Istanbul--one more time

We are back in Istanbul and have been here for another three days. We got caught up on what we missed the first time as we began our trip here three weeks ago.

The ride on Turkish Air from Antalya was smooth and enabled us to see some geography that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to enjoy. There are some beautiful mountains here, but what really struck me was the use of agricultural land. Along with the many sightings of water, the patterns really are quite lovely from the air. The view of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean was breathtaking (we were too early to land and had to fly around for about 15 minutes) There are many islands in both bodies of water, but the Black Sea is very dark and the Mediterranean is a not-to-be-missed blue. The Bosphorus Strait that connects them is filled with vessels, mostly oil tankers from Russia, we understand, but many small fishing and pleasure boats as well.


The flight lasted only one hour and before we could eat our breakfast of bread, tomato, cucumber and lettuce, followed by chocolate mousse, we were landing.

We took the metro from the airport which is quite a ride with the thousands of passengers, many of them standing, and our luggage. We found our connection, recognized our stop, and disembarked to another beautiful and sunny day. We threw our luggage in our room and headed out for the area of Istanbul which lies across the Golden Horn (a very large finger of water that divides Istanbul into yet another section). We got back on the metro and since we didn't quite know what connection to make, we asked two girls and lucky for us, they were going to Taksim Square in Beyloglu area, too. We climbed aboard the funicular, got out at the top of the hill and joined the thousands of people walking along Istiklal Caddesi, the great walking boulevard on which you will periodically find cars trying to weave through all the bodies. It is lined with restaurants, cafes, ice cream shops, bakeries, stores and some embassies.

We stopped to eat dinner at an outdoor cafe (almost all of them are outdoors--my favorite) and witnessed a three ring circus accompanied by a terrific trio of guitar, dulcimer and drum. What a show! The ringmaster was a short guy who was almost a blur in his movements of enticing people to stop and eat, ordering his staff to bring samples of starters, and making sure people were happy with their meals. Amazing to watch! After dinner we progressed down the street and stopped at an ice cream store, watched another 5 piece combo, looked in some beautiful store fronts, and tried to deter people from almost dragging us into their restaurants. It started to get dark and lights blinked on. Since we were up high, we could see the Bosphorus below us and much of Istanbul spread out like a web of a million lights. Fantastically beautiful.

We made our way down through very narrow streets past people who were eating, visiting with friends and enjoying the evening, over the Galata Bridge with several hundred people fishing with long poles, lines hanging down past restaurants on the second level and farther down to the water. We continued walking up the opposite shore of the Golden Horn past hundreds of rug shops to the Blue Mosque and to our hotel. It was almost midnight and still bustling with strollers.

The next day was Saturday, and we decided to go to the Grand Bazaar. It was far more organized and sophisticated than I had imagined. There were many small stores (4000 to be exact) all connected under one roof, and, although we tried, we were unable to see them all. We enjoyed just walking along and seeing all the colors, sparkles of jewelry and people in and around each one.

On Sunday we took it easy, getting our suitcases ready for our trip home the next day. We wandered around the area close to the Bosphorus and stopped in a rug store that we had visited at the beginning of our Istanbul trip. The owner invited us to stay for lunch and when it arrived, he spread out two beautiful Persian carpets, covered the center with newspapers, and set the lunch down there. The picture of the colors in the rugs and the colors in the Kiramet (a clay dish with chicken, tomatoes, and peppers), big puffy bread and pide, and the beautiful salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and cheese looked like a rainbow spread out under our bare feet.

On Monday we got up early, zipped our luggage and caught our ride to the airport. We took one last look at the beautiful Mediterranean and the amazing Turkish geography from the air and then headed off toward Europe, across the English Channel, landing in London before taking off again for the US. Sitting beside me was a woman from India who was coming to Seattle to be with her daughter when she gives birth to their first child. She told me we should consider visiting her country. I think we should.