Bizarre Bazaar of Istanbul

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We had an early start to the long day in the Lido. I settled for oatmeal and am having some luck reducing my calorie intake. Then I added a sausage and croissant with two pads of butter. Sigh!!! Sharon had French toast and potatoes, and at least she remembered her teeth this morning; although, she did need to go back and get them (but we’d barely closed the door to the cabin).



Our first stop was at the Blue mosque which I think that I heard had some 22,000 blueish tiles lining the walls inside the mosque. The line wrapped around the entire mosque and there were busloads of tourists that had come for a brief visit, as well as many confused visitor’s that had come on their own to have a look. Our guide had to tell more than one smaller party that they had to go back around the mosque to find the end of the line, and try not to cut in line. On either side of the mosque were the cleansing stations where worshippers would squat on stone stools and wash hands and feet using individual spigots. We were given shoe bags for going into the mosque, or you could use the plastic bags offered by the mosque. The reason for going barefoot or with stocking feet in the mosque, is because inside the worshipper pray by kneeling down and at one point during the ritual touching their heads to the carpeted floor. The Blue Mosque is so named because of the many blue tiles lining the interior walls. We remained in the interior perimeter where women normally pray. The fenced off center section is where the men pray close to the raise mini-minaret for the imam. In Turkey, the imam only oversees the formal rituals and prayers and the mosques aren’t political and no social or political commentary is made from the Muslim leaders in Turkish mosques. I enjoyed seeing Sharon’s put-out expression as she donned her mosque supplied scarf to cover her hair. A prominently posted sign showed what was and was not allowed. Bare shoulders are not permitted. Men with hats are not permitted, I put mine in the shoe bag I was toting. Visible locks of hair outside the scarf are not permitted. Short pants are not permitted. Slacks or pants on women are not permitted; although, it seems that slacks or jeans for tourists were reluctantly okay if only because so many were wearing them. Outside the weather was again threatening to drizzle but was mostly just a cooling autumn breeze.



We visited the Oriental Store, a Holland America sanctioned vendor that guarantees purchases at the store and shipped overseas. A counterfeit-proof placard attesting to this is displayed outside the entrance. The store offers carpets and jewelry. The carpets were downstairs where we sat on the sides and saw a carpet quality and making demonstration. Larger carpets can take two or even three years to complete. A 42-year old woman demonstrated the double-stitching of an intricate pattern that she has been stitching since the age of 11, as her mother before her, and her grandmother before that. Always the same exact pattern associated with her family and her region of Turkey. The stitching is so intricate that she can only work 3 hours per day to avoid straining her eyes too badly. The shorter workday is one of the reasons carpets the size she was working on can take one year to complete. It is always preferred that just one worker work on a carpet because at the end of each row, the threads are compacted together by slamming a metal object down on the newly completed row to compress it into the other rows, and by having the same person do this step there is some greater assurance that it be done with the same amount of force each time. The keeps the compression of the rows even and avoids any rippling of the patter. If a mistake is made in the stitching it cannot be undone; but, care must be taken not to repeat the mistake and hopefully the resolution of 640 threads per inch will in a way overcome any single stitching error. Also at the end of the row, the left over strands of thread from the Turkish double stich are trimmed off with a special scissor. Any mistake here will completely ruin potentially months of work. One person asked what she makes as a salary. The speaker smiled and said, “Because she doesn’t speak English, I can tell you this, and said $3,000 per month.” He seemed to indicate that she was receiving a premium from what most master-weavers earn, due to her demonstrations, which also slow her down. Fewer and fewer girls choose to remain in the family weaving tradition, seeking instead the bright lights and adventure of the big cities.



Next we went to The “Grand” Bazaar, where over 4000 vendors offer everything. This bazaar is at least 50 times larger than the Spice Bazaar; but, our guide had said 1,000 times bigger, but there were definitely 50 vendors at the Spice Bazaar. We saw vendors offering pastries, many with Turkish Delight, others with electronics, many jewelry and diamond and jewel vendors, leather goods and clothing. We saw and examined hanging Turkish Light fixtures featuring colored glass having decorations for our new home in Las Vegas in mind, and we got some good ideas to take home with us.



