TURKEY December 18, 2009: Americans in Turkey – Day 2

Hi-
Post script to last night’s message…forgot to mention that the Hagia Sophia was built by 11,000 workers over 6 years working full time… meaning 66,000 x 5 x 8 x 330 —I think… 1,000 skilled technicians and 10,000 worker bees. Don’t even want to know how many hours per day or “benefit package”!!!

So, today (Friday, the 18th) we got off to a good start and walked to the Grand Bazaar which is just as I remembered (having been in Istanbul about 25 years ago).. a catacomb of streets and passageways and hustle and bustle with shops no wider than a closet and hundreds of vendors appearing to sell nearly the same thing at adjacent stalls. We were pretty good resisting the carpet sellers and others.. and whenever really confronted with a pushy salesmen (and they are primarily make) started to speak what minimal Finnish we know — since the vendors speak most languages, but not Finnish. So we emerged nearly unscathed. The Bazaar was packed – mostly men as usual… and many of the roofs were leaking so it was quite a site; but buying and selling went on as usual.

By the time we left the Bazaar (intending to walk to the spice market and then head over to some neighborhoods we wanted to see) it was a virtual downpour. We attempted to walk to the tram, which we eventually did, but as we waited (and no tram arrived) we got wetter and wetter (despite hat, rain gear, gloves, umbrella, etc) and decided to invest in a taxi and go to the Istanbul Modern — a new museum located on the opposite side of the Golden Horn in a warehouse on the water. We figured art was good on a rainy day and we also hoped for a good lunch there (as opposed to eating in the Bazaar).. The taxi got us there, but pulled two fast ones on us: Somehow his meter stopped moving midway into the journey and at the end he gave us a price that didn’t seem plausible, but frankly we just wanted to get lunch and get warm. When I paid, I distinctly remember handing the driver a 50 lira note…but then he said it was a 5 (didn’t really say it, because he didn’t speak any English) and showed me that he had a 5 in his hand… By then I was unsure of what I handed him and we forked over the additional funds.. Geez, my basic NY instincts were certainly not working. Oh well. We did have an earlier “chat” in the taxi and learned from the driver that he knew there was a Sheraton (Cheeratin) in NY and that NY was big.

Anyway, the museum was rather uneventful — but lunch was appreciated; not great, but certainly did the trick. We hoped the rain would let up and we could then head to the Galata Bridge and walk over the bridge, but the rain was unrelenting… so another taxi — this time about 1/4 the cost.

By then, following completing some work (grading papers for my class) it was time for dinner.. again a taxi to the Beygolu area where we had dinner in a very old and established restaurant – Haci Abdullah — where we learned, once we ordered, that the owner is very religious (restaurant is more than a century old).. so there’s no alcohol, no wine. Dinner was quite good but would have tasted much better with a nice glass of red wine.

We had to walk a few blocks to and from the restaurant as it’s located on a walking street (one of many that have been created since we were last here) near Taksim Square… The area was packed with old and young people strolling in the pouring rain; shops were open well past 10 pm (and this for a country that doesn’t celebrate Christmas)… music blaring in the streets, which if it plays in daytine would almost cover the calls to prayer.

Anyway, we joined the strollers and then eventually caught a taxi back to the hotel.
We’re hoping the rain will let up by tomorrow … but who knows.

Our plans for tomorrow include the spice market, the fish market, another walk across the Galata Bridge, and neighborhood explorations.

Mike is still waiting for his express mail package with a new ATM card, which he somehow left at the bank the morning we left the Bay Area.

Hope all is well wherever you all are.
Take care —
Fern

PS – We are getting a lot of exercise going up and down the narrow spiral stairs at the hotel to the 5th floor.