We started with The Sultan
Ahmed Mosque, also known as Blue Mosque one of the most revered masterpieces of
the Islamic world and is famous for its blue ceramic tiles and six minarets. It’s
from the17th century and has over 20,000 beautiful Iznik tiles in
more than 50 different tulip designs. Is has 216 stained glass windows. Turkey
actually had the tulips first before Holland. Who knew?
Our next stop was at the Hagia
Sophia, The Church of Holy Wisdom which is undoubtedly one of the greatest Byzantine
architectural creations in the world . It was used as a mosque during the time
of the Ottomans and now serves as a museum. It’s from the 6th
century by the Emperor Justinian and was one of largest basilicas in the
Christian world with many beautiful mosaics throughout.
We then walked to the Topkapi
Palace which was the former imperial residence of Ottoman Sultans and is the
oldest and the largest remaining palaces in the world. Today, it is used as a
museum to exhibit works of art and many priceless artifacts. The huge Topkapi
Diamond and the famous Topkapi sword are housed here as well as art, artifacts
and other jewels. There is a movie about the sword that we will have to see
when we get “home”. The Diamond is also
referred to as the Spoonmaker’s Diamond. It is 86 carats and pear shaped.
“According to one tale, a poor fisherman in Istanbul
near Yenikapi
was wandering idly, empty-handed, along the shore when he found a shiny stone
among the litter, which he turned over and over, not knowing what it was. After
carrying it about in his pocket for a few days, he stopped by the jewelers'
market, showing it to the first jeweler he encountered. The jeweler took a
casual glance at the stone and appeared uninterested, saying "It's a piece
of glass, take it away if you like, or if you like I'll give you three spoons.
You brought it all the way here, at least let it be worth your trouble."
What was the poor fisherman to do with this piece of glass? What's more, the
jeweler had felt sorry for him and was giving three spoons. He said okay and
took the spoons, leaving in their place an enormous treasure. It is said that
for this reason the diamond came to be named "The Spoonmaker's Diamond".
Later, the diamond was bought by a vizier on behalf of the Sultan.”
The weapon room was quite
interesting with the swords and riffles looking more like works of art than
weapons.
Finally it was time for our
lunch. Soner took us to the Ottoman Hotel Imperial which was in a beautiful
setting. It was hard to make our choices from the menu since it all sounded
good. They started us with this olive dip for our bread which was yummy. Then
they presented us with a Turkish drink called Sherbet which was warm and rich
with cinnamon and other spices. Really good! Our starters of saffron rice and
chick peas came. Then Greg and I spilt our main dishes of lamb casserole which
was actually served in a crisp phyllo type bowl and another of steak and rice.
All were out of this world with flavor. We skipped dessert in favor of finding
something delightful at the Grand Bazaar.
We finished our walk back to
the van via the Byzantine Hippodrome
which was the center for entertainment, amusement and sports in the city during
the Roman and Byzantine Empires. There was an Egyptian Obelisk from the Karnak
Temple here, the serpentine column from Delphi and the German fountain of
Willhelm II.
Our last stop was to the Grand Bazaar which is the oldest and the largest covered market place in the world with more than 4000 shops showing rich collections of handmade carpets, jewelery, leather and souvenirs. It has been in operation since the 14th century. We split up here and had a meeting time after a couple of hours. We wandered the busy market past gold and silver, trinkets of all kinds, clothing, Turkish rugs, Turkish Delight and baklava stores and more. Unlike Egypt they weren’t persistent salespeople. They pretty much were come see my store and left you alone if you weren’t interested. One guy says to us “Come let me sell you something you don’t need”. We both just laughed and kept walking. We bought an assortment of Turkish Delight and went outside to sample them. Then, we met up with the group. Marianne had bought another Turkish Rug for her house.
We were driven back to the
port area where we had about an hour and a half left. Soner showed us a great
place for baklava so we went there. Greg wanted ice cream so we got a couple of
cones and ate those and then went back in for several pieces of baklava. A
chocolate kind and one of pistachio. Both quite tasty. We still had some
Turkish Lira left so Greg got some Starbucks Via to bring on the ship and then
we went to another store to buy some traditional Ottoman style baklava, which
is more like little baskets of phyllo and filled with whole nuts and a little
honey. They are quite good.
We decided to skip dinner in
the dining room and ate upstairs and visited with Jeff and Julie. They said
they had a cold bottle of white wine for us as a thank you for all the tours we
organized which they brought by the cabin a little later with a nice thank you
note. It was signed by “the kids” which was the groups pet name for them as
they are much younger than us. They are a delightful couple and were great tour
companions.
We did go to the show last
night which was a high energy piano vocal showman named Elio Pace. It was a
good show, but we were exhausted…..
We have 1 sea day before
Athens to recharge our batteries.
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