Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Return to Chicago, saying goodbye to a beautiful city

Saturday, May 14 - Goodbye to Turkey            


Early morning coffee at Sultanahmet Square looking at the Blue Mosque

The municipal symbol of Istanbul - reminds me of a welcoming hand

Michael's always happiest after his morning espresso


We awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning; the shipping traffic on the Sea of Marmara was already busy. We walked to Dervish café across from the Blue Mosque for breakfast coffee – cappuccino and espresso – and bought some Kek (cake – cinnamon roll) for 3TL.  

We returned to the hotel to relax and get ready for our trip back.  I had a last cup of tea in the courtyard while waiting for Muammer, who would drive us to the airport at 11for our 2:20 PM flight.  Muammer arrived as  expected and he joined me for our last tea in Istanbul, and off we went.  He dropped us at the departure area and we checked in with 4 bags – including 10 packages of Turkish delights, 6 Izmir tiles to become a table, 8 towels and a dozen new books.



Roses and capitals in the garden of the Great Palace Mosaic museum

Cell phone and coffee - the perfect accessories for my guy.

A final Turkish tea with Muammer - we are so thankful that he helped arrange such a beautiful vacation


My last goodbye to the city walls of Istanbul

Heading to Ataturk airport for our departure to home

Once we checked in for the flight, we went to wait in the TKA business class lounge.  The Turkish Airlines gate attendant told us it is the best in Europe, and I believe it.  It has two floors, a pool table and a library, a cinema, innumerable food stations, including a to-your-order chef.  Impressive marble and mirrored bathrooms.  The hour we had to wait before boarding passed quickly indeed.



Turkish Airlines most amazing lounge in Ataturk airport

A pool table and a library


An olive bar, among the many food and drink stations


Even the bathrooms are fancy!

Getting ready to board for Sikago


 Right after departure, they served a lunch of appetizers, roasted pumpkin soup (yum) spinach ravioli (overcooked) and desserts, tea. Ironically, right after the meal they then turned off all lights and asked that all windows blinds be closed.  I didn’t understand why everyone would want to go to sleep – it was only 4 PM in Turkey and 8 AM in Chicago. They kept the plane  dark for 6 or 7 hours of the 10 hour flight. We were flying over interesting places:  Bulgaria, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, northern Canada and finally Michigan (hello John!). 

I spent the flight reading and writing.  One nice aspect of the flight was the ability to connect with the internet, without charge, in business class.  We had a second meal about 2 hours before the flight was over; cold meze and Turkish dolma (meat stuffed eggplant and zucchini.  We were treated to a panoramic view of the downtown Chicago skyline on our approach into O'Hare.


One of our two chefs on board the flight

Ice fields and tundra over northern Canada

Hello Chicago - good to be home!


We landed by 6 PM, were home by 7 and unpacked by 8.  I was ready for bed – Mike did a load of laundry to be ready to travel to Madison tomorrow to see Charlie and Caleb!  Can’t wait.

                                   

Archeologic treasures and a quiet evening walk

Friday, May 13, 2016

A day without any plans – so looking forward to it.  We met Muammer this morning at our hotel at 8:30.  He brought our large duffle bag, which we had left at his office when we traveled to Ephesus.  He joined us for a cup of tea in the breakfast room/restaurant of the hotel, and then we were off to explore our last favorite places in the city before departure tomorrow.

A great morning view from our hotel room


Courtyard of Sultanahmet Palace Hotel
Hotel courtyard gardens
Another view of the hotel gardens
It rained last night and everything seems fresh.  We walked around the gardens a bit and the bell staff wiped off the outdoor chairs in the rose garden/fountain area and brought us cushions to sit on.  We relaxed and chatted for a while and then decided to work on a plan for our luggage on the return trip tomorrow.  We asked the receptionist for a scale, and they loaned us one that worked really well.  We found out our duffle bag is just over the weight limit of 23 KG – so emptied out some of the heavier stuff (Turkish delight!) to be sure it wouldn’t be over.  Michael decided that it might be good to get a second duffle bag for any extra things we have.  If we do that, we can pack his six (bubble wrapped) Iznik tiles in his suit case and he won’t have to carry them on. 

