How to See Istanbul In a Few Hours

I'm in the hotel room now, the morning after our first day in Istanbul. The hotel has free wireless -- which allows me to compose directly on the blog instead of the painstaking process of writing on WordPerfect, emailing it to myself, copying on my blackberry, pasting in on bberry, then going back on to the laptop and editing for paragraphs. Phew.

It also allows me to upload photos -- so I'm trying to catch up. We'll see what Barcelona brings in terms of Internet. Almost as importantly, it allows me to go to ESPN and see that the Red Sox lost, the Nationals won, and the Yanks are clinging to the lead in Seattle in hopes of being up by 7.5 games. Also, apparently some guy named Tiger has a two shot lead in the PGA. Rumor has it he does well when leading on Sunday of a major championship.

Anyhow, we disembarked the ship (when you get on, do you "embark the ship?") in Istanbul, and were meet by our guide for the half day. Our travel agent (who is Turkish) suggested it was a good introduction to the major sights of the city, and that way we also had a way to carry our bags (not something we had to fuss with whilst on the ship) without trouble.

Our guide met us within a few minutes of our arrival. Unlike Athens, we didn't have a 48 person bus for five people. Instead, we had a 27 person bus. Overkill seems to be the watchword of the trip for these transfers. Including the driver and the guide, there were seven of us. Plenty of open seats.

Anyhow, our guide took us first to the Hippodrome. Although the area had been sacked multiple times (Crusaders, the British), there is still the impressive Obelisk of Theodosius. The obelisk is 3,500 years old, and still as beautiful and shiny as when it was created in Egypt. Theodosius brought it to Constantinople (which is now Istanbul) in 390 AD. We also saw the Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain, the Snake Column, and the Rough Stone Obelisk.

The three heads of the Snake Column are all gone -- one is in a Museum, one is in the British Museum, and one is gone. The family joke now is that anytime something is missing, it is definitely in the British Museum.

Next, we went to the Blue Mosque. It's the first Mosque any of us had ever been in. Built in the 1600s, it was supposed to rival the Aya Sofya in grandeur and beauty (according to the guidebook). The Mosque is still in use, so the inside is still well decorated.

We had to take off our shoes to enter, and all of us had even broken down and wore either full-length khakis (me) or capri pants for the day. Carol and the girls did not have to wear headscarfs, although Julia's sleeves were too short so they loaned her a blue wrap to put around her shoulders.

The bad news with our guide is that her English was heavily accented, so sometimes it was hard to understand what she was saying. The good news is that her style was to explain what we were seeing for a while, and then to give us time to wander around, look, and take pictures. "First lecture, then picture" she joked.

No matter how you feel about Islam (more in a moment), the Mosque is beautiful -- beautiful tiles, stained glass windows, and the domes. There are six minarets (most of any in Istanbul, and two to five more than typical). Our guide gave us details of why mosques are built certain ways, as well as describing the prayer service. The prayer area is off limits to tourists (which is fine), but only a small railing separates us from that area. The women, of course, have to stay in the back area, far away from where the men are.

(It's the opposite of many churches in America, where the women come to church and many of the menfolk stay home.)

The challenge Islam presents (putting aside the theological aspects, which I'm NOT going to get into here) is its second class treatment of women. Not being allowed to prayer with the men, having -- in most countries -- to wear headscarfs and even cover their faces. Not being allowed to drive. Maybe that's not Islam but a perverted version of it, but this is the 21st Century. Christianity has had plenty of mistakes in the past -- and even now, but the worst problems are in the past.

Anyhow, after the Blue Mosque we crossed the street to the Aya Sofia, which is huge. Built in the 6th Century, it was a church for 900 years. Once Constantinople was conquered by Mehmet, he covered it into a mosque in 1453. In 1934, Ataturk changed its status to that of a museum.

There is ongoing restoration work -- which means scaffolding blocks half of the dome, but it is still an impressive building. Much of the main floor is still laid out as a Mosque, but the restoration work is uncovering the Christian mosaics. The size of the free standing dome is still amazing (even with the scaffolding blocking part of the view). Our guide toured us around the main floor. Given her accent and the number of people, she was hard to understand, but we still got the gist of it.

(By the way, unlike Greece, entrance fees in Turkey are quite steep. It cost us approximately $70 bucks for the five of us to go in, and kids aren't free unless they are under 12. It cost the same amount for Topkapi Palace, so what we gained in Greece, Turkey took away.)

She then gave us time to head upstairs via a stone ramp and see the mosaics. It also gave grand views of the main floor. Back downstairs, Torie and Maddy tried their hand (literally) at the weeping column. People place their thumb into the hole of the column, and try and spin their hand all the way around. Legend has it yor wish comes true if you are successful at it. Neither girl was successful, although we saw some Japanese tourists do it. (Apparently, it is a major attraction among Japanese tour groups.

We still had plenty of time on the half day tour after covering all three places, so we asked the guide to take us to Topkapi Palace. First, however, she insisted on taking us to a carpet store despite our protestations to the contrary. Clearly she wanted her shot at the commission she receives.

The owner of the store is a graduate of Ohio University, and his mother and brothers now live in Harrisonburg, VA, so he gets to the States quite often and speaks English with no accent. We politely watched as he had various carpets brought out. The coolest part is how they flip the rugs and the colors change because of the process. Beyond that, we weren't interested in buying, and the prices were higher than near Ephesus (more on that when I get around to writing that post tomorrow).

I noted that we appreciated his time and hospitality (green tea, water, and mineral water were served, I turned down the Turkish coffee). As we wound our way through the streets, we realized that another positive of having a guide is that we were not accosted by the shop owners -- they saw her guide ID, realized she had a deal with a store, and left us alone.

(Oh yes, in the Hippodrome, some guy started talking aggressively to us -- thinking the blonde young guide might be my fourth daughter. She shut him down immediately in Turkish, and he scurried off.)

Topkapi Palace is said to be the largest palace in Europe. Perched on the bluffs of Istanbul overlooking the Bosphorous and the Golden Horn, the place is huge, starting with the outer courtyard. It is where 25 sultans lived, and at its height it had a complement of family, staff, and hangers on of 2,000 people.

Unfortunately, parts are undergoing restoration, so the famous harem is closed right now to the public. We still wandered through the open exhibits, as well as many of the rooms. I won't go into all we say and did here -- there was almost too much to recount.

We did see the Imperial Treasury, the display of kaftans, the Kaskci Diamond, and the display of Holy Relics. The most interesting rooms, however, are the ones furthest in -- with cool breezes off the water, huge fountains, and beautiful views.

We then headed back to the bus, and made our way through Istanbul to our hotel, which is perched along the Bosphorous.