Day 162: Wednesday 27 August – Istanbul Day 5: A Visit to a Hamam and The Grand Bazzar, by Ken

Today was our last full day in Istanbul and we planned to make the most of it by visiting places close to our hotel in the Old City followed by an evening dinner cruise on the Bospherous. During our morning ritual on the hotel’s terrace we decided the evening cruise was going to be a bit much after a busy day and decided we would stay closer to home and eat at Al’s place again.

Breakfast Buffet

Our first appointment of the day was at 10:00 at the Süleymaniye Hamami where we were booked in for a Turkish bath. The hamami was located close to the Süleymaniye mosque situated not too far north of our tram stop at Beyazit. We decided to walk leaving the hotel in plenty of time to find our way. From Beyazit we walked along the west side of the Grand Bazaar that was already waking up for the day. Shortly afterwards a shopkeeper spotted us looking at our map and pointed us in the right direction. His name was Ahmed and we were welcome to return to his leather goods shop at any time. After trying to enter the Istanbul University campus thinking it was the mosque we eventually found the hamami.

Skirting The Grand Bazaar

Suleymaniye Hamami

We were far too early and visited a nearby café for çai. It was the smallest café we’d ever been in with just three tables and the only other customer was a man who dropped in for soup dispensed from a large pan.

Tea Break

Just before 10:00 we walked over to the hamami where were shown to our own private changing room, given a towel each and told to strip off. Jane was allowed to put on a bikini and her towel, I was allowed just a towel. Once we were ready the changing room was locked behind us and I was given the key. Next, we were shown to a large room under the central dome and asked to take a seat on a large marble slab. A thermometer on the wall read 38° - just like Turkey’s Mediterranean coast we had experienced not long ago, only slightly cooler! Unlike the coast, it was a very dry heat. We were left there for a good twenty minutes.

Just as we were feeling neither of us had a drop of sweat left in us two young men arrived and we were shown into a room in one corner with pairs of stone slabs and benches. If anything, the room was even hotter. A plaque on the wall showed Süleyman the Magnificent bathed there in the 16^th century. One man showed me to a bench and asked me to sit down while the other did likewise with Jane. Without any warning we were doused with buckets of breath takingly cold water. While still seated that was followed by a good scrubbing and more cold water. After that we were asked to lie face down on the stone slabs where we were covered in a thick layer of soap bubbles and washed with a flannel followed by a massage and stretching of arms and legs. The whole process was then repeated with us lying on our backs. After that it was back to the benches and more cold water treatment followed by a hair shampoo – mine was optional, but It seemed worthwhile cleaning what little hair I had.

We left the hot room and were shown to a changing room where we were given a clean, dry towel. After that our bodies and heads were wrapped in more towels and we were shown to a cool room to re-aclimatise. There we drank çai and had a long conversation with a young Spanish couple who had just received similar treatment in a room adjacent to ours. Afterwards we wondered if the men doing the bathing had drawn lots to see who got the young attractive Spaniards and who got us!

Here we are all wrapped up after our baths:

We were back on the street inside approximately 1½ hours feeling very reinvigorated. Next stop was the Grand Bazaar – something Jane had been looking forward to since we got to Istanbul. Much to her surprise, I made the first purchase at a stall outside the bazaar proper – a leather man bag, something I had hankered after for a while and I spotted a stall with a good selection. The deal was done after a spot of haggling with the owner professing to be heart broken with the price we agreed.  We then plunged into the bazaar. Jane was absolutely in her element!

The bazaar was enormous with everything she could possible need, and then some. There was no rhyme or reason to the street layout within the bazaar save that stalls selling similar goods were clustered together in the maze of tangled streets. 

Here's a few general shots of the bazaar:

Jane showed remarkable restraint, certainly compared with Morocco two years ago when some traders would have been able to retire after a visit from Jane. Her first purchase was some cushion covers for home. She was quickly into haggling mode and loving every minute of it. As she said a few times during our time in the bazaar “they were such lovely young men”. To give Jane her credit she resisted things such as very attractive silver bracelets that were put on her wrist and we seriously upset a jeweler with a derisory offer on yet more bracelets. It was so low it got the Turkish equivalent of “you’re having a larf” and we were shown the door. Just before lunchtime Jane got into some serious haggling over some pashminas and walked away when the lovely young stallholder wouldn’t come down to her price.

