Exploring the Land where East meets West, part 2

Friday, April 4 --

    We rose in Istanbul this morning with a full day on the agenda. After breakfast, we headed to one of the most exotic shopping areas in the world, the Grand Bazaar.
     One of the world's oldest and largest covered markets, the bazaar covers some 61 streets with over 3,000 shops. These photos are from Wikipedia; I was too busy shopping to take any of my own.

One of more than a dozen entrances to the Grand Bazaar.

In this photo from erasmusu.com, some of the bazaar's wonderful artwork is displayed.

The variety of goods for sale really can't be described adequately.

 

 

    The bazaar was started in the mid-15th century, and by 200 years later it was the hub of travel and commerce for Europe, Asia and Africa, thanks to the wide reach of the Ottoman Empire. Over the years the bazaar was hit by fires and earthquakes, and after the great quake of 1894 it began to take its modern appearance.
    The good news was that we knew we could find almost anything in the bazaar. The bad news was that we only had 90 minutes to shop. (Some of us would go back the next day.) Our next stop awaited us: the Suleymanyi Mosque.

    The mosque was built in the mid-16th century during the reign of the sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, under whose rule the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith, extending deep into Europe all the way to modern-Day Austria, through the Middle East and into North Africa as far as Algeria.

Suleyman I (1494-1566), ruled his empire for almost 46 years.

 

     The mosque is actually a complex of several buildings covering about 18 acres, and like its builder, it is magnificent.

The tomb of  Suleyman I.

Islamic tradition requires women to be covered inside the mosque, so we covered as stylishly as we could.

 

     After lunch on our own, we visited the third and final stop of our day tour, the Pierre Loti overlook. Named after a French naval officer and novelist who was a strong supporter of the modern Turkish state that threw out the Ottomans after World War I, it provides a spectacular view of Istanbul.

 

 

 

    It had been a full day, but more was to come. Our evening reception was at Hotel Les Ottomans, a beautiful boutique hotel in Istanbul.

        It had been a wonderful day, but we were a weary bunch as we repaired to the Shangri-La for the night. Tomorrow we would have our first business meeting of the trip, and then more to see in this fascinating city.


Saturday, April 5 -- 

     Our morning was spent in the business meeting, but the time flew by and we hit the road for another day of exploring Istanbul, starting with lunch at the Karakol restaurant.

  
     After a delicious lunch, our next stop was the Hagia Sophia Museum. This building was built in 537 AD as a Greek Orthodox church, became a mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935. Much restoration work has been done in the last two decades, led by the World Monument Fund. It is regarded as one of the great surviving examples of Byzantine architecture.

 

    
         It was a short walk to the Blue Mosque, formally known as the Sultan Ahmed mosque.

   

      Built in the early 17th century, the mosque has one main dome, six minarets and eight secondary domes. It is still used as a mosque today. When we entered, some of us were told that our attire was not conservative enough, so this is how Laurie and I wound up:

     Outside were beautiful flowers in several gardens.

     Leaving the mosque, we went underground to see the Basilica Cistern. The largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that are beneath Istanbul, this one dates back to the 6th century. According to ancient texts, about 7,000 slaves worked on its construction.

       The cistern is enormous, about 105,000 square feet of space that could hold 2.8 million cubic feet of water weighing 100,000 tons. Supporting the ceiling are 336 columns, each 30 feet high. The water came via aqueducts from the Belgrade Forest, about 19 miles north of the city. Today, the cistern is almost empty except for a few feet of water that is home to many fish. The 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love has scenes filmed here.

     We went to another cistern, the Nakkas Cistern, for a presentation by Meander Travel, featuring wine and cheese served along with classical music. We capped our evening with dinner in the Kumkapi quarter of the Fatih district, traditionally home to Istanbul's Armenian population. After a fine meal we returned to the Shangri-La to prepare for our final day in Turkey.


Sunday, April 6 --
 
     Our last day in Istanbul was a full day indeed. At 9am we departed the hotel for a visit to the Topkapi Palace, the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans from the mid-15th to mid-19th century. As many as 4,000 people resided here during the palace's peak years.

Enjoying the gardens together.

     The Archeological Museum is actually the largest of three museums in the complex, known as the Istanbul Archeology Museum. Dedicated in 1891, the complex also includes the Museum of the Ancient Orient and the Museum of Islamic Art. Among its famous artifacts: the Alexander Sarcophagus, dating to the 4th century BC and believed to have been made for a governor of Babylon; the Kadesh Peace Treaty, signed by the Egyptians and Hittites in 1258 BC, considered the oldest peace treaty in world history; and an exhibit featuring artifacts from the ancient city of Troy.

    
     After lunch, we visited the Spice Bazaar, dating to 1660 and featuring nearly a hundred shops selling spices. Here's a great photo from fxcuisine.com:

     From the Spice Bazaar, some of our group continued shopping at a remarkable leather factory, but I joined others in returning to the Shangri-La to prepare for the evening's gala dinner, which was held at the Adile Sultan Palace.
    The palace was originally built in the early 19th century for the princess whose name it still bears, has 55 rooms and a spectacular view of the Bosporus. It was truly an evening of elegance, the perfect way to finish our visit to this spectacular country.

    

     To say that a fine time was had by all would be an understatement. Late in the evening we went back to the Shangri-La for the final time. We were a tired but satisfied bunch, looking forward to getting home. Thinking about the long flight home would wait till morning.


Monday, April 7 --

     Our journey back to the States began mid-morning when we departed Istanbul for Amsterdam. By mid-afternoon US Central time, we were back at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
     Turkey had shown us a land of contrasts, a very tolerant place with hospitable people. Truly a place where East meets West, and the Turks seem to be searching for the best of both worlds. I'll certainly plan to visit again.