Istanbul

Istanbul is quite a fascinating, unique city! It is the only city in the world that is part of two continents (Europe and Asia). From our experience, the city and its people reflected more of the Middle East and Asia than Europe, probably mostly due to the prominent Islamic presence. Local students we spoke with said that 98% of Istanbul's residents are Muslim, however they joked that they don't all practice it. The first morning, we ate our breakfast on the back deck of the cruise and could easily point out 11 huge mosques (there are over a thousand in the large city of 15 million people).

Instead of doing one of the cruise tours, we explored on foot (wish we had one of those km trackers to put numbers to the amount of walking we've done in Europe!).

We started at the largest bazaar in the world, rightly named the "Grand Bazaar". It is famous for its size and also its beautiful, covered portion. This sure was an experience! There were THOUSANDS of little shops and vendors. Immediately, we were swarmed by vendors of all ages holding products in front of our faces and saying, " Where you from?". Although slightly taken aback by their intense marketing efforts, we quickly discovered how hilarious these Turkish vendors were. Andy had been hoping to find an Ozil Germany jersey... so he bartered to get one for ten euros.

 

Next, we had a delicious Turkish lunch! Yum! When we finished the meal, our friendly waiters insisted we have their apple tea... on the house! Oh we also tried Turkey's ice cream... SO different than anything I have had before. It's cold, still drips but it's more of a sticky, almost jube jube substance.

 

After lunch, we went to Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque. It is the largest in the city and has six minaretts (those tall spikey-looking towers with large speakerphones for the call to prayer announcements... most only have two or four). It gets its name for the blue tiles inside, decorating the ceilings. We went inside the Blue Mosque with all the tourists. Women must cover their head, shoulders and knees. Men and women must all take off their shoes. Our attention was directed to the well advertised free brochures, one titled "Why Jesus is Not the Son of God". I suppose churches have pamphlets arguing the opposite, but it did make me feel a little uncomfortable.

 

We were in Istanbul on a Friday, which is the Muslim Sabbath. As there are every day, there were FIVE calls to prayer. All of the men would pour in and out of the mosques for prayer at those times and you could easily hear the calls (which to us, sounded like Arabic singing) anywhere in the city!

Then we wandered the palace grounds, grateful to find shade and a faint breeze, before heading back to the cruise ship.

 

Lastly, I understand why Edmund in Narnia was so fond of Turkish Delight... it is mouth-wateringly delicious! On the second day, which was really just a morning, we hung out in a coffee shop and ate fantastic delicacies from an authentic Turkish bakery! Andy's favourite was the baclava.

- Julia