Istanbul

The weather is Istanbul was on the cool side with a light rain, the wind was a bit stiff so we had to button up our coats as we headed for the Grand Bazaar which has been in operations since 1453. The bazaar is a huge collection of small shops offering goods of every imaginable type. The shop owners are friendly yet aggressive to sell you something. We did look at one of the rug stalls where the owner has traveled in the US selling his carpets, we were offered tea and shown a number of carpets even though we told him we were not interested in buying. These people could sell refrigerators to the Eskimoes! The carpets are beautiful, made of silk or wool from different parts of the Arab world, the cost for a 3' x 5' silk carpet is $3500, ancient carpets are even more expensive.

We did buy a few small items, including our magnets, and then started looking at a Turkish coffee maker, these are small metal cups where the coffee and water is boiled over heat to make the coffee, it is quite a process to make the coffee just right. The owner was very friendly, we learned he started in the business when he was 15 working with his family, then went into the military, later worked for Carnival Cruise lines and finally came back to the business in the Bazaar. His family has three stalls in the bazaar. We were offered Turkish coffee and invited into the small shop where he showed us more of the coffee makers and some of the other goods. We ended up purchasing a coffee maker, two cups and saucers made in the traditional blue ceramic colors, and small hand decorated boxes made from camel bones, and a ceramic Aladdin's lamp. The workmanship of these items is excellent. He also had hand inlaid cases for Backgammon or chess that were beautiful. Very nice man and reasonable prices, overall a pleasant experience.

Later we walked to the Suleymaniye Mosque, a beautiful mosque built in 1550 for Suleyman the Mgnificent (the same guy that conquered the Knights of St. John). The mosque is being renovated but we were able to enter the main part of the mosque since it was between prayer times. Included in the mosque complex was a hospital, soup kitchen, schools, and bath house that provided a welfare system feeding over 1000 of the city's poor.

Our last stop for the day was an underground cistern built in 532 by the Roman emperor Justinian. This huge cistern supplied water to the roman palace, it contains 336 columns 26' high, holding up the roof. The cistern was rediscovered in the 19th century when people were found to be collecting water and even fish through holes in their basements.

The traffic here is very heavy, the drivers crazy and pedestrians have no rights. While the tram system is excellent, I am not sure how anyone can get anywhere driving a car, the roads are clogged and almost at a standstill. We learned to cross the streets in a crowd hoping there is some safety in numbers, the cars do not stop and will drive right through the intersection. With that said, the wind blew Barb's hat into the street in front of a bus, she said to let it go and forget it, but being the ever gallant husband, I dashed into the street in front of a bus to retrieve the hat. Actually, gallant means I made sure the traffic was stopped before running out in front of the bus, and the bus driver did not move until I was back on the curb. I am surprised Barb did not want me to stop so she could take a photo.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Topkapi Place, Hagia Sofia, and the Blue Mosque. On Wednesday we will take a cruise up the Bosporus.