Istanbul Day 3: Life in the Suburbs

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Commentary on Istanbul Shopping

We leave tomorrow morning very early the same way we came through Amsterdam. We had an interesting day today which ended with our stay here at the Sheraton in Atakoy which is a wealthier suburb of Istanbul near the Ataturk Airport. The hotel is nice although the staff is even greener here than they were in Santorini, more on that later. It was nice to be in a true residential neighborhood as we went to the Galleria, which is an enclosed mall next to our hotel, with a number of high end shops but also evidence of Turkey´s third world status with a shop at the entrance selling just about everything available in fake Abercrombie & Fitch. That is very popular here, in fact for a certain class of people the fake European fashions are all they wear. We did a final pass through the Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar but Istanbul has changed a lot from 12 years ago when I was last here, as Fatih said, they all wear fake items and are very proud of it, and prices have gotten absolutely ridiculous with the reasoning being that İstanbul is a big time city nowadays and there is a 'crise´ yeah okay, right. Nationalism is wonderful, especially when so misplaced.

Ortakoy and Suleymaniye Mosques

We visited Ortakoy and Sulemaniye Mosques today, the latter being mostly closed off for interior restoration work, but the guy at the entrance emphatically requesting 'donations for the mosque´did not let on to that of course. I had studied this unique Mosque Complex in my graduate work at UC so it was nice to finally see the place in flesh, it is hardly visited at all when compared to all of the other mosques we saw, there must be a political reason for that as it is an amazing complex that deserves more attention.

Finally good food!

We had our best Turkish food tonight after an absoltely HORRIBLE experience at Hunkar Restaurant last night. I say again, horrible. We saw what real prices should look like, even in a more affluent suburb. The portions were finally a bit more generous but still reasonable, not like the garbage being slung around an increasingly large area in the center city. It´s a pity that there is a culture of 'let me see what I can get´ which has driven prices and attitudes to such a level that they cannot be sustainable. İstanbul will pay for it in one way or another. None of the food we had was as good as Fatih's, although Fatih sometimes has bad weeks where his food is pretty lousy.

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Photos

Ortakoy Mosque and Bosphorus Bridge
The classic shot of old and new in Istanbul.

Dome of Ortaköy Mosque
A much more modern mosque in the Ottoman Neo-Baroque style, built in the 19th century.

Jennifer and Minbar of Ortaköy Mosque
We got here very early in the morning and only the city's cleaning crews were outside.

Ortaköy Camii Detail
A perfect blue backdrop.

Retail District of Suleymaniye Mosque Complex
Sinan, one of the greatest architect of the 2nd millenium designed this complex, centered on a mosque, which included every critical element of city life, including this retail district below the mosque's plaza - an example of vertical mixed use well before its time!

Ottoman Water Vendor
He would not take no for an answer, lured us in with a photo opportunity before handing us to concoctions of "fresh kiwi and melon juice" that is "all natural". We did not get sick and he was a jolly guy.

Performing Ablution
Prior to prayer in Suleymaniye Mosque, as required in the Qu'ran.

Tomb of Suleyman the Magnificent
Surrounded by tombstones of what we assumed were leaders of the time in the 16th Century.

We remembered this time.
Not the end of the day, but last day on the trip, okay.

Entrance to Suleymaniye
We did not go in this way which would have made us avoid our "donations demander".

Bayan in the Streets of Istanbul
After what seemed like days of nothing but men in the streets, I guess we came on the right place at the right time and I was the minority!

Happiness in the Spice Bazaar
One of the many "princesses" we saw around Istanbul. Life is hard.

Peanut's Turkish Cousin
You sure do look familiar, a little beggar at Hayal Cafe near Eminonu, a great place to eat with reasonable prices.

No Jewelery
But she got ice cream instead and so was happy. 2.50 TL or 500 TL . . . I think I made out pretty well!

Last Shot of Historic Istanbul
At Eminonu Tramvey Station before heading out on our arduous journey to Zeytinburnu.

At Sheraton Atakoy Pool
The weirdest hotel, but very new. Not sure if the pool had chlorine in it . . .

Sunset Photo
At the Atakoy Marina with Marmara Sea behind.