Stallholder Winces At  Jane's Opening Offer For Cushion Covers

Jane Doesn't Buy A Bracelet

Pashmina Negotiations Break Down

With shopping not being high on my list of things I like to do (in fact it’s not on the list at all) Jane was very surprised that I agreed to return to the bazaar providing we could take our time over lunch. After two ice cold Efes and a plate of mixed kebabs I was ready to rejoin the fray. 

Just What Was Needed After A Hard Morning In The Bazaar

First stop was the pashmina stall where the lovely young man was pleased to see Jane again and eventually saw things her way. Next came stalls where we bought a few gifts for friends and family as well as Turkish Delight. Then Jane was tempted to have a pair of slippers made for her as there were none ready made that fitted her. The deal was they would be delivered to our hotel the next morning, but Jane thought that was all a bit risky.

Pashmina Man Pleased At Jane's Return

Which Pashmina?

Next came my second and last purchase of the day, a red tee shirt with the crescent and star of the Turkish flag emblazoned on the front. From there Jane haggled over the price of a pair of earrings and was happy with the deal she settled at. And so it went on, there were no further purchases although we were very tempted by lights that would look really good in our hallway at home.

Which Earrings Do I Like Best?

Haggling Over The Price

By mid-afternoon we had just about done our dash in the bazaar (at least I had) and we made our way to the tram stop at Camberlitaş, one along from Beyazit. From there we planned to take a tram over the Golden Horn and visit the Galata tower – we had just enough money left to do that on our Istanbulkart. Jane felt in need of an ice cream. We sat in the shade while she ate that and I took a look at my man bag. The shoulder strap I had been shown when I bought it wasn’t there! I left Jane with her ice cream and walked back around the streets to the bag stall which I found more by luck than judgement. The stallholder was extremely apologetic having found the strap shortly after I left. Armed with the confidence gained by finding the stall I decided to take a short cut back through the bazaar. I stopped on the way to use the toilets and found that the Istanbulkart let me through the turnstile. Amazingly, I had no problem working my way through the bazaar’s maze of streets and back to Jane.

By the time I got back the time was gone 16:00. We decided to abandon the plan to go over to the Galata tower. Instead, I agreed to go back to the bazaar for a third time on condition there would be a glass of Efes for me at the end of it.

More Haggling

We wandered around some more and finally reached the carpet bazaar. In the window of one shop was a carpet woven in the form of the Australian flag. As we were looking at it a man standing in the doorway said the shop owner had visited Australia numerous times to sell carpets and would we like to go in for tea. We told him tea would be great, but we were not in the market for a carpet. That was fine by him (Yeah right!). Anyway, we went in and started sipping tea. The owner of the shop came over and on hearing we were from New Zealand greeted us with a “Gidday cobber” which we corrected to “Kia-ora bro”. We talked about his Aussie flag carpet in the window which he said he could easily convert to New Zealand by removing one of the stars. “Two, I think” was my response which got an “Oh yes” – “And you would need to change the colour”, I added, which just drew a blank look.

Aussie Carpet

While we were sipping some very refreshing apple tea the first man proceeded not to sell us a carpet. Instead, he talked about a tax dodge whereby we could “borrow” a carpet which would eventually become ours in New Zealand. The differences between carpets were explained while his colleague laid out carpet after carpet. Interestingly, some were a single colour and the pile had been cut to different heights to give a pattern.

We finished our tea and reminded the man we weren’t going to buy a carpet. Unlike Morocco where accepting tea has the inevitable outcome of spending money, Turks will take no for an answer and let you walk away.

Carpets We Didn't Buy (Note Plain Coloured Variety On Top)

We walked back to the café where we had eaten lunch where I ordered a much needed Efes and Jane a glass of wine. While we were taking our time over our drinks a shoe shine man appeared and did a good job on a pair of shoes belonging to a Japanese man. He came over and asked if I wanted my shoes polishing. I pointed to my very grubby Tevas thinking that would be an end to the conversation. Far from it, he thought he could rejuvenate them, so I let him have a go, and he did!

My Tevas Get A Shine

We made our way back down the hill to our hotel for the last time. Instinctively, the neighbourhood cats knew they would not be seeing Jane again and were out in force to say goodbye.

Goodbye Jane

Later, we set off for our last meal at Al Pacino’s place. Waiters en route were even more persistent on previous nights offering us cheaper meals than at Al’s. We weren’t swayed and received another warm welcome with handshakes as we arrived at Olympiat 2. Al said that Mehmet, the waiter with poor English, but a great sense of humour wanted to look after us himself tonight. That was fine by us. We took the same table outside as the previous evening and two glasses of raki were on the table almost before we sat down.

