Lunch

We paused our tours for a quick and delicious lunch.  

The kayisli (apricot juice) topped it off nicely.  The group still has not had the chance to try Ayran (yogurt drink), which goes well with kebabs.  I'm sure we'll get a chance soon.  For dessert we had spiced pumpkin or rice pudding.  The pumpkin was fine, but the rice pudding was great!

Hippodrome / Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque)

After lunch we headed to the Hippodrome - the chariot race track that once seated over 100,000 spectators.  The only remains are 3 columns that once stood in the middle of the track where the riders raced around.  This is the largest column and was shipped from a temple in Egypt  the indistinct markings are hierglyphs that are still very readable at closer range.  The stone is granite and has weathered very well.  

Our group in the courtyard of the Sultanahmet mosque.

Inside the mosque.  The name "blue" comes from the thousands of beautiful tiles on the walls and ceiling.

The center dome is held up by four massive pillars.  Here is Casey trying to hug one.  Amazing.

Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia

We started the day at the Topkapi Palace, the palace of the Sultans for nearly 400 years.  We were glad to get here early because it got crowded pretty quickly.  We were met by our guide for the day - Simi - who did a great job!  I learned new and interesting facts about the sites even though I had toured them last year.

This is the first gate into the first courtyard, which was open to the public.

This is the second gate where only palace residents (a total of 4000), or invited guest could enter.

Inside the Vizers (Councilors') meeting hall.

The throne and throne room of the Sultan.  A running water fountain and deaf guards provided necessary privacy for conversations.

Inner courtyard.  It is early spring here and some of the fruit trees are in bloom.  The gardens were filled with hiacynths that were just opening, pretty pansies, and a ton of well pruned rose bushes that will be beautiful later in the year.

Overlooking the Bosphorus Straight

We are on the European side of the city, looking across at the Anatolian (Asian) side.

Hagia Sophia.  Over 1500 years old.  Has been an Orthodox Church and a mosque and is now a museum.

Look how thick the butresses are that support the walls.  No wonder they have withstood the earthquakes this region is prone to.

Good looking group!

Inside the Hagia Sophia.  The circular Arabic scripts behind me are for the Prophet and the first four Caliphs (religious leaders of the Ottoman Empire).  They are so large that they will not fit out the door of the building and thus must have been constructed within it.  Each is covered with the skin of ONE camel - stretched incredibly thin and tight.

It is the fourth largest worship space in the world.

You can see there are many places throughout that are in desperate need of restoration and repair.  Our guide says it is a constant process, not a project with an end date.

Special seating for the Emperor to worship.

Scaffolding reaching all the way to the top of the ceiling.

Up early

Its hard to adjust to the change in timezones.  We are 8 hours ahead of Wichita.  We lost most of Saturday in transit.  Although we did not sleep a lot on the plane, it was still hard to get to sleep at 10 pm local when it was only 2 pm Wichita time.  I woke up several times in the middle of the night and just let my mind run until I could doze off again.

I was awakened at 5:30 am by the first call to prayer.  Our window was open to the cool night air and all of a sudden there were at least five different calls sounding out of the PA systems from the nearby mosques.  Most were sung, one was more like a spoken chant.  It was kind of discordant for a while, then most of them ended and one remained...kind of a peaceful drone.  There's something pretty powerful in thinking about all of the devout believers who get up in response to a call to prayer each morning.

No chance of me falling back asleep, so I got up, looking forward to a fun day in the city!

Breakfast was at the school.  Generally good, but I was disappointed not to have any good yougert!  I'm sure I'll get my chance.  One odd item that I did not include was french fries.  I'm afraid I can't be a true Turk because I don't care for fresh tomatos and cucumbers (served at every meal, including breakfast).

Lodging in Istanbul

After dinner our blue lit minibus took us to our accommodations for the night. (We felt like we should be breaking out the disco ball or something)

Our hosts put us up in a K-12 private school.  There is a floor with hotel-like rooms in the complex, which were quite comfortable.  We were met at the door by two security guards who helped get us settled.  When we got off the elevator there was a shoe cubby for us to put our shoes in...sock feet throughout the floor until we go down for breakfast.

Our host is staying the night with us in case we need anything.  In fact after we got settled in, he walked several of the students around the corner to a local convenience store and treated them to some 'midnight' snacks.  Totally unexpected to the students and quite endearing.

There is a nice 'salon' / lounge area on the floor with couches all around the walls and a balcony with a good view of the city.

It was good to be able to wind down and relax after the long trip.  Several students got their position papers written, which we discovered were required at the conference only 3 days ago.  Kudos to them for getting them written under such a tight timeline!

It was funny to hear about one student's discovery of the bidet in the bathroom.  These are quite common here.  They were even installed in the toilets in the airport.

Turkish Hospitality

We were met by our host, Heyrettin Kenan, at the airport.  He patiently waited over an hour for us to come through baggage claim because of our lost luggage.  Our minibus pulled up to the curb quickly and took us on a short ride to a restaurant for dinner.  My stomach was a bit confused at this point since we had had two dinners last night, and had been served "breakfast" on the plane a few hours before.  Fortunately we were all hungry again.  We were served a wonderful meal of traditional Turkish food with a variety of appetizers, kebobs for dinner, and a dessert called kunefe which had thin pasta noodles, melted cheese and a sweet syrup on it.  Everything was delicious.  I can tell this is another trip where we will be fed well.  

Our host is an English teacher for a police academy here in the city.  We had a great discussion at dinner about cultural identity and where Americans say they are "from" when asked...the city where they were born, where they currently live, or where their parents or grandparents live.  He says he is from the Black Sea even though he has lived his whole life in Istanbul because his grandparents are from the Black Sea.

Our dinner stop

I was so proud of the students when they immediately started trying to use a few Turkish words such as 'sow' - thank you, and ordering the drinks in Turkish - veeshni (cherry juice) and Ky-ish-ee (apricot juice).  We don't have drinks quite this tasty at home.

dessert

Dessert would not be complete without Turkish chai (tea).

Transatlantic flight

The first leg of our trip was Wichita to Chicago Ohare with a five hour layover.  We got dinner in the airport and I was surprised to find that the international terminal at Ohare had been upgraded with more food options.  We then boarded our flight to Istanbul.  It was a 9 1/2 hr flight time.  They served "dinner" about 2 hours after takeoff (midnight our time), and then "breakfast" about 2 hours before landing (3 pm local time, but about 7 am Wichita time).  We got money from the ATM and everyone's cards worked, yeah!  We got through passport control without being asked a single question.  Fun to get stamps in the passport!  Unfortunately, only 10 of 11 suitcases made it.  We've filed a lost luggage claim, but we'll have to wait till tomorrow at the earliest to discover its whereabouts.

Go Model UN Shockers!

Casey took advantage of sitting in the middle seat and getting goodies from the flight attendants coming down both aisles.  Olivia was targeted by a chatty Greek gentlemen who wished her a good life at the end of the flight and told her 'get married soon and have lots of kids' ha!

Toward the end of the flight I got up to stretch in the catering area in the back of the plane.  I was surprised when a gentleman asked the attendant for a blanket and then proceeded to spread it on the floor and started praying.  This devotion was moving, especially the willingness to offer up prayers so publicly on the plane.

Arrival at Istanbul.  Like many European airports we loaded onto a bus to be shuttled to the airport from the tarmac.

All the luggage except DJ's arrived : (