Istanbul is a very cool town. Shannon and I did not know when we left that it would be such a great place to visit. There are excellent ancient sites to visit, great museums, along with tasty food and drink. The city itself is really nice too, existing on both sides of the Bosporus River it sits in both Europe and Asia. The city is clean, organized and easy to navigate on foot. The primary difference between Istanbul and any other European city is that instead of Churches, the city is spotted with Mosques. The only other predominately Muslim city Shannon and I have visited is Cairo and they seems worlds apart as far as culture, wealth and progressiveness. Istanbul has the Muslim call to prayer 5 times a day but few women cover their heads on the street and alcohol is available in almost every restaurant. In fact starting in the 4th century AD, the city was the Christian capital of the Roman Empire and it remained Christian until 1453 when Sultan Mehmet II conquered the city.
Shannon and I had a rocky start to our Turkish adventure because flight delays all of our bags did not make it with us to Istanbul and we arrived very late. We did not arrive at the hotel until after 1am and we were informed that the only room left was the penthouse suite so they gave it to us at no extra charge. So our room had wrap around windows along its own Jacuzzi and sauna. However the coolest part was the view. From our balcony we had an unimpeded view of the Hagia Sophia, the Golden Horn Waterway, Topkapı Palace, and the Blue Mosque. I don’t know if another hotel could have had a better view. The Hagia Sophia is a huge building and took up almost our entire window to the South.
On our first day in Istanbul we headed over to the Topkapı Palace which was the residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years. Today much of the Palace has been turned into museums holding art collections, artifacts and treasure. The Palace is a huge, walled complex that contains many courtyards and mosques. First we toured the Harem, which is a section of the palace with over 400 rooms and served as the home of the Sultan with his wives, family and concubines. We viewed ceramic collections, the imperial library, the armory, and portrait gallery. 
The highlight of the artifacts was the Chamber of Sacred Relics which houses what are considered to be "the most sacred relics of the Muslim world." Some of the artifacts on display include the swords of the first four Caliphs the turban of Joseph, the forearm and the hand of St. John the Baptist, a piece of the Kaaba (the most sacred site in Islam), and a carpet of the daughter of Mohammad. They also have a casting of Muhammad’s footprint, along with his cloak and sword. However the relic Shannon and I were most intrigued by was the “Staff of Moses”. Let me just say it looks nothing like what Charlton Heston wielded in The Ten Commandments and looks more like a stick. The plaque next to the “Staff” has a description suggesting that it may not be the actual staff. I guess we’ll never know. However these artifacts are considered one of the greatest collections in the world. In fact they are considered so sacred that at one point even the Sultan and his family were permitted entrance to the chamber only once a year. Today the site is open to the public every day and is a pilgrimage destination for Muslims around the world.
Another surprise was that 2009 was the “Turkey-Iran Culture Year.” In the spirit of the theme, Topkapi Palace hosted a special exhibit called "Ten Thousand Years of Iran's Civilization, Two Thousand Years of Common Heritage” which featured Persian art and artifacts on loan from the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was a great collection and one that we may not have the opportunity to see again for a while.
We could have spent days at the Topkapi Palace but there were more sites to see. Next we headed over to the Hagia Sophia and where we hired a guide to show us around and give us the inside scoop. The Hagia Sophia is very cool. Emperor Justinian had it built with the aim of creating the largest and most majestic structure in the world. The Basilica was completed in 537 and in fact remained largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Meshed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. They removed the Christian symbols and plastered over the murals while adding Islamic features such as the four minarets outside. Today the building is a secular museum, in 1935 the first Turkish President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk believed that the building should belong to the world and ordered the carpets removed to expose the marble floor and other decorations appeared for the first time in centuries, also the plaster covering many of the mosaics was removed. What remains today is an interesting mix of Islamic and Christian art and symbols. All interior surfaces are covered in marbles, green, white and purple, along with gold mosaics. It is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen.
