Turkish Delight

 The two sea days on this cruise bracketed our days in Istanbul, so they will be covered in our next post, as I am writing this on Sea Day 2, after two interesting but busy days in this huge city, a new port for us.

First off, to reach Istanbul by ship, we have to sail from the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles Strait and then through the Sea of Marmara. It's no surprise that Istanbul has such a rich history as a major city - it is at a safe and defensible crossroads between two inland seas, very difficult for anyone to attack from the water.

Channat Callai Fortress. A cemetery for
the victims of the Battle of Gallipoli is nearby

One of the towns along the shore

Istanbul was established as a city by Greek settlers in 657 BCE and known as Byzantium, as these people claimed heritage to the god Byzas, a son of Poseidon. After about 1000 years, Constantine the Great, who had conquered pretty much all of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor, made it his Imperial capital, and first renamed it New Rome, and then Constantinopolis. The name of the city didn't become Istanbul until 1930, after the Turkish war of Independence.

Arriving in Istanbul, we first passed the two most famous places - the Blue Mosque on the left with 6 minarets, and then the larger Hagia Sophia. And look - scaffolding!!

Beside Hagia Sophia that large walled enclosure is Topkapi Palace, as we later discovered.

Much of the history and historical architecture of Istanbul comes from the Byzantine (330-1453) and Ottoman (1453-1922) empires, as they ruled the longest, with a brief 60 year blip under Latin rule by the Fourth Crusaders in the mid-1200s. There is as much archaeology going on in Istanbul as there is in Rome or Alexandria.

On Wednesday we had an all-day tour that was supposed to take us to the famous Blue Mosque. This was not in the original tour description, and when we got the notice that women had to wear skirts that reached (close to) their ankles and a shawl for head covering, we were a little panicky that we could come up with something to fit the bill. Fortunately I had both a long enough skirt and a pashmina with me. The only unfortunate thing was that our tour was on the ONE DAY that they closed the mosque for construction. That's our luck sometimes. The group who booked this tour on day 2 did get into the mosque. We went to the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent instead.

The aqueducts date from Roman times

There are many Roman structures dating from the Byzantine period, including the aqueducts, the Hippodrome where chariot races took place, the cistern under the old city and, according to our guide, the remains of a huge colosseum complex that will never be excavated because they would disturb both the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

The Suleiman Mosque was built for the Ottoman ruler between 1550 and 1557 and sits on the Third Hill of Istanbul. It was designed by the architect Mimar Sinan, who was responsible for many other significant buildings and mosques of that time. The Sultan wanted a mosque to eclipse all others, including the Hagia Sophia, so it is built in a similar style, but even larger. The mosque has a capacity of 27,000 worshippers.

One of the courtyard windows. There is beautiful
tilework all around the mosque

In order to enter the mosque as a visitor, we had to remove our shoes and go in with either socks or bare feet, and women had to have a head covering as well as the longer skirt. Our guide provided us with reusable bags to carry our shoes. As he said, you could leave your shoes in the area outside, but there was no guarantee that someone else wouldn't like yours better than their own, and they might disappear.

Muslims pray on their knees, and before going in to do so must perform their ablutions. There are taps and seats, in front of the arches on the photo of the mosque above, which were an innovation for the time. I can't imagine 27,000 people all waiting to wash their feet, hands and mouths before entering.

The interior of the mosque is quite beautiful, with gorgeous stained glass windows, tilework and calligraphy.

One thing we noticed was the large number of cats and dogs, as you will recall from our post on Ephesus. Many of the animals roam free and it is the responsibility of the municipalities to make sure they are spayed or neutered and remain healthy. In most communities, people will put out food and water for them, and in return they help control the unwanted pests. This particular cat came in and parked herself in just the perfect spot. All the people standing behind her moved just as I was about to take the picture, and here she is:

On the opposite wall behind the cat you can see the staircase
to the Imam's podium and the representation
of Mecca

A photo of us in the mosque. The orange things 
around our necks are our Vox Boxes, that 
we use to hear our guides give their commentary

The courtyard of the mosque, with a covered fountain
in the centre

Most large mosques have a number of outbuildings, 
often used for meditation and teaching.

