Beyoğlu and Grand Bazaar

I don't particularly feel like writing a whole lot about our last couple days in Turkey, as it's just weird to try and do so from my house here in the US. So this is mostly pictures, with some commentary thrown in!

Yeni Cami at sunset

Sunday evening, we tried to go to a meyhane (tavern) in Beyoğlu, across the Golden Horn. When trying to make a reservation, most meyhaneler were closed on Sunday, which should have tipped us off that it's not the night to go to one, but it was the only time that worked, so we went anyways.

Mini bazaar at the wharf

The view from Galata Bridge at sunset

Birds! Mosque! Bridge!

What a cutie

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Google Maps is basically hopeless in İstanbul, so we got lost, and ended up asking at least 5 people for directions, all of which were conflicting. It took us 45 minutes to find the place (inside a hotel, which hadn't helped the search!), and upon arriving found it to be nearly empty, with only two other customers.

Beyoğlu: a tiny slice

Meyhaneler are supposed to be rocking affairs, with music and lots of people and drinks, but I was incredibly hungry so we ate there anyways. It was a nice restaurant (free water!!!), and we got the cheese plate, which was enormous, and some sigara böreği, cheese-filled pastries shaped like cigars.

sigara böreği

bajillion cheeses

Aww

It was all very tasty, and the view was beautiful over İstanbul, but it was definitely not the experience I had been hoping for. Oh, well––a real meyhane visit is on the docket for next time!

We came across a steel drums player
on our way home, which was cool.

Our last day, we visited Süleymaniye Camii, which was recently renovated.

Imposing!

I wore my black maxi skirt and brought a headscarf, but it turned out I hadn't needed to––they had robes available for Western visitors. At least I didn't have to worry about sweating in something someone else would have to wear! The mosque was beautiful and very large; there was some gorgeous painting detailing and stunning stained glass windows, but it was overall quite simple, which just emphasized how huge it was.

Gorgeous, no?

Stained glass at the front

Concentric domes! 

Big.

Really, really stunning glass 

Main dome

It was approaching prayer time when we
were there, and before we left, the
imam started singing.

Seriously, the cutest.

I'll have to visit the Blue Mosque next time I'm in İstanbul, but I liked Süleymaniye very much!

We spent a couple hours at the Bazaar, where I found a lot of presents to bring home. If you want the best prices, don't wait until the Grand Bazaar––Marcos saw carpets for much, much cheaper in Selçuk, and we found some knick knacks for cheaper (even post-bargaining) just out on the street in front of our hotel. Still, it's worth checking out the Bazaar just for kicks!

Along the main jewelry street; we saw a 30,000 USD
diamond dragonfly pin in one of the stores. We did not
buy it, surprisingly.

Surreptitious photo of some insanely detailed ceramics

My tiles!

Just don't ask how much things cost out of curiosity; sellers will always think you're wanting to purchase and will get offended if, upon being asked how much you'd be able to pay, you answer honestly and very low, as happened to us at a carpet shop. Some people really love the process of bargaining, but Marcos and I do not count ourselves among that crowd, so I am frankly quite happy to be back in the land of fixed prices. For myself, I got a couple of hand-painted tiles; they were originally 160 TL, but Marcos bargained him down to 100 (roughly $52). They're absolutely gorgeous and I plan to get them framed to have forever more!

For our last meal, we decided to splurge and get a terracotta stew, which is cooked in fire in a terracotta sealed vase, then broken open with a knife when ready to eat.

The breaking-open process

It was an obscene amount of food, and absolutely delicious, but I ate way too much and paid for it on the flight back the next day.

He gave me more than he gave Marcos; I guess he
could sense I eat more!

Om nom nom

Oh well! We had hoped to try rakı, aniseed liquor, but after dinner I was just too tired and wanted to pack. Another thing for the next trip!

The trip home was fine, though very long, and I'm still not on a "normal" sleep schedule.

An assortment of some of the warnings on boxes of cigarettes

in Atatürk airport. They're pretty awesome.

I wonder how many people buying
cigarettes in an airport haven't yet
started smoking...

Hahahahaha, they should probably
focus on this in all the PSAs.

Marlboro kept it simple: Smoking Kills.

If you have the choice, don't fly into the US at JFK––customs and passport control there is a nightmare. Especially when you have to pee, as there is no bathroom between deplaning and exiting customs. By the time the hour and a half re-entry process had finished, I was about ready to explode. The joys of air travel...

