European Vacation - Istanbul (Day 9-11)

What is this… an update? It’s only been 3 ½ weeks, but what a 3 ½ weeks it’s been. We found out on February 21st that Chris was possibly going to be assigned to a year-long tour in Afghanistan (three months of training and 9 months in country) as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). At about the same time, another tasking came into the CE squadron that they were unable to fill due to an injury. Chris volunteered for this 6 month assignment in Iraq. Both assignments required him to leave around the second week in March, so he ran around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to get all the doctor’s clearances and other deployment requirements taken care of so he could spend his last week at home with me.

A week later (Feb 28th), we found out that Chris’ Wing Commander had denied his request to volunteer to go to Iraq. He would be forced to spend a year in Afghanistan. The Wing Commander gave no reason for his denial, but he did give both of us a really fantastic place to channel our anger over the entire situation. Chris’ squadron and group commanders were very upset over the outcome, as was the head civil engineer for all of the AF in Europe. None of them had the power to keep Chris from going, but they all promised their help in making sure we got where we wanted to go for our next assignment.

We made the most of our time for the next two weeks and got ready for Chris to leave on March 15th. About 12 hours before Chris was scheduled to leave, we got a phone call telling us his tasking was cancelled. We had no idea why, but neither of us really cared! Chris happened to find this article on the internet about two days later (Karzai Speech).  We don’t know for sure that this is why his tasking was cancelled, but I kind of want to send President Karzai a thank-you card anyway! He is still on the hook to deploy sometime this summer, but it will likely be a more normal-length 6 month tasking.

Now that life has returned to normal after that lovely emotional roller coaster, I figured it was time to get back to blogging, wrap up our vacation, and get on to what’s been happening on the island!

Istanbul (Day 9, 10 & 11)

Figuring out what to do in Istanbul proved to be a bit of a challenge. We only had a couple pages in one of our guide books devoted to Turkey, and the information desk for the ship only gave out maps and directions that pointed you to their “preferred retailers” - super helpful. We decided to book a boat-provided tour for our second day in the city and just venture out on our own the first day, since we wouldn’t be arriving until afternoon. Turns out we probably should have skipped the guided tour because all the attractions in Istanbul were within a few blocks of each other. Oh well, live and learn.

The first afternoon, we took the train/metro from the cruise ship dock to the Grand Bazaar. The Bazaar is the largest covered market in the world and was first established in 1455. It covers about 60 streets and has over 400 vendors. It’s packed and crazy (one sign said they average between a quarter and half a million visitors a day)! You can buy anything in this place, but the most popular items are scarves, carpets, and ceramic plates and bowls. We spent a lot of time wondering around and trying to figure out what we wanted to buy. We got a couple scarves, apple tea, some ceramic tiles, and a couple other random items. I am a terrible bargainer, but I tried! Once we were all shopped out, we took the train back to the ship for dinner. The dinner menu in the main dining room looked delicious, so we got dressed up and had a “fancy” dinner. Chris’ roast duck was amazing… my seafood pasta not so much. Dessert more than made up for it, as usual! That night we were treated to a performance by a local folk band, a troop of folk dancers, and a hilarious belly dancer. She was very talented, but the best part was when she made a guy from the “I have way too much money” seats come up on stage with her and try to follow her directions. So funny!

“The day of thousand pictures” (it was really only 709, but that’s more than a picture a minute for 10 hours) began on a tour bus with our Turskish tour guide rambling off the short version of Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul’s history. The guides in Turkey are pretty amazing. Only licensed guides are allowed to give tours, and to get licensed, you must have a degree in history, art history, etc. and pass licensing tests. Much more reliable than the guys dressed up like gladiators in Rome!

The first stop on the tour was the Hippodrome of Constantine. This area was constructed in about 200 AD as an arena for chariot races. Today, it’s a large park home to a number of obelisks and other monuments from throughout Istanbul’s history. Immediately adjacent to the Hippodrome is the Blue Mosque (correctly known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque), constructed between 1609 and 1616. Because this is still an active mosque, we were required to remove our shoes before entering. I wasn’t required to wear a head scarf, because we didn’t go during prayer time. However, I ended up wearing my scarf as a head scarf later in the day because they are warm and it was COLD!! The inside of the building was almost completely covered in hand-painted tiles. The nickname “Blue Mosque” comes from the color of these tiles. This building ended up being my favorite of the day. Even though the Aya Sofya is more historically and culturally significant, the Blue Mosque is in better condition and maintains a much more peaceful atmosphere. The tile work and elaborate Arabic script decorating the interior are beautiful and unlike anything I’ve seen before. I especially liked the huge chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Before electricity, the mosque was lit by oil lamps in these chandeliers. My only complaint – the building smelled like feet. Good thing it was a cold day. I can’t imagine what it must smell like in the heat of the summer.