We opted for the same melon and cheese starter to accompany the raki as previously with the addition of an octopus salad. I followed that with lamb shish kebab while Jane went for sea bass. As before the meal was rounded off with a complimentary plate of fresh fruit and helva. Being our last night in Istanbul we ordered raki to finish followed by another courtesy of Al.

Jeets and his fellow musicians were playing again. This time there main audience was a group of three men who sang along with real gusto. This was clearly appreciated by Jeets and co. who danced, clapped and climbed on the tables. It is clear that singing and having fun is an important part of life in Turkey.

Musicians Ready To Play

Jeets On Drum

Jeets Joins In Singing With Gusto

Dancing On Chair While Diner Sings With Gusto

When it came time to leave I asked Al if he could get one of his staff o take a photograph of us with him and Mehmet. He handed my camera to a waiter who then immediately ran off with it! When he came back he started taking shots holding the camera at all sorts of crazy angles, it was a good way of getting us to smile. And he even took a selfie!

Angled Shot

Selfie

Mehmet And The Photographer

We tottered back to the hotel feeling sad this was our last night in Istanbul. There was so much more to see and do and we could happily have eaten at Al’s for a good while to come. However, there were more adventures lying ahead of us and we really had to move on.

Goodbye Al, It's Been Great

Day 161: Tuesday 26 August – Istanbul Day 4: A Cruise On The Bosphorus, by Ken

We knew that a day’s sightseeing in Istanbul yesterday would be tiring so we planned a much easier day for today watching Istanbul pass by as we cruised on the Bosphorus.

After the usual start of email, facebook and breakfast on the hotel's terrace we made our way up the hill again to the tram stop at Bayazit. The street cats had deputised a kitten to greet Jane as we walked, Jane was very pleased to see her – I’m not sure those feelings were reciprocated by the kitten.

Roofs Of Istanbul With Sea Of Marmara Beyond Seen From Hotel Terrace At Breakfast Time

Morning Welcoming Representative

We took the by now familiar tram trip from Bayazit to Eminönü arriving at the cruise terminal about an hour before the scheduled departure time of 10:30. Even so, quite a queue had formed and we were pleased we had bought our tickets the previous day. We whiled away the wait watching ferries of all shapes and sizes darting everywhere.

Umbrella Hats For Sale

Galata Bridge Over The Golden Horn Close To Where Our Cruise Started

Our boat was one of the classic, and deceptively large, vapurs (so named because the original vapurs were steam powered). Our boat was catchily named Istanbul 9 and capable of carrying 1,500 passengers. The people ahead of us in the queue quickly filled the top deck and we had to content ourselves with the middle deck, but at least we were able to get seats by the rail.

Our Vapur - 'Istanbul 9'

We set off on the dot of 10:30 with our GPS linked audio guides clamped to our heads. The guide was very good, chiming in at just the right moment with commentary on each of the palaces, mosques and other landmarks we passed on the trip which took us virtually all the way to the Black Sea.

Here’s just a few of the sights we saw:

Galata Tower

Dolmababahce Mosque

Dolmababahce Palace

Ciragan Palace

Great Mecidiye Mosque

Rumeli and Anatolian Fortresses

Skyline of European Istanbul

For much of the length of the Bosphorus there were houses belonging to the better off residents of Istanbul. If it wasn’t for the temperature some areas could well have been Wellington with what appeared to be timber houses tumbling down hillsides to the water front. There were also ambassador's residences and diplomats summer homes.

Could Be Wellington?

Then, of course, there were the magnificent suspension bridges spanning the waterway. The first we came to, and visible from Istanbul’s Old City, was the first bridge over the Bospherous opened in 1973. With a main span of 1,074 metres, it was designed by Freeman Fox and Partners. One of its claims to fame is that in 2005 Venus Williams played an exhibition match against a Turkish opponent on the bridge – the only game of tennis known to have been played on two continents. There is also an annual marathon held in Asia and Europe that crosses the bridge.

First Bridge Over The Bosphorus

Tower On Asian Side, Inclined Hangers Supporting Deck

At about the half way point of our cruise we passed under the Faith Sultan Mehmet bridge which we had driven over in Mabel less than a week earlier. Opened in 1988 it was also designed by Freeman Fox and has a main span of 1,090 metres. The hangers supporting the deck are vertical whereas those on the first bridge are inclined.

