knowing that we still have dinner to record!
m
x
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
SO much to see!!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wow! What a day!! Robert likens sightseeing with me to the Bataan Death March! Hmmm…
Up and down for breakfast about 7 a.m. Very nice selection of things – great cheeses and breads, but also cereals and some really terrific scrambled eggs! To be honest, they don’t really look like any eggs I’ve ever seen; they are cooked very, very, very small, but have peppers and cheese mixed in and are really delicious! Had to wait until 8 a.m. for the laundry to open, but were there about 8:05 and yes, the guy was already busy doing wash! Turned over the clothes, and headed to the Topkopi Palace area for the National Archeological Museum. A lovely day out – national holiday – May 19th, Youth Sports Day and commemoration of Ataturk’s ascent to power after WWI. There are red Turkish flags out everywhere; very patriotic! It’s a bit breezy and cool – I’m wishing I’d brought my jacket, but R telling me to toughen up and get a grip…or is that gripe??
The Museum opens at 9, but we were able to climb up the hill to wait on the grounds. Archeological Museum really three museums in one place: The Archeological Museum, the Tiled Kiosk and the Museum of the Ancient Orient. I’ve promised R that this will be our last archeological museum for this trip... he insists that he is not tired of them, but I'm not so sure...(Figuring that we have five full days here, that we should do one major thing first thing every morning, and then fill in with all the other things there are to do here. But Archeological Museum first thing on the list…tomorrow will be Topkapi Palace!)
We started at the far end of the Museum (there are two entrances) and basically had the museum to ourselves for the first hour and a half or so. There are some truly incredible pieces here. It is not labeled as well as the museum in Athens, but the layout and presentation and quality of the finds is incredible. They have a sarcophagus collection that is second to none, and the size, and condition of the works is unreal! (Many of them were found at previously unknown and unlooted locations, which did a great deal for their preservation.) They have a nice display on Schliemann’s discoveries at Troy, as well as works from all over the area. We did find one really hysterical area – boxes and boxes stacked high of PIECES of pottery and bones – all waiting for some archeologists who like to do puzzles to come along, we guess! But we’ve never seen that kind of thing in a museum before – that is generally “behind the scenes.” Very, very good museum!
The Tiled Kiosk is basically what it says – tiles and ceramics from all over Turkey over the years. It’s a small display but incredibly beautiful. I’m hoping the photographs can do it justice.
Last but not least was the Museum of the Ancient Orient – my very favorite, as it contains a remarkable collection of Babylonian friezes and Assyrian objects. We’ve seen some of the friezes before in the Louvre as well in a museum in Berlin, but this collection included some very unusual looking animals besides my favorite blue glazed lions! All in all, a great collection!
It was now about 11:30 a.m. and we were looking for a rest (this is about when the Bataan reference came out…) R had been looking longingly at the tram since we got here, so we decided now was as good a time as any to try it. Hopped on at Guilhane and rode across the Bosphorous Strait (R says it was the Golden Horn, not the Bosphorus but what does he know!) and in to the “new” side of Istanbul. Very comfortable riding; lots of interesting things to see. Rode to the end of the line (literally…the tracks just stop!), got off and turned around and came back on the tram, this time getting off at Beyazit, the main jumping off (or in!) place for the Grand Bazaar…what will we find inside??
Oh, my…what an incredible tangle of shops and people and all sorts of goods everywhere! We ambled through and around various streets and alleys – and this is INSIDE the Grand Bazaar! – there is SO much to look at, and even though I’m not the shopping fiend that I once was, all this beautifully arranged and presented STUFF sure looks good! Today our object was to find me a scarf that I could put over my head when we visit mosques … something that will look good with t-shirts and blue jeans. It is amazingly difficult to look at anything for long, as there is generally someone about wanting to answer your questions or make friends. I hate being rude, but it is actually necessary if you want to cover any ground at all. We finally found one shop that had a silk scarf/pashmina that was quite lovely … and of course, very expensive! The original asking price was 90 TL (1 Turkish Lira is about $0.65) – (and of course I had to leave) and R got it for 60 TL. He thinks it was too expensive, (that’s the equivalent from going from $58 to $39; I think it’s great!) but it’s beautiful, well made and will be a wonderful souvenir of Istanbul as well as being practical! I am going to want to get some porcelain – naturally, we can always use things for the kitchen! But I want to look around first and figure out exactly what I want before I send Robert the Negotiator in to work again. Wish we could take back LOTS of things, but there are luggage concerns!! At this point, we figured we needed food (and I needed a bathroom…) so we wandered out of the Grand Bazaar – with no earthly way of knowing where we were or where we needed to go! Totally lost!! We basically ambled downhill, as R insisted that that would be the way to the water – and even as we’re wandering in this crazy, people-packed bedlam, R says that if we ever find our way out, we can go to McDonald’s – where I know I can get a bathroom! (Lots of interesting looking small places where we could get food, but no bathroom; definitely needed both!) Our route downhill did lead to the water, and out we popped – just down the block from both Burger King and McDonald’s! Relief in sight! So, we’ve now had both our Greek McD and our Turkish McD experience…generally, about the same, I’d say!
After that we decided to head back to the hotel for a rest, just stopping at a local grocery store to buy a box of Kleenex for the room. It doesn’t seem like any but the **** hotels provide it here, so need to get our own! Fortunately, the DIA down the street from the hotel is open.
