The internet service is so poor in my hotel here in Istanbul this post has taken me a total of 6 hours to make. I keep getting kicked offline and then the pics won’t upload. Anyway, I’m trying. This is 3 days old now.

We arrived late in the afternoon and were tired. We didn’t do much. We took a short walk around town where a candy vendor gave me his number. It’s nice to know I still got it at 44 but kinda weird when I was in the shop with my husband. We had a good laugh about it. Well, I think we did. I did.

 

Then we ate dinner at the place where the guy didn’t harrass us and beg us to in and sit down. Turkiye is my 48th country to visit. I have two major pet peeves when traveling: taxi drivers harassing me at the airport/train station/bus station and restaurant workers harassing me on the sidewalk. Coming up to me and annoying me while I’m walking by is a sure way to lose my busisness.  He was going to let us walk right on by in peace, so we walked in and sat down. It was delicious. I had Iskander.

After, the husband had to buy his yearly straw hat. He had become so attached to last year’s hat I was terrified he was going to bring it with him so before leaving for this trip I dug it out of the closet and threw it in the trash. Those things are not made for two years in a row of the kind fo traveling we do.

That was it. It was bed time.

This morning! I cannot believe I forgot to bring head coverings with me for my daughter and I but I did. I didn’t want to get ripped off by the tourist vendors on the street so we found an LC Waikiki, similar to Ross Dress for Less, and went to the second floor, LCW Modest, the floor for Muslim women (or my grandma) and bought a couple cheap ones there.

We headed to the Hagia Sophia, but as I feared the line was really long. We decided to do what we did for Machu Picchu and line up early tomorrow so we’re some of the only people there. We began the hike up the mountain in Peru about a decade ago at 4:30 in the morning so we could be up there right at the sunrise. There was almost no one there. It was awesome.

We did go see the Blue Mosque. It was beautiful. It’s recently been under construction and a lot of the rafting is still in place which took away a bit from the beauty, but it was still nice. We spent last summer traveling Uzbekistan and this was close in its level of beauty.

One thing that struck me outside was all the proselytizing. There was a lot of it. I felt like I was back in the American South all but instead of covert to Christianity now! Praise Jesus! It was convert to Islam now! Praise the Prophet! In all my worldly travels I’ve haven’t encountered much Islamic proselytizing. It’s here outside the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque.

We saw the Hippodrome of Constantinople!!! First built by Septimius Severus in the 3rd century CE then made bigger and fancier by Constantine I in the next century. It was used for charriot racing. It was also used for such things as public executions. If you know anything about me you know I’m interested in the macabre parts of history so I was happy to stand on the ground. It didn’t go out of fashion until the Fourth Crusade.

Time out- history lesson- the Fourth Crusade is the most embarrassing one for the Roman (Catholic) Christian Church. Let me tell you why. The Muslims were invading Christian, Byzantine, Eastern Roman, land and those Christians asked for help from the Western Roman (Catholic) Christians. The Western pope called for a crusade, he send Western Christians to help Eastern Christians fight off the Muslims. But instead…. What happened was….

In the west people were really poor, rememeber… Fall of the Roman Empire and all that stuff you learned long, long ago? Well they were poor, living in huts, wearing rags, and they got to Constantinople which was rich, rich, rich, and the Western Christians ransacked Eastern Christian churches!!! They also raped and pillaged their way all through Constantinople.

So, Western Christians were sent to help their Eastern Christian brothers and sisters fight off the Muslims but instead they ransacked, raped, and pillaged Contantinople.

There’s far more to it than that, but that’s your middle school version of the Fourth Crusade in case you’ve forgotten it.

Back to my day in Istanbul.

We saw signs for a mosaic museum. I like mosiacs. I said let’s go there and wow am I glad I did! It was 60 lira for entrance to an amazing museum with ancient Roman mosiacs. I could have stayed there for hours but I have a great picture of my teen daughter doing what she does best: looking bored all around the world. I really do hope she grows to appreciate all the places she’s been one day.

After the mosiac museum we had lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Nothing special. I just had a salad.

Next we went to a cistern we had read about that was in the basement of Nakkas Rugs, a carpet shop. We were afraid it would just be a tourist trap but it wasn’t so bad. As we were beginning to walk down to see the cistern my eyes began to water terribly so I had to back out. I have terrible allergies. Not sure what it was but something bothered me. The same thing happened to me at the bug pit in Uzbekistan last year.

While my husband and daughter were seeing the cistern a guy who worked at the shop began talking to me. I told him we were teachers and instantly everything about him changed. He told me all about Ataturk and how he taught the Turkish people there is no more valuable profession than a teacher and all teachers should be respected. When I told him I teach about Ataturk in my classes he got a big smile on his face.

When my husband and daughter returned my husband noticed a small figurine of a rottweiler in a case and pointed it out to me. I love rottweilers. They’re the best breed of dog on Earth. the guy said you like rottweilers! You must come upstairs and see something! Don’t worry, you don’t have to buy it. We went upstairs and what did they have hanging on the wall but an absolutely gorgeous silk rug of a rottweiler. I almost teared up. I’m sure that rug is $3,000 or more. I can’t afford it, but if I could I’d buy it.

Before we left he told us they had a rooftop patio with beautiful views and we were welcome to go up there. He even sent us Turkish coffee. No pressure at all. He didn’t even follow us. We just sat on the patio, enjoyed the view, drank or coffee, relaxed, and took some photos.

Now we took the elevator down and thought we were really leaving when a guy asked us to walk through the jewelry store on our way out. I almost laughed out loud and I said I’m sorry, I know I can’t afford anything in there, we were just leaving. He said it’s okay, you can have a look. Oh what the heck. We went in. And I’m so glad we did!

He asked me about my necklace. Why was I wearing it? What did it mean? Since buying this necklace back in December I have worn it many, many times and not one person has ever asked me about it. My husband, this Turkish jeweler, and myself ended up having a fantastic conversation about world politics! While I do teach about the French revolution in my world history class and wear this necklace when I do, it means far more to me.

We talked all about corruption, and taxes, and fascists, and I think we’d make great friends!

But I was right about the jewelry. One piece I liked was $1300 USD and one was $1600. That’s a bit out of my teacher’s budget. My guillotine necklace cost me less than $20 with shipping.

Next we went to another cistern which was a ripoff. I don’t recommend it. It was more expensive than the mosiac museum with nothing really to see. I very seldom discourage people to see history, only when I feel it’s a tourist trap rip-off. That’s what this is. When you can see others just as cool for less or even free why pay so much? It’s a trap! If you really must see it, then here are my pics. It’s pretty inside but not worth the entrance fee.

Last thing place of the day: Islamic Museum of the History of Science. The most interesting I learned was about the Javanese map. An Islamic map from the 15th century showing the Americas, specifically the Brazillian coast. I have a picture of it but I’ve been waiting forever for it to upload and we’re ready to go out exploring for the day and I give up. If you’re interested in seeing it you can write me and ask.

The museum was mostly reproductions of all the amazing scientific and mathematical advancements from the Islamic world over the ages. They had astrolabes galore and they had two big sections dedicated to Ulugh Beg and we saw his observatory in Samarkand last year!