From there we headed to the Basilica Cistern. The Cistern was originally built by Emperor Constantine and then later enlarged by the Emperor Justinian and was used to provide water to the city. The cistern is underneath modern Istanbul and the ceiling is supported by 336 marble columns. The cistern is 105,000 sq feet in area and capable of holding 2,800,000 cubic feet of water. Interestingly, despite is immense size the Cistern was “forgotten about” for hundreds of years. Petrus Gyllius, a Dutch scholar, while doing some architecture research in Istanbul noticed that some residents were fishing through holes in their basement floors and went in search of a stream or natural spring under the city. What he found was a surprise even to Istanbul city officials. The cistern is fed by aqueducts which bring water in from 12 miles north of the city. It used to be full to the top, but today they keep the level low so people can walk around on raised platforms.
The next day Shannon and I visited the Blue Mosque. The Mosque was built in the 17th century and intended to “rival and even surpass the nearby Hagia Sophia in grandeur and beauty.” Although the Mosque is decidedly (not just by me) not as impressive as the Hagia Sophia, it and interesting combination of themes from the nearby Hagia Sophia and traditional Islamic architecture. It is considered the last great mosque of the classical period and one of the great mosques of the world. The interior of the mosque is covered with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles and has 200 stained glass windows.
After the Blue Mosque, Shannon and I took a boat ride across the Bosporus to the Asian side of the city. There is not much to report from the Asian side, it mostly served to give us some different views of the city and allow us to get some lunch.
After our Asian adventure we headed over to the Istanbul Archeology Museum. The museum was established in 1891 and houses over one million objects that represent almost all of the eras and civilizations in world history. One of the most famous artifacts is the Alexander Sarcophagus, believed to be prepared for Alexander the Great, but he is in fact in Alexandria, Egypt. The museum contains many other Sarcophagi, Greek and Roman statues, Glazed tile images removed from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, and an exhibit dedicated to Trojan artifacts.
My favorite part of the museum was the Tablet archive which contains 75,000 documents. They had everything from political treaties to marriage and divorce contracts. Among the collection included the oldest surviving political treaty- the Kadesh Treaty drawn up in the 13th century BC ending a war between the Egyptians and Hittites. (quick fact: An enlarged replica of the Kadesh agreement hangs on a wall at the headquarters of the United Nations because it is earliest international peace treaty known to historians.) There are also clay tablets bearing Hammurabi's famous law code written in cuneiform (earliest known writing system in the world).
The next day was our last day and we only had the morning to do more exploring. We went first to the Spice Bazaar. The spice bazaar is the second largest bazaar in Istanbul and was constructed in 1660. Shannon bought assorted spices, herbs and tea to take back with us.
Next we went to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar can be a little overwhelming for many reasons. To begin with it’s huge with 4000 shops and miles of streets it is one of the largest covered markets in the world. It is also crowded with between 250,000 and 400,000 people visiting every day. Also I think you can buy anything there- seriously probably anything. In addition to all the shops, the market has mosques, banks, police stations, restaurants and workshops. It was crowded, loud, colorful and very interesting.
We ate well in Istanbul, the exchange rate between the Dollar and the Turkish Lira favours us so we could eat at nice restaurants each night. Turkey doesn't seem to care for vegetables much so we ended up eating a lot of beef and goat. For lunch we would find kebab places all of which served excellent kebabs or wraps for very cheap. We also drank a lot of tea, the Turkish tea is black tea from the black sea coast and is by putting loose tea leaves in boiling water. The tea is therefore very strong and served in small glasses. We also tried the hookah one night with some flavoured tobacco, it was fun although we both agree that Egyptians do a much better hookah.
Another surprise was that 2009 was the “Turkey-Iran Culture Year.” In the spirit of the theme, Topkapi Palace hosted a special exhibit called "Ten Thousand Years of Iran's Civilization, Two Thousand Years of Common Heritage” which featured Persian art and artifacts on loan from the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was a great collection and one that we may not have the opportunity to see again for a while.
