Ensconced in an apartment on the top floor beside the German consulate facing southwest towards the old city of Sultanahmet it is surreal to think that in less than 24 hours one is in the Queen of Cities that was the capital of the Byzantine empire for 1128 years and the capital of the Ottoman empire for 700 plus years. It is a gray and cold day with seagulls diving in and out of the balcony that faces a blight of crowded buildings. The face of Istanbul we overlook is not imperial but we are set to dig deep into the layers of history that have fused this city and its peoples.

Yesterday on our first stroll in this sprawling, vibrant city of 12 million we came upon a greek orthodox church and wandered inside interested in finding out when easter services are scheduled. No one was in the church, called AYA TRIADA, the church of the holy trinity. Outside the greek orthodox priest, with a long white beard, in black robes looking like he belonged in the 17th century asked our guide to read the bulletin board posted on the door of the Church, which she tried to. But it is all in Greek, protested our guide,whereupon the priest read it for us and said we must come back for the easter vigil from 11PM saturday night until 2 AM Sunday morning. I shall perhaps take in the shorter version at 11AM on Sunday morning.

This morning we had our first taste of turkish coffee which we prepared ourselves in the kitchenette of the apt.which is on a very quiet street but only 10 minutes from the main drag called Istiklal cadessi, a pedestrian only street with a tram that takes one down to the bosphorus. We only made it down a third of the street and came home after buying a box of the famous turkish delight at Haci Bekar and dining in a turkish diner. We were pooped and turned in early after another stop, a quick one to the tiny grocer across the street for water, milk and that famous turkish coffee. Today will be a quiet day indoors, it has been raining and as usual we had to get the wifi internet connection fixed this morning. Fortunately this was done quickly by a technician sent in by our landlady. Our digs are great, not plush by any means. It is very homey, even a little run-down. We are told a writer lives here and he seems to be quite well-read from his collection of books ( all in turkish unfortunately except for two or three volumes). It is spacious however and for the price of a hotel room we get a 70+ sq. mt. apt and get to live in middle-income neighborhood and experience turkish living in some fashion.