April 25, Turkey - the extra week.

It took me much of the day Sunday to get over the shock of having our plans for Ireland so radically revised - at least three hours of that was spent canceling reservations for cars, rooms, and the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead; the rest I spent finishing up organizing and uploading pictures, and then finishing a book about political talk that proved quite interesting. It was actually a pretty nice day but I didn't feel like going out.

Monday was a promising day and I knew I needed to get out of the apartment, so I took a ferry to Buyukada, the largest of the Princes' Islands, off the Asian coast of Istanbul. They allow no motorized vehicles other than emergency vehicles, so it is a walker's dream. The ferry ride was nice, and might have been quite scenic, except for the dense mist, not quite fog, that kept the visibility down to a couple of miles and prevented the day from quite realizing its potential.

There is a smallish mostly tourist-oriented town, lots of cafes and doo-dad shops. I had lunch in one of these - ordered mussels and a mixed salad. The salad was excellent; the mussels consisted of 12 big globs of batter, arranged 3 each on 4 kabob spits and deep-fried; upon close investigation each held a mussel about the size of a navy bean. I asked for the bill and the waiter brought a huge mug of beer - I didn't think that a good way to start a vigorous hike so insisted on the bill.

The island has a large hill with two peaks separated by a ridge. I walked up the highest one first; there is a restaurant and viewing area on top - again, its potential was restricted by the continuing mists. Other than that it was quite a pleasant day for a walk - cool enough that walking vigorously up a steep hill did not overheat me, but warm enough to sit at the top for a while, eat my cimit, and gaze at what view there was. Then I walked back down, crossed the saddle, and took a fork in the road that led me around the crown of the other hilltop. My original plan was to stay until 5, but I realized I was going to be back in town well in time for the 3:00 ferry, and I didn't have much inclination to spend two hours messing around tourist shops, so I decided on the ferry. I had a good vigorous walk, almost two full hours, and it was altogether a pleasant day, that did much to restore my mood and help me regain equilibrium.

During the walk I decided I had gone overboard in cancelling reservations, so when I got back I e-mailed the places in Stratford and London to reinstate the reservations as singles. I will probably schedule a visit to Wales for later, maybe in late May.

Monday it was raining when I got up, but I had already decided to spend the day revising an article I submitted to Metaphor and Symbol back in January. The rain stopped well before noon so I went out to get some stuff from the supermarket - I hoped to get some coffee from Starbucks' (the coffee packages in the market are labeled only in Turkish so it is impossible to know what I'm getting). Unfortunately, Starbuck's carries only whole bean, and (language barrier again) I didn't know how to ask if they could grind it. I may end up just buying a small packet of the ground coffee; at least I can use it to keep the too-finely ground coffee I brought with me from clogging my portable gold filter. (I am really tired of powdered coffee.)

April 23

Yesterday and today were both beautiful days. Yesterday I took a long walk back to the castle and took a couple more pictures, then circled back to the apartment by a more direct route. It was probably a total of about 12 miles but it felt really good to get out and do some vigorous walking, and I felt I had a much better feeling about Istanbul. In the evening I went to a restaurant I had noticed on the street on the way home, and had a wonderful salad and the best meat kabobs I have had since I've been in Turkey. Done medium (still very juicy) and perfectly seasoned. I think I will go back to the same place tonight.

This morning I had breakfast and headed out, back to the Topkapi Palace area to take some more photos of the Blue Mosque, ideally with less street furniture clutter. Unfortunately I didn't get off quite as early as I'd hoped and didn't reach the area until about 8:30, so the tourist busses (and tourists) were already out in force. Still, I was able to get a few uncluttered photos, although some still suffer badly from parallax. After that I toured the famous Byzantine era Basilica Cistern, which I had bypassed the first time. I was glad I did - it is a big underground cavern, with rows of supporting columns, including two standing on heads of Medusa; they had installed small lamps at the bottom of each and the effect is quite spectacular. I had resisted it, and once I was inside, I wanted to resist the colored lights at the bottom of each column and the soft electronic music in the background, but it actually all worked very well. I was lucky I think to be there before any of the big tours arrived - there weren't over a dozen other people down there when I was, no chattering or any of that stuff that comes with big groups (and, alas, often with tour guides who feel they are being paid to talk whether there is anything worth saying or not.) I will upload a few of the pictures, along with a picture of some of the carp that inhabit the cistern.

I also toured the Hippodrome, most of which is pretty well gone, but there remain three obilisks. While I was sitting near the Egyptian obilisk contemplating it, about the 15th guide-book peddler came and stood exactly in my way to try to sell me one. I finally snapped, and told him curtly "I'm just trying to sit here and look at the obilisk. Please leave me alone." He asked where I was from in a surly tone, and I told him, and he moved on. I think that is what I find most annoying about the peddlers, touts, hustlers etc. - it seems like if you want to just stroll or sit and chill out and soak in the atmosphere of a place they just won't let you alone.