Next, we took a drive from the European side of Istanbul, over the Bosphorus River, over to the Asian side of the city. It was interesting to get out of the old city and see some of the more modern parts. It was also nice to sit down and rest for a little while, as we still had most of a very long day ahead of us. On our way back to the old part of the city, our bus was trapped on a narrow road because someone had parked illegally. In less than 5 minutes, a tow truck was there to take care of the car so we could get through. Talk about efficient!

 After our trip to Asia, we drove to the Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia in English). This building is considered the 8th wonder of the world by many historians. It was the largest cathedral in the world for almost 1,000 years and is one of the finest examples of Byzantine architecture anywhere. Originally constructed as an Eastern Orthodox basilica in 360 AD, it was converted to a mosque in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, and finally to a museum in 1931 when the Ottoman Empire gave way to the Republic of Turkey. The original dome has been damaged and rebuilt many times since its initial construction. Today, the 182 ft tall dome is almost round, but not quite! The decoration on the inside of the building was an interesting blend of both Christian and Islamic iconography. Christian mosaics of Mary, Jesus, and many others were plastered over when the building became a mosque. The plaster was decorated in a traditional Islamic style. The plaster has since been removed in some places to reveal the original mosaics. One on the most prominent features in the church was a mosaic of Mary and Jesus flanked by four large, round panels displaying the words for God and Mohamed in Arabic. Another interesting part of the building was the door thresholds – odd I know. Most of the thresholds in the building were made of stone. Over thousands of years, people passing through the doors have worn down the thresholds and created rounded holes on either side. We saw evidence of this in many of the buildings throughout our travels, but they were most prominent in the Aya Sofya.

The next stop on our tour was the Topkapi Palace. The palace was home to the Ottoman Sultans from 1465 to 1856. The palace compound is made up of a series of walled courtyards and was once home to the court system and the national mint in addition to the Sultans’ personal buildings. Today, the various buildings house collections from the national treasury, including two giant 5-foot tall gold candle sticks and a 60-some carat diamond. There are also small museums showing collections of Sultans’ clothing, royal portraits, and Ottoman armor and weapons. One building housed an exhibit on the history of Islam and included relics such as Moses’ staff (I’m back to doubting the authenticity of claims!). Unfortunately for all of you, cameras weren’t allowed in any of the buildings in the palace compound, so you’ll have to make do with your imaginations.

Our final “educational” stop of the day was the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. We only had an hour to go through three buildings worth of exhibits. Thankfully, our tour guide directed us to the most interesting exhibits before he turned us loose. We walked through an impressive collection of sculptures (that you were actually allowed to take pictures of – finally!). Chris had fun posing with them. He’s such a goof. Then, we walked through an exhibit of sarcophagi (large, carved, stone tombs) including the Alexander Sarcophagus. Thought to have been carved in about 300 BC, the scenes on the sarcophagus depict events from the life of Alexander the Great, but he was not buried in it. The detail on of the carvings was incredible, and the original paint colors could still be seen in many places – amazing! Two other interesting exhibits included mosaics from the Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon and the oldest known peace treaty. The treaty was etched into a clay tablet about the size of a deck of cards!

The last stop on the tour was the Spice Market. This was supposedly the “locals” market, where the Grand Bazaar catered mostly to tourists. I beg to differ… I think the Spice Market was mostly tourists. They did have an incredible selection of spices, dried fruit, and Turkish delights (candy with dried fruit and nuts). We had seen Turkish delights being sold all over Turkey, but hadn’t tried any yet. It was a good thing we waited until the last day because they were amazing, and we wouldn’t have wanted to eat anything else!

The next morning, we took off on our two-day cruise to Malta. We passed through several narrow straights along the Sea of Marmara including one location less than 1km wide. We also passed within sight of several Greek isles before we hit the open sea.