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.