A Final Day in Istanbul

On our last day, we arrived back in Istanbul at 1 pm. We had until bedtime (Norah's) to tour the city before our 4:30 am wake up call to catch our flight back to Dublin. Driving back into the city (about 25 minutes from the airport) we decided to share a cab with a young couple from Singapore They couldn't have been older than 25, those crazy kids. Well anyway, they asked us for help navigating taxis and given that our hotels were 2 blocks apart, we decided to split the 'set' taxi fare. It worked out great for us. Well, they told us they had heard of riots in the city a few days before - this was May 28th. As we drove back into Istanbul, we noticed a road block of military vehicles forcing our cab driver to take an alternate route into the Sultanahmet district. When we had been here a week previous, we took that same route un-impeded so we were aware there was a heightened military presence. There were several helicopters over head and more men than usual on street corners with machine guns. Thankfully though, that's all we encountered and were able to enjoy Istanbul on our last day.

Arriving back at the same hotel in the Sultanahmet District (or Old City). This is near Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofya, The Basilica Cisterns, The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque), the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar (probably the 'Top 6' of the main tourist sights in Istanbul).

Looking out across the Bosphorus to another peninsula within the city of Istanbul. There are three of these peninsulas which come together in the bay to make up the city (both the European side and the Asian side). And to give some perspective on the protests/riots - they were centered in this middle peninsula - across the water from us - in what is considered the 'center' of Istanbul. Even if the protests/rioting had broken out when we were there, we would have been insulated from it in our part of the city. We flew out on Wednesday and everything started, in earnest, on Friday May 31st.

The New Mosque, near the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. A beautiful and gargantuan structure.

 Norah would not stop talking about the roasted corn vendors once we arrived back in Istanbul so that was our first order of business. Find a corn vendor. Get this girl some corn! Of course, the one time you're hunting, you can't find one for 25 minutes. :) The old man next to us was selling travel packs of tissues and it broke my heart.

 This tree on the right was so beautiful! (they're reconstructing a mosque just behind it)

Misir Carsisi - 1684 - Istanbul's Spice bazaar.

Here we sat at the doors to the Spice Bazaar, in Istanbul, with our two year old, looking out at the New Mosque in front of us, having a doner kebab and a Coke. I wanted to document that. We also want to remember that Norah rattled off....WHILE doing all of that, "Let's just go back to the hotel, have a rest and download an ice cream game" - as nonchalantly as could possibly be. Damn these iPads! She means she wants to download some toddler game about making ice cream. We did feel bad that she was so tired but we had to keep walking given our 4 hour time window in the city.

Another entrance to the Misir Carsisi.

We love these tea and coffee sets! Vickie and Pete surprised us with one like this when we arrived in Izmir. These guys - nothin' but class. They're hosting us and they greeted us with presents.

Loved these "Designing Women"-esque get-ups. They really did have some amazing old vintage looking coats. There are so many stores selling these massive coats with the head covering built in, the long flowing dresses and don't get me started on the lingerie with lace hoods connected.

 Leaving the spice bazaar, we decided to wander through some roundabout alley-streets, on our way down to the Blue Mosque. Well, we found ourselves in what seemed the lingerie-district of Istanbul. There were also normal clothing shops and lots of locals out doing their shopping but primarily, the stores were selling ladies undergarments and lingerie. It's this whole section of town.

Anyway, my favorite part about this picture is the man selling cucumbers. This is one of my favorite memories of the trip. He just has a cart with a hundred or so small, skinny cucumbers. Not large like the ones you get in a grocery store, but not as small as a pickle either. Well, you pay 1 Lira (30 cents) and he peels it, slices it length-wise and then salts it down the middle. So you end up with a salty-cucumber popsicle and it's amazing!

Back down at the Aya Sofya and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque)

 Sultan Ahmed Mosque - The Blue Mosque

Walking around the Bazaar, poor Norah kept saying, "let's just go back to the hotel and rest". So while I went into the grounds of the Blue Mosque, they had their rest with a givrik (like a bagel).

