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Warning, this is LOOOONG.
I'm presently in Scotland, trying to sort out the next leg of the trip heading to the US/Canada, and steeling myself for the last couple of days with the parentals. Which is great, but...boy, they don't stop, not really.
SATURDAY UPDATE: we stopped! Have done nothing since 2:30pm when we found our apartment. Well, we went out to get something to eat. That was it. We're not planning to have dinner, and my stepdad has encouraged mum to rest. Which is very necessary right now. Also necessary for me.
Tuesday in Istanbul was a 'wander around and get our bearings' day with my travel companion (met on ffa looking for travel companions, we did the Ghan back in 2020, up to Bali, and Vietnam, right before the panda hit). Don't remember much, except that we criss-crossed the old city around the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, and finally went to get a cruise around the Bosphorus in the evening.
–
Wednesday
Throat was still sore on waking up, absolutely exhausted. Don't think I'm warm enough when I sleep which means I'm not sleeping properly. They only have blankets here, and I usually sleep under a doona, even in summer.
Food tour today; started the day still full from yesterday. Luckily, the guide, Ali, was great about warning us not to fill up too early.
There was Breakfast 1 and 2, then some soup and liver, we crossed the river over to the Asian side of Istanbul where we had Iskander kebabs, pickles, and a mezze lunch with an intriguing 'no waste' dessert: orange peel, and unripe walnut!
Stuffed mussels followed, and then a lamb-intestines served in bread. A roast pork in flatbread, and ice cream/dessert finished off the day.
WHEW.
Details:
breakfast 1 & 2: eaten at a little hole-in-the-wall not far from the Egyptian Market
Simit – crispy circular bread topped with sesame seeds
Bal & Kaymak – water buffalo clotted cream and honey
Menemen – scrambled eggs with tomato and green pepper
Findik Ezmesi – hazelnut cream paste
Pastirma – dried and cured beef meat
Tulum Peyniri – Turkish goat's milk cheese ripened in a goatskin casing
Ezine Peyniri – cow's & sheep's milk white cheese
Beyran Corbasi – spicy lamb soup
chopped lamb liver with onion and parsley
Iskender
Iskender Kebap – doner kebab & tomato paste on pide bread with browned butter poured over
Fermented grape juice
Tursu – pickled vegies
Tursu suyu – pickle juice
Ciya restaurant
Lahmacun – thin dough topped with minced meat, onion, tomatoes, and parsley
Zahter – thyme, parsley, onions, pomegranate molasses / Hommus / Eggplant / Turkish Tabouleh
lamb-beef balls with quince
zucchini fritters
mince with pickled plums
Uzum serbeti (sherbet) – grape drink
Sekerleme – candied walnut, orange rind, pumpkin with tahini, and clotted cream
Midye dolma – stuffed mussels with rice & spices
Reks Kokorec served kokorec – roasted suckling lamb intestines with fried tomato and onion served in bread
Tantuni – chopped meat, onion, tomatoes, and spices, served wrapped in flatbread
Ayran – yoghurt drink
Mado Cafe
Baklava – pistachio and walnut
Dondurma – turkish ice cream made with goats' milk, sahlep (orchid root), and mastic sap (gum)
Turk kahvesi – turkish coffee
Yes, there was a LOT of food. But the tour was great; you just need not to eat anything the night before as well...
Thursday
Old City tour
Met the tour guide and our fellow tourists, Gerald and Nancy, and their adult kids Meredith and Matthew (so nice to see other adults travelling with their parents), queued for the Hagia Sophia for an hour, got in. Hagia Sophia used to be a church/basilica that got turned into a museum, and then in 2020, got converted into a mosque.
Some interesting points: parts of the Christian iconography remains, but the most obvious one is the ceiling mosaic of Jesus at the front/nave of the basilica.
In other times, the mosaic might have been defaced, or plastered over, since there's a rule against iconography in Islam, and they don't really want Jesus staring down at them while they're in prayer. In current times, they've just put up a couple of sails to cover him up.
We went into the Blue Mosque which is currently undergoing renovation and so was not quite as impressive as it might have been. Still, you can see the elements where the artistry shines through. Would be lovely to see the tiling all cleared up, once the scaffolding is removed.
Lining up for the Topkapi Palace was a bit of a chore. It didn't help that Thursday looked like School Day, with innumerable dual-lines (ish) of students moving along every path and chattering in every queue available. Still, the grounds were fascinating – hugely palatial, suitable for the Sultan it was built for.
The Palace is divided into four spaces: First space is free, although you have to go through security to get there. I suspect this was the 'public areas' back in the day when the absolute ruler of the land lived and worked from here.
