Nothing organized was planned for May 15th. We started the day slowly… lots of walking has worn us out.
The Sirkeci Mansion hotel has just been lovely. Facilities, location and service was outstanding.
We headed over to the famous Grand Bazaar. It’s a covered mall with vendors grouped together somewhat – jewelry, textiles, antiques etc. We didn’t go with a plan to buy anything other than a magnet and tshirt for Les. The place was not very crowded and I wondered how these vendors make a living. Some shops post a guy out front to try and start a conversation with you. But there are many good shops with quality merchandise that don’t hassle and they don’t haggle on prices much.
Bill and I ended up in an antique copper and brass shop. If any of you have seen our house you know they had us when we walked in the door. They had a very specialized collection with each piece catalogued by origin and age and explanation of inscriptions. We bought an old copper plate that is about 100 years old from the Cappadoccia area. It has the owners name inscribed. He had plates and bowls from 1600 and 1700s at far more than we wanted to spend.
We followed our tracks from the previous day with our guide to make our way to the waterfront area by the Bosphorus. There we split up – Barb and Les to take tram back towards the hotel and Bill and I to walk to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch to take a peek in their church.
We walked along the parks on the water and through some lively working class neighborhoods with not a tourist in sight. Some of the old buildings from 1600 to 1700s were in rough shape. The old villages in Greece had very similar architecture but have been much better maintained.
From our path along the water we spotted what we thought was the church high up on the hill. So up we went. What a hike on a very steep road through the former Greek neighborhood of Fenner which is now dilapidated. And up we went, seeing no signs for the Patriarch. The building was shuttered and fenced.
What we did find was a little Iran, a very conservative Muslim neighborhood surrounding the Sultan Selim mosque, a religious school and complex. Most of the women were in full burkas with just their eyes uncovered.
Finally found the Patriarch down near the water where we had started our hike. It was a pretty church surrounded by Turkish neighborhoods, but actually quite disappointing compared to the churches we saw in Greece. I wondered why they don’t move to Greece where they would be welcomed. History… a friend told me that moving the Patriarch would admit that the Byzantine Empire had been conquered by the Ottomans!
We had made plans to visit with Charis again but this time in her neighborhood (Kadikoy) on the Asian side. Bill and I took the ferry across – a short ride during golden hour when the sun is setting and colors are beautiful. The previous day had been hazy when we were on the water.
We had made plans to meet a statue of a bull up the hill. When we arrived the spot was full of people as a peaceful protest was in progress with mostly young people who are angry at the government about a very serious coal mining accident where almost 400 people have died. The accident and the protests have made international news.
We met up with Charis and walked to a restaurant. When we were almost done with dinner in the courtyard our eyes and throats started burning. I thought it was cigarettes, naive me. Everyone crowded into the inside of the restaurant and found out it was tear gas that had wafted from the protest site.
It took a while for the gas to disperse to be able to go outside and to find a cab home since much of the public transportation from the Asian side was stopped. Made it home fine and things were very quiet in the Old Town. Though we heard a few days later from some other tourists that there were incidents in Taksim Square and on Istikal Street that night as well.