 Entering the walls of the Blue Mosque

Lutfen (LEWTfen) is 'Please' in Turkish. The sign asking women to cover their heads before entering the mosque. I didn't get to go inside because the very moment I walked into the courtyard, the prayer time began and I had to leave. 

Norah in the corner there, just playing in the grass, outside the Blue Mosque

Listening to the Call to Prayer outside the Blue Mosque - it was so beautiful and peaceful. I believe these are sung live, (unlike other small mosques where a recording is used).

Video Clip:

I really loved this sound.

And here are two short clips from our time in Izmir of the same Call to Prayer.

This was at the playground around the corner from Vickie & Pete's place - the Call starts 20 seconds in. You can still see our sidewalk chalk murals from the day before.

And another Call to Prayer heard from their apartment at the last one for the night (there are 5 per day).



You can't see it well but on that center 'stub' branch, there's a green parrot. Vickie didn't believe Wayne saw wild parrots in Istanbul so when we saw them again we snapped a shot. This was in the park outside Topkapi palace and there were at least 20 or 30 above us. They're amazing.

This guy! He was a shop owner right near our hotel and he loved Norah. He picked her up and joked with her for 10 minutes that she could meet his own son, (also 3) and that she could come and live with them. She was completely on board and asked what she could have for dinner, if there would be dessert, and where she would sleep. He was so nice and so kind and she clearly felt that from him. He just adored her. When I walked past earlier, he and 3 other shop-owner friends asked if I could settle a dispute they were having about an English phrase. (He and his wife own the shop just down the block, where the man is sitting outside.) As we were leaving, he offered Norah a little Nazar buncuk (blue eye) charm and a hand drawn piece of artwork from his store (a picture of the cityscape from the Bosphorus, which is beautiful). It's matted and everything! So, he was a really nice Turkish interaction and Norah seriously contemplated leaving us to join his family. :)

Here he is trying to show Norah a picture of his 3 year old son on his phone.

This man was just chatting with friends he saw on the road, nonchalantly driving his mad-max trike as if its not 200 years old. :) I just loved him waiting for - what he must see as - a futuristic spaceship tram.

That evening, looking back out across the Bosphorus.

 

We loved our trip to Turkey (and Greece) and will remember it for the rest of our lives. Turkey is, by far, the most foreign place I have ever been (culture and language-wise) and certainly the farthest East I've gone. I loved that. Vickie and Pete were such gracious hosts and they showed us SO much in such a short amount of time. I'm blown away but what we did with them in 5 days.

We loved learning some Turkish and being able to practice more and more until we felt quite accomplished on our last day in Istanbul. By the end I could say, Hello, Goodbye, How Much is this?, Yes, No, Water, Juice, Apple Juice, Milk, Beer, Thank you (the main one) and "OK/It's alright". And Turkish foooood! Ahh! You can't find something you'll dislike (well, maybe you could but it'd take some looking).  

Overall impression - we loved Istanbul and Izmir and the feeling of being so far from the familiar, but we also found ourselves surprisingly thankful to be back in Dublin. I've not felt that before but as we arrived in Dublin and rode the bus back to our town, I felt a new-found thankfulness for the freedom I have here, as a woman.

The small negative experiences I had with men (when walking alone) made no dent in the countless lovely interactions we had with Turkish men and women all week. Perhaps our favorite thing about Turkey was the treatment of children, by men in particular. It's as if babies and toddlers are revered there. What surprised us though was that this doting came mostly from men - of all ages, from pre-teens to elderly men. It was beautiful to see them take such joy in just witnessing a small child, to want to touch her hair, or pretend to tickle her. It really was genuine joy they felt and that was such a nice change from our Western social norms which dictate that men are not to interact with any children but their own.

Turkey is a spectacularly beautiful country and we're so thankful we were able to visit Vickie and Pete - to see their home for the last two years, to have a genuine vacation with them, and to appreciate how beautiful the country is. It was the trip of a lifetime. 

