August 30, 2007 - Istanbul, Day One

Greetings all:

On full day down in the city that was once Constatinople. The city is huge. My guide book says that there are 11 million people living here. I would believe every last one of them. L.A. does not have the kind of urban sprawl that Istanbul does. To make matter worse, everyone wants to drive. The traffic is a nightmare. After sitting in two taxi rides for over 40 minutes, I did the next best thing, walked.

A couple of observations before I get to the pictures. The people are very friendly, some times too friendly. Everyone has something they want to sell you. Jewelry, foods, water, postcards, shoe shines, you name it. The street food is very good. In fact, I am probably going to live off of it while I am here. The hummus and pita are the best I have every had. I guess I will see how good the Greeks' hummus and pita are in a couple of days. I did have Raki (pronounced Rak-oo) last night with my dinner. Turkish fire water would be another name. It is very strong tasting. It is Italian Grappa , flavored with Anise, to give you a picture of the taste. Everyone cuts it with water, which I did as well. That is the only way I could finish the glass. The beer here is good. The big brand is EFES which is quited tasty. It is light, which is good with the heat of the city.

Back to the city, one can tell that it is a very old city. There are monuments, walls, churches, and mosques everywhere. The only drawback is that since Turkey became a republic under Ataturk, all of the old buildings have been torn down for ugly 50's and 60's boxes. It is nothing like Rome, Paris, or Barcelona, where the old city has been preserved. I get a feeling that the world has past the city by in a way. For over 1500 years, this was the crossroads of civilization. With the advent of super ships, and more importantly the rise of America, Europe turned her eyes toward the west. The people here a very proud of their heritage. Not snotty like some of the French, just proud of who they are, and where they came from.

After much walking through the city, I finally arrived at two of the three main sites in Istanbul, Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Haghia Sophia was the main church of the Bynzantines, and was started by the Roman Emperor Justanian in the seventh century. Once the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, it was converted to a mosque. However, today it has not religious significance. It was close for the day when I arrived. However, I did get some great photos of the exterior facade as the sun was setting. It is the picture with the large Turkish flag draped over it. The rest of the pictures are from the Blue Mosque. Absolutely incredible! I hope that the pictures do it justice. The stone masons were the same masons that worked on the Taj Mahal. The tiles work is so detailed. Every tile was hand painted in Iznik in the south of Turkey.

My day ended with me watching a fireworks display over the Bosphorus Bridge. Not bad at all.

Tomorrow, Hagia Sophia, Suleyamine Mosque, and who knows what else.

Until next time,

Scot