Top with Crocheted Sleeves

I started this top over a year ago.  It is from Nashua Handknits, The North American Designer Collection No. 8.  I finished up the easy part ages ago and it has been languishing in my unfinished pile waiting for me to tackle the crochet part.  I modified the pattern to knit the body in the round (anything to avoid finishing work - that is one of the wonderful thing about lace shawls, almost no finishing) but now I have to figure out how to do the crochet, and while I am an advanced knitter, my crochet skills are still very much at the beginner level.  But I will figure it out, never fear.  I pulled out the pattern instructions today and was looking through them.  The next step was to block the body, so I wove in the ends and the body is blocking.  Once that is done, I'll start the crochet.

I was thinking about my trip and Turkey and I realized that I never mentioned the guide we had in Istanbul.  She was delightful, her name is Gulden.  I think because we only had three days there, and only two of them were really spent with her we didn't get to know her that well.  But she was an excellent guide, and a lot of fun.  Bruce and would like to go back and see more of Turkey, and Smithsonian Journeys offers some great tours there.  Who knows, maybe we'll see her again.

A Walk Through Istanbul

Oct 16 - Our last day in Istanbul and the rain has finally stopped.  We slept in a little this morning and, after packing our luggage and checking out of the hotel, we decided to talk a little walk around the city.  We left our luggage with the front desk and sallied forth.  Making our way across the Tacsim square (always challenging with Istanbul traffic) we started down the pedestrian way.  This is a broad street that is supposed to be closed to traffic, although we did see the occasional car.  It seems that the drivers in Istanbul will do whatever they can get away with.  We also saw a large number of police, some of them in riot gear.  We learned later on that there are frequent demonstrations in that area and that they sometimes get out of hand.

We ambled down towards the water and I bought a dough wad with some black seeds on it to munch on while we ambled - having missed the complimentary breakfast in the hotel.  Our first stop of the day was at the Galata tower.

It is 196 feet tall and dates from the 6th century, when it was used to monitor shipping on the Golden Horn and Bosphorus.  You can go up into the tower to see the view, but the line was longer than we wanted to wait so we continued heading downward toward the water.  Where we were walking there was no direct route down, but I found it very easy to figure out which way to go, mostly because to get to the water you have to go downhill.  After a steep and winding walk we found our way to the Galata Bridge.  The Galata Bridge has two levels.  The top is for cars and fishermen.  The bottom is full of restaurants, most of which specialize in fresh sea food.  There is a break in the middle to allow for shipping traffic, of which there is a great deal.

This is the view from the midpoint, looking towards the Asian side.  That is the New Mosque to the left of the bridge.  We mostly just wanted to walk and enjoy the views but the waiters from the restaurants kept harassing us and trying to get us to stop and eat, offering us special deals and free drinks and free service (as in no tip).  I did spot this restaurant, it was so wonderfully retro, I just had to take a picture.

We also spotted these delightful little boats.  I presume that they take people out for a tour on the Bosphorus, although given the traffic and the waves, I would rather be in something a little larger.

And a tall ship - I have a real weakness for tall ships.  You can also see some of the large commuter ferries that ply the waterway.  The freighters are only allowed passage at night, after the ferry traffic is done for the day.  They all wait in the Sea of Marmara until they can go, and then they can only go one at a time because the currents are so treacherous.  I tried to get a picture of the waiting ships, but it was too hazy to get a good shot.

 

After getting our fill of the sights we proceeded to the bridge terminus to get transport back up the hill.  It really is not a hill that you want to walk up, trust me.  In the underground we spotted this little shop.

 

We took the tram to Kabatos and the Funicular up to Tacsim Square.  We then wandered a little until we found a little restaurant - The Peripetie - and had a late lunch of kabob (lamb and chicken) and I fed one of the many cats that inhabit the city.  We ended our lunch with some Turkish Tea.

A Cruise on the Bosphorus

We began our day with a trip to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.  On the walk to the museum we spotted a real fixer-upper.  This is very common in Istanbul, which is a vibrant modern city built upon ancient bones.

