İyi akşamlar

…or good evening! We had another somewhat quirky but really wonderful day.

Our sleep schedules are still not adjusted, and even though we are exhausted at night, our long afternoon naps fill our sleep tanks enough that we don’t sleep through the night. Around 3:30 this morning, we were both awake; tired, but somehow unable to sleep more. We read and watched TV, and at 5 I wrapped myself in the comforter and leaned out our window into the chilly air to take a short video with the camera recording the sound of the morning call to prayer. Each mosque starts within a few minutes of one another, so the one nearest us is heard the loudest while the others form a sort of canon in the background.

We stayed awake; I studied some Turkish and we got to breakfast right when it started at 7am. Most Turkish people can tell by looking at us that Tay speaks Turkish and I don’t; however, today several assumed I spoke German, so that was entertaining. (Tay maintains that I look like I would fit right in with the large German tour group staying at our hotel. It’s probably due to my hair cut and color, but I’m going to go ahead and say that I really appreciate Germans’ organization and orderliness, too.)

Our hotel is one block off of a main road, down which the tram runs. We hopped on and rode seven stops (~15 minutes) to the old section of the city and walked around for a bit, stopping into the New Mosque before making our way to the Grand Bazaar. It’s a must-see anyway and, since it’s an enclosed structure housing 4000 small stores/stalls. You end up seeing a lot of the same things (especially touristy trinkets) over and over, but it’s certainly entertaining to wander through. One shopkeeper invited us in to sit down when he found out Tay is Turkish. He went to a little intercom on the wall and ordered us each a cup of apple flavored tea. (Have I mentioned how much I adore Turkish tea – çay - and the adorable little glass cup – bardok – from which you drink it?) He and Tay chatted while I picked out a necklace and earrings.

After a few hours of wandering through the bazaar, we felt that we had gotten the experience we’d hoped for and decided to brave what had turned into a torrential downpour. Under umbrellas we navigated to the spice bazaar, and then to a little place for lunch. From where we sat, I spied a baklavacı across the way, so went and had some baklava and çay before moving on to the Sultanahmet, or Blue Mosque. Tay talked them into letting us in through the front entrance – free, for Turks only – and we marveled at the amazingly intricate and deeply colored mosaics in this enormous, elegant structure.


To finish the day, we walked over to the Basilica Cisterna, and underground cistern built in the 532AD – yes, the 500s – to collect and house water for a palace during the Byzantine era. It contains 336 columns in 12 rows, through which a walkway winds. Fish swim in the water, and the columns are lit by orange lights that give the whole place a glow that photos can only partially capture.


We swore we wouldn’t nap so that we could go to bed tired and get a full, normal night’s sleep, but we caved once we finally escaped the cold, wet, windy weather. We meant to limit our nap to an hour, but of course woke up three hours later, still tired but now hungry as well. Luckily, we found a little casual dinner place several blocks away. Now we’ll see what kind of sleep tonight brings! Here’s hoping tomorrow morning’s call to prayer awakens us rather than us waiting in the predawn for it to begin.