Day 160: Monday 25 August – Istanbul Day 3: Topkapi Palace, The Blue Mosque and A Trip To Kadikoy, by Ken

The day started much the same as yesterday with me going up to the 5^th floor terrace before breakfast to sit at a table and catch up with what had been happening in the world on my laptop. We ate another good breakfast to set us up for the busy day ahead after which we booked A Turkish bath for the two of us at the Süleymanìye Hamam on Wednesday. Jane’s research had found that this was one of the few hamams that allow men and women to bathe together, ordinarily there are separate time slots for men and women.

We then set off on the by now familiar walk to the tram stop at Bayazit. There were even more cats in the street this time. 

Waiting For Jane

From Bayazit we took the tram to Eminönü and bought tickets for a Bosphorous cruise tomorrow and then took a tram back to Gülhane. From there we walked the short distance to the Topkapi Palace. While still early, it was already very busy. We walked through the palace’s grassed First Court and through the Middle Gate where we found we had passed the ticket office and had to return to the First Court where the ticket office was set inconspicuously in a wall.

Topkapi Palace Middle Gate

While waiting in line, we were approached by a guide who asked if we would like a 2 hour tour in English. We would and he asked us to wait while he went off in search of others. He returned a while later with two Germans, possibly father and son. The guides name was Hidir, the father was very dour and hardly spoke while the son was fine with good English.

Hidir, Our Guide

Our tour concentrated mainly on the harem meaning ‘forbidden” in Arabic.It wasn’t long before we found Hidir had a very long winded presentation style which followed the pattern of him asking himself a question, saying “I tell you” and then giving an answer. The older German was clearly unimpressed at one point asking Jane if she was learning anything. Hidir made use of diagrams to illustrate his points, they all comprised of a straight line with arrows radiating from it, the number of arrows varying depending on how many points he wanted to make.

The harem was very interesting. It was where the sultan lived with his wives, female slaves and children. We learnt that most women in the harem were brought from Georgia or the Caucases while some were prisoners captured in Hungary, Poland and Venice. According to Hidir that was partly because of their looks, but also because they were completely unrelated to the sultan. The women progressed through the ranks, those chosen to sleep with the Sultan were given their own slaves while those that bore him children were given their own apartments.

We knew the harem was guarded by black eunuchs brought from Africa who seemed to have a good life once they had obtained the qualifications required for the job. What we didn’t know was they were black because it would be a bit of a giveaway if one of the women produced a black child from a eunuch who was the full quid.

The harem has hundreds of rooms and we got to see just a few of them. Those we did see wee fabulous, most were decorated with intricately patterned ceramic tiles, mainly blues and greens, and had friezes bearing extracts from the Quran. Some had brightly coloured murals and most had niches that originally housed gold and jewel encrusted ornaments, mainly emeralds and rubies. The canopy of the four poster bed in the sultan’s bedchamber had intricate fretwork richly decorated in red and gilt. Outside the bedchamber was a swimming pool fenced such that the sultan and his wives could see out, but no-one could see in. Two of the most stunning rooms were classrooms for the sultan’s children with suberbly decorated coffered ceilings. 

Here's just some of the things we saw in the harem:

Harem Entranceway

Model Of A Eunuch Contemplating What To Do With An Old Truck Tire

Courtyard Outside Wives' Apartments

 

Classroom Ceiling

Sultan's Bedchamber With Extracts From The 

Quran In A Frieze Around he Room

Sultan's Bed

Gilded Canopy To Sultan's Bed

We moved on to a building which contained one of the few original copies of the Quran, nearby was a room where an imam read from the Quran 24/7 (in shifts presumably). It was interesting to watch as he read and rehearsed each verse silently before speaking, or virtually singing it.

An Original Copy Of The Quran

The last building we visited was the treasury which was packed with gold items encrusted with emeralds and rubies that included daggers, swords, jugs, goblets and much more. One showcase held the second largest diamond in the world.

Finally, Hidir took us to the fourth court which provided a fine view out over the entrance to the busy Bosphorus. Perversely he talked about a tunnel under it which we obviously couldn’t see. It had only recently been opened and carried trams from the European side to the Asian side, he said.

From the Topkapi palace we made our way towards the very imposing Blue Mosque. By then it was prayer time and we would have to wait for that to finish before being able to visit. It was also lunchtime and we stopped at a pavement café where Jane ate a beef sandwich and I had a Caesar salad.

Blue Mosque

In the courtyard of the mosque surrounded by six towering minarets we received a “kia-ora bro” from a man who had found out we were Kiwis. He wanted us to have tea with him and visit the family carpet shop. We told him firmly that we weren’t going to buy a carpet and he would be better off spending time with someone who was. He left us alone after that. We joined a long queue to enter the mosque passing a stall where women were handing out scarves to those inappropriately dressed. Jane got a garment that covered her coming complete with a built in headscarf. They didn’t seem fussed about men who, like me, were wearing shorts.

