Ships and Shopping and Suds

No visible moon this morning, but there is always a line of cargo ships waiting to enter the Bosphorus Strait on the way to the Black Sea. Apparently one of the narrowest and most congested waterways in the world (though I don’t know if that ranking has changed since a certain “conflict” has impacted another now-infamous strait).

By design today was a quieter day.  Leisurely buffet breakfast then an Uber ride to check out the Grand Bazaar.

Not your crazy, noisy, frenetic outdoor bazaar selling everything including the kitchen sink. No, this is a solid, permanent, clean (no smoking!) kind of a mall.

Next, a leisurely, of sorts, stroll down to the Cağaloğlu Hamam, a very old, traditional Turkish bath (as featured on Rick Steve’s’ YouTube tour of Istanbul 😎).

Men and women separate. Treatment includes some just sitting in the steamy room.  Being rinsed off by your attendant pouring water over you.  Lay down for a whole body loofa treatment.  Then olive oil soap bubbles all over for a massage. Hair washing. Rinsing off. Toweling up then tea and relaxation.  The internet reports that Michael could have been laying on the same marble slab that once touched John Travolta, Harrison Ford or Rudolph Nureyev. I get Florence Nightingale or KateMoss. ☹️

Nevertheless, a lovely time was had by all.  No pictures back in the naked depths, but this is the reception area.

Somehow we are both now squeaky clean and silky soft at the same time! 

Here’s a Mosque. There’s a Mosque.

Well, we are exhausted. Our younger selves would be embarrassed by how exhausted our current, older selves are after six hours of touring. But it was so worth it.

Picked up for our tour and dropped off down the hill (damn it) from the Sultanahmet District here Istanbul. We got out first great view of the Blue Mosque walking past it…

Heading to the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome was the site of the chariot races (think Ben Hur…or Google Ben Hur if that means nothing to you coz you are still your younger self!) Except for one curved end of the foundation, these two obelisks and the remnant of one bronze statue, nothing really remains due primarily looting by the Crusaders and destruction by the Ottomans. But in its day it was apparently the Formula 1 race track of its time holding maybe 40,000 spectators for its competitions.

The Egyptian obelisk was brought from Karnak and had to be cut into two pieces to have any hope of safe transport. Only the top portion survived so that what remains is only 18.5 meters of its original 30 meter height. 

Then we headed over to Hagia Sophia. Completed almost 1,500 years ago it was originally a Byzantine church, the largest indoor structure of its time and one of the first ever to utilize a pendentive dome whereby a dome can be suspended above a rectangular structure. Looking up you see a dome with four half domes around it. There were renovations going on…scaffolding and curtains and all so it was hard to photograph but that architecture was used later in the building of mosques including the Blue Mosque (a picture is forthcoming).  In the mid-1400’s, Hagia Sophia, itself, was converted into a mosque.  

Outside on our approach(cropping out the scaffoldings and the covered dome)

Inside: the gold mosaics in the ceilings, the hand cut, book-sawn marble walls, and the intricate columns are really beautiful.

Next stop was the Basilica Cistern. Built in 532 AD the cistern could hold about 21 million gallons of water! Now the water level is kept quite low to allow visitors to view the beauty of the structure.  Over 300 columns support the ceiling…the majority of them were repurposed from other demolitions. The effect of the columns, the ceilings, the lighting, and their reflections in the water is quite mesmerizing. (I took too many pictures. Here are just two.)

And then finally the Blue Mosque. Really the Sultan Ahmed Mosque but commonly referred to as the Blue Mosque because the interior is decorated with over 20,000 hand-painted blue and turquoise tiles. Absolutely stunning.

Whether from the Hagia Sophia

Or from the courtyard

Whether it’s just a minaret

Or the elaborate interior with all of those tiles on the second level

Or, finally, as promised, the view of the dome with the half domes and then the littler domes all radiating out like a brilliant kaleidoscope, it’s simply gorgeous.

Good Morning, Istanbul.

We enjoyed a very lazy night last night. Right now Michael is still sleeping, and I am out on the balcony in my cushy robe watching the day break.

Sometimes when we are traveling I try to plan certain days of the trip around the phase of the moon typically preferring a full moon for the picturesque drama.. For instance. I scheduled a night visit to the Taj Mahal to see the moonlight make the marble glow. The haze in the city was so bad we never even saw the moon light alone moonlight, but I tried. Alternately, I have planned around the new moon in order to enjoy optimum viewing of the northern lights. 