We didn’t need the hour and twenty minutes that we were given as free-time to explore the bazaar. We ventured down the aisle leading in from the gait, and perhaps ten vendors on either side of that main thoroughfare; but, we didn’t want to get lost in a maze of 4,000 vendors. We found a bench to sit on in the mild mist. In addition to the occasional street vendor offering umbrellas for sale (which were probably appropriately priced umbrellas that worked), we were offered numerous chances to by greatly discounted fragrances such as Channel No. 5 (and many others as well for both men and women). I only noted Channel No. 5 because that was the fragrance my mother used to get when we were living in Europe when I was a young boy. I also had the chance to buy a greatly discounted Rolex watch (or Bulova, or others). Do you get the image of the guy who comes up to you and then rolls up his loosely fitting coat sleeve to reveal an arm full of watches, then you understand what was facing me. I’ve long since learned only to avert my eyes and say nothing. If you say even a single word you will find yourself in a conversation, and quite likely with a watch! So they would quickly move on and 5 minutes later his brother would appear. One boy was peddling spinning yo-yo tops, at which he was very adept at tossing and having them spin on anything, even his head with a Turkish cap. Oh yes, there were many that wanted me to trade in my “Alaska” baseball hat, which I guess is the reason they felt so comfortable in walking up to me and speaking English. Not that I don’t definitely look like an American tourist in Jeans, Sketchers and a Cannon draped around my neck. There seemed at one point an argument between one of the vendors, who was perhaps their father of the other two, one offering perfume as the father was, and the boy with the tops. The boy had that “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” look, and had actually done very well in approaching couples and establishing a repertoire with the man; although, I hadn’t actually seen him sell anything. The other had seemed rather detached from what he was doing, and seemed to approach the whole street hustling as a daily ordeal wondering what he had ever done to deserve this. I wondered if perhaps they were among the 2 million Serbian refugees that had recently come to Turkey, and they certainly appeared to fit the profile, not that it’s politically correct to do ethnic profiling. His eyes just looked so sad and I could only imagine what hardships he’d seen. His father still had the fire of providing for his family, doing what he needed to do get by. Turkey is often the jumping point for people trying to get into Greece, and from Greece into the rest of Europe. Sharon’s sister-in-law by her first husband was just in Europe where they’d witnessed a mass influx of Serbian refugees, who were also the reason our stop in Lesbos was cancelled.



We went for lunch at The Four Seasons, a former prison. I had an iced tea, with a salad, tomatoes, smoked cheese and balsamic vinegar. They served Chicken stuffed with rice and herbs; which, Sharon and I both enjoyed. The ended the meal with orange flavored pudding. Baklava would have been a much preferred choice.



After lunch we went to Hagia Sophia, which was originally created as a church over 1,500 years ago in the time of Constantine. It remained the largest religious building in the world for over 1,000 world. Originally Constantine had it constructed with the intent that it be larger than the famous Temple of David in Jerusalem, which was no longer standing. I think that he more than accomplished his objective. Once the Byzantine’s overran the region the church was converted to a mosque, and inside they had white washed over all the “graven images” that Islam so distains. Both Christianity and Islam have the 10 Commandments which Moses brought down on the Ten Commandments. However, they are slightly different! In Islam the 9^th and 10^th Christian Commandments are combined in their tenth commandment (about coveting a neighbor’s wife or goods… I guess the Christians make a distinction between wife and possessions) and they break out the first commandment (Having one god and worshipping only him) to first, have no god before him (Allah), and secondly not make any graven images. Some 70 years ago the mosque was converted into a religious museum, having significance to both Christianity and Islam. Today there are large black on gold words in Arabic adorning Corners of the ceiling dome. The central minaret is still in place with approaching stairs winding down to face Mecca. In the dome most of the white washed plaster has been painstakingly removed to reveal images of Mary with the Baby Jesus. A ceiling high scaffolding stands on one side of the large structure. Our guide observes that the scaffolding has been there, since, he first being a tour guide some twenty years ago, so I guess there is no urgency finishing anytime soon. I guess with a building that has stood this long, the notion of decades is nothing. Sharon regretted the Islamic influence on this building. In the hall near the exit there were some beautiful intricate Mosaics.





We walked to Topgavi Palace where there was a sultan who had 4 wives, 2 mistresses and 400 concubines. It was reminiscent of The Forbidden City. There were dormitory rooms to house up to 500 concubines. In the Treasury Room some royal jewels were housed, including one incredibly large diamond. I asked Sharon afterwards if she was okay with the ring that I’d given her after viewing a diamond nearly the size of a football.



