Istanbul is beautiful! The weather is spectcular! The streets are clean! We feel safe! It is such a contrast to India!
But, even if we had not come to Istanbul from Delhi, we would have loved it anyway.
We arrived to the hotel at 11 AM, after a 7 hour night flight from Delhi. The meeting was scheduled for 12:30, giving us an hour and a half to wash up, do "personal management" like laundry, unpack (never), etc. We dumped our stuff and went outside to change money and get some food. The weather is a glorious 60 or so. Some locals walk around in ski jackets but we were wearing t shirts and were comfortable.
The ATM offered three options: Turkish Lire, Euros or US Dollars. We chose Turkish - and not surprisingly, some places accept only lire.
We found a place that serves doner kebaps, a sandwich that Alex got excited about - basically like schwarma that is served in Israel. It's made from beef shaved from a big hunk on a spit. It turned out to be a mandatory food challenge so we had to eat another one later but that was ok.
I made a quick purchase of a light shawl for visiting mosques and for wrapping around my neck in some attempt to look fashionable (a bit of a non sequitor since I am wearing comfortable walking shoes and quick-dry clothes). We finished all that and got to the meeting a few minutes early.
We learned that we will actually stay in the same hotel for two nights. The scavenges in Istanbul will be two separate sets of one day each. Today we went from about 1 PM until the deadline at 10 PM. Alex and I did at least part of all of them except one. We did not get to the Kariye Museum to see the fresco of Jesus yanking Adam and Eve from their coffins.
First stop was to get a map from the hotel. Theirs was particularly awful, with little detail, and no guidebook or magazine to offer. We tried to find a place nearby that sold a guide book or a map but simply could not. We are staying in the Taksim area of the city. We went to two bookstores and there were no guidebooks or English books at all. Absolutely loving walking on a beautiful walking street in the warm but not too warm sun, it took us a while to get our act together. We sat in a cafe for coffee and tried to plot a route using crummy cartoony tourist maps and little information. Few people speak English.
Finally, at 2:15, we logged the first scavenge: walk through the Passage of Flowers. Without spending a lot of time studying all of the scavenges, we decided to head right for the area where Topkapi Palace is located. We took the tunel, the world's shortest and the third oldest subway. It is a 2 minute ride. Very cute. We took a taxi the rest of the way. Having been warned that Istanbul taxi drivers are notoriously conniving, we agreed on a rate in advance and made sure we had the right change. Apparently they almost always pretend they have no change and keep all the money. And worse, if you give them a big bill, they pretend to drop it, pretend to retrieve it, and then show you a smaller bill, insisting that you have made only partial payment. Folks who have been here before all had similar stories and Bill told us that you can expect to pay too much for a taxi in Istanbul, whether by scam or by contract. We chose the contract option - negotiated a probably very high price ($7.50) but we had to get on with it.
Topkapi Palace was the government seat of Istanbul (formerly known as Constantinople) for over 400 years. It is in a fabulously beautiful spot at the convergence of three rivers, and a park-like setting landscaped with trees and flowers. The scavenges led us through the highlights of this beautiful palace: the treasury and the 86 carat Spoonmaker Diamond and the Throne of Ahmed (gorgeous inlaid mother of pearl boxy bench), Mohammed's swords, Moses' staff and the harem. Before entering, we bought an Istanbul city guide in the gift shop (wahoo!) and found it to be terribly organized, poorly indexed(NO index, actually), and, when we finally got to read the damn thing at night, discovered information that we would have loved to have known was in there, but the awful table of contents didn't hint at. From Topkapi, we went the wrong way but corrected ourselves, to the Archeological Museum and found something of
Alexander the Great's - his facial expression - because the original statues of him were destroyed and these were replicas. We couldn't find the world's first peace treaty, even after asking 5 people who work at the museum. No maps or brochures in the museum. Oh well -- move on.
We found the two obelisks - one Egyptian and one "Constantine".
We visited the Blue Mosque, a huge and intricately decorated mosque, and the Mosaic Museum which was down a lane of fantastic stores selling handmade goods. No time to look, though. A compelling reason to return! (Not to mention that we are racing through things we would want to savor).
The underground cistern, built during tje Byzantine period is way cool. It stored water safely and feels eerie and mysterious - and wet and cool. Its 336 columns are bathed in a low golden light. Scenes from James Bond's "To Russia with Love" were filmed here.
We had trouble getting to Suleymaniye Mosque, but "hopped on" a tram - after walking around in a few circles, and figuring out how to buy the token. We probably got off one stop too early, too. Visited the mosque, and our lame guidebook helped us find the name of the wife that is buried there.
Then, to a more obscure mosque - Rustem Pasa Camii, which was built over shops. Across the street, we ate the required rahat lokum, the Turkish Delight candy. Then, to Istanbul University, which was probably the wrong school because we found Istanbul University of Commerce, which is a very small campus. Then to one of two mandatory food challenges - the restaurant Daruzziyafe's and ten extra points for getting into the kitchen. (When we paid the bill, we said we loved the lamb so much that we wanted to see the kitchen. All true anyway). Then, the scavenge of tea and hookah-smoking, and asking a local about their attitude of keyif (which, apparently is "joy", and who could oppose joy?). Off to the final food challenge. Kinda dumb planning, but the challenge was to eat a doner kebap, but we had one just before the scavenge hunt began, so that didn't count. We ate another one. Donered out for the day. We got in a taxi and drove by to snap a picture of the hotel which once used to house passengers embarking on the Orient Hotel. (The answer is the Pera Palace Hotel, and it's under renovation, so we found it and snapped a pic). We were back in the hotel by 9 PM. Handed our sheets in and went to the bar to hang out with some fellow travellers (fun group!). Bill borrowed our camera chip and may be uploading a few of our pictures onto the website for the Global Scavenger Hunt.