The Hummers

Sunday, June 25, 2006

4/26/06 Day four in Istanbul...

Today we returned to the Grand Bazaar. We wanted to pick up a few small things - magnets, tea, etc...and Dustin wanted to continue his search for shoes. He returned to the store he had visited on our first trip to the GB, and discovered that they carried shoes big enough to fit his feet. Marion, Dustin, and I all ended up getting a pair of sneakers for 125 YTL, about $95. Dustin's pumas matched, exactly, the pair we had picked up for Kieran two days earlier.

After the successful shopping trip, we went back to the hotel, dropped off our purchases, and got ready to head back out. There was a power outage in our area of Istanbul. Dustin decided to stay and rest, while Marion, Kieran and I went out to check out Topkapi Palace, and perhaps the Haggia Sophia. We walk around the square a bit and find out that Haggia Sophia costs 10 YTL/person to enter. We decided against going there. Topkapi Palace also has a 10YTL/person entry fee, but we were out of cash and the ATMs in the square were not functioning due to the power outage. We walked around some more, and ended up wandering out the Divanyolu Caddesi, where there is power and I stop to get cash at a functioning ATM.

Topkapi Palace is worth the price of admission. Amazing! Hard to imagine a time when Sultans lived there, and the life of luxury they lived (and also the life of the people who supported such an operation…) Beautiful mosaic tilings, artifacts, fountains, etc…we see the old kitchens, the council chambers, the treasury and much more. The palace itself is a walled area, enclosing a campus of many buildings with beautiful lawns and gardens in between. The palace is situated on Seraglio Point, with many of the buildings overlooking the water. The harem portion - where the Sultan's wives and concubines were housed - required an additional admission fee. We passed on this, as we felt that what we had seen gave us enough of a feel for the history of the palace.

Other Topkapi highlights included a mantle which is said to have been worn by the prophet Muhammed. The room in which this mantle is kept is heavily guarded, and visitors can only peer in from an adjoining room, while religious officials keep a steady watch (and chant...) There was also the Sultan's "throne" room. Rather than a throne, the room in which the Sultan held court had something that looked more like a bed, where it could be envisioned that the Sultan would recline while receiving visitors.

After touring the palace, we wandered along the shops next to Haggia Sophia and bought some magnets. At one point while Marion was in one of the shops, a young woman seeing Kieran came and literally started pulling him out of his stroller. I had to quickly unsnap his buckles. She held him, hugged him, and kissed him (getting some lipstick on him…) and said some things to me, in what I assumed to be Turkish. She said things, and pointed around, but mainly just seemed fascinated by Kieran. Eventually, she handed him back and left.

We saw the same salesmen in the square area each day we passed through. Each time they recognized us, and continually tried to build their rapport with us. There was no indication that they had a shop anywhere nearby, although they would ask if we wanted to come see their shops (mainly carpets…) Some of these seemed to be at the GB…which was at least a mile away. They were aggressive in trying to talk to us, but were easygoing and easy to deal with. They didn’t pressure or put up any resistance when we politely declined.

The power outage made the hotel difficult to negotiate. The stairwell is completely enclosed, and no daylight gets in. The staff put up candles which helps us avoid any major falls! Using the restroom is challenging, as well, since there are no windows the door must be left open. Kieran gets his first bloody/fat lip as a result of Daddy trying to stop him from running into the bathroom while his big brother was using it!!! He’s pretty good sport about it, and only cries for a moment.

We returned once again to the “backpacker/Australian” street, and back to the first place we had visited. One of the waiters there was very friendly, and spoke to us extensively. He put us in a window seat, with the window opening onto the street. His English was decent and we came to find out that in addition to Turkish and English, he is fluent in French. Another waiter (or perhaps the owner? He was referenced as not having paid the electric bill…) comes over to place a blanket on Kieran, who is sleeping. We could not pay with our credit card because of the power outage, and lacking enough YTL we paid in American $. They were happy to take the American currency.


















