Not many pictures with this posting. I apologize.

Friday night we headed out with David and Lois to take a Turkish bath. Walk/metro/map-check/ask directions/ ah, we are there. We enter off the street, down marble steps, into a reception area. We choose what services we want. I went for the whole thing.

So, first into a private changing room. Off clothes, cotton wrap sarong style, pair of awkward wooden slippers. Lock room, bring key. Into the warm room. There is a raised marble platform in the center. Lie here, look at the stars cut into the domed roof, and begin to sweat. Then the attendant shows up and gives a vigorous massage. Then off to one of the alcoves that rings the room where the attendant scrubs you with plain water and a canvas mitt. Then lots of cool water dumped over you, then the attendant washes you with sudsy water and something resembling a hand-held mop-head. But it feels more like one of those lacey bath sponges.  After having a few gallons of cool water dumped over you (which feels great in the heat), you exit the warm room, get a few towels to dry yourself and wrap yourself, and head back to your changing room.

Once dressed, you sit in a small courtyard drinking juices and teas waiting for the ladies to finish, because for an unanswerable reason they take about an hour longer than the men.

I think we need one of these in Burlington. After all, we can make it with Vermont marble right?

Friday, July 23

Friday we headed out on foot/metro to see if we could get a look at the University of Istanbul. We ran into Tim Armstrong and he joined us for the first leg. We caught the metro at Tophane and took it into the old city to the Sultanahmet stop. We did a little tourist-with-a-map scene and decided on a direction. Soon we saw the University gate. After a few “front of gate” pics, we approached the guards expecting to be refused entry. To our delight they waved us through into the campus.

The green space inside is divided by a lovely tree-lined lane leading up to the main administrative building. The first building we looked into was a very fancy building with tables laid for dining. We were not allowed to take interior pictures, but we were invited in to get a peek and it was opulent. Ornate furniture, painted walls, beautiful ceramics. I don’t know who gets to eat here, but they are VIPs for sure.

We took a glance in the astronomy building and the astrolabe out front.

Next we encountered the Beyazıt Tower, an 85 meter tall fire tower built in 1828.

When we got to the main administrative building, we saw there was some kind of function going on. Folks were showing credentials to the guards and getting entry. We approached and asked if we were allowed inside. Yes. Turns out this was a “yield” day. They were wooing potential students. Parents and students were sitting with faculty talking about their programs. There was a speech, handouts, a slide-show on a loop. We felt right at home.

After we exited the campus, Tim headed off for his adventures and Kathy and I went looking for the Grand Bazaar. We spent a lot of time with one tile vendor in his incredibly cool (as in refrigerated) shop. Kathy found some tiles she liked, but as we had been instructed, we did not buy, but rather looked for another vendor to compare quality and price. Of course, since all prices are negotiated, it takes some time to comparison shop. We did wind up going back to buy the tiles after lunch.

Then on to the spice market. We only sort-of got lost on the way there. We passed a lot of streets with shops obviously meant for Istanbul residents. Wedding garb, cookware, baby clothes… After asking directions once or twice, we popped out in front of the main gate for the spice market. We were pretty beat by then. The only thing we bought there was some dried fruit.

Then back to the ship for a rest-up.

Thursday, July 22

On Thursday we took a bus ride up the coast and a boat ride back down.

We went as far up the Bosporus as Büyükdere and visited the Sadberk Hanım Museum.

The museum has two parts, archeological and ethnographic. Kathy thought the archeological section was fascinating; with my pathetic lack of interest in antiquities I found it only somewhat interesting. I found the ethnographic section very interesting. There was a lot of interesting ceramics, metalwork, and costumes. The museum store was nice as well. Got a few gifts there. No photography was allowed. Maybe I can scan a few pages from the museum book I bought to display?

After the museum visit (somewhat rushed), we got back aboard the buses for a short ride to our tourist boat. We headed downstream towards the Sea of Marmara. We visited both shores, looking at expensive homes, former palaces, fortifications, and a few public beaches.

After we got back to the Explorer, Kathy and I headed out to look for that “Bright Yellow” fish restaurant mentioned in the last post. Finding it less than we hoped we moved on and came to this nice family-type restaurant on the banks of the Golden Horn. The Golden Horn is a bay that splits the European side of Istanbul into two parts. It gets its name from the color when the sun sets over it.  This restaurant seemed to be run by the municipality. Part of the “park service” maybe? We were struggling with the menu when a waiter brought us a picture menu. He told us he and his father had both served with the United Nations Forces and he helped us pick out some dishes. I asked for spicy… and he said “really spicy?” I said yes and he said he would order me something that wasn’t on the menu. For Kathy he recommended the steamed fish. Kathy’s fish was very tasty, and my dish wound up being a meat stew in a ceramic dish. It was good, but not very spicy. We had desert and tea.

There were some toddlers running around the restaurant. Very cute. The other guests and the waitstaff seems very tolerant, dodging the kids with their trays and avoiding tripping over them.

We found our way down to the western end of the Galata Bridge.  There is a level of the bridge below the traffic level with restaurants lining each side. We walked on this level, passing up the generous offers from each restaurant staff (“Look what we have here! Why don’t you stop?”). Once across the bridge we caught a taxi back to the ship.