I also went to another mosque, Rustem Pasa, that is famous for its tiles, and they are indeed quite nice - I will upload a picture or two. It was extremely difficult to find - the guidebook identifies the street it's on, doesn't mention that the street changes names partway, and doesn't give a scale on the map, so it is hard to know if you've gone too far. I finally did find it, and enjoyed it once I did. Finally I gave in and went to tour Dolmahce Palace, since the guide-books praise it so highly. My initial decision to pass it by was correct. As I expected, it is mostly just a long series of rooms filled with over-the-top expensive furnishings, huge Baccarat crystal chandeliers, parquet floors, etc - how the obscenely rich and powerful live. Many of the rooms are impressively huge - several of them would hold our house, yard, and garage with room to spare. They are probably best compared to a basketball arena. The one thing I really wanted to see, the Crystal Pavilion, was closed, I think for cleaning. It cost 15 Lira for a 45 minute tour, which I felt was a huge waste of money as well as time. I think anyone interested in antiques would find it quite interesting.

Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can find my way to Yedicule Hisari, the Fortress of the Seven Towers, near the southern end of the old city wall.

April 24.

Today was a really nice day - I wore my pullover for about 20 minutes then carried it tied around my waist the rest of the day. Yedicule turned out to be quite easy to reach - a bus from Taksim took me there in about a half hour, so I was there before 9:00. They let me in a bit early, and I had the luxury of being the only one there for nearly an hour, when a half dozen others showed up. The light was quite good for photography and I took far too many to upload. The fortress began with a triumphal arch built in the 4th Century by Theodosius I; Theodosius II built the city wall, and worked the arch into the wall, added for towers, and built the original fort. Mehmet the Conqueror added three more towers. The fortress was used for defense, then as a treasure house, finally as a prison. It stands quite near the very end of the city wall; I took some pictures of the last half mile or so of wall and the towers that anchor the wall beside the Sea of Marmara, and also some pictures of the wall stretching out toward the north, over 6 km to the Golden Horn.

My guidebook said you could walk the wall, and one of the other sights I wished to visit, Chora Church (Kariye Muzesi), is very near the wall about 3 miles distant, so I decided to give it a try. After about a half mile I discovered that walking on the wall was not workable - not only is the path rough and broken, but there are abrupt terminations, sometimes in places where the government has constructed similes of the old wall. Fortunately for my planned walk, there is a wide, well paved walking path outside the wall, that as far as I can tell goes nearly the whole way. When I figured I had gone about 2.5 miles I saw a huge mosque or church about a half mile ahead of me, on the inside of the wall, so I headed for it. Unfortunately, the direct path led through a huge construction zone that is completely fenced in, so I had to double back nearly a half mile, cross back to the outside of the wall, and continue. I ran into a Turkish college student who wanted to practice his English; he walked with me back to the gate under the wall, then onward to about the area of the mosque, talking. He left me there, but I quickly realized that was not the right place. It took me nearly 30 minutes longer to find the church, but finally, using the Turkish name, I found a fruit seller willing not merely to sell me a banana but also able to show me the way.

The church was built in the 11th century; the decorations were added in the 14th century, funded by Theodore Metachites, a high ranking official of the empire; one of the mosaics shows him offering the church to Christ. Many of the mosaics are partially destroyed, but what remains is very beautiful. I was lucky to be able to dodge the 3 or 4 large tour groups that came through while I was there and spend some time contemplating and photographing the mosaics. Flash is of course not allowed, so some of my pictures did not come out well, but I will upload a sample of the ones that did. If one really wanted to spend some time contemplating the mosaics, it would be advisable to arrive at 9 sharp, when the museum opens; it is enough out of the way that the big groups probably don't show up until close to ten.

I had spent all the time I wanted in the church, and it wasn't even two, so I decided to make my way back to the old city area and visit the one additional place I had missed before that I wanted to see, the mosaic tile or palace floor museum. This museum, which actually runs under the street of an ancient shopping arcade, displays tile mosaics dating from as early as the era of the Emperor Constantine, who founded Constantinople and built the first palace on this site; it was expaned and added to over the century, and the floors were covered with beautiful mosaics. I took several pictures and will upload some of the best.

Finished with touring, I bought some roasted chestnuts and sat on the grass in the hippodrome area, watching the tourists and watching and listening to a marching band of some sort that came through the area. Eventually I got on the tram and headed back toward home, stopping along the way to get a haircut (that came with a very nice head, neck, and shoulder massage, all for 20 TL, about $13.) He even trimmed hairs from my ears and nose - something I've never experienced at a barber before! I went back to what has become my favorite Turkish restaurant; this time I ordered chicken wings. They were excellent; the guy who knows some English and usually helps me order was not there though, so I ended up with a tomato and cucumber salad rather than the mixed salad I've had before - still very good. The bill this time was 13.5 lira, about $9. It is interesting that the meal I enjoyed least was the most expensive by a large margin.

Sunday I am spending mostly resting and packing for the flight to London. I started booking train reservations in England but discovered two things: You save a lot by booking ahead; the farther ahead the more you save, and there is a senior discount card worth savings of about 1/3, but it is available to international travelers only in person. So I booked trains to and from Stratford upon Avon but will wait to book tickets into London and back until I can get the discount card on Monday. It is a relaxing day, a chance to upload my final photos from Turkey and maybe get a few hours writing done.

This unplanned extra week in Istanbul was a bit stressful at first, just because of the change in plans, but it turned out to be quite pleasant. I had some rest days, got some work done, and saw some historic sites I would have missed otherwise. I enjoyed my three weeks in Turkey, much more because of Aybuke's generous hospitality. It would be pleasant to return later in the spring and spend more time in rural areas to the south and east.