We decided to have our last dinner at our original local outdoor café, and to take in the Whirling Dervish one last time. They have no way to take credit cards either, because of the power outage. Our man there talked to his manager and came back to tell us that we could just come back and pay later, since we were such good customers! We explained that would have been fine except that we are leaving early in the morning. We returned to the hotel, and started to get some of our things organized for the morning. We were worried about how we will be able to get everything ready if there are no lights.

Eventually, I left and headed out Divanyolu Caddesi to an ATM where there was power. A man walking next to me pegged me as an American and strikes up a conversation. I asked if I stood out that much, and he said no it wasn’t that, just that he had lived in NYC for a while, and was familiar with the way I dressed. He asked me why I was out on my own, without my family. I had to explain the power outage.

We finally have dinner at our local cafe. After dinner we have tea, and then our man offers us a tea on the house. We gratefully accept. The hospitality at this cafe has been exceptional throughout our visit. Each time we arrived, they made an effort to see that we are placed at a good table. On one occasion several of the staff apologized profusely when we were forced to sit for a few minutes at a less desirable table before being moved to one of the more comfortable tables at the rear of the cafe. The Whirling Dervish was there again, and after his performance a small band struck up inside the tented portion of the cafe. Eventually a young man sitting with his wife/girlfriend, got up and started dancing in front of the band. He pranced to the beat on his heels and toes, and outstretched his arms/hands as he does so. Eventually, the band kicked up the pace a notch and he did likewise. Faster and faster they went. A large group of young men at a table behind us started clapping to the beat and Kieran joined in (to their delight…) Faster and faster and faster…it almost seemed to be a competition to see how fast he could go. Eventually, it ends and everyone gives him an ovation. He and his partner collected their things and departed.

We were scheduled to depart the hotel at 3 a.m. the following morning for the return trip to the airport, so it was an early night! Following the second round of tea, we returned to the hotel, got the baby to bed (thankfully, he went down easily...) and got to sleep ourselves.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

April 25th, Day three in Istanbul...

At the beginning of our second full day in Istanbul we confirmed that the 5:30 a.m. call to prayer the day before had not been a one-time event, it happens every day! We all got back to sleep (except Kieran, he slept through it, again...) This morning, we got ourselves going fairly early and headed upstairs for breakfast on the terrace.

Our man at the hotel desk had set us up with an appointment to go see carpets at a special store where they train carpet weavers, and sell carpets. It was a place he had some knowledge of, and that gave us a decent feeling that we would not be getting ripped off. The store sent a car to meet us at the hotel at 11 a.m. and their driver brought us to the store.

This was an amazing experience. We were greeted at the street, where the car pulled up, by Erkhut. He showed us the room where carpets were being made by young women who were being trained to weave carpets. These women sat in front of special looms, and wove thousands upon thousands of knots, of varying colored thread according to a pattern on a picture hung from the loom. Erkhut answered many questions, and explained a lot about the process. He explained that there were many different levels of complexity, depending on the material used and the intricacy of the color patterns. A rug with large blocks of solid color would be easier to weave than one with finely detailed and varied color patterns. The length of time to weave a carpet can range from a few MONTHS to well over a YEAR!!! That meant that these women would sit in front of the loom, day in and day out, without being able to see any real progress for weeks at a time. Marion compared the level of difficulty to cross stitching, but said that at least with cross stitching, one sees progress almost immediately! The women weave for ½ hour at a time, and then take a break of ½ hour – as required by their master. This helps to cut down on the mistakes (which could be repaired by untying the little knots and retying…) Erkhut explained that the store did not pay the students, and they owed nothing to the store for the learning. It is all subsidized by the government. After completing the training, the weavers were free to go do whatever they wanted (many would return to their homes in Eastern Turkey – carpet making areas…) and his business would hire the best students to work in their contracted shops. Also, this store had some shops in Pakistan, where Erkhut explained that they contracted to make Turkish rug and that this helped to “keep the prices down”.





















