April 8, Topkapi Palace

Thursday, April 8.

One useful thing I didn't mention from Tuesday: I stopped by a tourist office, picked up a better map (free) than the ones we had paid for, and asked about the little multiple fare gadget Aybuke was using, similar to the fare card they use in Tokyo. It's called an akbil, and the lady also told me where I could pick one up - that has greatly expedited subsequent mass transit use. I also discovered, with the help of the tourist info person and the map, that there is a very convenient tram / light rail line that passes most of the major museum attractions and ends just below Taksim, at a funicular that takes you right to Taksim station; no need for taxis. (Although you have to pay a fare, 1.5 TL or about 90 cents US, for each leg, so it totals to a bit uner $3 anyway.)

Yesterday I awoke to fairly heavy, steady rain and decided it would be a good time to catch up on my blog and photo-blog; took all day and I'm still not done. I new I was behind. About mid-afternoon the rain quit, so I walked over to the mall again, picked up some lettuce, tomatoes, cereal, frozen peas, etc. for dinner. I also wanted a bit of butter, but none of the packaging looked at all familiar so I gave up on it. I picked up a spitted chicken on the way home, and had a fairly good meal, although the chicken was much blander than I expected - only after I had finished did I find the packet of season-it-yourself seasoning in the bottom of the bag! Today on the way home, having ascertained that Aybuke does have a corkscrew (the wonders of screw-top wine bottles have not penetrated this market yet, alas) I also picked up a bottle of inexpensive red wine and a bottle of milk, since what Aybuke left was about gone.

Having worked out the route to the Topkapi palace, I found my way there quite easily - it took only a bit over an hour, so I was there well before 8:30, when I thought it opened; since it actually didn't open until 9, I had plenty of time to sit around enjoying the park in front of the palace gates. The palace was certainly interesting, although it was quite expensive (20 TL for entry plus a separate 15 TL for entry into the harem - and in my opinion, seeing the palace without seeing the harem would be almost pointless - total 35 TL, about $20 US). About half the halls were closed, possibly for renovation; the entire palace took about 3 hours, and I don't think I'd want to have missed it. After finishing that, I decided just to pick up one of the little twisted bread donut shaped rolls they sell on street corners for a quick lunch, then went back to look at parts of the archaeological museum I had skipped over so lightly the first time. I spent another two very worthwhie hours there as well.

One of the disappointments for me about Istanbul is how little is left of the legacy of 1000 years of the Eastern Roman Empire - in keeping with the practice of conquerers more or less everywhere, the Ottoman's obliterated or built over most of the Roman palaces and other buildings, converted the churches to mosques, etc. That is partially compensated by an excellent exhibit in the museum on the Byzantine era - they also have an excellent historical exhibit on Troy (which, after reading more about the site, I don'tt hink I will visit after all) and exhibits on several of the other ancient civilizations of the region. Of particular interest is their rather large sarcaphogus collection. Some or rather ordinary but many of them have quite fine bas relief sculptures on every side.

The weather had turned quite nice by the time I left the museum and I was a bit hungry. I didn't want to sit down to a large lunch - I wasn't that hungry - and hoped to find one of the street vendors (or sidewalk shops) that sell meat or cheese-filled pastires; one of those plus an orange juice would do it just fine. Unfortunately, the tourist area near the Ave Sophia (or Hagia Sophia) and Topkapi has many more expensive sit-down places (and a few less expensive sit-down places) but the kind of place was not much inevidence. As I walked out of the palace gate, scanning the street for the kind of Turkish fast-food shop I sought, I must have looked lost and confused, because I was immediately approached by an ultra-friendly completely fluent in English, guy who asked friendly questions about where I was from, offered the information that he has a friend in Spokane,, told me he owns a shop nearby and would like to give me his card (by now I was recognizing the routine), etc. When we got there (a carpet and leather goods shop) he introduced me to his "partner," then quietly disappeared - no doubt going back to cast his line into the tourist stream again. After the "partner" tried desperately to convince me that I could certainly buy at least one carpet, they're much more expensive than in Portland etc., I had a coughing fit and he gave me some quite good apple tea, but even as I was trying to stop coughinb, he just would not let up. Exasperated, I finally told him, "Yes, I could buy two or three carpets if I wanted. But I'm not going to." The oily smile finally vanished from his face and I got up and left, even though he half-heartedly tried to get me to look at the leather jackets. I think the shop was probably legit, although given its tourist district location, and the obvious reliance on touts, I expect it is rather overpriced.

On the way home, I \stopped at a smaller grocery store to pick up some milk (the Profilo shopping mall has a security check at the entry, which is rather a hassle). I picked up what I thought was milk, even though the smallest jug they had was 2 liter, for about $2 US, stopped in at a bakery to pick up some Turkish sweets for dessert, and went on home. The next morning, after I had poured it over a full bowl of bananas and cereal, I discovered that it is definitely not milk. I think it is probably whey. (I asked Aybuke about it and she said it is probably a very popular Turkish drink, unsweetened yoghurt mixed with salt and water.) In any event, after gagging down a couple spoons full I realized I would be sick if I tried to eat much of it, dumped it out, and made as good a breakfast as I could on what little was left of the cereal plus a banana and a cut-up orange. As I was thinking about it I realized that I could have found the Turkish words for both milk and butter on the web, had I thought to look in advance.

Friday, April 9.