Samos Greece, Part 2

 Unedited mind you.

At dinner on night #2 on Samos, we noticed the table cloth had the 'Welcome Message' in four languages - Greek, English, German and Dutch! I took this picture to show Wayne's family (all 100% Dutch). Samos (and maybe all of Greece?) is apparently a big Dutch vacation getaway. The two couples sitting directly behind us were from Friesland - what are the odds?

These mussles are MONSTER shells. The one of the far left (on its side) is 12 or 13 inches long - to give some slight perspective. They were freakishly huge.

 

 Poppies with Turkey in the distance

This, oh this is a Greek church with someone's home right next door. They hang their laundry on lines right there. And this is life for them.

Yep, someone lives there too.

Wayne and Norah looking out.

 This picture! Reese with her 17 year old gorgeous smile and pose (oh and the Blondie tshirt) and then Norah. This is priceless. I've gotten way beyond saying "oh this one's a framer" for pictures of Norah and Reese. I could now fill a whole photo album of EPIC photos of these two. It's a little sick - the pictures we have of these two girls - on their trip to Dublin, on our trip to Vienna, in Turkey, in Greece... It actually makes me feel viscerally guilty - the things they've seen and done, before age 3.

Pete just doin' man-stuff. Hands on hips, lookin' at a map on the hood. Don't you just feel like grunting? The only tiny glitch in the hegemonic man-photo is the life-size Barbie car, circa 1989.

Oh, we're just descending this hill into tropical Greek PARADISE! Lemonakia Beach.

 Norah and Daddy play horsie a LOT in our apartment. She called this Sea-Horsie. Apropo Norah.

perfect form

This view just makes me want to go *with my arms outspread* "ahhhh aaaaaaa - taaaadaaaaaa. This is Samoooosssss". I can't explain that but it's the honest inclination.

Oh yeah, this is just a tiny Greek cemetery on the side of a mountain leading up to a mountain-top picturesque Greek Village called Platanos. NOT a big deal at all. BARELY even picture worthy. :) Can you hear my deep and syrupy sarcasm there? :)

This van is adorable from the side, but from head-on, it's even cuter. It looks identical to these types in the States but it's shrunken in all dimensions (only 5 feet tall) and then super skinny as well, to fit through the tiny Greek Village alleyways.

We had to fold in the mirrors to get through this road and Pete drove us up this mountain like a boss! Like a boss in a Barbie car, in fact.

This shop owner in Platanos (mountain top village, need I remind you.....), was so sweet. We bought a religious replica/wood carving of two Saints from her store as our souvenir. She then gave us a hand crocheted hair barrette for Norah, for free!

We stopped here for bread, hummus and a small glass of wine. This place (Samos, and Platanos) is known for it's great wine so we had to try a little.

What made this café magical was that they let the girls play inside with the toys, and kept bringing them snacks while we sat outside visiting. It was like a restaurant with babysitters!

And Norah drove around their "power wheels" car (aided by Daddy) for quite some time.

I won't embarrass Vickie & Pete any further but this restaurant, on our last night, became the site of some hilarious potty-accidents by little Reese. Vickie will be able to laugh about this when the "freshness" of it subsides.  But to be fair, she did laugh it off that evening. They'd have to share the story, I'm not at liberty. :)

 

You wouldn't catch me boarding the boat via this "ramp". No way.

Is this not a little sick? It's so gorgeous! This is the village of Pythagorias. Yes, if you remember from high school geometry - this is the town where Pythagorius was from - the man we all love - the creator of the Pythagorean theorem. What would we do without that theorem? Turns out, lots of things but apparently it's important for some geometrical reasons. :) Also from this Greek Island was Epicurus! Don't know who he is? It's not all that interesting. :)  

Norah and Reese on a moped in Samos, Greece. These were rentals and the guys let them climb all over the scooters.