That's Nobody's Business But The Turks'

We actually got you a ticket, buddy

Wow, what a trip so far.  We've had two days in Istanbul, and it's been a whirlwind, a blast, some real ups and downs, a really amazing experience.  It started early yesterday when we headed out to the airport to catch our flight in.  Jason and Rachel took a train, but because we had Gabe with us we were flying.

I wasn't sure how he would do.  He flew with us to Switzerland a few months ago and did great, but he was a lot younger then and you could just pop a pacifier into his mouth if he was fussing and he would pretty much settle down.  Now he's almost 1, much more mobile, much more vocal, and not about to suck on a pacifier like some baby.  Also, we were traveling this time with the full set of baby gear -- in Switzerland there was a set of gear waiting for us, but this time we're on our own.

But it all went about as smoothly as I could have hoped.  Gabe has a tendency to give a top-of-the-lungs war-cry when he's excited about something, which I'm sure our fellow passengers didn't appreciate, but other than that he was pretty much fine.  A little crying but not much.  The flight was just over an hour, so that was nice and short.  We flew Turkish Airlines, and I wasn't particularly impressed with them, but whatever.

We landed in Istanbul, got our bags, our visas, and grabbed a cab to head to our hotel.  Our cabdriver spoke basically no English and, halfway to the hotel, we realized he had no idea where it was.  He eventually stopped another cabdriver and asked for directions.  Awesome!  Despite all that, he was a very nice guy, who kept trying to explain to us the stuff we were passing, and asking us about Gabe.  At one point as he's driving down the freeway he pulled out his smartphone and started trying to find photos of his own kids.  Good stuff.

The Hagia Sophia

One thing that I've found pretty amazing about this whole trip is the Turkish culture.  I didn't know much about Turkey.  It turns out that everyone here is super nice.  Like, nicer than people in Kansas are, and that's pretty nice.  When I was at the airport, I had trouble collapsing our stroller to put it in the cab.  Two complete strangers came rushing up and tried to help me.  And the Turks love kids.  Like, everywhere you go, everyone loves your kid.  It makes a lot of things -- like, say, taking your kid with you to eat out every meal -- a lot nicer and easier than it would be State-side.

The Blue Mosque

The other thing is the wild wheel-and-deal business culture.  Istanbul is a tourist city, and as you walk around people are constantly calling out to you or striking up conversations, just completely out of nowhere. They all have some business to pitch -- their coffee shop is right up the street, their brother's rug-shop is around the corner, whatever.  But the funny thing is, they are pretty much all really cool and helpful even when you're obviously not going to bite.  They'll give you directions to the closest money-changer and then walk you there, and then stand respectfully back while you do your transaction, and then give you a handshake and send you on your way.  One of our days some guy who owned a restaurant tried to get us to eat there, and when we said we were actually looking for a competing restaurant, he gave us directions how to get there.  I love it.

So anyway, we checked into our hotel, which is right in the middle of Old Istanbul, where all the sights are.  We are literally right down the street from the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (pictured above), the site of the Hippodrome, and a bunch of other ancient buildings and relics.  We settled into our hotel, met up with Jason and Rachel and went on a night walk through the old city.  We stopped for dinner at a local restaurant, and we all went all-out on ordering a bunch of local food, all of which turned out to be amazing.

Jason and Rachel had found the place, and so far it's the best meal I've had here (and one of the best I've ever had).   It starts with a local specialty, lavash.  I've had lavash a zillion times in LA, but here they cook it in a special way: the lavash is made so that when it cooks, it expands like a giant balloon.  They bring it right out of the oven, with steam venting out from holes in the dough, and over the next 10 minutes it slowly collapses (the part you haven't already eaten, that is).  Superb.  The rest of what we ordered was also really good, a bunch of kabobs, chops, meatballs, etc.  Deee-licious.

Gabe enjoyed it as well.  He is now in love with hummus.

Today we got up fairly early and headed out to see the Hagia Sophia, which is one of the two things I was most looking forward to (the other is taking a boat up the Bosphorus, set for Friday).

