Cold and Rainy Istanbul

Posted: Jan 10 5:30pm

Jan 2nd 7:15pm Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey

“Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else." — Lawrence Block

I arrived at the airport quite early this evening for my 11pm flight to Baku. It was cold and rainy in Istanbul today, and I had a hard time shaking the chill, even in coffee shops and museums. The day started off with a bang as I explored Topkapi palace, where sultans, viziers and concubines lived for centuries. I started off visiting the Harem, and while it was beautifully tiled with amazing ceilings and decorations, etc., I just couldn’t help shaking the feeling that there was something very, very wrong about this place. My little Lonely Planet guidebook mentions one sultan, who was rumored to put all 280 of his concubines into bags and throw them into the Bospherous when he tired of them. WHAT?!? Somehow I couldn’t appreciate the humor of this, and was disturbed on a basic level. These women were trapped in this Harem that I paid admission to visit . . . kept there as slaves. *Shiver.*
On a happier note, I then visited the royal treasury where I got to see the Prophet David’s sword, Prophet John’s skull, a number of things that Mohammed touched or owned at one point, and . . . wait for it . . . the very rod that Moses used to part the Red Sea in 12th century BC. It was in surprisingly good shape for a wooden rod that was used extensively 32 centuries ago. :-)


Eventually I was too tired and cold to continue in Topkapi (which was not heated) and I walked up the tram street to find the restaurant I had been recommended for lunch. I had donor kebab on rice pilaf, which was very yummy (and some Turkish tea to try and warm up). Then I walked up to the Grand Bazaar, and strolled around, although to be honest, it was really a bit much. If you’re in the mood to buy carpets, jewelry, or leather goods, its probably an ideal place for you. The mix of tourists, salesmen, and wet & cold Anna was not ideal, and I left to walk back down the tram road.

At this point I found a coffee shop, ordered a cappuccino and sat and read my novel for over an hour. It was lovely.

As I grew tired of sitting and reading in public, I remembered that there was a museum that I had not visited – the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. It had not even been mentioned by Lonely Planet, so I thought it might serve as an interesting cultural detour. At the time anything heated and indoors was sounding pretty good. The museum had a vast array of ancient and falling apart carpets, in addition to many half-destroyed doors, tablets, and various forms of older “art.” I was not terribly impressed, but on my way out I discovered that in the corner there was an “anthropology” wing, so I made a detour. It was an exhibition devoted to portraying the life of regular people throughout time in Turkey. It had real-life size exhibits of the different kinds of housing, clothing, looms, work tools, etc., that would have been used by different groups. There was a section describing the different kinds of herbs and flowers used to create the natural dyes for the carpets. I very much enjoyed this section, and it made the museum trip well worth it.

I walked slowly back to the guesthouse, stopping to buy some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. I had a lovely last chat with my host and he called a taxi for me to head to the airport.

On to Baku!