We could have spent days at the Topkapi Palace but there were more sites to see. Next we headed over to the Hagia Sophia and where we hired a guide to show us around and give us the inside scoop. The Hagia Sophia is very cool. Emperor Justinian had it built with the aim of creating the largest and most majestic structure in the world. The Basilica was completed in 537 and in fact remained largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Meshed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. They removed the Christian symbols and plastered over the murals while adding Islamic features such as the four minarets outside. Today the building is a secular museum, in 1935 the first Turkish President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk believed that the building should belong to the world and ordered the carpets removed to expose the marble floor and other decorations appeared for the first time in centuries, also the plaster covering many of the mosaics was removed. What remains today is an interesting mix of Islamic and Christian art and symbols. All interior surfaces are covered in marbles, green, white and purple, along with gold mosaics. It is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen.
From there we headed to the Basilica Cistern. The Cistern was originally built by Emperor Constantine and then later enlarged by the Emperor Justinian and was used to provide water to the city. The cistern is underneath modern Istanbul and the ceiling is supported by 336 marble columns. The cistern is 105,000 sq feet in area and capable of holding 2,800,000 cubic feet of water. Interestingly, despite is immense size the Cistern was “forgotten about” for hundreds of years. Petrus Gyllius, a Dutch scholar, while doing some architecture research in Istanbul noticed that some residents were fishing through holes in their basement floors and went in search of a stream or natural spring under the city. What he found was a surprise even to Istanbul city officials. The cistern is fed by aqueducts which bring water in from 12 miles north of the city. It used to be full to the top, but today they keep the level low so people can walk around on raised platforms.
The next day Shannon and I visited the Blue Mosque. The Mosque was built in the 17th century and intended to “rival and even surpass the nearby Hagia Sophia in grandeur and beauty.” Although the Mosque is decidedly (not just by me) not as impressive as the Hagia Sophia, it and interesting combination of themes from the nearby Hagia Sophia and traditional Islamic architecture. It is considered the last great mosque of the classical period and one of the great mosques of the world. The interior of the mosque is covered with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles and has 200 stained glass windows.
After the Blue Mosque, Shannon and I took a boat ride across the Bosporus to the Asian side of the city. There is not much to report from the Asian side, it mostly served to give us some different views of the city and allow us to get some lunch.
After our Asian adventure we headed over to the Istanbul Archeology Museum. The museum was established in 1891 and houses over one million objects that represent almost all of the eras and civilizations in world history. One of the most famous artifacts is the Alexander Sarcophagus, believed to be prepared for Alexander the Great, but he is in fact in Alexandria, Egypt. The museum contains many other Sarcophagi, Greek and Roman statues, Glazed tile images removed from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, and an exhibit dedicated to Trojan artifacts.
My favorite part of the museum was the Tablet archive which contains 75,000 documents. They had everything from political treaties to marriage and divorce contracts. Among the collection included the oldest surviving political treaty- the Kadesh Treaty drawn up in the 13th century BC ending a war between the Egyptians and Hittites. (quick fact: An enlarged replica of the Kadesh agreement hangs on a wall at the headquarters of the United Nations because it is earliest international peace treaty known to historians.) There are also clay tablets bearing Hammurabi's famous law code written in cuneiform (earliest known writing system in the world).
The next day was our last day and we only had the morning to do more exploring. We went first to the Spice Bazaar. The spice bazaar is the second largest bazaar in Istanbul and was constructed in 1660. Shannon bought assorted spices, herbs and tea to take back with us.
Next we went to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar can be a little overwhelming for many reasons. To begin with it’s huge with 4000 shops and miles of streets it is one of the largest covered markets in the world. It is also crowded with between 250,000 and 400,000 people visiting every day. Also I think you can buy anything there- seriously probably anything. In addition to all the shops, the market has mosques, banks, police stations, restaurants and workshops. It was crowded, loud, colorful and very interesting.
We ate well in Istanbul, the exchange rate between the Dollar and the Turkish Lira favours us so we could eat at nice restaurants each night. Turkey doesn't seem to care for vegetables much so we ended up eating a lot of beef and goat. For lunch we would find kebab places all of which served excellent kebabs or wraps for very cheap. We also drank a lot of tea, the Turkish tea is black tea from the black sea coast and is by putting loose tea leaves in boiling water. The tea is therefore very strong and served in small glasses. We also tried the hookah one night with some flavoured tobacco, it was fun although we both agree that Egyptians do a much better hookah.
