A Free Day in Istanbul

Walking up the pretty little street by our hotel.
Love the patterned cobblestones! 

Today was a free day--meaning, our tour of Turkey hasn't officially begun, so we were free to do what we wanted. We checked our itinerary for the tour, and decided to try to go to a few places not on the itinerary.

The Oylers in the Grand Bazaar

Genie shoes

All kinds of tea--notice the middle front one...:)

Love the  tea delivery guys--and all the
 turkish men holding their little
glasses of tea.

Nargile (water pipes) are everywhere...

What everyone needs.

These light shops are so cool.

Very colorful boots.

Olive-being lost in the Grand Bazaar.

First we walked over to the Grand Bazaar-because while it is on the tour, the itinerary mentions a "brief stop" which didn't sound like much time for any serious shopping. (Remember, out of the seven of us, six are women!) Of course, I had been there the day
before in my meanderings, so I was the guide on how to get there. (hahahaha--those of you who have traveled with me before know that this is comical, given my penchant for getting lost.) I am happy to report I got us there without mishap--though my directions were something along the lines of: "we go up to the big street where the tram runs, look for the big pole










thingie, turn down the street by the big pole thingie, and follow that until you see all the busses parked by the back of the mosque, turn by the busses and follow that street until you see the archway for the Grand Bazaar." Very sophisticated I'm sure.

Where my directional capabilities broke down was inside the Bazaar--we agreed to meet by the inner entrance where we came in at noon if we got separated (a very real possibility with how big the Bazaar is, not to mention all the people.) Of course we DID get separated, and then we (I) couldn't figure out how to get back to that particular entrance. The informational sign that said, "Leather Section" turned out to be on multiple entrances!  Eventually we were able to locate the correct one-because of the cool ceramic store located next to it.

After our shopping adventure, we caught the tram to the waterfront, where we had an "authentic" Istanbul experience--we sat on little stools under an awning, cheek to jowl with many locals in burkas, all of us sweating (and stinking) in the heat, and had fish sandwiches straight off the boats. In fact, the fish were actually cooked ON the boats bobbing alongside the pier. I wish I had taken a picture of one of the sandwiches--they were literally half a fish grilled and slapped onto a hoagie roll with lettuce and onions (along with tails, bones, skin...) The fish were mackerel--and pretty fishy, not to mention the bones. But it was a unique experience!

Walking across the bridge towards the boats--lots of
locals fishing.

They all seem to be catching small
bait fish.

Mini tables and chairs. 

Lemon juice and salt on every table-good thing too,
as dumping a large amount of both helped neutralize the
fishiness!

The fishing boats with the Suleymaniye Mosque in the background.

Fish frying on the boat.

Getting ready for our delicious (okay, maybe not) fish
sandwiches.

Finishing our fishy fun, we walked over to the Eminonu mosque and briefly checked it out. The muezzin started the midday prayer call while we were walking up the steps. While inside, I noticed the large group of women gathered to pray; they of course, aren't allowed inside the mosque to worship. We were repeatedly told by our guides that this was so that the men wouldn't be distracted from their prayers by the presence of women. So why couldn't there be a separate area INSIDE the mosque for the women to pray, instead of making them pray outside like beggars??

Eminonu "New" Mosque 1597-1663: obviously the
term "new" is relative.

Washing before going into the mosque to pray.

Looking up.

This woman prayed from this doorway
looking towards the mosque the whole
time we were there.

Women going towards the area outside set apart for them to pray.

The women's area. 

In the window above, little boys played and
looked down on the women and girls
praying outside.

Outside you could buy food for the pigeons--tuppence a bag...

Then we wandered through the Spice Bazaar, before heading up the hill to the Suleymaniye Mosque.

The spice bazaar!

Burka-clad woman shopping for Turkish Delight. I can't imagine
how hot the full black must be.

Suave salesman hawking his spices.

Spice Mountains

Spices, nuts, teas, candy...

and more...

These dried fruits with nuts placed inside are so cute! They look
like little clams!

It was quite a hike up steep streets, as the Suleymaniye Mosque was built on one of the seven hills of Istanbul. A little background on Suleiman-he was the tenth and longest reigning Emperor/Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 til his death in 1566. In the west he is known as "Suleiman the Magnificent", while in the east he is known as "Suleiman the Lawgiver"for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. He broke with tradition and married a slave girl from the harem, Roxelana. He also allowed her to live with him at court for the rest of his life--they are both buried on the grounds of the mosque, but their tomb was closed for repairs.

The Suleymaniye (or Suleiman, or Suleyman...I've seen it
spelled all these ways and more) Mosque.

Liz and I inside the mosque. The lights behind us kind of look
 like we have a giant halo don't they?

Olive being lost in the gardens. Old men sleeping and lolling
on the benches.

Inside the door into the courtyard.

Love the blue tiles.

View inside.

Looking up 

Arches

Another inside view.

My brother-in-law Bob with some of his harem.

Details of painting on the cupola.

Don't they look lovely?

After seeing this mosque, which was built by Suleiman the Magnificent between 1550 and 1557, (I think we all should have superlatives after our names, don't you think? Kenny the Kind; Sarah the Serene; Julie the Wise?) we headed back down (and do I mean DOWN! Steep streets!) hoping to wind up back by our hotel as we knew from the map we weren't too far away. However, the streets are hardly straight here (at one point we were debating which way to go and a young man washing windows nearby pointed to one of the streets with his squeegee and said, "That street mixed." We must have looked blank, so he elaborated, "you know, mixed, confused." Ah, okay, that way is confusing! We went the other way, but still got "mixed" and wound up back where we started, down by the fish boats. So we hopped back on the tram back to our hotel. And discovered that the "big pole thingie" is called the Burnt Column, and is also called the Column of Constantine, as he had it constructed in 330 AD to commemorate the declaration of Byzantium (which Constantine had renamed Nova Roma-original, wasn't he?) as the new capital city of the Roman Empire.

The tram

The Burnt Column.

We finished our day with a lovely street side meal, the restaurant chosen by Carol because of a cute Turkish waiter named Hero.