back" arrow key to return here.)

Sunday - 9/13 - Istanbul on our own until 7 PM when we joined the Elderhostel group

            After breakfast (pancakes were not flap jacks!) we spent the rainy morning in our nice room. 

            We ate fruit and bread for lunch and then ventured out, this time walking to the west.  We walked past what I guess we can call “sidewalk sales.”  Men put a tarp or blanket on the ground and pile their wares - jeans, shirts, shoes, cell phones, toys, linens - on top.  After one wrong turn we found our way into the Historia Mall Shopping Center.  A nice local man saw us looking at our map and sent us to our destination.  The mall was three stories of nice stores, a basement of kids amusements, and a fourth floor food court.  It was interesting to look at some of the women’s clothes and compare prices.  I think clothing is generally cheaper here - more like Wal-Mart prices.  The food court had a McDonalds, a Burger King, and a Starbucks.  A tall mocha at Starbucks cost 6 TL, about $4.  Not bad!  We had to pass through a metal detector and have our bags scanned on the way in.  Interesting!

            As we toured around the 99% Muslim Turkey, we saw a wide range cultural expression from very traditional to quite Westernized. This is well illustrated by observing the variation in dress among the Turkish women.

A good example of the loose, baggy trousers worn by many Turkish women

            On our return to the hotel, we found a note from our Elderhostel guide, Murat Cicekli, to meet at 7 PM.  This will be the beginning of the next whirlwind tour.  Four of our group have not arrived yet - they missed dinner and orientation and will be very tired tomorrow.  Dinner was American, not Turkish.  It was a disappointment for us.  We had lentil soup, tossed salad, pot roast, mashed potatoes, grilled tomato and green pepper, and flan for dessert.  Orientation was very brief, mostly paperwork.  Sleep for all to follow.

Monday - 9/14/09 – Istanbul

            After breakfast we met for a lecture by Murat on the geography and demographics of Turkey.  The name of the country, Turkiye, is a twelfth century word meaning “land of the Turks.”  97% of the land is in Asia or Anatolia, which means “where the sun rises;”  3% is in Europe or Thrace or the Balkans.  People have lived in settlements here since 6200 BC,  as indicated by archeological discoveries while excavating for a subway under the Bosphorus to connect Europe and Asia within Turkey.  98 to 99% of the people here are Muslim and yet Turkey is the only secular Muslim country in the world.  There is separation of government and schools from religion.

            Today's tours included Topkapi Palace. (Link back to Topkapi pictures - use back arrow key to return here.)        

            On our way out of the Palace grounds we listened to and watched the world’s oldest military band.  They wore uniforms of the 13th century and played trumpets (modern ones), a wooden recorder with a double reed, and unique drums.

            We got back on the bus and took forever to drive in horrible traffic to the Grand Bazaar.  (Link back to Grand Bazaar pictures - use back arrow key to return here.)   Walking would have been much faster.  The Grand Bazaar originated in 1461 and now has 4,000 shops.  I feel like we have walked past them all on our three visits there! 

            Another bus trip in traffic dropped us at the New Mosque (which took 60 some years to build in the 17th century) and the Spice Market (link back to Spice Market pictures - use back arrow key to return here).  The building was built in 1666 as part of the New Mosque.  This market is our favorite.  It is where the local people buy their cheese, fish, sweets, and spices.  The shops have very colorful displays and the smells are enticing.  We arrived at the mosque during a call to prayer, so we could not go inside it.

            Back to the hotel for a quick cup of tea and then back on the bus and to the docks for our dinner cruise on the Bosphorus.  It was a pleasant night on the little boat.  We had soda, beer or wine, six kinds of starters, and then fresh fried sea bass.  Fruit was dessert.  At night the fancy hotels and clubs in restored palaces are lit up and very pretty.  The waterfront houses start at $20 million.  We passed under the American-made Bosphorus bridge and then the Japanese-built Sutanahmet bridge.  They were also lighted.  There was some river traffic even at this time of night.  I like the old fort, which was built at the narrowest part of the strait and once had a chain that went across the water to keep out enemy ships from the Black Sea or to act as a tollgate to other ships. (Bosphorus picture link - use the back arrow key to return here.)

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