Even More

Eventually we made it to Tokapi Palace (pronounced toe-koppah).  Given the hordes of people and the limitations of my camera and skills, it is difficult to give an impression of the whole thing, but...

I'm sure they have a website...

Here are just a few highlights:

More of Incredible Istanbul with Karen

Moira and I went on an outting to the Galata Tower. 

Moira on the Galata Bridge.

Fishing is super-popular in Istanbul. 

We left the bridge and walked through a fish market, then through a neighbourhood in which there were clusters of shops dealing with various kinds of hardware and construction equipment.  If you step back and get a view you discover that the buiding on which the wheels are displayed is many hundreds of years old and rich with history.

We walked up steep and narrow streets to get to the Galata Tower.  Originally built in 1348, it has been damaged and restored a number of times.  It is the highest-standing ancient structure in Istanbul.  Happily, an elevator takes one most of the way up, leaving only two flights of spiral staircase to the top.

 

A kind fellow-tourist took our photo on the tower.  That's the Bosphorus below.  I suffered vertigo the whole time we were up there, hugging the wall.

 

After we came down, we came across this fellow in a nearby plaza area.  He had a tighly rolled bbqed log of some sort of meat, which I thought looked like pork (but Turkey, being Muslim, doesn't feature much pork so that seemed unlikely).  He sliced some off and chopped it and mixed it with a bunch of herbs and spices and grilled it over real charcoal, while heating a big hunk of bread, then assembled it with some roasted peppers.  I thought it was terrific -- chewy, greasy, spicy, exactly what I wanted. I liked it so much that a few days later at my urging Karen and I lunched on the same treat. Moira was a bit less enthused and thought that the chewy white bits might be tripe, against which she holds a prejudice.  Nope, apparently it's just sheep intestine.  It's called Kokoreç . 

 

On another day, Moira and Karen and set off for the Topkapi Palace.  But first we did various errands in a neighbourhood between home and palace.

Massive!

 

We went to a tiny little hole-in-the-wall place (to which a colleague had previously taken karen) that specializes in kaymak, an extraordinarily rich, creamy yogurt or clotted cream that is served on a pool of delicious honey alongside good white bread. A real treat. The photos on the wall apparently feature ancestors of some of the cows that make the cream used for the kaymak.  The proprietor asked if we would like Turkish coffee, and we decided that this was a good opportunity to try some (I've had it before, but not in Turkey).  You might think that if in a restaurant you are asked if you would like some coffee that means that the restaurant makes coffee, but you'd be wrong.  They somehow signalled a nearby coffee shop that sent a runner with a tray and our three small cups of strong brew.  Being careful not to slosh it around, you can drink amost two thirds of it before you really get into the sludge.

 

I don't know what the strings are about.  Perhaps there is some risk that these squash will float away in the strong breeze if they are not tied down.

Wonderful little baskets sort of like shredded wheat with tasty roasted sugared nuts.  Wish I had eaten more of them.

 

We were on our way, remember, to Topkapi Palace.  But the route went nearby the Blue Mosque and we hadn't been able to see it the last time we tried (and Karen had likewise been stymied on two previous occasions), so we decided to have a quick boo at the mosque before going on to Topkapi.  This entailed Moira and Karen nipping into a shop to buy scarves, leaving me vulnerable to a carpet salesman.  We ended up agreeing to visit his carpet shop after the mosque.

 



  As you can see, the Blue Mosque is stunning.  Gorgeous.  Lovely. 

 

 

 

The young guy who reeled us in (Fessi) is not, unfortunately, in the picture, but he was still in the room, along with an assistant or two.  The man pictured is Cihon, Fessi's uncle, owner of the shop.  They gave us tea and showed us carpet after carpet and we bargained and ended up getting the one to Cihon's left. 

 

Oops, meant to put this earlier -- a few of the ablution stations outside of the Blue Mosque.

 

Karen has these hair-shirt tendencies.  She has an apparatus for hanging upside down in her kitchen.  So if you ever feel the need to hang upside down, you know where to go.

In truth, if feels quite good -- really stretches the spine and loosens the shoulders.

 

Moira had a go as well!

 

Istanbul with Karen

My sister Karen is in intrepid, world-striding librarian.  Having spent two years in Tunis (apparently inspiring a revolution, although the media never made the connection), Karen has now moved to Istanbul, where she is the head librarian at prestigious Robert College.  Istanbul being a mere hop, skip, and a jump away from Padova, Moira and I hopped on over via Turkish Air (which is excellent). 

Istanbul is amazing.  The place has exploded in population.  About 40 years ago there were 1.5 million people living here.  Wikipedia says that there are 13.5 million now, whereas our cabbie (over the course of the short [by distance] 95-minute traffic-jammed trip from airport to College [which featured people standing on the dotted lines between lanes selling useful items such as bottles of water and tiny fur-trimmed parkas for tots; a profession all the more daunting given that drivers here view the lines on the road as suggestions rather than requirements]) claimed that the population has soared to 20 million.  Karen's boss says no one really has any idea how many people live here now.

I hope you don't mind if I include a whole mess of photos here, because this place is visually stunning.

Hagia Sophia.  Dedicated as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in 360, and kicked butt as such until 1453.  Then it was a mosque until 1963, thence a museum.  Right up there with the most amazing buildings I've ever visited. 

 

 

 

 

 After that, we visited an ancient cistern that is 230’ x 460’ wide and features 336 columns; there were fish (some very large) in the remaining couple of feet of water (it was once full nearly to the top), and neat lighting and an amazing atmosphere. 

 

 

 

On the way home we stopped and got two wildly fresh “palamut” or bonito fish, cut in thick steaks.   Fried in olive oil with garlic, lemon zest, and capers. 

 

They turn the gills inside out to show how bright red they are, which supposedly correlates with freshness. At another stall we watched a guy using pliers to chip out the remnants of a lightbulb directly over a nice display of such fish.  Makes them sparkle.

 

 

Figs here are really good.

 

 Libby (Karen's fine dog) does body art in her spare time.

 

 

Guess what these are!

 

Karen took a rice dish to a neighbours' party but left early.  The neighbour kindly returned the covered dish in which Karen had brought the dish the next day and she put it on the shelf.  A week or so later...

 

Dolmabahce palace gates.

 

The palace itself.  They don't allow photography inside, but trust me, it is palatial.

 

 

 

A tree with ivy on the Robert College campus.

 

 

T'other day Karen was working and Moira wanted to rest up for a planned outing the next day.  So I walked down, down, down the hill to the Bosphorus.  I sat on a park bench and watched boats and people and birds for a while, then wondered around the neighbourhood and got some lunch.

 

This is a very typical scene, with a Turkish flag with a photo of Atarurk.

I include this shot for my sister Liz's Mike, who is a fire fighter (and EMT).  This is an active fire station, with a pavement quite new but so poorly laid that cones are appropiate to mark the hazzards.

What is it about doors?  Partly the surfaces and textures, but also the intimations of what lies beyond.

In this case, a tennis shoe lies beyond.

Lunch.  I can't believe I ate the whole thing.  Heads, tails, and everything between (but I hasten to add that they had been gutted, pretty much).

I have no idea what this is, but I love it.

 

 

I think I'll hit pause here, but there is plenty more Turkey yet to come!  Think thanksgiving.