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It has been nearly 13 years since I first set my eyes on the many minarets of istanbul (check out my earlier blog: The Many Minarets of Istanbul ) and this fulfills an earlier dream to revisit this beautiful city. Arriving before 6 am , the city was quiet, just about getting ready to wake up to some frenzied activity. The airport shuttle we booked online was there waiting for Shelly and I, and we breezed from the airport to our Istanbul hotel for the next 3 days.

Taslic Hotel may not be as ideally located as we would have wanted, but arriving at 6 am and so graciously offered an early check in was a pleasant introduction. Husef at the front desk even asked us to enjoy their breakfast buffet while they get our room ready by 8:30 am. Now, how cool is that? We found ourselves enjoying Turkish coffee and cherry juice for the next half hour just to perk us out of our zombie state. Oh yes, it was a torturing 24 hour trip from Manila to Shanghai, to Beijing, to Istanbul. About 15 hours of flying time and another 9 hours waiting at airports. We promised ourselves we would take a more direct flight next time!

After a breakfast of hard-boiled egg, turkish bread with jams and marmalades, cucumbers, sweet tomatoes and mushroom soup (no kidding), we finally found ourselves in our spacious room. Determined to shake off our jetlag, we only took another hour to freshen up and promptly walked out of Taslic Hotel to head for an afternoon in Topkapi Palace. It was a 7 minute leisurely downhill walk from the hotel to the main road, a short bus ride to Kabatas Station, and about a 10 minute tram ride to Sultanahmet Station. But I am not about to omit an important lesson here. You see, riding the tram on our way to Topkapi Palace, we saw that the tram stops at Topkapi Station. Thinking this is where the Palace is, we got off at this station. Voila, no Palace! I tried to imagine how it looked 13 years ago, but not one building or monument looked familiar! Worse, it was raining when we got out of the station. Thought I had the good sense to bring an umbrella ( and take pride in my being so prepared) , only to find that the umbrella I brought from home won't open up! So there we were, on our first hour touring Istanbul, finding ourselves lost, with a broken umbrella in the rain! We tried to wipe out this first misadventure in Turkey by relishing thoughts of pita souvlaki, baklava, tsoureki ekmek, borek. Funny how our minds work. In our case, food thoughts never fail.

We decided to get back on the tram and yay! Right there inside the tram we learned that we should have gotten off at Sultanahmet Square where one would find many historical sites such as Topkapi Palace, Sultanahment Mosque (Blue Mosque), Hagia Sophia , Basilica Cistern, and just off by another station is the Grand Bazaar. So much for our first lesson for the day.

The square is exactly how I remembered it. The grandeur of Hagia Sophia dominates the skyline. So with the Blue Mosque. As I remembered, the 2 monuments competed for attention. In my 1996 blog on Istanbul , this is what I wrote:

"Founded by the Greeks as Byzantium more than 2,500 years ago, renamed Constantinople in the year 330 when Constantine the Great made it the capital of the Roman Empire. After the Ottoman conquest, this Byzantine city along the Bosphorous was renamed Istanbul in the 15th century. Geographically, Istanbul remains the gateway between East and West, Orient and Occident, Christian and Islamic worlds, Black Sea and the Mediterranean."

Hagia Sophia, the Church of Wisdom, is hard to ignore. We found ourselves doing this tour first, for an admission price of 20 euros each. Just before entering, we were amazed by the many tourist-friendly stray dogs we met. They must be fed well, judging by their stance each time a tourist passes them. They go on their knees, and assume a begging stance. Biscuits , with cream or chocolate, must be daily fare. Once inside the church, which was later converted into a mosque, and finally restored as a museum, we found many stray cats ready and raring to pose for photos! There was even one particular cat who strayed away from my frame, only to pose a few steps away for better lighting! Talk about photogenic stray cats. And no, none of these dogs and cats were a nuisance. Not at all. In fact, they were easily sources of amusement. I saw many tourists snapping away, enjoying these feline characters guarding many historical treasures within Hagia Sophia. But the real guards must have made sure these furry creatures do not get past the first floor, as we made our way to the 2nd floor exhibit of lovely photos of the Church. In a sense, both Shelly and I missed the cats while viewing the magnificent shots exhibited on the second floor. But not for long.

Out of Hagia Sophia, we mentally made a note of visiting the Blue Mosque with our tour group (the tour starts March 15 and ends March 27 back in Istanbul, with an included visit to the Blue Mosque) before we fly out of Turkey. Our next stop was Topkapi Palace. Another 20 euros , plus an additional 15 euros to see the Harem. We spent a couple of hours or so in the Palace and said our Ohs and Ahs until we grew tired. I mean, you can't go Oh and Ah at every turn. The Spoonmaker's Diamond, the emerald-encrusted swords, all those treasures, plus the beautiful Iznic tiles and elaborately designed golden cages. Somehow, it did not seem so boring to be a eunuch guarding the many wives and concubines of the Sultan! The gardens, the courtyards, plus a panoramic view of the Bosphorous where one draws the imaginary line between East and West, between Asia and Europe. This Palace offered so much that one would find it difficult to understand how and why the Sultans left Topkapi for Dolmabahce Palace. But that is another story. I also remembered a lovely meal I enjoyed here back in 1996 but for some reason, I couldn't find the restaurant. Which was a good thing. With coffee going for $7.50 and pastries for a lot more, I would rather step out and head for my Turkish coffee somewhere on the way to Grand Bazaar.