After our tour of the carpet making area, we went into a large open room, with many carpets hanging on the walls (as well as some other decorative pieces, that we later learned were made in the local regions where the actual rug shops were located and were designed to “ward off evil spirits” – Erkhut described this as “superstition”.) There were many carpets rolled up and stored at the entry area to the room. Erkhut began the “formal” process of selling us carpets at this point by offering us something to drink. It is common for Istanbul shopowners to invite customers in, and offer them tea. We declined, having just eaten our breakfast. He checked with us to ensure that we didn’t mind if he did get something, and then sent someone off who returned with Erkhut’s glass of hot tea. Erkhut then began questioning us some on what sorts of characteristics interested us. We explained a little bit what we were looking for. He talked about the typical “prayer” design, which incorporates an indicator of the direction to Mecca in the design. There was a beautiful “dual” prayer rug on the wall. He said it was very rare to see dual prayer rugs – a little wider, with two symmetrical designs both pointing the way to Mecca. As we talked, and he learned more about what we were looking for, he had carpet “openers” running in and out of the room to bring in, and lay out carpets on the floor. Some would be brought in, some taken away depending on what we liked and were looking for. He would look at the back of a carpet, and then tell us how much it would cost. Eventually, as he (and we…) got a better idea of exactly what we were interested in, he put out a price for us to pick from certain of the carpets out on the floor. Then, as we struggled to pick exactly which we liked the best, he assisted by asking us to eliminate the ones we liked least. As we got to the final few, he offered little tidbits of advice and his opinions on which carpets he thought were best, and why. Within an hour of leaving the hotel, we were signing the papers and the rugs were being packed into a neat little travel bag that would easily fit into one of our suitcases.



The business manager who helped us to pay (helped us to spend our money…as was a common expression among salesmen in Istanbul!:o) was a Scottish immigrant. He was quite friendly, and talked about how he had fallen in love with a Turkish woman and moved to Istanbul fifteen years prior. He was funny, talked about how she was shaped and that she was his own little “Turkish delight”. The Scot also told us about drinking a lot of Raki (a native distilled liquor - licorice flavored) one night…he joked that he had finished a bottle and was “fluent in Turkish overnight”! We did, during the payment process, accept a second offer of hot tea.


We took the car back to the hotel. At the hotel we asked our man at the desk how to get to Asia. Have I mentioned yet that Istanbul is the only city in the world that sits on two continents? He instructed us to follow the tram tracks the opposite direction from the bazaar, and we would end up at Eminonu, a little port where ferries leave to go down the Golden Horn, and then down the Bosphorus and across to the Asian side. He suggested an area called Kadikoy, and we looked for that ferry. We found the ferry ticket desk, and purchased our tokens for the ferry (about $1 each…). Getting on and off was interesting among great crowds of people and without a gangplank. We had to step over the gap, and down onto the boat – while carrying Kieran, the stroller, and negotiating the crowds. The ferry ride was 15 or 20 minutes. From Eminonu the ferry proceeds down the Golden Horn, and into the Bosphorus strait, and then on down the Bosphorus (south), past Seraglio Point, towards the Sea of Marmara. Along the route there is an extensive system of stone breakwaters that help to protect the little harbors along the Bosphorus, and to create channels for the water traffic.

After arriving at the Kadikoy dock we pass by Istanbul University (located right along the water) and walked up the main Caddesi leading away from the water (following the tram line), then branched off to explore little side streets. Similar towhat we had seen on the European side, the streets were full of people and lined with shops, cafes, etc...The area we were in seemed to be a bazaar, without a formal bazaar. As we wound through the myriad of sidestreets off the main caddesi, we ended up going down a street that became a bazaar - the street literally ended at steps, and shops were closed in so tightly around the descending steps to the point that it was virtually indoors. Again, many different kinds of shops and lots of shoes. Dustin remained frustrated in his attempts to find shoes that were big enough for him. Most shopkeepers simply laughed when they saw the size of his feet!

At one point, while Marion and Dustin were browsing in one of the shops, Kieran made friends with a goose wallowing in the street's gutter...



