Awesome

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Istanbul contınues to delıght.I spent yesterday ın Topkapi .I guess I never realızed how large a complex ıt ıs. At some poınts ıt housed more than 500 people. The prıvate lıvıng quarters (the Haram) was/is truly amazıng.The tiles ,stained glass, gold leaf ,inlayed mother-of-pearl are opulent . Way more so than anything I have seen in England . More Oriental than Europian I guess.I fınd ıt quıte amazıng that the Sultans were really the sons of slaves!The women of the haram were slaves from many parts of the world. They were not muslim for a muslim could not enslave a muslim...Interestıng.

Last night I went to an original Turkish Haman (bath house) for an authentic experience.WOW! .After about 30 miutes on a heated marble platform I was scrubbed and exfoliated with a mitten then massaged with soap , masses of soap bubbles periodically rinsed and soaped again for @15 minutes . This was followed by a hair washing and rinse ,then I was left to relax on the marble platform again . A great experience !!

Today has been quite cold so I spent my time shopping around the Grand Bazaar area .After a pleasant time talking and visiting in a Wholesale shop near my hotel (I am in the same place but I have upgraded to a hotel room which is really comfortable) I ended up buying a kelim which will fit into my back porch nicely. I also purchased a hip scarf in the Bazaar so that I will jingle when I dance.

I really am enjoying this city.

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Comments

[Shirl]

Awesome
Sounds fabulous, Pam, glad to hear all is going well and interesting. What the heck is a "kelim" that will fit into your porch nicely---a marble table? a young Turk with a massaging mitten? some other Turkish delight?

[Suzanne]

Winter
Yes! at last! winter has come! Monday we had 20 cm of beautiful white stuff. Imagine my activity on tuesday....skiing of course. What a beautiful day.... So different from your routine of the day, was it. I sure would have loved the massage and the scrubbing after my day of skiing. Good day Suzanne.