I'll have one last wrap-up/reflections post up sometime later this week, but for now, thank you for reading!

Ayasofya/Hagia Sophia

After walking around so much yesterday, my energy levels were severely depleted this morning.

Speaking of yesterday, here's some clouds on our way out of Ankara.
They looked painted on!

I was planning to get up for breakfast at 9:30 and go back to sleep after, but found the idea of getting out of bed when my alarm went off entirely unappetizing, so went back to sleep immediately. I ended up sleeping until 2:00, at which point I still felt massively tired but not so much that I couldn't get out of bed. It took us awhile to get ready, but we headed out for the Ayasofya around 4:00. We had considered combining a visit there with a stop at the Basilica Cistern, but I knew my body wouldn't put up with that much so we opted just for the church/mosque/museum.

For anyone who's not been to İstanbul, let me tell you a secret: it is super hilly.

Exhibit A: A hill.

You will walk up hills big and small, so any distance should be taken with a grain of salt, as 500 m on flat ground is rather shorter than 500 m on incline. The Ayasofya was on top of one such hill, naturally, but we got there with relatively little issue.

Approached from the back, which meant we saw this
lovely building.

And this amusing sign: we're sorry, too?

It's 25 TL to get in, tied for most expensive place we've visited with Ephesus, and it is Turkey's most-visited monument. It was built by Emperor Justinian I in the 530s and was Christendom's most magnificent church, apparently, until the 1400s, when it was converted into a mosque by the Ottomans.

An intervening ruler: Empress Zoe's sarcophagus

It remained a mosque until 1931, when Atatürk started the process of changing it into a museum, which officially opened in 1935.

In front of the Ayasofya, after we'd visited

Sorry about the strangers in the background, Mother.
Don't worry, there's a stranger-free one later on!

The building is huge, and incredibly spacious; unlike most domed structures, there's no visible pillars holding the nested domes up, so it looks like it's floating.

This does not include the biggest
central dome, because I could not fit
it in the shot.

Here's part of it, though

And more!

There was some major renovation going on in part of the building, which definitely impeded the view, but even so, it was quite impressive.

Hello, gigantic ugly scaffolds.

It was also impossible to take photos that captured the scale, so you'll just have to believe me.

Everything that's painted used to be mosaics, which must have been quite magnificent.

Imagine it all shiny!

Some of the paint is flaking off now, too :(

Gigantic hallways of mosaics, once upon a time

Some of the mosaics are still intact, though,
like part of these crosses

I will admit, I was less floored than I was expecting. Some of it has been restored, but a lot is rather faded, and many of the mosaics have disappeared. With some imagination, you can see how incredibly awe-inspiring it once was, but in its current state, I found it merely "very nice". I know, I'm a heretic. I'm sorry.

Like this mosaic: pretty, but depleted

Jesus is looking pretty good there, though 

A no-longer-mosaic'ed seraph, one of 4 at each corner of the
ceiling 

This mosaic was magnificent

I felt sorry for the guy around the corner, though.
No one was taking any notice of him!

Yes, this was beautiful, too, obviously.

Mary and baby Jesus, above the mihrap.
It was a very interesting building for its mix of
religious iconography! Props to the Muslims
back in the day for not destroying all the Christian
mosaics.

The afore-mentioned mihrap

Jesus being offered some stuff from some dudes,
above the doorway on the way out (I'm real tired, y'all).

We were there at the very end of the opening hours, so right before we left there were very few people in it, which did increase its grandeur somewhat. I'm sure without the construction scaffolding, it would have been even more impressive, so I hope to return in a few years!

Slightly better idea of scale, maybe?

Check out how empty it is!

I am extremely exhausted right now, so I will not regale you with tales of what we did after. Plus, well, all I did was go back to the hotel and lie like a lump, then we went out and had kebap for dinner.

Much of the stone in the building was smooth and curved from
millennia of being walked on. So cool!

More domes

I liked the contrast of cool marble
and warm murals

Some gorgeous stained glass

It was pretty exciting stuff. Tomorrow, we're waking up early to go to Topkapı, which is supposed to take 3 hours but I may run out of steam before then.

The Blue Mosque at sunset, courtesy of Marcos

We've got nothing planned for the afternoon, though, so I can come back here and catch up on rest!

Stranger-free photo! Insane gold
detailing.