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Sunday, December 2nd, Istanbul, Turkey
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As our time in Istanbul
comes to an end, fond memories of new friends and exotic
sensations fill our heads. We have been incredibly
lucky to meet a couple of local families whose kindness
and hospitality have made our stay here so much richer.
Two weeks seem like a long time, but it has flown by for
us, between sight seeing, school and a surprising amount
social engagements. Even more surprising was our
chance encounter with an old friend from Barcelona!
It all adds up to an unforgettable visit for the Zia
crew in Istanbul.
Around the corner from
our apartment, we discovered a small, friendly
lokantasi which serves
up a variety of prepared dishes. We visited a
couple of times, and immediately made friends with the
staff there who, of course, loved Cassie and Juliana.
They were full of magic tricks to share with them,
coming over every five minutes or so to show off a new
one.
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Atilla and Ali didn't speak much English, in fact,
Atilla is deaf and mute, but we had no trouble
communicating with either of them through laughs and
smiles.
When not eating or working on school, we managed a
little more sight seeing this week, visiting the famous
Haigha Sophia museum. This incredible structure
was originally erected in 360 AD and dedicated to the
"Divine Wisdom" in honor of Christ. Although
damaged numerous times by a combination of fires,
earthquakes riots, and structural deficiencies due to
the enormous stresses created by the vast, shallow dome,
the church was always rebuilt and remained the largest
cathedral in the world until the construction of St.
Peter's in Rome.
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Converted to a mosque in 1453 when the city of
Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, it became one
of the most important mosques in Istanbul. It is
fascinating to see the conflicting themes of the
Christian mosaics depicting the Virgin and Child above
the Islamic mihrab,
the niche in the wall
of the mosque indicating the direction of Mecca, towards
which the faithful face during their prayers.
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Islam does not allow pictures in their religion so this
contrast is particularly striking. The mosaics
were all covered up with plaster and painted over with
intricate Ottoman designs in keeping with these rules.
When the mosque was converted to a museum, restoration
of the mosaics began. A few of them survive in
incredible detail, inspiring wonder at what the
cathedral must have looked like before they were
plastered over.
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Braving the chilly temperatures on a bright, sunny day,
we met Ahmet and Zerrin for a wonderful boat tour all
the way up the Bosphorus and nearly into the Black Sea.
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When we decided to come to Istanbul, we knew that our
friend, Melora, had spent part of her summer vacation
here this year. We wrote to her for some advice on
where to stay and she put us in touch with Ahmet, a
client of hers that she had become friends with.
He was wonderfully helpful with all of our questions and
even took a day off of work to join us in our
sightseeing.
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The restored homes that adorn the river banks reminded
us of the magnificent estates lining the waterfront in
Fort Lauderdale. After an hour and a half, we
arrived at a little fishing village on the Asian side of
the river, where we shared a wonderful fish meal before
returning to the city. We learned a lot about
Turkish culture and cuisine and thoroughly enjoyed our
afternoon in the company of new friends.
After meeting Resit and Aysenur
last week, we
were excited to have another chance to visit with them
for dinner that same night. They invited us to
their home in Tarabya, one of the villages we had passed
along the western, European bank of the Bosphorus
earlier that day, about half way to the Black Sea.
We enjoyed many traditional dishes; lamb and eggplant,
artichokes and stuffed grape leaves to name a few, in
the luxury of their beautiful home. The girls were
a little more lively at this encounter and enjoyed
playing with Richard, their ten year old son. All
three speak great English, thank goodness. They
taught us a few useful Turkish words, but I'm afraid we
need a lot more work on it before we return in the
spring.
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Our social calendar surprisingly active already, we were
totally amazed to run into Tom and Rafa on the boat trip
up the Bosphorus. Tom and I had taken a few
weeks of Spanish lessons together back in Barcelona last
winter. He had visited us the boat one afternoon
in Badalona and we had exchanged an email or two since
we left last spring, although it had been a while.
As I was standing outside admiring one the Ottoman
castles along the river, I looked over to see Tom
staring at me with a big grin on his face. As I
picked myself up off the floor to say hello, he
introduced me to Rafa, who I hadn't met before.
They had decided at the last minute to come to Istanbul
for a week long vacation before the holidays.
Imagine the coincidence of running into each other in
this city of 20 million, on the same boat tour, and on
the same deck of the 200 passenger boat.
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While we are eager to fly "home" tomorrow, into the
welcoming embrace of family, we can't help being a
little sad at leaving our new friends and their
wonderful city so soon. When we come back to
Turkey in the spring, we look forward to rekindling our
friendships. We are hopeful that we can coordinate
our schedules so we have the opportunity to return their
kindness and hospitality in true Zia fashion.
Next
Entry>>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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