Also outside the mosque and in the cemetery is the tomb of Suleiman. It is an impressive building itself and was erected by his son, the next sultan, after his death.

That certainly was an interesting visit. From the mosque, we went on to Topkapi Palace, which was the residence of the sultans and the administrative centre of Ottoman Empire. It is now a museum with exhibit halls showing among other things, the kitchens (500 cooks for 15,000 residents and workers), the treasury with its jewels, and most importantly and very interesting, the harem, where the sultan's wives and concubines lived.

The main gate to Topkapi

The entrance to the Imperial Council
pavilion

The harem rooms are very beautifully decorated, and probably the most popular section of the museum, although details of its use remain a well-kept secret. It was forbidden for anyone to speak or write about what went on in the harem section of any palace, so there's a lot of speculation about the conniving and posturing that went on to bring certain wives or concubines into favour with the sultan. There are stories about children even being killed by women here to make sure they could not become the favourite son of the sultan. If only these walls could talk.....

The only part of the harem rooms accessible to the outside world was where the food was brought across the courtyard from the kitchens. This area is known as the Courtyard of the Eunuchs - the Sultans obviously wanted to make sure nobody could poach on their preserves, and made sure in the most definite way that it could never happen. Even the eunuchs could only go into one room to leave the food, which was then picked up by female slaves to be served. The Chief Harem Eunuch was responsible for the schooling of the princes, which was also done near this courtyard.

The tilework all over the palace is amazing, but these tiles are coloured with an iron containing a substance called bole which makes the bright red. It is not used any more, but apparently even a small piece of tile dating from the late 1400s can sell for quite a lot of money.

A small section of a wall showing the Iznik
tile with its red bole

An interior fountain

There are apparently over 400 rooms in the Harem, of which maybe 30 are open to the public as part of the museum. 

And then there's the outside areas. There are 4 courtyards to Topkapi Palace, but most of the interesting exhibits are in the Second Courtyard. This is a terrace within the harem area. This building is the Twin Kiosk, the apartments of the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince, while being schooled, lived here in seclusion until he was sent to govern one of the provinces and prove his administrative ability to the sultan.

A fountain on the side of one of the buildings, with tulips in the garden. Tulips actually didn't originate in the Netherlands, but are from this area. The Dutch were just better at marketing, as our guide put it. There are tulip references and motifs all over the city. The bloom season for them is just about over, so they aren't looking at their best.

We also saw the treasury exhibits, which included jewel-encrusted swords, the Topkapi Dagger and the Spoonmaker's Diamond. The diamond is 86 carats, surrounded by brilliants. The guard was moving people along past it so I couldn't grab a photo. Some of the other pieces are quite beautiful, too.

The Topkapi Dagger, with 3 large emeralds on the
hilt, and diamonds and enamel. It was made in 1747

A collection of jewel-studded carafes
and mugs

Some lovely pieces that reminded me
of Christmas ornaments that Larry's
aunt used to make

One room had a number of copies of the Koran,
of varying sizes and in bejeweled and even
golden covers and cases. This is a beautifully
illuminated manuscript.

Once more outside, we found a few other pavilions with beautiful outer decoration and tilework.

On our way to the restaurant for lunch, our guide took us to the parks between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia so we could get the best photos of both buildings, which we will have to see on our next visit to Istanbul, whenever that may be.

The Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia

We had lunch (that was not listed in the original tour description) at a great Michelin-starred restaurant a 10-minute walk from the palace and mosques. I looked up the restaurant's website, which is amazing, to get the names of the dishes we ate.

We started with appetizer spreads like hummus, muammara, babagannous, and what they call 'spicy salad' served with fresh flatbreads.

Babagannous

Spicy Salad

 

We then had these small phyllo dough and cheese pieces they call Sailor Rolls

And for our main course, tandoori lamb served with bulgur

For dessert, the best baklava I've ever tasted. I always found the Greek version too sweet, but this has chopped pistachio in it as well and less honey. Delicious! Another one of those places that stay on the list to visit when we might next be in Istanbul.

