Istanbul
Now I understand why everyone loves Istanbul. This place seems to have the good of both the east and the west. The people are friendly; of course, always willing to sell you something “at a good price”, but if you show no interest, they move on. The hassle factor is minimal. Many of the alleyways remind me of Greece, the laundry hanging across the alley, up floor after floor remind me of Hong Kong, and there are always the Indian fake-watch vendors. There are the frequent calls to worship from the mosques, the women in burkahs, but also women in western dress. Truly a melting pot.
We decided to take a tour of the city in one of the open-air buses. It was fun because no one on the bus spoke English. All the tourists were speaking languages we couldn’t identify, but we nodded, took each others pictures, and pantomimed a lot. It was a chilly day, and despite layers of clothes, the open air became unpleasant. We sat on the top for the first 95 minutes and spent the last 10 minutes on the lower level. I have never seen so many mosques in my life, nor so many police. There was a police convention at the arena and there were flashing lights and uniforms everywhere.
Afterwards, we were dropped off right in front of the Blue Mosque, but rather than go for a visit right away, we wanted something hot to drink. So we went to a restaurant close by. We thought we would sit on the first level, but they encouraged us to climb some spiral stairs to the next level. I even sat down, but when they heard we were only going to get something to drink, they showed us the up stairs again. The next level was only a bathroom and office level, then up more stairs and we were at the top. This place was like a Vietnamese house. Many levels but really skinny. There was room for only about 6 tables across the front of the restaurant and many 4 behind them. Then you ran into the wall.
Carter asked the waitress for the favorite dish, she gave some ideas and we just pointed to an unknown item. When it arrived it was covered with red sauce which make me a little weary, but it was fantastic. It had beef, tomatoes, a huge pepper and yoghurt. Since we had already eaten lunch, we didn’t need this, but it was great. Then, of course, we had to have dessert and had rice pudding covered with crushed pistachios. Carter and the waitress got into quite a conversation – she wanting to come to the US to perfect her English. She has a job at the Grand Canyon for the summer and needed encouragement.
Then off to the sites, but we got side tracked to a carpet dealership. I could see it coming. Carter wanted to have this experience, so off we went, going thru the ritual of tea drinking, bargaining after looking at a zillion carpets. The last thing we need is another carpet, but we have 2! I’m sure they thought I was a grouch because I just sat there. At least I was sitting down for this time. They have promised that it will be sent, even gave us the tracking number. We shall see.
We then visited some of the major sites and then back to the ship so the others could go off for the evening. I don’t know how much more time we can have off since we have a huge party tonight at the Cisterns. The head of the company for Holland America is arriving, since this is the 50th anniversary of Holland America. I think we have to be there for this entire reception, as well as more receptions tomorrow.
Turkey just went to daylight savings time and we didn’t quite make it. Carter was still sleeping when clinic started. We don’t get the same warning that the passengers do about the time changes……I figured something was going on this morning when all the doors were slamming around 6:30am. This just seemed too early. Usually I am the only one up. I became curious and several minutes later when down the stairs and asked a passenger what time it was. She told me 8am. Yikes! Quick run to wake up Carter. I ran to the Lido and got him some breakfast, then started the rest of my day. Tomorrow is another time change as we head toward Sochi, Russia.
Labels: Personal
posted by Hills @ 6:35 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home