Leaving Istanbul

Tues Apr 29.

     We took a look at the famous cistern that functioned as part of Istanbul's water supply until the 19th century.

     We spent the rest of the day at the Antiquities Museums, or at least the parts that were not closed for earthquake retrofitting.  One building featured funerary art.  The star attraction is the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great.  Actually, it was built for some obscure king in what is now Lebanon, but named for its sculpture of Alexander.

  

We mentioned Osman Hamdi Bey, the painter and diplomat (The Tortoise Trainer).  He shows up again here.  He was the founder of  the archaeological museum.  He also was the archaeologist that made some of the finds that fill the museum.

     The other collection, much smaller, was presented in  a beautiful Ottoman building.  We liked, especially, the Ottoman stained glass windows.

Each tiny glass pane had its own tracery; we do not think lead was used anywhere.

   dinner Semazen   Turkish falafel,  flaming veal crock, kunefe (shredded filo, cheese, sugar syrup),  apple tea.

Wed April 30  --  Another Palace
     We took the tram this morning to the Dolmabahce Palace, built in the mid-19th Century.  It was explained to us that the Ottoman Empire was in decline and the Sultan wanted to impress his royal peers.  It was a western style palace unlike the Topkapi. The palace was built with borrowed money.

     Tourist Gate,

gate doors,

 palace  courtyard.

    The interiors of the state rooms and harem were even more impressive.

Attaturk lived here after the revolution.  This was his bedroom.

   After the Palace, we visited the Rustem Pasha Mosque, famed for the very high quality of the tiles used for its interior.  These are Iznik ties.  The making of these tiles, with many of the same designs, has been revived, mostly as a tourist item.  These tiles are often beautiful and, yes, we bought some.

      The nearby New Mosque, completed in 1660, used lower quality tiles.  But they were still very beautiful.
.

      As the Spice Market sits between these two mosques, we enjoyed that, too.

May 1.  Demonstrations at Taksim.  Tourists warned to stay away.

     We spent the day shopping, buying gifts.  The rug that we did not buy:

Also visited the new Carpet Museum, next to the Arasta Bazaar.  Leslie has a cold, so dinner was limited to a couple appetizers at Khorasani.

May 2.   Last day in Turkey.  Pleasant Bosphorus Straight cruise.   The boat leaves from the docks at the end of the T1 trolley line, goes North to where the Black Sea begins, and brings you back after lunch.

    The Ottomans conquered Constantinople by choking the City's trade.  At the narrowest place on the Bosphorus, they built this "Fortress of Europe,"  cutting navigation to the North.

By 1453, they captured the City, made it their capital, and renamed it Istanbul.

     There are now 2 bridges connecting Europe and Asia.  The maritime traffic is, of course, very heavy.
 

We had Turkish coffee and dessert (lovely macaroons) with entertainment:  a new ditch being dug.  Ever observant, Leslie noticed the operator was talking on his cell phone and using his right elbow to operate the ditch digger.

The main square of this village has the customary statue honoring Ataturk.   All Turks know him, so he is identified in English.

    WORLD TOURISM:

    There were a lot of Americans in Florence, far fewer in Vienna, and fewer still in Istanbul.  40 million tourists visit Turkey every year.  This is getting close to matching Spain's 50 million.  Swedes at restaurant.  Moroccans on ticket line.  French crowding the trolley.  Russians and Arabs at breakfast.  Chinese, Japanese, Koreans.  A few from Indonesia or Malaysia.

May 1 is the beginning of the high tourist season.  It seems that the number of tourists has doubled since we arrived.

     This is the product of globalization:  probably about 1 billion middle class families with enough money to travel.  It's aggravating, but good.

      CALLS TO PRAYER:

     Moslems are required to pray 5 times a day.  But, the call to prayer is six times each day.
The times for prayer identified in the Koran were established before mechanical clocks and change a bit every day.

For April 24, 2014, in Istanbul:

      4:29   Fajr --  From the beginning of dawn until sunrise
      6:12   Sunrise
      13:03 Dhuhr --  between the declining sun and Asr
      16:51 Asr --  when the shadow of an object is twice the length of the object
      19:54  Maghrib -- between sunset and end of twilight
      21:30  Isha -- after Magreb until mdnight

From our hotel room, there seem to be five equally loud (and out-of-sync) callers at each call.

WORST JOB CONTEST:  Our entries.

       We used to commute home in Bethesda by public bus.  The coin receivers in the 70s and 80s were not ready for dollar bills.  The passenger folded the bill tightly and shoved it into the coin slot.  The bus driven explained to Bruce that, late every day, an employee at bus central unfolded the bills.  After our worst workdays we realized our situation was not that bad.

       On a visit to Dolmabachie Palace, tourists must put plastic baggies over their shoes.  Upon exit, the baggies were removed and tossed into a waste bin.  Of course, the plastic uncrinkled and needed to be tamped down quite often and there was an employee for that.

We independently thought of the Metrobus bill opener.  Stay in school.

Dinner tonight at Mozaik:  imam beyaldi (eggplant, onion, tomato), lamb stew with rice.  I do not think we have had the same stew twice.