Second area held the Justice Hall and a Mosque (not open to the public) – I feel like this was an area that was more open to the public – not quite the sanctuary of sanctuaries, but certainly both less protected than the inner sanctum and more protected than the outer courtyards. The outer spaces (I'll think of the word for it later) have lots of garden areas today, divided up by paths. One can imagine the ministers and public servants making their way across the lawns (or whatever covered the spaces at the time) on their way to working appeals of law in the Justice Hall.
We were in the Third area when one of our compatriots realised they'd set their bag down at the security checkpoint...and hadn't picked it up again. Oops. Cue a rush back to the checkpoint to fetch it. Since it wasn't my bag, I wandered through the Third Area, which featured a Library and (I think), the Harem entrance. Didn't go in to see the Harem, according to our guide it wasn't that interesting, although it might have been more relevant in an architectural sense.
Third area was apparently where the Sultan and his family hung out most of the day, so it was supposed to be very peaceful. I can't say that the Sultan would have particularly enjoyed the thousands of tourists gawking at his palace, or the reams of schoolkids chattering away. It certainly wasn't very peaceful by the time we got there around midday!
From the third to the fourth area wasn't much more than a passageway between two buildings. But when you came out, you walked to the right and saw the Sea of Marmara, and looked to the left and saw the Golden Horn, and straight ahead was the Bosphorus Strait. Definitely a view fit for a ruler!
At the recommendation of the guide, I went in to look at the 'treasury' which was basically a collection of weaponry, the Spoonmaker's Diamond (83cts), and a knife with a hilt that featured three giant emeralds in it. (Cabochon.)
Other than that, it was just all the weaponry one could ever imagine, including swords from the Crusades (I think at least one of them was longer than I am tall), and various sets of armour. All the most efficient ways (at the time) of injuring, maiming, or unaliving our fellow humanity.
Lunch was at a restaurant which our compatriots wanted to try – apparently all the heads of state went there. I can't say that it was particularly good food, although the pastie I had (look, it wasn't called a pastie, but it was basically a pastie: meat and vegies in a file pastry wrapping) was decent enough. Nothing to write home about.
We walked on to the Grand Bazaar and got a feel for the crazy shopping options. Unimpressive for me; I'm not A Shopper. I know what I want, I work out the details, I go and try things and buy it, and then I bug the heck outta dodge. There's no joy in window shopping for me, although there might be curiosity about craftsmanship (or craftswomanship). The process is my interest, not the result, or displaying it. Things were different a dozen years ago, but now I live in a house that has limited space, and I don't need or want clutter.
If there was anything I would have bought, though, it would have been the piece of crystal or rock or whatever it was that was carved to look like an egg with a reptile hatching out of it. Dragon? Lizard? Dinosaur? Who cares? I thought it was pretty cool.
Dinner at the Rainbow Cafe outside our hotel, and we saw our fellow travellers from the day, on their way to their cruise! Swapped instagram handles, and they headed off to their evening entertainment.
–
Friday
Istanbul Archaeological Museum: my dad recommended this. No explanation, just told me I had to see it.
Which, I like museums and the stuff they've got there. The highlights of this one were the displays on the cultures surrounding the Aegean/Mediterranean through the ages, a display on the excavation of the City of Troy (which put a lot of interesting context into Jo Graham's book Black Ships ), and the sarcophagi display – including the mummy of a king – Tupir – whose body was displayed beside the now-closed-up-again sarcophagi that once held it.
It was interesting, but also a little creepy, so I kind of left the main displays after that.
Went in to look at a pavilion of Iznik pottery tiles. Some lovely tesselations, and it had great acoustics. I couldn't outright sing, but I could do a kind of piping hum of To God Be The Glory.
Hammam Bath Hurem Sultan Hammam – built for the pleasure of the Sultana of Hurem Sultan: you could see the elements of the original architecture – eg. The toilets were originally squatting ones, but had been filled in with clear perspex and modern toilets installed.
And that's the stuff that I enjoy - the architecture and structure and history.
Lovely building, interior wooden setup built later for the purposes of a commercial hammam, but they left the ceiling and replaced the windows, I think. The wood reminded me more of an east Asian bath than a west Asian one, but what do I know of west Asian wood architecture? They did use the space pretty effectively though, given that there were maybe up to twenty women receiving treatment all at once.
Rather amusingly, my therapist was called Selda!
It was definitely an experience, although no more or less luxurious than other spa experiences I've had before. But having it in the ancient hammam bath? That was something else.
--
Then I went to bed and woke up at 3:45am to travel to Inverness over the next 18 hours.