The museum is located in the former palace of the Ibrahim Pasha (c. 1493-1536).  This was a nice change of pace because it wasn't mobbed by tourists.  Unlike the Topkapi Museum these exhibits were not so gaudy.  But like the Topkapi Museum there really wasn't a lot of information about what we were seeing - only the bare minimum of facts.

This is part of the courtyard of the palace.

Our next stop was the Grand Bazaar, which is a vast labyrinthine covered market place with 21 gates and something like 4000 shops.  Everywhere that we went were these gentlemen carrying silver trays suspended on chains that held tea.  I didn't really understand what was going on with the tea until we were pulled into a shawl shop by an earnest vendor.  He was eager to make a sale and offered us tea and seats.  Bruce didn't want to accept at first but having been in another shop where we were offered the same thing I accepted.  It seemed to me that this was how they did business.  We had apple tea, which was delicious, and the shop keeper started pulling out beautiful shawls of cashmere and silk.  We did end up buying three after bargaining him down to what we thought was a reasonable price.

After the Grand Bazaar we made our way to the Spice Market.  Originally this market only sold spices, but now it sells a lot of other wares.  It only has about 800 shops and is shaped like an L.  Bruce and I were pretty much shopped out, so we just cruised through and walked around outside.  The Spice Market is located on the water next to the New Mosque.

One of the things that caught my eye at the front of the mosque was the plethora of pigeons roosting all along the top of the wall and just about any other surface they could land on.

After a quick lunch in a nearby restaurant where we had Turkish pizza (with sheep cheese and sausage, the pizza was boat shaped and had a thin crust that was folded over to form the edge crust - quite tasty) we headed for the water and our cruise up and down the Bosphorus.  The Bosphorus connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.  A current runs on the surface from the Black Sea, and another current runs in the reverse direction about 30 meters beneath the surface.  There are no tides.  The water is a dark green, similar to the color of glass in the old coke bottles.

The cruise was a wonderful way to see the city.  We traveled north along the European side and south along the Asian side.  Just before the northern most point of our trip is the Castle of Europe, which was built by Mehmet II in 1452 as a prelude to his invasion of Constantinople.  The ruins of this castle are quite extensive.

On the other side is the Fortress of Asia.  It is 50 years older than the Fortress of Europe and was built by Beyazit I just before the failed Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1396-7.  There is not as much left of it.

The Asian side is not as built up as the European side and has more private residences, where the European side has more palaces.  At many places on the European side it is so built up that you can no longer see the landscape.  All you see is a bewildering mass of buildings that seem to be growing like barnacles onto the sides of hills that were once green with forests but on which no trees remain.  As we were cruising back to the dock I spotted this fuchsia house on the Asian side and just had to take a picture.

Once back on dry land we headed to Ortakoy, which we actually cruised past.  This is a place with lots of shops and cafes and it would have been mobbed if the weather had been nice.  As it was raining it was practically deserted.  Bruce and I weren't interested in shopping so we settled in a cafe on the water and he had Irish Coffee while I had Turkish Tea and we shared a piece of cheesecake topped with chocolate.  Then we returned to our hotel, where we once again enjoyed a soak in our Jacuzzi (each room has one).

Out of the Studio and On Vacation

So, about a year ago I'm looking at an email from Smithsonian Journeys for a trip to Jordan and I click the link to check out the itinerary and notice that the trip is going to Petra, a place that Bruce and I have always wanted to see.  I look at the dates and realize that the tour arrives in Petra on my birthday.  So I explain all of this to Bruce and he says to me, "well, I guess we better go."  And thus began our plans for our first vacation together.  Fast forward a year, and here we are, in Istanbul, Turkey, taking part in a pre-excursion package offered by the tour.  Three days and four nights in Istanbul.