Shelly was all agog about the Grand Bazaar. But I was determined to enjoy my first kebap in Istanbul. And so, it was lunch. We managed to order what we each wanted. And then, ordered a 3rd dish for us to share. We're on vacation, who cares about dieting? We thought we have the next few days to walk off the extra calories. Or so we thought! Anyway, it was a good time to enjoy our lunch as it was way past noontime. From lunch, we went to the Grand Bazaar. Shelly was disappointed, and only managed to buy a pashmina shawl and a few souvenirs. I guess she must have been put off by the aggressive vendor who braved inviting her for dinner. Oops. And all she wanted was INDIRIM.... a good discount.

By the time we took the tram back for Kabatas Station, it was drizzling. The chill was simply too much, so we took the bus back for the corner where we had to climb uphill to reach our hotel. Taslik is worth every cent of its 105 euro rate, but walking uphill back to the hotel after a day out touring the city is not for the fainthearted. Sleep deprived that we were, it was an ordeal to walk up .

After a good night's sleep, we spent nearly 2 hours having breakfast. We woke up real early and thought none of the tourist spots would be open before 9 am. Breakfast started at 6:30 am and lasted till 8:30 am. By 9am, we were ready for Dolmabahce Palace. This time, we just walked from the hotel to the Palace, which was just off the corner where we take the bus for kabatas station. Walking DOWN from the hotel, I was mentally dreading the uphill walk back. Dolmabahce is where the last 6 sultans lived. It is also where the much-loved, much-revered Ataturk lived out his last few years and died. Built between the years 1843-1856 , the Palace was designed basically in the western style. The paintings, chandeliers, elaborate drapes and carpets, grand staircases, massive halls. Think Versailles, if you like, although there are some elements blended with Ottoman traditional art. I am tempted to conclude that the sultans may have decided to leave Topkapi for the more spacious Dolmabahce Palace, which is the largest palace in Turkiye. After all, with 285 rooms, 44 Halls, 68 toilets and 6 Hamams, there is certainly enough room for all the wives and concubines, who must have multiplied in number through the years! (Trivia: Each of the apartment in the Harem has 3 stories and each has its own attic area. Each apartment was assigned approximately 10 cariye, a staff in the personal service of the sultan, his mother, his wives and his children). By the time the caliphate was abolished in 1924, this Palace was used as Presidential Palace. This is where Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding leader of the modern republic, spent his last days and passed on in 1938.

By the time we were done with Dolmabahce, there was a hale storm. Well, not really. But those icy cubes sure hurt! Shelly and I agreed to stay inside the locker room for the next half hour , than brave the inclement weather. Good thing for us. We met and befriended a couple manning the locker room, who even offered to share their pie snacks with us. We unashamedly tried the pies and thanked them profusely. Hardly an English word was exchanged. In my effort to tell the girl that we find her so pretty (she truly is), I exasperatedly said "Hollywood" pointing to her face. And she got the message and beamed a most charming smile!

The next day, we woke up a little later, but still spent nearly a couple of hours having breakfast. It being Sunday, we were quite prepared to miss Sunday mass. Turkey is 99% Muslim, and we were not hopeful we would find a Catholic Church in Istanbul. There were no arguments that this Sunday will be spent dining and shopping. From the hotel, we took a cab to Taksim Square. The nearly pedestrian lane in the square was lined with shops and restaurants. Shelly and I eagerly went shopping, enjoyed a good Turkish lunch of "red, yellow, green dishes" . By this time, we have resorted to pointing to pictured food dishes to order. Each time, the dish will be in red (tomatoes), yellow (rice) and green (peppers). We are not complaining here, as we were happy with our shopping. However, I have soon outgrown Turkish coffee and went on a search of my usual brewed espresso or cappuccino. With Shelly still agog over her shopping chores, I soon found a seat at Gloria Jean's to enjoy my brew and brush up on my Turkish history. While reading my Berlitz travel book on Turkey and sipping my coffee, I realized I was sitting by a window where beautiful music could be heard from outside. A duo were fiddling with their guitars, seated on stools, jamming by an alley , providing good music to coffee lovers luckily seated by the windows of the coffee shop. My luck did not stop here. Pretty soon, Shelly and I found a Catholic Church right along Taksim Square and we heard the 6 pm mass. I never bothered to check, but this Catholic Church must be the only one in Istanbul, and maybe one of the very few in the whole of Turkey. That completes our Sunday!

By the time we got back to our hotel, we only had a few minutes to meet our Tour Guide and the rest of the tour group. All 37 of us. Oktay Salic is Turkish with a sharp sense of history and a good command of the English language. And this good looking Turk even has a great sense of humor and amazing patience! We were to soon learn how lucky we were to have him as our guide for the next 2 weeks. More than that, we were soon to find out that Turkey as a tourist destination may have been so underestimated. I have visited Istanbul before, and had every good reason to come back as I did now. But I wasn't prepared for the many other treasures of Turkey. My next few blogs will cover all these adventures and finds . Read on!

PS. On the way out of Turkey, we had another pass at Istanbul. This time around, we visited the Basilica Cistern. Just off a corner from Hagia Sophia, this underground structure took us by surprise. I have never had a chance to check this one out the time I first went to Istanbul in 1996, and I am so glad I did now. Yerebatan Sarayi , or "Sunken Palace" in Turkish, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. More than just providing water for the many palaces in ancient Byzantine, a trip to this underground chamber is like visiting an underground cathedral! No wonder this awesome place merited several scenes in the 1963 James Bond film "From Russia With Love". It was also awe-inspiring to find not just 1, but 2 Medusa heads in the cistern. It is a mystery that one is tilted to one side, while the 2nd one is completely upside down. No explanations were offered. So the mystery remains!

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