On the Banks of the Mighty Bosphorus

Katy and I made it to Turkey just fine!  An overnight flight to Paris (in “Premium Voyageur” on Air France), an easy, quick connection in Paris, and we were in Istanbul Saturday evening, where a driver took us to the hotel.  Our hotel is in Sultanamet in the thick of (tourist) things, so we set out for some evening adventures.  In the old city of Istanbul, which is roughly the part that used to be Constantinople (Constantinopopolis, according to the driver), things are squished onto a peninsula that is bounded by the Sea of Marmara to the south, the Golden Horn (like a skinny harbor) to the north, and the mouth of the Bosphorus straits proper on the east.  The western frontier of the city was defended by the famous walls (still standing, mostly) that were breached with a titanic gun when the place got the works.  We saw the walls, this time, is basically my point.  They are huge.  I cannot properly imagine a gun that could even dent them.

Setting out from the hotel, pretty near the end of this peninsula, we were immediately confronted by three things.  First, a cat.  Katy said, “I sure hope we see a cat every day on this trip.”  I said, “I don’t think that’s gonna happ… look, a cat.”  There are a lot of cats.  Second, we saw the Famous (according to the Lonely Planet) Kefta restaurant near our hotel.  Third, we saw the Aya Sophia, a monument amongst monuments.  That building is huge.  It was built in the 6^th century CE, when Constantinople was being run by the costar of Prince Valiant, Emperor Justinian I.  He was the last of what might be called the real Roman emperors, in that he very nearly succeeded in making the Mediterranean sea a pond, controlled on all shores by Rome… Byzantium… whatever.  Aya Sophia is toe-to-toe with another building of truly epic proportions, the Blue Mosque.  This was built by the Ottoman sultan in the early 17^th century to rival Sophia in size and beauty.  It does this.  You’ll have to decide for yourself which one won in the long run.  It is a close one.  It turns out that at night you can go into the Blue Mosque at will, as long as it isn’t a prayer hour.  So we did that.  From our previous trip to Istanbul, 11 years ago, we remembered it being beautiful, stunning, but our memories were pretty pathetic, considering that it is IMMODESTLY BEAUTIFUL, LITERALLY STUNNING.  Scarce to be believed.

A cat

Aya Sophia

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

We tired out, of course, and after our spicy kefta, we retired to the hotel bar, which has a bird’s eye view of Sophia.  No kidding.  Turkish wine and “Turkish Liqueur.”  What is Turkish Liqueur?  Well it tastes like almonds.  Not like sweet with a splash of Kroger brand almond flavor, but like really fresh, really intense almonds.  Good stuff.  Sleep.