Blue skies and warm air! The city looks completely different. There are boats in the water on all the horizons, we can see the cobblestones in the roads, and now we realize that the space in the middle of the Hippodrome is not a lawn, as we imagined, but has a hard surface that can accommodate lots of people stomping on it.
We went to the Topkapi Palace and started the process of learning about sultans, the long and uninterrupted dynasty of the Ottoman Empire, the function of a harem, how they cooked for 5000 people every single day and then another 15,000 three times a year on payday. But I quickly realized again that a museum/historic space that is empty of furniture or furnishings is just not that interesting and I don't care about jewels. In fact I start to get very huffy thinking about all the people who were not in that top echelon, and how many people had to work so hard so that the sultans could govern in comfort. It does make sense that they needed a lot of good space and help to manage the whole empire from that giant imperial compound, but I would rather go to a museum that teaches me about the working people during that time period. The tiles and mosaics were amazing, I will admit.
On the upside, we finally got a good view of the city from that vantage point. It goes on and on, perched on hills (reminiscent of San Francisco), with bridges crossing the strait, and mosque domes sprinkled all over. I do love the way mosques look, both close up and far away.
From there we could see Suleiman's mosque, way up on a hill, and I wanted to go there, so we set off to find it. Finally saw some of the city that was more functional, nitty gritty -- blocks of tool stores, kitchen stores, shoe stores...we joined the crowded throng in the Spice Market and slowly made our way out of the crush of humans and into the sunlight near the river. Stopped for lunch at a tiny shop that sold only kebabs -- no English spoken -- and sat down happily on stools on a relatively quiet street.
Then we climbed a lot of steps and found ourselves right where we wanted to be -- on the plaza outside the mosque. Shoes off, head scarf back on, and into another quiet and beautiful sanctuary. With no furniture to define or limit the space, and with carpet covering every inch of floor, it is muffled and peaceful. On the other side of the low barricade, worshipers sit in small groups, everyone in socks.
My knees and feet were just about done for the day so we started back toward home, stopping for another snack of steaming hot sahlep (misspelled that yesterday) and baklava. We stopped in at the rug shop, because we had promised to come and say goodbye before we left, and Jon took a picture of the American-speaking salesman and the shop.
Since we had never learned to get on the tram or the metro, we took a taxi back to the airport, which makes us feel a little wimpy as travelers but it sure seems simple.
This time our luggage made it all the way to Tel Aviv with us, and we eventually made it through the security and passport checks. It was so hot! I kept taking off one layer after another, until I was down to a T-shirt, carrying my down jacket and other layers. By the time we got our rental car, it was about 12:30 AM. And by the time we got turned around again, having gone past our hotel by maybe 5 miles, it was about 1:30 AM when we finally found Benjamin playing freecell (with actual cards) in our hotel room. He looks exactly the same, and it is very nice to see him again. He immediately unpacked the suitcase with all the presents he had sent himself -- and was very happy with his choices.
Jon is having trouble loading the photos but I will publish this now and hope that he manages to get them included soon.
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