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Date: 21 Jul 2011 08:14:49
Title: 40 37.169N 028 57.238E Istanbul
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The second conquest of Constantinople.

We took the ferry into the big city and proceeded to get off at the wrong stop. Took yet another ferry to the right stop... about 15 more minutes. Leaving the boat behind was the right choice. The entrance to the Bosporus is a skipper's nightmare or maybe a delight if you like a real challenge and your boat will go faster than 8 kts. I counted 20 big cargo ships in my field of vision, lots of fast ferries sometimes moving as close as half a boat length apart, lots of fishing boats... all in a two mile wide channel with a 5 knot opposing current and a contrary wind. Maybe a constant 3 foot chop from all directions likely mostly current and wakes. Many of the smaller boats (30 ft) were rolling gunnel to gunnel. Lots of whistle signals... remember those? (when you hear 5 blasts grab your ankles and...) I was impressed!

Took the tram... light rail to the hostel... good directions until the last 40 meters but found the hotel. The trams are very new and good. For my railroad friends... A light rail system, overhead catenaries with intermixed rail and bus traffic in the limited access street. Articulated cars with a max of three car sets MUed. High ridership density maybe 3 minute headways during rush for 1.75 TL per ride.

The hostel was on a back street but located literally a 5 minute walk from everything. We arrived before checkin so decided to go see the Blue Mosque. Lots of tourists. Read the guide books. It was big and old. We then went back to the hostel, checked, and proceeded to take an early afternoon nap. We met an English couple in the lobby that were leaving after a week here and asked them for the cliff notes version of their stay. They liked the cistern best... restaurant on the corner, the Bazaar was only for tourists and twice as expensive as you buy on the street, and the free map of the city you had to ask for at the tourist office down at the Sophia.

A third floor room with a large shower/toilet per floor was clean and tiny. It accommodated three single beds, one chair, a small end table, and a table fan mounted on the wall ... the AC. Not even one heated towel rack. There were a million German coeds there the first night but we were so tired the noise didn't effect us. We did find a travel agency near by that specialized in out of the country buses... I asked about getting to Bulgaria and was told Sophia would be the ticket.

That afternoon we went to the Sophia and got our map. This is an old Byzantium church then mosque then museum. When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in the 1500s they turned it into a mosque and plastered over the tile art work on the walls. They scraped off the plaster in the 1900s when it was declared a museum by Attaturk and there was all this super preserved art. My favorite in Istanbul.

The next day we went to the Topkapi Palace... the Sultan's residence and seat of government for the Ottoman empire. We tried to get there as early as possible but the tour buses beat us. Dense crowds of tourists, lines rivaling Disney but with no ride at the end. I had seen it before with a guide and many less people and enjoyed it then but not as much now. We stayed until about noon and went looking for lunch. Next we went to the Archeological museum which turned out to be a real treat. Very well done statue museum with stuff from many of the places we had visited on the way up to Istanbul. (the good stuff is either here, in England or Germany depending who got there first...) We left there with just enough time to spend and hour or so in the Grand Bazaar... 10 to 15 underground streets full of tourist junk, rugs, mershime pipes, jewelry, but no food. We stopped at one stall and I asked the price of an Aladdin type lamp... no prices on anything anywhere. The guy without dropping a beat said, "with or without a gene?" He asked 50 TL for the all brass lamp about the size of a soft ball. I said I had heard that I should probably offer half. He said that was only true with high ticket items like rugs. I thanked him and started to walk away... 40 he said and with each step shouted a lower number until he finally ended at 20 TL. Great sport! I am lucky I live on a boat with no more space for 'stuff'. We had a tea in one of the Bazaar bistros for 5TL. The going rate is about 0.50 TL everywhere else. We later found a 'Dollar' type store on the street with 'genuine' Iznik tiles for 1/3 the price of the Bazaar. (a point of reference, they are stamped on the back) We plan to stop in Iznik next.

That night we went to see the new Pirates 4? movie English with Turkish subs. Turns out it was released here before the US. We were pretty touristed out and decided to take the morning ferry back to the boat the next day after a Starbucks. Arrived back to find the boat bobbing safe and sound right where we left it with Tamer there to greet us as we came in... last night we watched the movie Aladdin... right on target.






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