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Published: October 15th 2005
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Wow, now this is a city unlike any other we have seen so far. We arrived on Saturday night, got checked into the hotel and headed out to explore the city. We were on sensory overload due to the lights, traffic, noise and number of people on the street. We had a travel guide with the street names listed in it, but knew when we asked the first local where the street signs were on the buildings and he rolled his eyes and laughed, that we were in for another adventure. It took us a couple of days to get our bearings, but after travelling down the same streets and taking buses to the sites, we were able to navigate better.
We covered a lot of ground again and were able to see a lot of the sites the city had to offer. Honestly, we weren't quite sure what to expect of the place, but we both really like it and would come back again. It is much larger than anticipated and does have a somewhat exotic feel to it. We didn't hear much American English being spoken and didn't see many sets of white tennis shoes on the streets.
The landscape is dotted with mosques and we visited a number of them. You can see pictures of the Blue Mosque, Haghia Sophia and the New Mosque in the dusk photo. We don't even know what the other mosque in that photo is. On the larger mosques and even on poles throughout the city, there are loud speakers that sound off numerous times throughout the day with what sounds like someone chanting with what we read was a call to prayer. We don't know for sure, so if someone out there reads this and we are wrong, please forgive us. Most people just kept on doing whatever they were doing, but a couple of people on the street seemed to pause and take a moment of quiet time.
It also just so happens that we are here during the holy month of Ramazan. People refrain from eating from dawn until dusk. We read in the airline magazine on Turkish Airlines that people often gain weight during this time because they try to make up for the fact that they cannot eat during the day by splurging at night. We saw a particular sultan's pants that proved this point.
Maybe that is where the saying about having your pants made by Omar, the tent man came from.
We also visited a couple of palaces while here. We first went to the Topkapi Palace, which was built between 1459-1465. We included photos showing the tile work and mother-of-pearl inlaid detailing from a abinet there. This was where the sultan lived with his family and his harem until 1853. This was a plain, nothing too special pad compared to the lavish digs the sultan moved into at the Domabahce Palace. That place was extremely opulent and may be the glitziest palace that either of us has ever been in anywhere. It had 285 rooms and it seemed like there was a gorgeous chandelier in most all of them. The Ceremonial Hall reputedly has the heaviest one in the world, weighing something like 12 tons. We didn't post any photos from this place because we went there after we started putting this blog entry together.
We checked out a couple of the bazaars they have here. What a bargain-hunters paradise!! we went to the Grand Bazaar where a variety of items are sold. They offer clothing, jewelry, carpets, knick-knacks, electronics,
musical instruments and produce. There is a picture of this bazaar along with a few photos from the Spice Bazaar. That was really neat and I picked up some saffron while Doug got some delicious apricots.
We also were able to go to a Turkish bath. We chose one that has been around for more than 300 years and is listed in the book as one of the 1000 places to see before you die. Doug got a self-service bath and massage.....I mean pummeling by the sadist worker bee. I heard the scream in the ladies bath when the guy smacked him on the back and threw the bucket of soapy water over hıs head when he wasn't expecting it. We had to get him a seeing-eye dog for a day or two after that. On the other hand, I had a very nice older woman who assisted me with my bath and gave me a shampoo. She was good, as she often reminded me. I thought that was very nice of her to keep repeating it, as I was a Turkish bath virgin. In all honesty, we both enjoyed our experience there and would go back again.
The food overall was good. We had some really good stuff (see the piggy platter photo) and some that was just okay. There was some new stuff that we hadn't had before, like all of the varieties of kebaps, and some stuff we didn't expect. The deep-fried mussels on the street were particularly tasty! We rate the beer as very good. We liked the Efes brand from the place with 70 ml frosty mugs for about $6.00. And of course, the baklava was absolutely fabulous (just for you, Craig). We must have hit a half dozen places to sample the different kinds. We got a great deal with the mini piggy platter that had the 5 pieces on it. We got all of those for about $2.25. Not a bad dessert price for two people!
To kind of summarize this place....it exceeded our expectations. It definitely had an exotic vibe to it that made it a special place. There is plenty to do and see and there are tons of restaurants and holes-in-the-wall to check out again.
Now we're off to Egypt. We're going to the Red Sea for some diving and snorkeling and then to Cairo to
explore the pyramids.
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Kelly
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That palace sounds amazing. A 12 ton chandelier is definitely more extravagant than anything I've seen. The pictures are beautiful and the bazaar sounds very cool. Looking forward to hearing about Egypt. Thanks for keeping this up.