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.

    

Exploring the Land where East meets West, part 1

This post is by Sue Tindell.

   It is a place where the modern meets the ancient, Europe gives way to Asia, and the visitor is transported to a place where the familiar and the exotic exist virtually side by side. It is Turkey, and when we were told it would be the site of our annual Travel Leaders International Summit in April, I didn't hesitate to sign up. This would be my third visit to Turkey, and it gets better every time.

Sunday, March 30 - Monday, March 31 --

    The trip began with a flash...a lightning strike on the inbound Delta flight that we were scheduled to take outbound from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. We were delayed three hours while Delta found another plane, but finally we were in the air on our first leg, across the eastern U.S. and the Atlantic to Amsterdam. I was joined by my three traveling companions for the journey: Denise Hanson Petricka from Eau Claire, Laurie Passard from Grand Rapids, Minn., and Cindy Tyo from Fargo, N.D. The long flight was smooth, and when we arrived at Schiphol International Airport it was already Monday morning in Europe. The only good thing about our delay at the start was that it cut into our layover here, and within 90 minutes we were in the air for Istanbul.
    We arrived in Turkey's largest city in late afternoon and checked into our hotel for the first night, the Radisson Blu, near Ataturk Airport, which is named for the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The first of our many great dining experiences was at Mikla Restaurant on the top floor of the Marmara Pera Hotel in the Old Town section. 

   
  



The view from the Mikla of Istanbul at night.

 

       We did the "tasting" menu, which was spectacular. Take a moment to look it over here. It was a fine conclusion to our first day, but we were a weary bunch as we returned to our hotel. The next day we would travel to the interior of Turkey, to the exotic region of Cappadocia.



Tuesday, April 1 --

    The Asian part of Turkey, which comprises the great majority of its land, is known as Anatolia, also as Asia Minor. We would be spending the next few days in the eastern region of Cappadocia. In the Old Testament, the Hittites are often mentioned, and they originated here. We flew early in the morning from Istanbul to the city of Kayseri, where we were met by our hosts from Meander Travel, who whisked us to Cemal Ranch, where we began our exploration of this fascinating region.

Cemal Ranch is not like any ranch I'd ever seen back home.

The exotic geography of Cappodocia results from its high altitude (over 3000 ft) and ancient volcanic activity.

Just in case the visitor gets lost, there are directions on how to get home. Cappadocia is one of the most popular areas in Turkey for foreign visitors.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we enjoyed a lunch of native Turkish dishes. Laurie is toasting our visit with native wine.

Extensive catacombs are underneath a lot of Cappadocia. A total of 36 underground cities have been excavated, some dating back to the time of the Hittites. The one we visited had been used by early Christians.

    Pottery has been imporant in Turkey since ancient times, and we got to see a local artisan at work, nicknamed "Einstein" because of his resemblance to the famous physicist. 

      
   We continued our tour of the region and eventually made our way to our evening's lodgings at the Argos Hotel. Now, I've stayed at hotels all over the world but never one like this.

   The Argos in Cappadocia  is on the site of an ancient monastery in Old Uchisar Village, and carefully restored and integrated ancient buildings, tunnels and caves into its architecture.

   Laurie and I would be sharing a room here at the Argos and it was unlike any hotel room we'd ever been in. You can see our video tour of the room here.

    Our first full day in Turkey was coming to a close, but the next day would be even better,as we would see Cappadocia from the air. We were going on a balloon ride.

Wednesday, April 2 --

    All of us had traveled by air all over the world, but not quite like this before. Today we would see Cappadocia by hot-air balloon, courtesy of Atmosfer Balloons.
     We were up before dawn and after coffee and tea at the balloonists' office, we went to the launch site and met our pilot, Coskum Gulluk, as he was filling our balloon. The burners use propane to generate hot air, filling the balloon and pretty soon we were in the air. The flight lasted about three hours and "spectacular" doesn't really describe the experience.

The grand finale, with "lunar artistic" touches, courtesy of my Samsung.

 

    After our flight, we had lunch and then headed to our afternoon destination, the Goreme Open Air Museum. This is a collection of churches that are actually carved into the rock. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Goreme is one of the most popular attractions in central Turkey, and it's easy to see why. Check out their site to see some truly beautiful indoor shots.

 

 

    On the way back we stopped at a local market to buy some Turkish wine, which we enjoyed on the terrace of our hotel before dinner, which was included every night as part of our stay.

 

Before dinner we strolled through the hotel, enjoying the beautiful architecture and style.

      

While enjoying a glass (or two) of wine on the terrace, we also enjoyed the scenery.

Dinner was always something special at the Argos.
 



 

    Thursday, April 3 --

 

 

    Up early again the next morning, we took in the beautiful scenery of Cappadocia for the last time. Soon we would be on our way back to Istanbul.

 



 

    We spent most of our day in transit. Our experience in Cappadocia had been splendid, and a lot of the thanks go to Meander Travel. One of our party had left her camera behind, and the Meander folks sent it to her on the next available flight. That's service above and beyond.
    In late afternoon we arrived at the Shangri-La Bosphorus Hotel in Istanbul. In his 1933 novel Lost Horizon, by British author James Hilton, Shangri-La is a mystical valley in the mountains of Tibet. Ever since, the name has been associated with the exotic and mysterious. Franklin Roosevelt was a big fan of the novel and named the presidential retreat in Maryland after it. Today it is known as Camp David.
    The 2014 International Summit opened with a welcoming cocktail reception in the Shangri-La Suite, on the sixth floor. It was fun to meet a lot of our Travel Leaders associates and friends, many of whom had been with us at our 2013 event in South Africa. Our meetings would begin on Saturday, so that left tomorrow for tours of Istanbul.