It's packing day and tomorrow we leave fascinating Istanbul. These last few days we have enjoyed using the tram and funicular. Istanbul has a very clean and efficient mass transport system.

2sd visit to Topkapi and Gulhane Park, jewels on palace textiles

Being our last day for sightseeing we decided to go back to Topkapi Palace to see the Holy Relics (no photo-taking allowed), the library, the reception hall with textiles set with jewels and the exhibit of the gifts of the Russians tsars to the Ottoman sultans in the 18th and 19th centuries ( no photo-taking allowed either). It took the whole afternoon to tour these. Check out the rare black tulip and the kitten sunbathing in tulip heaven and the Gulhane Park that is on one side of the palace. It is a national holiday today in Turkey, CHILDREN'S DAY.

The Turkish men have beautiful manners. When you thank them a couple of them have put their right hands on their chest and bowed slightly. When they greet older women they take her hand, kiss it and then bring it to their foreheads. Cats and children are adored. We live in a working class neighborhood and I saw a man give some children who ran to him some coins. They ran to us too and I did not know what to do. Cats are all over Sultanahmet and in the parksseemingly homeless but well-fed. There are lots of cat sculptures and figurines for sale as souvenirs. But I guess the cats on the lawn of the Topkapi Palace garden have the best lives of all. They sunbathe on royal lawns lined with tulips. Going into the Chora museum this afternoon I smiled at an old man turning a corner. He acknowledged this greeting with the kindest smile, his right hand on his chest and a slight bow. I was enchanted. I cannot tell you how staggeringly good-looking the men, and the women, are. The men stare as if they would devour you. The masculinity of the men is potent. I have never felt as feminine in any other country. I would have taken more photos of samples of this melting pot and posted them if I had not been afraid of offending them. They are invariably fair with striking features and large eyes and aquiline noses. Combine these beautiful symmetrical features with black hair and you have.........

Chora Museum

To get to another must-see monument we took a taxi to the Church of St. Savior in Chora. The cab driver took side streets and alleys so we were passed several neighborhoods, one of which was very conservative. All the women in this neighborhood were shrouded from head to foot in black. The Chora museum is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of Byzantine churches left and was built in 534. In the 16th century it was converted into a mosque and became a museum in 1948.

Cemetery of Sultan Mahmut II and Ground Zero

On the way home we passed by a cemetery that houses the tomb of Sultan Mahmud II and other important people like pashas. The tombs are so artistically decorated. Take a look at these beauties.

Yalis on the Bosphorus

Today we finally took a ferry to tour the Bosphorus ( we took the 2 hour tour) which almost reached the Black Sea. It was a very comfortable tour and the yalis ( mansions used by the very wealthy during the summer) are beautiful. They are built right on the shores of the Bosphorus.

Sunday in the park and Flower Arrangement at the Four Seasons

Yesterday we strolled through the Hippodrome and the park in front of the Aya Sofia on the way to tea at the Four Seasons in Sultanahmet. Families were out enjoying the beautiful sunny day. Tea at the Four Seasons was a nice calm break from the madding Sunday crowd. I am amazed how many more tourist buses (the sizes of which we have not seen the likes of in our country) seem to disgorge more and more tourists daily. Mid-April and May is the peak of the tourist season here.

Grand Bazaar encore, Kebabs lunch, and calligraphy

Great relaxed fun today getting our names written in arabic, eating kebabs and checking out the Grand Bazaar which had several black limos and tons of policemen at the Nurosmaniye (main) entrance late this afternoon. Apparently the first lady of Slovenia went shopping!

Calls to Prayer

Several times a day, a loudspeaker blares out a call to prayer and it seems to me the closer it gets to Friday noon, equivalent to our Sundays, the louder the calls to prayer become. It is a singing wail of the meuzzin ( always a man). Istanbul has a lot of beautiful old buildings that need repair and restoration and also a lot of wooden ones too. On our street is a tomb inserted between the apt. bldgs. Oh, the Spice Bazaar is called the Egyptian Bazaar because it was taxes from Egypt that built it. Egypt belonged to the Ottoman empire for a while.

includes view of the buildings from the apt balcony in beyoglu

Enjoy my street and mosque scenes of people:

Here is the SPICE BAZAAR. Bought some embroidered shawls and a couple of the famous SHATOOSH shawls for Mom. Check out the Spice Bazaar!

Yesterday was a glorious day because it was in the 60s so Y and I took the tram to Eminonu to check out the gem of a mosque called Rustem Pasha, and the famous Spice Bazaar. The plaza was ablaze with tulips! What a glorious day it was!

Arasta Bazaar below the Blue Mosque

After the Museum we backtracked to the road below to Blue Mosque to the Arasta Bazaar which has a small row of stores on both sides of the street just below the Blue Mosque. The stuff for sale are for the more discriminating shopper I think and the place is less overwhelming than the Grand Bazaar. The first store we went into sold antique Central Asian carpets and kilims. Am posting some photos of that visit. It had beautiful embroidered textiles from Uzbekistan and Y bought one of the hand-embroidered caps (fortunately not an antique therefore affordable) from this wonderful store.

Then we went across the Hippodrome ( which means across) the street to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in the former palace of a grand vizier. It does not look like a palace anymore but we enjoyed the exhibits of rare carpets, beautiful miniature calligraphy and the enthnographic museum on the first floor showing the Anatolian (eastern Turkey) tribal living that is better than a diorama. Here are some photos:

Today we may take it a little easier and take a breather as we did quite a bit yesterday. Since the old city of Sultanahmet is on 7 hills ( more eternal than Rome) one trudges up and down cobble-stoned pavements a lot here to see the sights. Yesterday we managed three of them which were within very short walking distance from one another. The first one we saw was the fabulous Blue ( so called because of its Iznik tiles) Mosque. I brought my own scarf and wrapped it around my head and shoulders as requested and although plastic bags are given to the tourists Y and I had brought a small bag in which to put out shoes. I wish I had a telephoto lens because most of the decoration are on the ceilings and high-up on the columns. We went at 2 PM which was perfect timing as the mosque is closed 5 times a day for prayer.