Sharon went to mass again at 5 PM while I headed to meet our teammates for Team Trivia. I barely had time to change my shirt as we barely made it back on board before the 4:30 PM all aboard curfew, and the brought in the gangplank right behind us. The Captain was announcing our departure before we’d gotten to our cabin. There had been incredible traffic in town, and our tour guide had been slowed dealing with a Dutch tourist from our ship that had lost his “All Dutch Highlights of Istanbul” tour group. He looked very haggard and lost and confused with signs of hopeless resignation. Once our escort saw his Holland America key card she and our guide began a series of communications trying to locate the Dutchman’s wife and other travelling companion. It took some time, but eventually they determined that his wife was not wandering around the Palace looking for him (or lost herself) and was back with the busses. The man was escorted back to the busses where he was reunited with his wife who began reading him the riot act for getting lost, and again he looked hopeless, and you must wonder why she wasn’t simply happy that he’d been found? Maybe it’s a Dutch thing!



I found our team and both had gotten a Happy Hour special (2^nd drink for $1). Jeremy offered me his second gin and tonic, saying in is deep heavily Cagney brogue “Do ye drink gin and tonic?” I smiled yes and he said, “I dun need but one of these.” I thanked him and it was time to play. I’ve noted that the gin and tonic was certainly better than the margarita that I’d had earlier in the cruise. I smiled when Dave asked what does “CPU” stand for; because, Sharon was down at mass and wasn’t here to write down the wrong answer for me to copy again, so we confidently answered Central Processing Unit. What weather phenomenon is measured by the Beaufort scale? Audrey wanted wind. I missed what Jeremy wrote down, I went with Air Pressure. Well Audrey, and as I realized later, Jeremy as well, both had wind. Any version of “Wind” was acceptable, wind by itself, wind pressure, wind speed, wind velocity, wind something. Ah well. In the Russian Royalty there were six Ivans. Which one was Ivan the Terrible? Do you need a hint? Dave offered, “It is either Ivan I, Ivan II thru Ivan VI!” I wanted I, Audrey and Jeremy both wanted II, the new couple that joined us both wanted III. It figures that it was IV! Within 5%!,(MISSING) what percentage of people are left handed? I was leaning towards 11 %; but, to hedge our bets, I went with 13%. The actual answer was 10%! Which African Desert is home to the Bushmen? Our teammates had visited the Kalahari, so we got that one correct. Nobody seemed to know what the first name of Sherlock Holmes friend and confidant was. I wrote down Nathanial. Our new teammate asked if I knew that was correct, and when I said absolutely not, we agreed to change it to John. And it’s a good thing we did! Everyone knew how many weeks the Tour de France lasts… 3. Then they asked when the first Winter Games were held for the Olympics. I should have been able to figure this one out, but I just blanked out. I should have remembered that in 1936 both the winter and summer games were held in Nazi Germany. The 1932 games of course were held in Lake Placid. And I also knew that that was the third Winter Games, so the answer is 1924! Who first observed that you can determine the age of a tree by counting the rings of the tree? There were a lot of people answering Benjamin Franklin. We needed to go back in time a bit farther to Leonardo da Vinci! The final bonus question asked, “What was the name of Nemo’s father, in the movie “Finding Nemo?” Dave had promised to ask more Disney questions. One team was upset that Dave didn’t accept their response “Dad”. Audrey suggested “Marlin” and when I asked her if she was sure that was right, but she confided she’d heard someone shout that out when the question was asked. I’d heard that too, and the person who did sounded particularly proud of knowing the answer, so we both agreed to go with that correct answer! We lost by one.



For dinner I had the goat cheese pastry, as did everyone else at our table for six (except Sharon). Sharon had the chilled blueberry soup. I then had the caramelized onion with shitake soup. The soup was closer to a classic French onion soup with one or two almost invisible slices of mushroom added. I had the pumpkin ravioli, which I enjoyed, I just didn’t expect that the raviolis would be stuffed with cheese and there were tiny, tiny cubes of pumpkin sprinkled overtop the ravioli served in a white garlic-cheese sauce. Sharon had the prime rib with baked potato. Everyone at our table ordered a different entre, which I found interesting. I ordered the Chocolate Balance, a combination of a chocolate pudding served on a hard white chocolate shell. Sharon again ordered a crème Brule.



Sharon went to see the show called “At Midnight” which was a musical version of Cinderella with the ship’s cast. She said it was ok but that it featured many songs that she wasn’t familiar with. It seems like they’ve updated their shows to use more modern music. I decided to skip the show and work on the blog.

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