I'm presently in Scotland, trying to sort out the next leg of the trip heading to the US/Canada, and steeling myself for the last couple of days with the parentals. Which is great, but...boy, they don't stop, not really.
SATURDAY UPDATE: we stopped! Have done nothing since 2:30pm when we found our apartment. Well, we went out to get something to eat. That was it. We're not planning to have dinner, and my stepdad has encouraged mum to rest. Which is very necessary right now. Also necessary for me.
Tuesday in Istanbul was a 'wander around and get our bearings' day with my travel companion (met on ffa looking for travel companions, we did the Ghan back in 2020, up to Bali, and Vietnam, right before the panda hit). Don't remember much, except that we criss-crossed the old city around the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, and finally went to get a cruise around the Bosphorus in the evening.
–
Wednesday
Throat was still sore on waking up, absolutely exhausted. Don't think I'm warm enough when I sleep which means I'm not sleeping properly. They only have blankets here, and I usually sleep under a doona, even in summer.
Food tour today; started the day still full from yesterday. Luckily, the guide, Ali, was great about warning us not to fill up too early.
There was Breakfast 1 and 2, then some soup and liver, we crossed the river over to the Asian side of Istanbul where we had Iskander kebabs, pickles, and a mezze lunch with an intriguing 'no waste' dessert: orange peel, and unripe walnut!
Stuffed mussels followed, and then a lamb-intestines served in bread. A roast pork in flatbread, and ice cream/dessert finished off the day.
WHEW.
Details:
breakfast 1 & 2: eaten at a little hole-in-the-wall not far from the Egyptian Market
Simit – crispy circular bread topped with sesame seeds
Bal & Kaymak – water buffalo clotted cream and honey
Menemen – scrambled eggs with tomato and green pepper
Findik Ezmesi – hazelnut cream paste
Pastirma – dried and cured beef meat
Tulum Peyniri – Turkish goat's milk cheese ripened in a goatskin casing
Ezine Peyniri – cow's & sheep's milk white cheese
Beyran Corbasi – spicy lamb soup
chopped lamb liver with onion and parsley
Iskender
Iskender Kebap – doner kebab & tomato paste on pide bread with browned butter poured over
Fermented grape juice
Tursu – pickled vegies
Tursu suyu – pickle juice
Ciya restaurant
Lahmacun – thin dough topped with minced meat, onion, tomatoes, and parsley
Zahter – thyme, parsley, onions, pomegranate molasses / Hommus / Eggplant / Turkish Tabouleh
lamb-beef balls with quince
zucchini fritters
mince with pickled plums
Uzum serbeti (sherbet) – grape drink
Sekerleme – candied walnut, orange rind, pumpkin with tahini, and clotted cream
Midye dolma – stuffed mussels with rice & spices
Reks Kokorec served kokorec – roasted suckling lamb intestines with fried tomato and onion served in bread
Tantuni – chopped meat, onion, tomatoes, and spices, served wrapped in flatbread
Ayran – yoghurt drink
Mado Cafe
Baklava – pistachio and walnut
Dondurma – turkish ice cream made with goats' milk, sahlep (orchid root), and mastic sap (gum)
Turk kahvesi – turkish coffee
Yes, there was a LOT of food. But the tour was great; you just need not to eat anything the night before as well...
Thursday
Old City tour
Met the tour guide and our fellow tourists, Gerald and Nancy, and their adult kids Meredith and Matthew (so nice to see other adults travelling with their parents), queued for the Hagia Sophia for an hour, got in. Hagia Sophia used to be a church/basilica that got turned into a museum, and then in 2020, got converted into a mosque.
Some interesting points: parts of the Christian iconography remains, but the most obvious one is the ceiling mosaic of Jesus at the front/nave of the basilica.
In other times, the mosaic might have been defaced, or plastered over, since there's a rule against iconography in Islam, and they don't really want Jesus staring down at them while they're in prayer. In current times, they've just put up a couple of sails to cover him up.
We went into the Blue Mosque which is currently undergoing renovation and so was not quite as impressive as it might have been. Still, you can see the elements where the artistry shines through. Would be lovely to see the tiling all cleared up, once the scaffolding is removed.
Lining up for the Topkapi Palace was a bit of a chore. It didn't help that Thursday looked like School Day, with innumerable dual-lines (ish) of students moving along every path and chattering in every queue available. Still, the grounds were fascinating – hugely palatial, suitable for the Sultan it was built for.
The Palace is divided into four spaces: First space is free, although you have to go through security to get there. I suspect this was the 'public areas' back in the day when the absolute ruler of the land lived and worked from here.
