Cruising On The Bosphorus
Last night Ross, Maisy, Toby and Sam joined some others from our tour group and wandered out for a bite to eat. I stayed back to play some cards with a few of the crew and when I got in the lift to go back to the room, the power suddenly shut down and I was alone in the lift in the pitch darkness. Uh oh. I didn’t have my phone on me and was just contemplating what it was going to be like to sleep in an elevator when I remembered the room key had to be swiped to get to the upper floors. I whipped my card out of my pocket and to my great relief, one swipe was all that was needed to fire up the lift again. Crisis averted.,
This morning we’d be visiting the Chora church, where heads, shoulders, knees and toes (knees and toes 🎶) all had to be concealed. We girls had to cover our hair with a scarf and make sure we weren’t showing any hair or any leg (or any hairy legs) and the boys had to keep their shoulders and knees under wraps. It was such a novelty to wear headscarves and we felt like we were all off to a fancy dress parry as we strode down the street with our colourful headwear.
The former Byzantine ‘Chora Church’ was built way back in the early 4th century as part of a monastery complex outside the city walls of Constantinople, by Emperor Constantine and underwent a few identity crises, changing from a Christian church to a museum, to a mosque. It’s currently operating as a mosque but retains the elaborate and sparkly Christian Orthodox mosaics and frescoes that have been adorning the roof since the early 1300s. It’s hard to believe these are mosaics and not paintings, they are so detailed. I especially loved the one showing Mary with baby Jesus inside her womb fully clothed. It’s a kind of ancient ultrasound.
Next on our packed agenda today was a cruise down the Bosphorus, the waterway that flows up the middle of Istanbul and actually divides Asia and Europe! How crazy is that? We cruised up the European bank to start with, admiring the beautiful architecture in the fancy end of town, including the Dolmabahçe Palace with its modest 368 rooms and the island swimming club - Galataseri Island - owned by the football club of the same name that our own Harry Kewell once played for. Ritzy hotels also abounded on this side of the water, one Shenol informed us, could set you back US$38,000 (plus tax) for just one gee-this-would-want-to-be-good night. The Turkish are a very patriotic lot, with Turkish flags that had to be as big as an Olympic pool, flapping in slow motion above the city on the tallest and fattest flag poles we’d ever seen. There are 3 big suspension bridges- think grey versions of the Golden Gate - that go over the busy Bosphorus waterway and 4 tunnels that go under it.
I could have sworn I could smell stir fries in the air as our boat did a U-ey and headed over to cruise the Asian side of the Bosphorus. Dome-roofed mosques abounded on the horizon with Disney-esque Rapunzel towers poking up all over the place. We also spied the Rumeri Fortress on the banks of the Bosphorus. Built by one of the Ottoman sultans (of swing) with the aggressive name of Mehmed the Conqueror, the castle was constructed speedlly in under 6 months in the summer of 1452. Hope they didn’t cut any corners.
The cruise really was a great way to see the city.
We were let loose in the city - for 45 minutes - to grab some lunch. My boys sampled some stretchy goat milk icecream (dondurma - which you can actually eat with a knife and fork apparently) and raved about it. Shenol then guided us towards the Beylerbeyi Palace on the Asian shore. This palace was a newby compared to lots of the other buildings in the city, constructed in the 19th century by another swinging sultan, Sultan Abdulaziz. This beautiful palace certainly didn’t skimp on chandeliers and as we sashayed up the sweeping red carpeted Gone With The Wind staircase in our fetching blue plastic shoe covers, we marvelled at all of the beautiful china and taller than average wardrobes (those sultans were tall). Used mainly as a summer house to entertain guests, this opulent mansion had so many sitting rooms I reckon everyone from our tour group could have had one to themselves.
Shenol enlightened us with some torrid tales from the 16th century, when it was perfectly acceptable for the King, who already had 4 (long-suffering) wives, to have a harem of around 900 other beauties to choose from. He’d handpick a bevy of 20 or 30 of his favourites to be on high rotation and then have the other 870 odd in his back pocket for whenever the mood arose. What a horrible time it must have been to be a woman!
In the toilet black, where you get to choose if you’d like to squat or sit (is that really a question?) I was fascinated to watch a young girl tying her hijab. I asked if she could give me a quick lesson and she talked me thorugh all the steps. I hadn’t realised there was a black beanie worn underneath to tuck in all the stray hair. It was such a pretty scarf and looked so nice when she’d finished the job.
After a quick stop at a lookout for an incredible view of the Istanbul skyline, we had one last item on our agenda (I told you it was a busy day!). The Istanbul Spice Bazaar was an assault on the senses with colourful piles of rich coloured spices, teas and nuts. Eager salesmen and women made a sport of dangling tasty morsels before us, encouraging us to sample their wares, which we did with great gusto. Rossco sampled one too many morsels in fact and felt a bit crook on the drive home. The Turkish delight in Türkiye is a delight - as you’d imagine - and members of our group were stocking up, getting vacuum sealed, customs-approved bags of spices and goodies to take home. The bazaar was thronging with people and I was determined not to get lost. Within 5 minutes I’d lost my whole family but Nicolet kept me in her sights and we made it back to the bus in one piece. As we were pulling out from the kerb, Jim and Jill spotted Toby on the footpath and raised the alarm that Toby wasn’t on the bus. This sent a ripple through the passengers until Sam stepped up to allay our fears, informing us that Tobes was just going to buy some film and make his own way back to the hotel.
The hotel put on a very snazzy 4 course meal for us tonight and the traditional Turkish food was delicious (and filling); the rice pudding to die for!