One Of The Blue Mosque's Six Minarets

After putting our shoes in plastic bags we entered the mosque through a side door (only practicing muslims are allowed to enter through the main door). Inside, the mosque was mind-blowingly huge with its enormous dome surrounded by smaller half domes and supported by four huge columns. The walls and domes were richly decorated with ceramic tiles, the whole thing was breathtaking.

It's difficult for photographs to do justice to the enormous scale of the mosque. Here's some shots taken inside:

Jane Takes A Break

After the mosque we decided we would get away from the crowds and go over to Kadikoy on the Asian side of the city. We walked back to the tram stop at Gülhane passing shops with shelves groaning with rich pastries and Turkish Delight. We passed stalls selling süt misir and roasted chestnuts.

Sweetmeats

Sut Misir and Chestnuts

From Gülhane we took a tram to Sirkeci where we walked a short distance to a station for suburban trains as well as the underground beneath the Bosphorus. In the entrance hall was a display showing the route of the new tunnels which had been constructed by the Japanese and opened 6 months previously. There was also a panel showing an 1860 proposal to construct what would have surely been the world’s first immersed tube tunnel under the Bosphrus. What appeared to be a reproduction of an original schematic depicted a tube positioned a suitable distance beneath the surface supported on piers constructed on the sea bed. Quite how they would ever have built such an ambitious design was mind boggling as were the consequences of a ship dragging its anchor over the tube.

1860 Proposal For An Immersed Tube Tunnel Under The Bosphorus

We walked a long way down escalators and through subways before we finally reached the staion platform. It clearly wasn’t for trams as Hidir had told us, it was an underground railway. We had a longish wait for a train by which time the platform was crowded. The train came to the surface shortly before Ayrilik Çeşmesi where we changed to a train that took us to Karakoy.

Our Underground Train At Ayrilik Cesmesi

Jane was feeling very tired so we found ourselves a table at a waterfront café and took our time over glasses of çay. Suitably refreshed we set off to explore the town. Walking up from the main street we soon found ourselves in a narrow street llined with shops selling every kind of food imaginable from fruit and vegetables to fish to pastries to spices. You name it and it was there. And it all looked incredibly fresh, the vegetables gleamed and the fishmongers displayed the fish with their bright red gills open to prove the point. There were also lots of pavement restaurants, some tables were occupied by locals playing backgammon and checkers, the Turks seem to have a real penchant for games:

Here's just some of the food that was on display in Karakoy:

Dried Chillis

Very Fresh Fish

Fruit

You Name It, This Shop Had It

Vegetables

Backgammon Being Played Outside A Street Cafe

It was too early to eat and we decided to head back to our hotel and find a restaurant nearby. We didn’t want to repeat the convoluted underground trip so, instead, we took a vapur (one of the traditional ferry boats that bustle around the waters of Istanbul). We used our Istanbulkart to pay 1.95 lira each for the ferry – not very much at all for a journey that took about half an hour and exactly the same as we had paid for our tram and train journeys. Using the kart on public transport really was an excellent way of getting around Istanbul.

We were accompanied part of the way back to the ferry terminal at Eminönü by a flock of seagulls one of which was smart enough to catch bread thrown by a passenger while on the wing. From Eminönü we took a packed tram to Bayasit followed by the by now familiar walk downhill to our hotel. Smarty was there just where we had left her on the pavement.

Seagulls Following The Ferry

This Bird Was Smart Enough To Catch Bread While On The Wing

Someone had taken a leaf out of Smarty’s book and parked their car on the pavement right outside the hotel. Being somewhat wider than Smarty that left only a few hundred millimetres between the car and the hotel doors. We just managed to squeeze through the gap, there was no way anyone would be able to get a bag past without lifting it over the car.

After a pause to catch our breath we showered and then took a short walk back to the square full of restaurants where we had lunch on Saturday. On the way attempts were made to lure us into every restaurant we passed. We chose at random the Olimpiyat 2 Minas restaurant in one corner of the square where we received a warm welcome from Recep, the manager, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Al Pacino. We later learnt his nickname was Al. We took a table on the pavement and in no time at all Al was back with two waiters carrying a large tray on which each of the starters on the menu was set out under Glad wrap. We chose dried sardines which Al recommended were best accompanied by a glass of raki, we heeded his advice. Mains were grilled sea bass for Jane which Al carefully filleted for her while I went for a fish and cheese stew. Both were excellent. The mains were followed by complimentary dish of fresh mixed fruit accompanied by a very tasty dish of halva which Al explained as eing a fine rice pudding cooked with butter.

With Al

View From Our Table

Restaurant Lantern

While we were eating four musicians played nearby. One played what I think was a kanun – a Turkish zither plucked with a plectrum worn on the thumb, while others played a violin and what I think was a Baglami - a string instrument. The fourth played a drum. We were really surprised to see it was Jeetan Patel on the drum when we thought he was in England playing cricket for Warwickshire. Musicians were also playing to customers in other restaurants on similar instruments. A man at a table in the restaurant next door was smoking shisha (flavoured tobacco) using a hookah. Street sellers were selling all sorts including sultan’s turbans, CDs, cigars, in fact you name it, someone was selling it.

Jeets On Drum

It had been a great day. We walked back to the hotel and had no trouble falling asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.