Whenever we read something about Turkey, we think of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires both of which ruled the present day Turkey and many areas that extended parts of Europe, Asia and North Africa. The Ottoman Empire ruled for over 700 years after the decline of the Byzantine Empire. I was surprised to hear from our tour guide that Anatolia (part of modern Turkey) was also invaded by the Mongols before it was united by Ottoman beylik. I would be doing history injustice by trying to explain how this magnificent country was created starting from the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Best if you Google it and find many stories in the internet. Every story you will find about modern day Turkey the name of Kemal Ataturk will pop up as he led the successful resistance against the victorious Allies after the Great War. Ataturk was also the first president of Turkey.
Our walking started around 9:00 am after our bus rounded all the tourists like me. We were dropped at the Hippodrome of Constantinople where Byzantine emperors would watch chariot races. Today, there are still a few obelisks and statues left standing.
While we waited for a family who wandered away from our group I walked to a nearby café and ordered the extra-strong Turkish coffee. Basically, this is an instant coffee with extra heaping of coffee grounds then slowly simmered over charcoal.
Our tour guide decided to leave the family who failed to understand her instruction to meet us after ten minutes (they finally showed up in the next mosque but not after listening to a “few choice words” from the guide). We proceeded to the Blue Mosque (Trini and I visited it yesterday already). There were more people today than yesterday so we just sat in a corner conserving our energy for the long walks.
Next, we walked to the nearby Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) which used to be an Orthodox Church. It was used as a church for almost a thousand years until Fatih Sultan Mehmed conquered Istanbul then was turned into a mosque. There are currently restoration work being done inside. I was impressed with its cavernous interior and the giant chandeliers!
The church was re-built three times as it was burned, re-built, burned again. The third and final structure was re-built under Emperor Justinianos around 532 AD.
After our visit of Hagia Sophia we walked to the Grand Covered Bazaar (again, Trini and I visited this awesome “shopping mall” yesterday). The group was led into a rug store to listen to a presentation. Trini and I opted out and went to a café instead. I ordered Americano and Trini ordered the freshly made pomegranate juice. We just sat on the small table along a busy narrow sidewalk and watched as the café “salesmen” convinced passing tourists to come taste their food.
We went back to our meeting place and we boarded the bus to take us to the restaurant for our included lunch. We sat with a very nice and sweet young Malaysian couple on their honeymoon. We went with them to the same boat cruise yesterday and Trini and I noticed that most of the photos they took were – THEMSELVES! They had a selfie stick and every picture they took was a – SELFIE! I just hope they have photos of the highlights of the tour that they can show their friends and families when they go back home (smile).
We had soup for starters with pita bread and the assorted spread that comes with it. We had a choice of chicken or lamb kebab or pasta. Dessert was a super-sweet small slice of baclava. I ordered espresso to counter the sugary taste of my dessert.
With our energy replenished we again boarded the bus to take us to the final leg of our guided tour. We headed to the Topkapi Palace and the Sultan Tombs. Both entrances required tickets (included) but the lines were always long and disorganized as you have to go through security screening. At the Topkapi Palace entrance, several of the Turkish tourists got into a heated argument with the ticket checker (not sure what they were yelling about). I surmised it was due to the incompetence of the Palace employee who could not properly control the mob!
The last part of our tour was Topkapi Palace, a huge area with numerous structures that used to house the Sultan’s soldiers, many wives and dozens of his concubines. A thriller movie (starring Peter Ustinov) was made titled Topkapi in the mid-1950’s.
We ended the tour at the far end of the palace and after thanking the tour guide we were on our own. We roamed around a little bit more and we admired the view of the Bosphorus in the distance then we walked back to our hotel. Thankfully, it was only a couple of blocks away….
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