We departed from the US on Oct 12, and arrived in Istanbul on Oct 13.  The international plane trip was not as bad as I thought it would be, even in coach.  We flew Turkish Airlines.  Once the flight took off they handed out these little bags of useful things:  earplugs, an eyemask, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste and lip balm.  Then they fed us dinner and turned out the lights.  A few hours before we landed they brought the lights back up (slowly) and fed us breakfast.  It was overcast when we arrived, and the trip to the hotel was a dark blur of heavy traffic.

We are staying at the Central Palace Hotel off of the Tacsim Square.  We dined somewhat late at the Haci Baba restaurant, within walking distance of the hotel.  The street the hotel is on is narrow and cobbled, and was active until about 2:30am.  It rained overnight and we opened the window.  It was a lovely sound.  It was still raining in the morning when we went down for breakfast.  The Turkish breakfast is nothing like the US breakfast, although in concession to foreigners they did have some cereal out.  They had boiled eggs, but no sausage or bacon.  Olives, cheese, breads, jams, honey fresh from a comb (the comb was still sitting out on the buffet table), cold cuts, juices, coffee, tea, and sweet breads.  They seem to like their sweets.

It was still raining when we boarded the bus for our trip over to the Hippodrome, where we would begin our day.  Fortunately Bruce and I had our rain coats and our Tilley Hats.  We never had to crack open the umbrella, although there were numerous street vendors selling them.  After a quick look at the three columns that are pretty much all that remain of the Hippodrome, we entered the Blue Mosque.

This is the courtyard.  I didn't really get any good pictures inside.  It was very dark and crowded.  And the view of the domes was marred by scores of wires coming down from the ceiling that are used to suspend lights above the floor.  But, yes, there was beautiful tilework, and beautiful painting, and beautiful stained glass.  After wandering through we exited out the side.

And continued on to the Hagia Sophia.  This had been a church and was converted to a Mosque, and then converted to a museum by Ataturk in 1934.

Once again it was too dark to get any really good photos inside.  The thing that struck us the most was the use of marble in building the structure.  There were so many different colors and patterns of marble, and the builders would take a block and cut slabs and then match up the pattern as if they were matching wood grain.  To get to the upper level we had to walk up a stone ramp that spiraled up and up, and similarly to get back down again.

After wandering the Hagia Sophia for a while we walked to the Ottoman Hotel Imperial for lunch and then walked to the Topkapi Palace.  That is the wall of the palace.  Topkapi means Cannon Ball gate and the palace is called this because the gates down by the sea had cannons and cannon balls in front of them.  Those gates are long gone, but the name remains.

We spent a fair bit of time in the Harem.  This part of the Topkapi was not actually on the tour but the group wanted to go so we went.  I am glad that we did because the museum part is not well lit and visiting the Harem allowed us to really appreciate the artistry and architecture of the palace.

This is the Courtyard of the Courtesans.

After spending a considerable amount of time in the Harem, we did go see the exhibits, which were dimly lit and did not have very much information about what we were seeing.  One thing that you can say about the Sultans was that they liked their bling.  There were pieces that were literally covered with jewels.  We thought it interesting to note that the jewels were not faceted (except for a few, like the 86 caret diamond in the treasury) but look rather as if they had been tumbled as one would do for polishing stones.  Of course we had to see the famous Topkapi dagger with the large emeralds in the hilt, mostly because of the movie about it being stolen.  The interior of the Topkapi in that movie did not really look like what we saw.  In the movie the lighting was far better.

Here is another portion of the palace and is representative of the decoration and architecture.

One of the things that struck us even more than the beautiful tilework were the stained glass windows.  These were jewel-like and repeated the complex patterns that are so common in this architecture.
Looking over the wall to the left I was delighted to see bits and pieces of the palace laid out on the grass.

One other thing we observed at Topkapi - cats.  Lots and lots of cats, and they were very friendly.  After finishing up at the Topkapi around 5pm we boarded our bus for the trip back to the hotel.  Once there I ran a hot bath and we soaked in the Jacuzzi for a while to relax our tired bones.