Istanbul, Turkey - Monday, April 21st (Day 2)

Although we were still a bit tired after our late night outing we were excited to get up and tour Istanbul.  This is a wonderful, vibrant and diverse city.  Our first stop was at the Blue Mosque, which is one of the two supreme Imperial mosques built during the Ottoman Empire.  The mosque, also known as the "Sultan Ahmed Mosque" is a famous religious monument.  The mosque was built between 1609 and 1616.  It contains the tomb of its founder, Ahmed I.

The mosque is a beautiful building with one main dome, six minarets and eight secondary domes.  It is considered the last great mosque of the Classical period.  The mosque is steeped in majesty and splendor.  There are 20,000 handmade blue ceramic tiles.  The lower tiles are more traditional designs while the upper tiles are more flamboyant with representations of flowers, fruits and cypress trees.  The upper level is painted blue and there are 200 stained glass windows which let in natural light. Words from the Qur'an are written in calligraphy and adorn many of the walls.  When we asked about the carpets our guide told us that they were donated by the members.  When one of them wears out another carpet is donated.  Like all the mosques we have visited, men and women have separate areas for prayer and we were not allowed to step on the prayer area  Luckily, we visited during a non-prayer time otherwise the mosque would have been closed to non-Muslims.  It was truly an elegant building.

We visited a small, but quite lovely, museum in the charming village of Chora.  It is the former Church of the Savior and was built in the 12th century.  This museum contains some of the most gorgeous frescoes and mosaics we have seen.  They depict the life of Christ and are much more personal than others we have seen.  There were mosaics and frescoes of the birth of Christ, miracles such as the multiplication of the loaves, turning water into wine, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law and the last judgment.

The art was particularly striking because of its proximity to visitors.  In many museums they are on high ceilings or walls, 20-30 feet high so visitors must squint to see them.  It's difficult to see the details.  In this museum the ceilings are lower so as we walked through we could really appreciate the magnificent workmanship and details of the art, as well as the very personal subject matter.  A visit to this museum was a real treat.

Our next stop was a complete opposite of this intimate, cozy little museum.  We visited the vast grounds and museums of the Topkapi Palace, which was the residence of sultans as well as the seat of Ottoman rule from the 1450's until the middle of the 19th century.  Over the centuries the palace was expanded until 5,000 residents lived there, including slaves, concubines, and eunuchs.  The palace was finally abandoned in1853 when the sultan moved his palace to another location.  The palace has four huge courtyards in which to walk.  The first one has been converted to a parking lot (of course).  As we passed through the main entrance, the Gate of Salutation, we  began to experience the enormity and grandeur of the palace.

The second courtyard was filled with ornate pavilions once used for the business of state.  On one side there were palace kitchens where more than 1,000 cooks once toiled at rows of immense ovens to feed the palace residents, whose numbers sometimes swelled to 15,000 during special occasions.  We passed the old Assembly Room of the Council of State, where the Sultan would hide behind a latticed window, hidden by a curtain, so no one would know he was listening!!!  The first harem compound housed about 200 lesser concubines and eunuchs.  This area then leads into rooms which were larger and more opulent.  The chief wives of a sultan lived in private apartments and shared a courtyard.  Next were the lavish apartment rooms of the queen mother, the ruler of the harem.  Finally there were the sultan's private rooms - a vision of brocades, murals, colored marble, wildly ornate furniture, gold leaf and fine carving.

In ancient times admittance to the third courtyard was restricted because it housed the treasury, which was filled with imperial thrones, lavish gifts bestowed to sultans, and the spoils of war.  Two uncut emeralds, each weighing about 8 pounds(!) are now displayed behind glass.  In another gallery there were religious relics including the staff of Moses, a bowl from Abraham and other Old Testament treasures.  Now, how do they validate that this staff belonged to Moses or the bowl was Abraham's?  Perhaps it is "traditional" rather than "authentic"  Regardless of the authenticity of some of the items, the palace is quite an elaborate, over the top, place to visit.

Our last stop of the day was a visit to the Grand Bazaar.  WooHoo!!  We took a deep breath and plunged into the maze of 65 winding, covered streets crammed with 4,000 tiny shops, cafes, restaurants, mosques and courtyards.  It's a very early version of a shopping mall and is the largest concentration of stores under one roof in the entire world!  It's easy to believe that some of the most aggressive salesmanship in the world takes place here.  As we strolled through the bazaar we were careful not to make eye contact, acknowledge, answer any questions or stop in front of any store where we weren't prepared to buy an item.  It we did any of these things we would have been "attacked" by extremely persistent sales people.  Luckily, we found a number of lovely items (for some of you) and managed to escape before we were mobbed  It was such a fun and exciting experience.  I absolutely loved the electric atmosphere.  What a way to finish our tour of Istanbul.

Tonight we sail for Greece.  We will be starting our last segment of the World Cruise tonight and the remainder of the time will be spent in the beautiful ports of the Mediterranean.  Yippee!!!