After lunch, which went from 2:00 to about 3:15, we walked a little further to the Grand Bazaar. The outside part of the bazaar looked like any other shopping street anywhere in the world, but without the big name stores. Then we walked through an archway, past a mosque (no surprise there!) and into the covered part of the bazaar. Our guide told us to stick to the main passage, as we could easily get lost if we went down the side aisles. And we could see why! Even though there were crowds of people everywhere, the shopkeepers were all asking for customers. And they're all eagle-eyed. It was hard to sneak a photo of some of the more interesting places.

The main hall 

Multiple shops sold jewelery, especially the Evil Eye,
an amulet that protects the wearer from harm

One of the many shops selling Turkish Delight
sweets as well as baklava and other things

A lamp shop with beautiful pieces.

As everyone knows, we're no shoppers, and we don't like crowds, so we didn't last too long in the bazaar. In fact, everyone on the tour voted to cut the bazaar visit by a half-hour so we could get back to the ship a little earlier. On the way back, I found a couple of shops to take photos of:

This is a shop selling Turkish Delight, Baklava and
other sweet treats

A shop selling everything you need for tea, coffee,
and dessert

We had dinner in Umi Uma on Wednesday evening, and only managed to get through the sushi, sashimi and a small plate of tempura before we called it a meal.

On Thursday, we had a much shorter tour that involved quite a bit less walking. We visited the Asian side of Istanbul and the Beylerbei Summer Palace of the Sultans before boarding a tour boat to see Istanbul from the Bosporus Strait.

A mosque on a hill not far from the port. There are something like 3,000 mosques in Istanbul to serve a population nearing 20 million.

On our way across the bridge to the Asian side of Istanbul, we caught a glimpse of the latest, and largest, mosque in the city. It was inaugurated in 2019 by President Erdogan, and has a capacity of 63,000 people. Our guide told us that it is not just for use as a mosque, but also a place of shelter in case of earthquakes. Istanbul is on a fault line, as is much of Turkiye, so as long as this one stands up as well as Hagia Sophia has, the people will have somewhere to go if needed.

One of the small communities on the mostly residential Asian side. Small shops with apartments above, nice homes, and many people grow produce in their plots in community gardens. Many of the local greengrocer shops sell these locally grown vegetables and herbs.

We had a tea break in a lovely bakery/cafe. I was certainly tempted to buy something to take back!

Another one of the friendly local cats. Today's guide told us she and her neighbours take turns putting out food and water and giving the cats a little attention.

Beylerbei Palace was a summer residence of the Sultan Abdulaziz, built in the mid 1800s. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside, so the over-the-top French style of decoration of that period can't be shown here. It is a beautiful palace nonetheless, with gigantic crystal chandeliers, some coming from Murano, and French and Italian porcelain everywhere. It is said that the sultan even had a brief affair here with Empress Eugenie of France, the wife of Napoleon III.

One very plentiful tree that happens to be in bloom right
now is the Judas Tree, with its purple flowers.

One of the deer statues in the garden.

And another tulip. This is a beautiful one that
looks almost like a peony.

After this visit, we boarded our tour boat and saw some beautiful homes along the water's edge. They are among the most expensive real estate in Istanbul and many are owned by the richest families in the country.

Back on the European side of the Bosporus, we also passed some of the best hotels - the Four Seasons, recently voted the best hotel in Europe, the Kempinski Palace, which actually does include rooms in a former palace - for $2,500 US a night! - and another very nice site currently under renovation that is slated to become one of the exclusive hotels.

Some houses along the water on the European side

Yet another mosque! But a lovely one.

That's finally it for this post. I will leave the description of our sail back along the Dardanelles Strait for the next post. We had some commentary from one of our guest entertainers, Turkish pianist Naki Ataman, who also pointed out the memorials to those lost in the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I.

After today's day at sea, we're back into the ports and islands of Greece.