Second area held the Justice Hall and a Mosque (not open to the public) – I feel like this was an area that was more open to the public – not quite the sanctuary of sanctuaries, but certainly both less protected than the inner sanctum and more protected than the outer courtyards. The outer spaces (I'll think of the word for it later) have lots of garden areas today, divided up by paths. One can imagine the ministers and public servants making their way across the lawns (or whatever covered the spaces at the time) on their way to working appeals of law in the Justice Hall.
We were in the Third area when one of our compatriots realised they'd set their bag down at the security checkpoint...and hadn't picked it up again. Oops. Cue a rush back to the checkpoint to fetch it. Since it wasn't my bag, I wandered through the Third Area, which featured a Library and (I think), the Harem entrance. Didn't go in to see the Harem, according to our guide it wasn't that interesting, although it might have been more relevant in an architectural sense.
Third area was apparently where the Sultan and his family hung out most of the day, so it was supposed to be very peaceful. I can't say that the Sultan would have particularly enjoyed the thousands of tourists gawking at his palace, or the reams of schoolkids chattering away. It certainly wasn't very peaceful by the time we got there around midday!
From the third to the fourth area wasn't much more than a passageway between two buildings. But when you came out, you walked to the right and saw the Sea of Marmara, and looked to the left and saw the Golden Horn, and straight ahead was the Bosphorus Strait. Definitely a view fit for a ruler!
At the recommendation of the guide, I went in to look at the 'treasury' which was basically a collection of weaponry, the Spoonmaker's Diamond (83cts), and a knife with a hilt that featured three giant emeralds in it. (Cabochon.)
Other than that, it was just all the weaponry one could ever imagine, including swords from the Crusades (I think at least one of them was longer than I am tall), and various sets of armour. All the most efficient ways (at the time) of injuring, maiming, or unaliving our fellow humanity.
Lunch was at a restaurant which our compatriots wanted to try – apparently all the heads of state went there. I can't say that it was particularly good food, although the pastie I had (look, it wasn't called a pastie, but it was basically a pastie: meat and vegies in a file pastry wrapping) was decent enough. Nothing to write home about.
We walked on to the Grand Bazaar and got a feel for the crazy shopping options. Unimpressive for me; I'm not A Shopper. I know what I want, I work out the details, I go and try things and buy it, and then I bug the heck outta dodge. There's no joy in window shopping for me, although there might be curiosity about craftsmanship (or craftswomanship). The process is my interest, not the result, or displaying it. Things were different a dozen years ago, but now I live in a house that has limited space, and I don't need or want clutter.
If there was anything I would have bought, though, it would have been the piece of crystal or rock or whatever it was that was carved to look like an egg with a reptile hatching out of it. Dragon? Lizard? Dinosaur? Who cares? I thought it was pretty cool.
Dinner at the Rainbow Cafe outside our hotel, and we saw our fellow travellers from the day, on their way to their cruise! Swapped instagram handles, and they headed off to their evening entertainment.
–
Friday
Istanbul Archaeological Museum: my dad recommended this. No explanation, just told me I had to see it.
Which, I like museums and the stuff they've got there. The highlights of this one were the displays on the cultures surrounding the Aegean/Mediterranean through the ages, a display on the excavation of the City of Troy (which put a lot of interesting context into Jo Graham's book Black Ships ), and the sarcophagi display – including the mummy of a king – Tupir – whose body was displayed beside the now-closed-up-again sarcophagi that once held it.
It was interesting, but also a little creepy, so I kind of left the main displays after that.
Went in to look at a pavilion of Iznik pottery tiles. Some lovely tesselations, and it had great acoustics. I couldn't outright sing, but I could do a kind of piping hum of To God Be The Glory.
Hammam Bath Hurem Sultan Hammam – built for the pleasure of the Sultana of Hurem Sultan: you could see the elements of the original architecture – eg. The toilets were originally squatting ones, but had been filled in with clear perspex and modern toilets installed.
And that's the stuff that I enjoy - the architecture and structure and history.
Lovely building, interior wooden setup built later for the purposes of a commercial hammam, but they left the ceiling and replaced the windows, I think. The wood reminded me more of an east Asian bath than a west Asian one, but what do I know of west Asian wood architecture? They did use the space pretty effectively though, given that there were maybe up to twenty women receiving treatment all at once.
Rather amusingly, my therapist was called Selda!
It was definitely an experience, although no more or less luxurious than other spa experiences I've had before. But having it in the ancient hammam bath? That was something else.
--
Then I went to bed and woke up at 3:45am to travel to Inverness over the next 18 hours.
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Love the wood in the last one.
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