Rainy Istanbul, part 2

So for the rest of our trip you have to imagine us trudging around old cobblestone streets with wet feet and carrying umbrellas that are occasionally blown inside out from gusts of wind and spitting rain blowing through the Bosphorus.

On Saturday morning we briefly visited the impressive Süleymaniye Mosque, currently under renovation so we were only able to admire the outside and a small walled-off space just inside the door. We made our way downhill past a maze of local shops specializing in anything from mop buckets to belt buckles to sequins and cheap plastic beads, finally arriving near the ferry docks at the colorful, noisy (and dry) Spice Bazaar. (Here were all of the tourists!) Stand after stand of spices, nuts, dried fruits, teas and candies in neatly arranged piles, beautiful to a cuisine-obsessed person such as myself. Also shop entrances brightly adorned with colorful glass lamps for sale, stacks of silk, part-silk or (to be honest) polyester scarves in all colors and patterns, ceramic dishes, leather goods and jewelry cases. Multiply this ten (twenty?) -fold at the sprawling Grand Bazaar where we made our way to next, with narrow streets in a huge covered (tourist) market, which we lost ourselves for an hour or so, occasionally stopping to bargain with the shopkeepers calling out to us.

Exhausting! We lunched inside the actual Bazaar on ground lamb-stuffed eggplant and peppers with yogurt, then took the sparkly-new tram across the Golden Horn and north to the Dolmabahçe Palace, perched on the shore and facing the Bosphorus. After touring the ostentaciously-decorated rooms of the 19th century palace, built to display the wealth and power of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, with our stiff, hurried, yet oddly-humorous tourguide, we climbed the hill to Taksim Square and the modern shopping/bar district of Beyoglu. (Modern, as in the area was urbanized by a 16th century trading community, but the current crowd is young and fashionable.) We teahouse-/bar-hopped our way downhill to the bridge over the Golden Horn, ending at one of the row of bar/restaurants newly built on the lower level of the bridge. There on the outer edge of the smoky, cavernous room we listened to live music by a band performing an intriguing mix of American and Turkish rock music while looking out over the water to the lights on the Asian side. And that was (almost) the end of Saturday (quick kebab stop on the way back to the hotel).

Sunday - the three big sights of Old Istanbul! Topkapi Palace (the Palace of the Sultans) was built by Ahmet the Conqueror in the 15th century. It's a collection of walled-in buildings on a hill perched above the Golden Horn and Bosphorus. In the Imperial Treasury we saw, among other astounding jewels, an 80 carat diamond and a baby cradle made entirely of gold, emeralds and rubies.

The Aya Sofia was built by the Emperor Justinian between 530 and 580 AD, and converted from a church to a mosque after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. It's amazing to see something so huge, built so long ago, and yet still standing! Today the Aya Sofia no longer has a religious function, and it's currently under renovation, as much of Istanbul seems to be. They're uncovering 12th and 13th century mosaics plastered over by the Ottomans.

Quick stop to the (not big sight #3) Sunken Cistern, also built by Justinian, which at one time could store the equivalent of two years' worth of water underground during a seige, and later was used as a trash heap. Now it's a just fun stop for tourists. They dimly light the cavern with eery red light, and as you walk along raised wooden platforms, dodging dripping water from the ceiling, you can see huge carp swimming in the one-to-two feet of water. The ceiling is held up by rows of beautifully-carved columns from antiquity. Oh, and for some reason the 6th-century builders carved the bases of two of the columns into Medusa-heads, which seems to be the main attraction of the Sunken Cistern. Me, I would prefer to hear a concert down there, as they had set up a temporary performance platform by the cafe (yes, there is a cafe).

Snack break for a crumbly feta-type cheese sprinkled on a thick, steaming-hot pita, and cheap plastic cups of çay (tea) sold by street vendors, and on to the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque is both a place of worship and a popular tourist sight, so we wait with the other non-Muslims at a side entrance until mid-afternoon prayer is over, then with our shoes held in plastic bags and our (female) heads covered, we can tour the back-half of the Mosque. A "modern", 17th century building, it is mostly a wide-open (and comfortably-carpeted, to our aching tourist-feet) floor with many bright windows and few large columns. It has intricately painted walls and ceilings, and iron chandeliers hanging all the way from the ceiling to just-above-head height. Noting the laughter, noise and constant camera flashes from the larger tourist groups, I don't blame the strict entrance policies. (A German woman right in front of us actually started putting her shoes back on while still inside the building - a strict and very obvious taboo. Boy was she told off.) While beautiful from the inside, I think you get an even greater appreciation of the architecture of the Blue Mosque from the outside. I could describe it or you could just check out our pictures!

By the way, while on the subject of mosques I have to describe the five-times daily call to prayer for those of you who've never been in a Muslim country. At prayer times (sunrise, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and shortly after dark) Istanbul, with its proliferation of mosques built over centuries by Ottoman sultans, comes alive in a chorus of distinctive, yet harmonious, muezzin calls. It lasts for several minutes, first one distant call, than a powerful call quite close to you, then another, and another joining in, so you can hear them all around you. Then the calls fade away, as quickly as they came. I woke up to the sunrise call on our first morning there and enjoyed the satisfaction of the slow realisation: I'm in Istanbul -- cool.

Apparently there'll be a Part 3. I'm long-winded.