The Ayasofia Hamam in daylight, with fountain in Sultanahmet Square -men and women's sides are mirror images



The Hagia Sophia was tops on my list of reasons to visit Istanbul - and it it fabulous





We headed out to walk to Topkapi Palace to see the Istanbul Archeology Museum.  They have a pretty “knock your socks off” collection of materials from the Mesopotamian, Hittite, Anatolian, Greek and Roman times.  Perhaps most impressive is the building with all the artifacts from Istanbul itself over almost 3 millennia.  We spent about 2 hours and then had a drink in the museum’s outdoor café, among the columns, capitals, cats and sarcophagi.


Istanbul Archeologic Museum

Hittite lions guarding the entrance




Alexander the Great

Tile panels lining the entranceway into palace at Babylon

A mini sphynx?

Lovely spot for a tea -  outdoor cafe at the museum

We walked  back to Sultanahmet Square, stopping at a confectionary shop to buy some “birds’ nest baklava” to take back on our return tomorrow.  They vacuum packed it for us, and we bought a few additional piece to eat.  Michael stopped at a street café for a sandwich and I did some shopping at the Ayasofia Hurram Sultan Hamami to purchase spa gifts for Sara, Belle and Elizabeth.  We were back to the hotel by about 2:30 PM and we both relaxed in our respective ways – I worked on photos and my trip report, Michael went out for a walk.  

We made reservations at 6:30 for dinner at the O’Live Restaurant for our last night in town.  We enjoyed it greatly on Monday and found out it ranks in the top 20 of 12,000 restaurants in Istanbul on Trip Advisor.  

Our dinner was delicious again.  It was sad that we were only the second couple in the whole restaurant.  I had the cheese and fruit platter to begin, Michael had the soup of the day – lentil with red pepper and lemon.  We had “hot meze” for our main courses: Borekci Tabagi “Ottoman Borek Platter” and Feraye Manti “Turkish ravioli"– crispy fried tortellini like pasta with meat inside, served with red pepper sauce and yoghurt.  For dessert, we shared the baklava again (apricot almond and chocolate hazelnut), and I had Turkish coffee.  I also had a glass of Turkish cabernet sauvignon with my meal and the whole deal came to 120 TL – about $40.  Amazing value.




We highly recommend the O'Live restaurant - too bad the tourism is hurting so badly in Istanbul


Feraye Manti “Turkish ravioli"

Borekci Tabagi “Ottoman Borek Platter”

I inquired about the birds that I have been watching roosting in the tree tops in Gulhane Park.  Our waiter Murat said they are storks, which is what Mustafa called them on Friday as well.  (They look more like a type of egret, but what do I know?)  Because we were talking about birds, he took us over to a rooftop on the other end of the restaurant where 3 baby fledgling seagulls were wandering around under the protective eye of mama bird.


We walked back and I took a few twilight photos of Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Sultanahmet Square.  We spent some time packing up our suitcases and getting ready for the trip home tomorrow.  Elizabeth called to wish us a good night.

Last evening in Istanbul







Evening view of the Blue Mosque from our hotel balcony


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Return to Istanbul for a not to be missed Turkish bath/hamam


Thursday, May 12 --Depart from Izmir airport and return to Istanbul

We were up for breakfast by 8 – and what a spread.  Even better than yesterday.   Our driver arrived promptly at 8:30 and took us to Izmir airport and we said goodbye to Sirinice, Selcuk and the lovely pastoral beauty of the area.  We arrived at the airport after an hour drive, went through security (first), pickup up our boarding passes and loaded on the first bus out to the tarmac to board.  


Goodbye to the beauty of Izmir provence

Muammer was waiting for us and offered to take us to lunch and to see the Miniaturk miniature museum, which sounded like great fun.  We drove across town and to the area of Pierre Loti and the Bulgarian church to eat at a fish restaurant located right on the water on the Golden Horn.  However, there was a longer-than-an hour wait for a table, so Muammer put his name on the list and we drove across the Ataturk Bridge to go to see the museum.


