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Published: June 13th 2011
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Cool Cat
Where we are staying is an area that is undergoing massive renovation with old mansions being converted into expensive shops and apartments. This cat sitting on the Vespa seems to epitomize the area. We set off earliesh (around 9:00) in the morning and walked towards the Galata Tower and then Bridge. There were very few people around in our neighbourhood – a lady going to buy some bits, a couple of older men just strolling and the café owners getting ready for the day. It seemed pretty quiet. The Galata Bridge was packed with fisherman but there were few people around the Spice Bazaar and adjacent mosque. We’d hoped to buy some provisions (nuts, sweets etc) in the Spice Bazaar but had to content ourselves with the same bought at small shops on the outside of the Bazaar. We had decided that we would walk from there to the Topkapi Palace, spend a few hours then go to the Archaeological Museum nearby.
That wasn’t to be. We managed to get misplaced in the lane ways between the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar. We were never lost but we just couldn’t find the street sign for the street that we wanted. Eventually we go to the Palace and then we knew where everyone had been – they were all queuing to buy tickets to go to the Palace or were already inside.
We ended up spending most of the day here, basically because a lot of time was spent lining up to see the exhibits – old jewelled items, relics from prophets both Christian and Muslim. Some of the jewelled items were pretty spectacular, gold filigree ornamented with huge emeralds, diamonds and rubies.
After visiting the 4 palace courtyards we visited The Harem. It was interesting and some of the tile work in this part of the complex was amazing. We both liked the “built in cupboards” in the Sultan’s suite. The doors of these were ornamented with inlaid mother-of-pearl. Perhaps a set for the bedroom at home would be nice. By the time we finished at the Palace there was not enough time to do the Archaeological Museum so we began to travel towards home.
We’d decided that dinner that night was to be fish sandwiches from a fish restaurant area that Zarif (from Deb’s work) had told us about. These restaurants are boats that have a large barbecue on them. We don’t know if we found the right one, but the one that we chose was away from the tourist versions and amongst the fishing boats and smaller
ferries. Our dining area was a small table and tiny stools on the dock. The fish sandwiches were OK but the version we had was not as tasty as we’d hoped. We’ll keep an eye out for others as we go along.
We’ve had hardly any beer, wine or coffee since we left Brisbane – a stubby of beer that we shared and a glass of wine each. We’d decided that tonight was to be the night to sit down and enjoy a beer at a bar. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be the case. It was the evening of Election Day and alcohol was not for sale anywhere. We left the bar and wandered further, eventually getting back towards our neighbourhood. There we found a tea house and had baklava and tea followed by a browse through a couple of small shops. Finally, we headed back to our apartment; footsore once again, to share our remaining stubby of beer.
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