Thursday, September 19, 2013

A day to tour

I spent breakfast the next morning trying to figure out what had happened the night before. No one was talking about it. Al Jazeera English had no news. The Wall Street Journal had nothing. Apparently a demonstration in Taksim Square is not news.
Meg did not have to be at her conference until 2:30, so on the anniversary of 9/11 Baby Khaled, Meg, and I headed out for sightseeing. We didn't get far before someone asked us where we were from. "New York!" we replied in unison, and then the person said, "I'm sorry." referring to the 9/11 attack twelve years ago.
We got into a taxi, and told the driver to take us to the Blue Mosque. He pointed out some of the sights along the way, other mosques that were important, and ruins dating back to Constantine.
We then came into a section of town where the streets were lined with merchandise, mostly hardware: tools, both hand and power, small tractors and mowers, carpets, tiles, lumber, shower, bath, toilet and kitchen fixtures. There were competing vendors and there were a stores with more stuff. In my mind, I saw Home Depot before there was such a place. "This street is deserted at night, the driver said, "no one comes down here." That answered a question of logistics that was gnawing at me, "Do they take this stuff in at night, and how do they do it?"  I guess it is all a permanent extension of the store, and no one dares to steal in Turkey.
We arrived at a place in the street near the Blue Mosque. It appeared to be a dead end, and we were greeted by a man who was very friendly. He would show us how to get to the mosque. We assumed he was some kind of tour guide there to help ease the traffic flow. He led us down a street past some beautiful shops. He was cheerful and seemed helpful. He offered to walk us to the mosque. "No." I said, "just point us in the right direction." And he did, through another block of restaurants and shops. We found our way without him.
In retrospect, this was a neat set up for the tourist industry, one of many to take advantage of the tourist. the cab driver could have easily dropped us off closer to where the mosque was. Instead, he left us where we were actually preyed upon by a man who wanted us either to buy his guided tour, and short of that, introduce us to the wonderful shops and dining facilities in that old section of Istanbul.
The guide books about Istanbul have a short section with word to use while getting around the city. Translations of hello, good morning, yes, no, and thank you. I think the most important one to actually learn is thank you. The others are for the most part understandable around the world. And we used the word "No" a lot. That is a big word when confronted with the many dealers on the streets in any big city.
Meg told me not to use hand gestures since they may be interpreted as rude or insulting. I probably insulted a half dozen people an hour during our stay. Thumbs up is okay.
We made it to the Blue Mosque, or the Sultan Ahmed mosque built by him in the early 1600s. It was beautiful outside and in. There was a long line, and many steps to climb with the stroller before we actually entered. A man came and offered to take us on a tour that would eliminate the lines and get us to see some extra parts of the mosque. "45 Euros". That is between 65 and 90 US dollars. "No!" We waited our turn. At the top of the steps, fifteen or so, we had to abandon the stroller... not allowed. We took off our shoes, and carried them in a furnished plastic bag. Meg donned her shawl. Other women were given a shawl, and even a robe if not attired properly.
We then strolled through the part of the mosque that was reserved for visitors. the prayer area was cordoned off. Both sections were huge, and the blue beauty of the mosque was astounding. It, as with many of the mosques and churches are remarkable in structure, vastness, and proportion. These were all built before the age of steel, and will probably not be duplicated too soon.
As we exited, we put on our shoes, found the stroller, and headed to Aya Sophia.               Hagia Sophia Info - Hagia Sophia
                   photo is from http://www.hagiasophia.com/listingview.php?listingID=18

From the same web site: 
"Hagia Sophia was choosen a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1985.

"Rebuilt by the orders of Emperor Justinian in 537, for 900 years Hagia Sophia had been the center of Orthodox Christianity until 1453 when the city was concurred by Ottomans. 500 years following the conquest of Muslims, it became a jewel for the Muslim world and as the grand mosque of the sultans.

"In 1935, Hagia Sophia had been converted into a museum of Turkish Republic by the orders of Ataturk, and became one of the most significant monuments not only in Turkey but on earth with its architecture and its historical richness."
It was neat walking around a building dating from before the fifth century. The only thing that old around here are rocks.
After touring this vast museum, we walked back to the street which we had been shown to by our first guide, and had lunch.
 It was a narrow street, the width of two cars. You could call it two lanes, but one of the lanes was used for parking, and it was a dead end for traffic. We sat an elbow from the traffic. Perhaps two cars came up the street to turn around during our lunch.
We were running out of time. Meg had to get back. We realized that it would take hours to travel by taxi, so we decided to use the Metro (they call it that). We figured it out. Meg carried the baby, and I had the stroller. Immediately, two people gave up their seats on the train: to Meg because she was  carrying the baby, and to me because I was a tired old man. Of course Khaled rewarded the other passengers with lots of wide eyes and smiles. We had to transfer to get to Taksim Square station, and then climb about 50 steps to the square where there was no evidence of the previous night's protest... just sun and fun. "No!" to the kid who was selling tiny packs of kleenex for 1TL (50  cents). And "No!" to the guy selling water, and "No!" to the woman who offered to baby sit (or was that a proposition?) ...more to come.

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