Faith Sultan Mehmet Bridge 

European Side Tower -Faith Sultan Mehmet Bridge With Vertical Hangers Supporting Deck

The fact that a third suspension bridge was under construction close to the Black Sea came as a bit of a surprise. The towers were well advanced and, unlike the other two bridges which have steel towers, the towers of the third bridge are concrete. (A subsequent Google search found the bridge will carry combined road and rail traffic and will have a main span of more than 1,400 metres. It has been designed by French and Swiss engineers).

Asia Side Concrete Tower Of Third Bridge Under Construction

In addition to the land based sights we saw there was plenty going on to the water with ships of all shapes and sizes making their way nothwards to the Black Sea.

Empty Oil Tanker

Container Ship

Motor Yacht

Space Rocket?

Bulk Carrier

Our boat criss-crossed the Bosphorus a few times stopping at a number of piers along the way. At some stops we saw large fishing boats tied up. Each boat carried one or two smaller boats on its stern, presumably to assist in positioning nets.

Fishing Boats - Note Smaller Boats On Stern

1½ hours after setting off we reached the northernmost point of our cruise at the small town of Anadolu Kavaği on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, just over 5 kilometres from the Black Sea. There, the waterfront was lined with restaurants and as we glided into the nearby pier waiters were shouting and waving their arms in the hope of drawing the boat passengers into their establishments. The staff of one restaurant close to the pier were even waving flags of different countries.

Eat Here

No, Here

We had no problem in selecting the flag waving restaurant next to the pier for our lunch. We started with grilled mussels, absolutely tiny compared with the New Zealand green lipped variety, and calamari. They was followed by a calamari and shrimp stew.

Lunch Time

View From Our Lunch Table

After lunch we decided to take up the audio guide recommendation of walking up to Yoros castle situated high on a hill overlooking the town. With the benefit of hindsight it would have been better to have done that before eating. The combination of a good lunch, a steep road and lots of steps plus temperatures in the high 30s made for hard going. For Jane the walk was made a bit more pleasurable by a kitten that accompanied her for part of the way. By the time we reached the castle we were definitely the worse for wear. The effort can best be described as futile because all the entrances to the castle were shut and we had to make do with the view northwards to the Black Sea.

Encouragement To Keep Going To The Castle

Towers For Third Bosphorus Crossing Seen From Yoros Castle With The Black Sea Beyond

Yoros Castle

We were somewhat disappointed as we trudged back into the town. The one saving grace was by the time we got back we were close to the front of the queue waiting to reboard and we were able to get seats on the top deck. The audio guide was not smart enough to give a commentary for the return trip so we contented ourselves with watching Asia and Europe slip slowly by.

We arrived back at the pier at Eminönü at 16:30 and took a crowded tram back to Bayazit followed by the walk downhill to our hotel, we were so glad it was easy going at the end of the day.

After some recovery time and showers we were ready for dinner and decided to return to Al Pacino’s place. As yesterday we had to run the gauntlet of staff of other restaurants on the way. Al and some of his staff spotted us coming and rushed out to meet us as if we were long lost friends. We picked a table outside again so we could take in the atmosphere.

Al recommended a traditional Turkish starter of melon and cheese accompanied by a glass of raki. We both agreed, it was a very good start to a meal. For mains Jane ordered lamb kebab while I opted for the fish equivalent. Jane thoroughly enjoyed hers, but the taste of my delicious fish was overwhelmed by some very hot chillis. As last night we were given a complimentary desert of fresh fruit and helva but tonight we also received complimentary raki.

The waiting was shared by Al and Mehmet. Al explained that his colleague had little English but Al had told him that didn't matter as long as the service was good and he kept his customers amused. Mehmet did well on both fronts being very efficient and fooling around in a good way.

While we ate workmen were putting the finishing touches to a new restaurant nearby. One guy was using an angle grinder to cut steel under a verandah while standing on a step ladder. He had no eye or ear protection and sparks were flying everywhere, but mainly over him and his mate below. An old man dressed as a waiter shuffled around the square carrying a tray of mussels and lemon quarters. He looked bewildered and lost. I asked Al who he was and was told he had been selling mussels prepared by his wife to the customers in restaurants in the square for well over 40 years. I thought selling food to restaurant customers was an interesting concept, but Al thought nothing of it. We never saw the man sell anything and really thought it was time he hung up his waiter’s uniform.

Sparks Flying

Mussel Man

As last night the street sellers were out in force and a young cat that had called to see Jane last night was back. Jeets and his fellow musicians were also performing again and they played for us for a while.

Jeets And His Group Play For Us

Hello Jane

Olympiat 2 In Corner Of Square Seen As We Walk Back To Our Hotel