For this trip I didn’t pay attention at all until everything was planned and then realized we wouldn’t have a full moon. Yet as sometimes things work out, perhaps it is more fitting that I am sitting here this morning in Turkey 🇹🇷 with a tiny crescent moon peeking around the next skyscraper.

And Now…..

 We have been waiting to use this link ever since we booked this trip (please, sing along):

Click here.  Istanbul! Istanbul! Istanbul! 

We are settled into the JW Marriott on the Marmara Sea complements of Turkish Airlines’ stopover program; but also thanks to Michael’s Marriott status, we have an upgraded room with a sea view.

Tomorrow we tour. For now we rest and enjoy. 

North to Slovenia

This will be a quick blog. Actually it’s Wednesday and we have to get to the airport.  Yesterday we left Split in a rental car and drove nearly five hours to visit Slovenia on our way to a Zagreb airport hotel. In Croatia the drive was all highway. But once we crossed the border (just a booth saying “go on through” or something to that effect), we were on little switchback roads through countryside villages.

Our guy down in Dubrovnik told us that we would see fall colors when we headed north. Unfortunately, the fall colors went by so quickly in such a small little area that Michael didn’t even have time to pick up the phone get to the camera and take a photograph before we were beyond them. However, we did pass Mount Zir.

And drive through some pretty forest.

And a lovely castle.

And the restaurant that Google recommended, Grostilna Vovko, was wonderful. The owner was very talkative - proud of his country, his village and his family legacy. And Michael ate probably the best foie gras he has ever had.

Then another hour to Zagreb (at the border “go on through, go on through”. Check in at the hotel.  Return the rental car.  Uber back to the hotel and fall into bed.

Same Day - Part Two

Took a break and had a nice casual lunch on a square and did some more roaming.

Up to the northern Golden Gate in the Palace wall.

Where these two figures look down on you.  Google says they are images of bull’s heads with human faces.  I thought they looked a lot more like a ram and a ewe. 

Saw other pretty arches

And pretty windows

And a pretty Dalmatian “Dalmatian” pigeon.

Finally, we had a fabulous dinner at a highly regarded small local restaurant, Villa Spiza. And some gelato on the way home.

All in all a good day.

In the morning we pick up a rental car for a little drive. 

But for now, it’s bedtime. 

Diocletian Palace

This morning I got up early, found some coffee and pastries, located the rental car office for tomorrow morning, and took this lovely view of the Riva promenade along the harbor. Our hotel is the one just to the left of the cathedral spire with the curved iron balconies. 

 Off to the cathedral complex before the crowds. There before 8am. Ticket office opens at 8:15. A few of us politely cued up sitting on the steps. But there is always gonna be those people who make a show of going up the steps to the door to intently study the sign listing the ticket options and pricing.  Hmmmmm.  What do you think? Hmmmm. Hmmmmm. And then just stand there noses pressed against the glass to be first in line.  As if being sixth in line would have been too awful to allow for politeness in society. Sheesh.

Anyway, into the cathedral only after those two and they flew through so fast I only saw their backsides heading back out a door.

And here is a link to a spinning video

Spinning in the cathedral

And the lion and lamb guarding the cathedral.

It turns out the cathedral is one room.  Lucy’s crypt is one smaller room.  Jupiter’s temple (now John the Baptist’s) is one even smaller room. Some pretty,  detailed carving. But not a day’s work to be sure.

So I found myself finished and looking for the Treasury which is a museum now but thinking it might at least be old, interesting walls inside. The gentleman told me that it doesn’t open until 9am. It was 8:34am  I turned and walked back out, pausing to consider my options. I don’t know if a looked thst sympathetic or or pathetic in my plight, but he called to me and motioned me to go ahead inside.  I thanked him profusely and took a quick tour of the tiny three story museum all alone.  There were some little, ancient walls below, but mostly religious artifacts and a decent selection of reliquaries. And while I do appreciate me some nice reliquaries, I didn’t need a lot of time in there either.

So, more thank yous  and I headed back to the hotel. Here is a lovely clock from along the path. Not the correct time as I believe it was only 9:45a.  Mission accomplished.  Crowds avoided. Sites seen.