After confirming that we would not find shoes big enough for Dustin's gunboats, we headed back down to the water, and grabbed a wrap from a stand there. This is one of the few occasions during the entire trip where we encounter a significant language barrier. There is only one gentlemen with whom we were able to communicate, he took our order but there remained some confusion as we sit waiting for a our wraps. A waiter came to the table and seemed ready to take our order. We attempt, but ultimately cannot explain to him that we have already ordered, and been told to sit and wait for the food to come. The lone english speaking cook came out and got everything settled, and soon enough we have our wraps. Kieran got fussy, and we took our wraps back on the ferry for the trip back to Europe.

Marion, Joe, and Kieran went back to the “backpackers/Australian” street for a drink at another of the cafes we had seen earlier. They allow us to go upstairs to an open terrace. No one is up there, we had it to ourselves with simply breathtaking views of the Bosphorus and the rooftops leading down to the water. This place has a high chair which is quite rare, so K got to sit up and enjoy a snack and some juice. We had wine, and took some pictures. On our way back to the hotel I stopped at a neighborhood convenience store to pick up a bottle of wine for the evening. I had stopped in once before, on this visit the young man tending the store greeted me with a handshake, smile, and a "hello friend". The hospitality in this city remains outstanding...


Back on our street, the friendly salesman on the corner took some offense at my telling him that we had bought carpets elsewhere. He seemed fine, even appreciative, when I shared this with him, and was prepared to give up until he asked where and I mentioned that we had gone somewhere where carpets are made. To that he stormed off and sat down in a huff, saying there simply were no carpet factories in Istanbul. I had hoped to get back to him, to show him my pictures and explain we had been sent there by our friends at the hotel, but I never had the chance.

That evening we returned for another excellent dinner at Doy Doy, then headed back to our cafe for apple tea and a water pipe. Kieran acted up (I'm not sure anyone could blame him by this point, he didn't make many demands during the course of the trip...) he became quite the handful. We decided to call it an early night, and turned in at the hotel.

Egyptian dinner...

Marion, Kieran, and I just returned from dinner out at the home of one of Marion's work colleauges. Nader and Nevine Habib live in Chelmsford, MA, about 15 minutes from us. Nader works with Marion, and was aware of our interest in sampling cuisines from various cultures. It was, simply put, one of the most amazing and unique experiences of our life!

Nader and Nevine are both from Egypt. He is from Alexandria, and she is from Cairo. They put on a spectactular display of hospitality and gave us a scrumptuous sampling of their country's cuisine. To begin with, they insisted that we bring along our little cherub and dynamo, the 15 month old, one baby wrecking crew. We were slightly apprehensive that they didn't know what they were asking for, but they were extremely patient with his explorations of their beautiful home. And to his credit, Kieran put on one of his better displays of self-control. Nevine spent a lot of time watching him, and taking him out to see the neighbors, while Nader showed us around the house and showed us their wedding pictures.

On to the feast. We learned, from our hosts, that Egyptian food shares similarities with Lebanese food, a cuisine with which we have had some experience. The meal started with a soup - we had to try it, and rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, before we would be told what was in it. I gave it an immediate 10, and Marion quickly concurred. The soup contained beef wrapped in pasta balls, with a broth of garlic, mint, chicken stock and yogurt. I can't remember what the Egyptian Arabic word for this was, but the soup was other wordly...simply outstanding.

After the soup we moved on to the grape leaves. The grape leaves were stuffed with beef, rice, salt, and pepper; then cooked in chicken stock. Again, outstanding...I have had grape leaves before, in restaurants, usually the wraps are much larger than these were, harder to eat and at least relative to these, quite bland. These were bite sized, and Nevine suggested that we dip the grape leaves in a mixture of yogurt, mint, and cucumber. This touch was simply the cherry on top of the sundae, I could have devoured the grape leave wraps without it, easily, but this simply added to the delightful experience.

From the grape leaves we moved on to the kibby...Marion guessed this one on sight, from experience with Lebanese food. Nader seemed quite pleased that she knew this dish! Again, this was excellent. To go with the kibby, it was suggested to use either the yogurt/mint/cucumber dip, or tabasco hot sauce. Marion went with the latter, and I with the former. Finally, with the kibby was a side dish of fresh green beans with roasted almonds.