Nice nap and back up around 4 – have to get the laundry, as well as more Turkish Lira. The hotel has offered us an 11% discount if we pay the bill in cash! So, figuring that’s almost $100, we wanted to take care of that now. Down the street to our favorite ATM, then to the laundry – which was SCARY! I have become VERY attached to our laundry bag from “The Perfect Laundry” back from Heraklion, and asked specially to have it back this morning when we dropped off our clothes. So, walk in, down the steps, and spot the bag – but NOT our clothes!! Wow! A spirited couple of minutes while the man looked for our things – and yes, there they were, just not in our bag. He apologized profusely and rebagged the other folks laundry – so now we’re all complete – clean clothes, sentimental laundry bag AND us! Yipee!!
Back to the hotel, paid the bill then had a drink in the lounge. Turns out they do happy hour, so it’s half price – a decent white wine by the glass. R also had apple tea, which I tried yesterday, with not so successful results. (Tea of any sort upsets my tummy!) Now we’re resting (yet again! Bataan Death March indeed…) before dinner. Tonight we’re eating at the hotel in their rooftop restaurant, supposedly with a great view over the Bosphorus! We’ll see!!
More later!
Love,
m
x
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Our first visit to Turkey!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Greetings from Istanbul! We actually made it!! To be honest, I'm very grateful that we were able to work around the civil unrest and strikes in Greece!
Got up around 7 this morning and started getting assembled. As our plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until 2 p.m., we figured we had quite a bit of time. Went downstairs for breakfast, and it was great! Large glasses of fresh orange juice, hot chocolate & coffee, a plate of ham and wonderful cheese, breads and rolls, eggs AND yoghurt! Whew! Couldn’t get through half of it! We were ready to leave around 9:30 a.m. – (and Anne just rolled her eyes!!) so out we went. So glad that we allowed a lot of time! We planned on taking a taxi from the hotel to Syntagma Square and then catching the metro for the airport. First, there was some sort of police trouble which caused quite a traffic jam when we were in the taxi. Then, when we got on the metro, turns out it wasn’t the train to the airport! It headed out in that direction, but then stopped 5 stops short – and everybody had to get out and wait for the suburban train…which was coming along in 24 minutes! So, we were glad that we had lots of time to spare. Found Aegean Airlines check-in counter and we were on our way! The flight was right on time, and voila, we were up in the air! Unbelievably, on a flight that was scheduled for an hour, they served a real dinner – at no charge! Wasn’t great – beef with orzo, a roll with Greek cheese, and a sweet – but these gals really had to move in order to get everything served and then picked up, all in less than 60 minutes! Whew!
Had a great view coming into Ataturk airport. Lots and lots of what looks like new apartment blocks. Also, many mosques – easy to recognize thanks to the multiple minarets! We were in row 6, so got off the plane quickly. Headed first for the VISA station, but guess what? Nobody there!! Where next, we asked. Another visa section near the customs hall – and then the fun really started. Got the Visa stamps in our passports, then went to immigration. They had two lines – Turkish passports and “all others” – and to be honest, I’m thinking that there are probably still people from our plane in that line!! It was a MESS! Very frustrating!! We waited probably 45 minutes in an absolute SCRUM – no order whatsoever. No idea what they were looking for or why things took so long, but it definitely was a very negative beginning to our Turkish visit. Fortunately, things got better from there.
First of all, the weather is really lovely; somewhere in the low to mid-60's and very comfortable. We were concerned about entering mosques in shorts, which is usually a no-no, but looks like that's not going to be a problem! Yea!
Once we got through, it was easy to locate our bags – heaven knows how long they’d been going around on the carousel! Everything was there and collected, and then we headed out – and there was the guy from the Orient Express Hotel with a sign saying “Mr. Robert Brucato” – it was TERRIFIC! He came in a minivan, and zipped us out of the airport and into the city. The ride probably took about half an hour, and was just lovely! We followed along a huge park that lined the Sea of Mamara; lots of people out walking or jogging; many ships in the harbor – an incredibly busy place! Then past the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia and finally, to our hotel, the Orient Express. Very nice people, and nice public rooms (pool in the basement!), but to be honest, I’m not really impressed at all with our room. It’s 606, on the 6th floor, so nice and high, but in the back and in my opinion, rather pokey. However, the price is right, the internet is free and we’ve got lots and lots of satellite TV channels – but best of all is the location! We are right in the middle of things, which will make sightseeing much easier. Settled in as best we could (lack of drawers…) and then headed out for an exploration walk.
Got Turkish Lira at the local ATM, AND found a laundry just a block away!! The plan is for us to take our clothes over tomorrow morning, and then they’ll be done in the afternoon. Very exciting!! Walked down to the water, then back and past the old train station – from whence the Orient Express train used to leave and arrive! So neat!! We are both feeling like Istanbul is a wonderfully vibrant, colorful city, and we're very pleased with this discovery! We've already heard the call to prayer twice -- and so far I can't really tell if the so-called voice lessons are paying any dividends yet!
Found a self-service kind of mezze place which looked really good, so decided to have dinner. It was rather like an Italian antipasto display – you point and they put some on your plate. We got mushrooms, potatoes, eggplant and tomato to split, with R getting a chicken shish-ka-bob and me getting a beef. They came with servings of wonderful cous cous with mint, baked tomatoes and a great onion relish for the meat! We were very, very happy with the food! Only a few steps back to the hotel, and now we’re in for the night.
The plan tomorrow is to first deliver the laundry, and then head to the National Archeological Museum…
So – more later!!
Lots of love,
m
x
Monday, May 17, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
