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.
(He looks a little nervous in this last one!:o)