Just writing about this makes me hungry, despite having stuffed myself on this feast just a few short hours ago. The good thing for me is that our generous hosts sent us packing with doggie bags!!!

This was one of those nights that come along from time to time, and is memorable, to say the least. From the moment of arrival, to taking a stroll in their backyard and neighborhood, to the coffee and various middle eastern assortment of desserts, including baklava, pistachio puffs, etc...this was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. We will be putting together a serious thank you note, and looking forward to an opportunity when we can return this incredible hospitality.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

April 24th, Day two in Turkey...we are only two months behind at this point...

At 5:30 a.m. we were awakened by the day's first call to prayer. We had heard several of these the day before, but this one - particularly at this hour of the day - was particularly memorable! The chanting is broadcast through loudspeakers attached to the top of the minarets of the Blue Mosque and other Mosques throughout the city. Those coming from the Blue Mosque sounded as though they were in our hotel room, it was that loud! The crier calls worshippers to prayer with a rhythmic, sing-song voice. It rises and falls, trails off and then resumes again. This goes on for several minutes. Kieran slept through it all, Dustin tossed, turned, and muttered something under his breath, but eventually we all get back to sleep.

After waking up (the second time...), we headed to the terrace for breakfast. Ahmet was there, hustling around keeping the patrons happy and fed. Breakfast consists of: cereal, fruit, bologna, cheese, olives, raisins, strawberries, coffee, tea, juice, bread, jams for the bread, etc...

After breakfast, we readied ourselves for our first visit to the Grand Bazaar. This was located(quite logically) in the Bazaar district. We returned to Caddesi Divanyolu to catch the tram. The tram station was easy to negotiate, I bought tokens and we got the stroller through the gates and on to a fairly crowded tram car. Two stops later, we arrived at the Grand Bazaar.

The Grand Bazaar is amazing beyond what is possible to describe with words. A true ancestor of our shopping malls. One really can’t get an appreciation for the bazaar buildings from the outside. Other, more modern buildings have closed in around it, so that its entrances are only roughly the size of a storefront. The entrance “storefronts” are marked, and standout as looking older than the other buildings around them, but they are also somewhat hidden by the busy cityscape all around them. After entering, however, one soon realizes that the Bazaar is another city of its own. There are a labyrinth of streets under the cover of the buildings that make up the GB. It is huge, and easy to become disoriented in. We walked around a fair bit and talked to several shop owners (they all talked to us, of course!)






Within the bazaar we set ourselves to finding a number of items we wished to purchase. As in other places in Istanbul, we were constantly approached with invitations to view merchandise in various shops. We wanted to buy a hookah, or water pipe as it is called in Istanbul. There was no shortage of these available. Settling on a shop with many to choose from, we accepted an invitation to enter and view their selection. We declined the offer of tea fom the eager young salesman (we later read that this is customary, and implies no obligation to purchase...) but eventually settled on one that we all thought looked nice. Our friendly salesman explained how it worked, and led us through a series of selections of the accessories that would accompany the water pipe before packaging the pipe for the trip home. We didn't bargain extensively (the rule, apparently, is to offer half of the asking price and then move up incremently to something just over half...if this does not approach an acceptable selling price, the merchant will simply move on to discuss other items), but the salesman did bring the combined price of the pipe and a curved dagger (to add to my collection of international swords...) down a bit, and we felt it a reasonable price to pay. The price of the hookah (about $45 US), and the accompanying accessories and tobacco, was less than the prices seen in NYC for a similar sized pipe. Prior to visiting Turkey we had dined at several Turkish restuarants in the city and had shopped for Hookahs (The difference being that the first Turkish restaurant we visited (in NYC) had male belly-dancers, versus the whirling dervish of Istanbul!)





















