Sultans of Swing

Blue Mosque
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By Grayson

We arrived in Istanbul on the 9^th of November. The next day, we started out by going to the Blue Mosque. We were going to go first to the Aya Sofia, but a Turkish carpet salesman told us that the Blue Mosque closed at 11 for prayers. There are a lot of haggling shopkeepers all over Istanbul. They say, “You have been looking for my shop?” and we reply, “No thank you. We already bought a carpet” or, “No thank you, we already bought lunch”. Many of these sellers are actually very nice, and just want to do business. I think of them as businessmen who are not rich. They wear ties, but own carpet shops, not fancy companies. But what do I know?

Aya Sofia
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The Blue Mosque is a giant mosque with six “yeller-outers” (minarets). Altogether, it has twelve domes and it reminds me of the Duomo in Florence. Inside, four elephant columns (giant columns) hold up the place. In each dome, there is Arabic writing, beautiful Iznik tiling, and gold leafing. The place reminds me of a palace. After awhile, a special ceremony (we think) happened and a lot of men (no women) started praying. They would sing out prayers in Arabic, which, of course I cannot understand. It was very soothing.

The Harem at Topkapi Palace
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The Aya Sofia is across the way from the Blue Mosque. It is a little less pretty, but still magnificent. It was built in the 6^th Century, 1000 years before the Blue Mosque was built, as a church by Roman Emperor Justinian. In 1453, Mehmet the Conquerer captured Istanbul (known as Constantinople at the time) and made the church into a mosque. Instead of tearing down the place, they preserved the magnificent mosaics on the walls by covering them with plaster. Today, tourists thank the Ottomans for not hurting the church/mosque. We learned all of that from our historian (dad).

Enjoying corn on the cob
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When we were inside the church/mosque (now a museum), we found a column with a hole in it. It is called the Weeping Column. Supposedly, if you put your finger in the hole and it comes out wet, all of your ailments will be cured. Dang, it didn’t come out wet for me!

We went upstairs after a hard search for the stairs and looked at the more than 1000 year old mosaics. One of the mosaics showed Empress Zoe. We especially wanted to find that one because rumor has it that Empress Zoe stayed in our hotel, coincidentally named the Empress Zoe. We walked down the stairs and out the museum. The busy streets were crowded with tourists and locals. I thought it was very different from the other parts of Turkey we have seen because most of the women did not have head scarves and there were more hippies.

The Topkapi Palace, which we went to the next day, is huge. It was much bigger than I had expected. We walked through the Imperial Gate, which was huge as well, and down through the courtyard. The harem is a place where the lady-friends of the sultans hung out. Some sultans had over 250 of these lady-friends, or concubines. I thought that was a little much. On the ground were pebbled walkways which reminded me of Lindos, on the Greek island of Rhodes. The ones at the Topkapi Palace were a little less fancy, though. The tiles that surrounded the walls were very ornate, or whoopydewhoop. (Ed. Note: Miss Erker, is that a vanilla or a chocolate word, or a Cherry Garcia word??) I thought that it was a little funny the way they made everything so oooh-la-la. (Ed. Note: ditto.) We then went to the Treasury, which had an amazing collection of Ottoman Empire stuff. They had stuff from huge thrones to swords, but my favorite was Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror’s throne. It was made out of solid gold with a huge 86 carat diamond in the center, with rubies and emeralds dotting the edges. I wish that was my throne! Then, I could rule over Abby. I thought in all the Topkapi Palace was a huge success.

The Turkish people are a tiny bit less rich than the Italians and the French. They are about a 6 in richness, on a scale of 1 to 10. Altogether they remind me a lot of the Greeks. My favorite thing in Turkey has been the fish. There are so many fishermen on the Galata Bridge spanning the Golden Horn in Istanbul, that it seems like the fish would all run out. But, since the Golden Horn is an estuary (where salt water and fresh water meet), there are tons of fish. Overall, the only Turkish food I like a lot is the fish. Everything else is shish-this and kofte-that. Also, the food is very greasy. I am very glad that I came to Turkey, but I like Greece a little more, because the food is better and the people don’t grab me and smooch me, and pinch my cheeks.