Selimiye mosque in Edirne, designed by Mimar Sinan

The Pool of Abraham - Balikli Göl- in Urfa
Mummer and Michael with the Greek Orthodox Sumela Monastery in Trabzon

And, where we just spent an hour waiting for luggage, the Ataturk Istanbul Airport :-)

It’s a great concept.  All the regional buildings and other highlights have been reproduced accurately and to scale.  You can walk through the outdoor museum park and get a complete tour of Turkey’s major architectural treasures and highlights.  Most familiar to us were the creations from Istanbul – the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace – but they also had the new stadium and a reproduction of the Istanbul Ataturk Airport complete with dozens of Turkish Airline planes.

We returned to the restaurant and traffic was now a bit difficult so we went round about to the Galata Bridge.  The restaurant is in a pretty setting, right on the water and you can watch the small fishing and tourist boats motoring around.  We had great appetizers, both cold and hot, Mike and I had sea bass cooked 2 different ways, Muammer had a whole grilled trout.  
Lovely restaurant on the waterfront that specializes in fish dishes

Great meze and whole grilled trout


Views from our restaurant table - watching the fishing boats



As we left the restaurant, it was beginning to rain.  We hopped in the car and headed over to check into our new hotel: the Sultanahmet Palace.   http://sultanahmetpalace.com
Muammer dropped us off and said we would meet in the morning for tea at 8:30 AM.  We checked in and checked out our room – really beautiful, up on the 3rd floor (room 309), looking out on the Asian side, across the beginning of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara.  The windows are large and look out onto a tower for the hotel restaurant, the minaret of a mosque and rooftop restaurants. We have a balcony, and it looks over to the Blue Mosque.

Sultanahmet Palace Hotel has great gardens and was once a vizier's palace

We have 180 degree views of the Bosphorus spilling into the Sea of Marmara from our hotel room


Our hotel room balcony - with an amazing view of the Blue Mosque

View of the Prince's Islands - notice the top of the restaurant tower which is  adorned with an evil eye amulet


We relaxed and decided we didn’t need dinner, since we ate lunch so late.  We had a 7 PM reservation for a Turkish bath and massage at the Ayasofia Hurram Sultan Hamami.  (The former baths of Roxalana.) Mustafa said he thought these were the best bath houses/hamam in the city).  So, I had to take a bath first, before going to the Turkish bath – Michael laughed, as this is much like cleaning your house the morning that the cleaners are coming!



Outside view of the main dome of the hamam on the men's side - women's is identical on the opposite site

The smaller dome, to the right, is the actual bath, all marble with heated plinths


The hamam is completely segregated – one side for men and one for women.  The room you enter is three stories high, topped with a dome underlit in soft blue light to make it seem like a sky.  This hamam was completely renovated a few years ago and is fresh and appealing to the eye.  The changing rooms are on the second floor and the treatment rooms for massage, etc, are on the third floor.  All are made of wood paneling, which provides a marked contrast to the white of the walls and ceiling.  You are provided with a bath towel and slippers to wear.

My attendant, Hani, held my arm tightly everywhere we walked, as the marble surface is slippery.  She took me to sit in the second (smaller) domed area where the bathing is done.  A large circular marble plinth fills the center of the room, and around the perimeter are marble benches with individual washing areas. 

Central fountain of the 3 story relaxing area, changing rooms on the second floor


The dome brings light into the space, parakeets add a rich variation to the music in the treatment rooms

After the bath, I was provided fresh towels and led back to the central dome waiting area where I drank water and “Ottoman sherbet” – a blackberry cold drink and offered some Turkish delight.  We then climbed up to 3rd floor for the massage room.  In addition to quiet music, they keep two parakeets which were singing exuberantly,  At some point, we could also hear the muezzin call for evening prayer from the loudspeakers of the Blue Mosque. 


Michael and I met after the treatments and walked home together – we were at our hotel room by 9 and in bed for a good night sleep by 9:30.  It felt heavenly and I slept like a baby.