Throughout the Grand Bazaar we also looked at beautiful Pashmins, and Dustin searched for shoes (this would be a trend, somewhat frustrating due to his large foot size, throughout the trip...shoes above size 11 were quite rare in Istanbul shops.) Marion did a fantastic job of bargaining, walking away, and eventually settling on a price for some simple Pashmins that she then purchased. At one point in this exchange we told the merchant that we needed to go find an ATM to get cash, and he was more than willing to go with us, with product in hand, to ensure that he made the sale!

Just outside of the GB we wandered down a narrow alleyway, formed between the Grand Bazaar's outer wall and other close by buildings. The alley was crowded beyond capacity with pedestrians and shoppers at the numerous and tiny shops it contained. Here again Dustin searched for shoes. He remained unsuccessful, however, we did find a dashing pair of Puma sneakers just Kieran's size. The sneakers are a mixture of blue and black in a style common in Europe, but unusual by our standards. We negotiated with the vendor to roughly $15 American dollars and, considering what we pay for sneakers in this country, felt that was a bargain.

After touring the GB, we left to see if we could find the Spice Bazaar…we couldn’t find it, despite asking at one point. The directions we got were vague, and we wandered into a hilly area of the city, and walked around quite a bit. At one point, a man on a corner was intent on giving his lighter to Kieran to play with. Just another example of people on the street fussing over the baby. Obviously, we gave the lighter back (we were happy to see that K did not seem overly enthusiastic over that particular piece of equipment!:o)

Unable to find the elusive Spice Bazaar, we went back to the tram stop and headed back to the main square in Sultanahmet. Just off the tram stop we found a shop selling lamb and chicken wraps (as we had seen earlier, with vendors shaving the meat off rotating spits...) We dealt with a man out front who called in our order to the cooks, and shortly our delicious meals were ready. I was never sure if the man we dealt with actually worked for the establishment, or if he just stood there taking orders and exchanging money (at a mark-up, one would presume...) from unknowing tourists. The latter was the impression I had, however the meals were relatively cheap and based on our enjoyment of the wraps, we had no complaints!


We walked up past the Haggia Sophia, and through the guarded entrance to Seraglio Point/Topkapi Palace. For this day we decided not to purchase tickets to actually enter the old palace/museum, since it was later in the day and the Harem portion was not open at this time.















Haggia Sophia is closed on Mondays, but the Blue Mosque is open so we decided to cross this visit off our "list". Shoes do not cross this threshold, so we removed ours and left Kieran's stroller at entrance to pick up after the visit. In addition, women must cover their heads so Marion donned a head scarf (Pashmin - they are provided at the entrance.) The Mosque is an amazing, massive structure. The outside court yard is as large as the Mosque itself, and the six minarets rival the main Mosque in Mecca. We saw men washing their feet at numerous foot washing stations around the outside of the Mosque. Inside, we saw the detailed blue tile work that gives the Blue Mosque its name. There were a number of men at the front of the Mosque, outside of the public area, who are apparently praying.

Marion with covered head, and the inside of the Blue Mosque...






















That night we took a dining recommendation from Dustin's new friend, a carpet salesman from a store directly across the street from our hotel. He suggested Doy Doy, a restaurant down on the other side of the small bazaar near our hotel. The food was excellent and much less expensive than the other restaurants at which we had dined. Moaze (? Pronounced Moo-ahz) actually walked us down to the restaurant, before telling us that he had just eaten and would not be able to join us! The restaurant was tucked away on a side street, away from the hustle and bustle of the square - it made us feel a little less like tourists.

After dinner we stop at the Blue Hotel - a small, but upscale establishment just down the street from ours. We have a drink in the lobby, a brightly decorated area with a prominently featured bar. We sit in comfortable chairs and snack on nuts while patrons of various nationalities come and go.

To cap our second night, we return to our favorite cafe for apple teas and an apple tobacco water pipe. Our man is there again, and - as always - we get a good table and extra special attention.



Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Sorry that this will not be Turkey post #2. I have been traveling back and forth to Maine quite a bit these last few weeks. Besides, I really didn't expect that anyone would actually read this. I promise to continue with the remainder of the Turkey project soon. The good news is that Marion and I took down extensive notes in the days immediately following our trip, so it will all be easy to recall and put to "paper".