Wow is this building incredible.  I expected it to be fairly amazing, but it really blew me away.   It's beautiful from the outside, but the inside is breathtaking.  I've got some photos below, but photos don't in any way do it justice.  The central room is a humongous, towering dome, of a sort that is mind-boggling even by today's standards.  And this place was built in 537 AD.  For those who aren't too quick with math, that is nearly 1,500 years ago.  When you walk in, you can't help but be floored by the unearthly beauty of this main room.

The building was initially a church, but was converted to a mosque by the Ottoman Turks when they took over Constantinople (and changed the city's name to Istanbul).  When Turkey became a secular republic in the 30's the building was turned into a museum.  Both Muslim and Christian elements are now kept there.

The original church had some of the most beautiful mosaics I've ever seen.  Pictured at left is what remains of the Archangel Gabriel (named after my son).  The mosaic of Michael is pretty much completely gone.  Most of the mosaics were plastered over when the church was turned into a mosque.  The Turkish government has saved what they could.

That's Ioana viewing a partially saved mosaic of Judgment Day.  It doesn't come through as well in the photo, but the artistry in the subtleties of expression and shadow on the faces of Jesus and John the Baptist (he's on the right), the differing types of halos each person has, etc., were stunning.  We wandered around inside for hours.

After the Hagia Sophia we all stopped off for lunch, which was tasty enough but nothing compared to the place we had gone on the first night.  Then it was off to the Hippodrome, site of ancient Byzantine chariot races.  The whole place is gone at this point, but the path of the original track is still there, along with a pair of obelisks (or parts of them, anyway) that stood in the center of the oval racing track.  You can stand there and imagine the place rising around you, filled with people, as chariots race around.

From there we headed to the Blue Mosque, built in the 1600s by Sultan Ahmed the First specifically to try and outdo the Hagia Sophia (which is literally across the street).  Nice try, Sultan Ahmed the First, but the Hagia Sophia totally kicks ass on the Blue Mosque.

The outside of the Blue Mosque is striking, but once you get inside, it's really fairly underwhelming.  The main cool thing about it is the vibrant blue paint that is used on many of the tiles (which is why people call it the Blue Mosque -- the official name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque).  That doesn't come through in photos at all, unfortunately.  The architecture inside the Blue Mosque is interesting but not as good as the Hagia Sophia's, and the people running the place have unaccountably decided to string what I assume are electrical wires all through the inside.  The art is all patterned stuff (flowers, etc.).  There's absolutely nothing comparing to the amazing mosaics in the Hagia Sophia.  Nor does it have the same history.

For me, it also doesn't help that the Blue Mosque is a functioning mosque.  Where the Hagia Sophia is a museum and inviting to all people, showing the mix of cultures and overarching tolerance that is Turkey at its best, the Blue Mosque is religion at its worst: a bunch of stupid meaningless rules that you're expected to gutlessly obey, and every time you do you validate the religion's baseless power.  We weren't allowed to use the main door (because we're not muslim), they confiscated our stroller with all our stuff in it and made us carry it across to the exit door when we were ready to leave, we had to stay behind a railing near the back, etc.  Gabe kept yelling at the top of his voice while we were inside, though, so I thought that sort of stuck it to the man.

You go, little guy

After that we all checked out a bit more of Istanbul, and then Io and I parted ways with Rachel and Jason, who were off to see the Basilica Cistern, which as I understand it is a giant toilet.  Io and I headed off to do some shopping: I wanted to get a Turkish rug as a souvenir.  And we did!  I'll put a photo of it up later, but it's a beautiful rug.  We went back to the hotel and gave Gabe a bath and put him to bed.

Io stayed in with him and I went out to dinner with Jason and Rachel, to this interesting place nearby that is basically like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.  They make a single menu every night (soup, appetizer, main course, and dessert) and you either take it or leave it.  Tonight was dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) for the main course, and it was pretty damn good.  All in all, a hell of a good day today.

Tomorrow Io and I are on our own most of the day because Jason and Rachel are going to see more stuff that we're not, although I don't think it involves actual sewage this time.  It's just too far away.  Io and I will probably do some more shopping and maybe see the palace, and then hopefully join Jason and Rachel for dinner.  Then Friday its the Turkish baths and the Bosphorus!

Moment of Zen: