We were in Turkey from August 26 until September 18 - 24 wonderful days. We went to Turkey because the trip was highly recommended by many of our fellow travelers and others. If you haven't been, move it to the top of your list. It was a wonderful tour in a wonderful country. The people are warm and friendly, the countryside is varied and beautiful, and the food is absolutely to die for - especially the breads and fresh fruits and vegetables. We would go back at the first opportunity.
Having gushed about the trip, let me explain the organization of what follows. There are LOTS of pictures accompanied, as always, by excerpts from the daily journal that Gale so faithfully writes. I have also included a number of web links to topics illustrated - in case you want more information about a truly fascinating part of the world. The table below should let you view as much or as little as you wish at a time and then make it possible for you to go back to approximately where you left off without having to view the whole thing again. Where there are duplications of places visited, I have put all of the pictures and information with the time of the first visit and provided a link back to those pictures at the time of the second visit. You will have to use your back arrow to return to wherever you were when you back tracked.
Please enjoy - we surely did!!
Tuesday - 8/25 - Denver to Wednesday - 8/26 - Istanbul
We got up at 4AM and drove to DIA, arriving at 7:30AM for our 10:40 United flight to Dulles. In Dulles we changed planes and flew United to Munich. After a three-hour layover we got on an almost empty Star Alliance plane to Istanbul where we landed about 3PM on Wednesday. We were 12 ½ hours in the air and were up for 27 hours before we could stretch out on our beds in the Sultanahmet Palace Hotel in Istanbul (Sultanahmet is a district in the city, thus the name). The long flights are about the only drawback to this kind of travel.
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We started in Istanbul, in Europe, and then spent the rest of the trip in Asia
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Typical license plate |
Cute train sign |
Entrance - Sultanahmet Palace (Sarayi is the Turkish word for palace) |
Hotel's courtyard
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Our room in the Sultanahmet Palace is unique. The bathroom contains a “Turkish bath.” Instead of a shower, we have a marble alcove with a marble bowl extending from the wall. We found out that Turks don’t like standing water. They soap up and then scoop the water out of the bowl to rinse. We never understood why the bowl had no drain. We used the hand held showerhead and tried to dodge the immoveable bowl. We also had to step into this area to get around the door to the toilet. It was an experience. |
Turkish bath, not the toilet
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At 7 PM we met the other 12 people on our OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) tour. Our tour guide, Adnan, took us for a walk around the Blue Mosque (which is across the street) and into the local bazaar and around the festive Sultanahmet Park area filled with Muslims waiting for sundown (8 PM) and the end of their day of Ramadan fasting. The sidewalk food stalls and impromptu restaurants and picnic tables and blankets were full of festive, hungryTurks.
Adnan led us to a “restaurant” (Suti) with benches and tables under the trees and helped us order lentil soup (served with lemon sauce) and then a rice with shaved beef and lamb and lettuce and tomato dish and a little cup of water, all for 15 Turkish lira. It was a good deal and tasted pretty good. |
Suti restaurant
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Roasting corn |
Shaved meat
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We wandered around the park area, listened to the Imam on the loudspeaker saying grace and people either poised to begin eating or in prayer pose. At 8 PM the bell sounded and everyone began eating. We even saw one (and only one) picnic table of six men eating from McDonald’s bags of food! Most were eating big hunks of bread (like hoagie rolls) with various fillings. We saw no litter, no alcohol (of course), and many large family groups. People have been genuinely friendly so far. We feel very welcome.
We went to the breakfast buffet in our hotel at 7 AM and sat outside looking out at the Marmara Sea. It was a well-supplied buffet with a variety of breads, fruits, cheeses, eggs/cooked spinach/sausage/cheese filled things like egg rolls. There was coffee, tea, various juices, cereal, pastries, a variety of yogurt, and jelly-like spreads. It was all delicious.
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Breakfast view
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The old city part of Istanbul is quite compact. We walked to many of the sites and our hotels for both tours were very nicely located.
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We started our tours of the sights of Istanbul with a visit to the Sultan Ahmet or Blue Mosque which is right across the street from our hotel. It is referred to as the blue Mosque because of the predominant blue color of the interior tiles. It is the city’s sixth imperial mosque. It was built between 1609 and 1616, has six minarets, and it originally included a hospital, orphanage, and “soup kitchen.”
Blue Mosque - from the rear |
Blue Mosque
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Main entry to Blue Mosque
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Entry detail |
One of the six minarets
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Another minaret |
Inner courtyard filled with booths for Ramadan
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Blue Mosque at night - the message of lighted sign deals with Ramadan |
Washing area outside the entry to the Mosque. |
Men wash their hands and face, wet their hair and wash their feet before entering a mosque to pray. they do this 5 times a day.
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A mosque building has a central dome supported by four large columns called “elephant feet.” There is a loge for the local ruler or sultan to pray from and another loge for the man who makes the call to prayer from the minaret. Today he uses a microphone instead of chanting from high in the minaret. The “altar” always faces Mecca and the Imam faces east to pray. The main floor of the mosque is carpeted for the men to kneel on. The women are separated and stay up in a balcony around the sides and back of the men’s area. When someone dies the family usually gives a carpet to the mosque. The wealthier people and the royal families give large expensive carpets. Most of the wonderful old carpets have been stolen from under the newer ones and taken to the US and Japan and sold. Many of the tiles contain symbols of three things - the tulip (which originated here in Turkey and was taken to Holland in the 16th century), the carnation, and the artichoke. (Link to more information about the Blue Mosque.)
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Interior of the Blue Mosque |
A pillar or "elephant foot" and loge |
Huge expanse of beautiful Turkish carpet |
A very speedy vacuum job
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Interior tiles
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