I was so excited about arriving in Istanbul I barely slept the night before. We actually pulled into port an hour early - anticipation magick perhaps? As the ship moved down the Boshporous and Istanbul came into view once again I had to remember to close my mouth. The landscape is just massive - and a mix of very old and very new with mosques and palaces intermingling with modern buildings. Crazy as we're on the ship you look out to one side and its Asia, the other Europe (kind of has that whole New York - New Jersey thing beat!). One of the first sounds we heard was the call to prayer - this is just overwhelmingly emotional for any religion. So beautiful and you knew that an entire city was being united in ritual, and respect for ritual by those who didnt follow the same path.
Our first order of business was to find an English speaking taxi driver. Harder than we thought, but our luck continued - we found a fantastic guide, or what we found out was a guide team. We wound through the streets of the new city in Istanbul - much more cosmopolitan than I imagined it would be. Talk about busy - there are 10 million people in Istanbul alone! I will say right from the start that the taxis here make boston drrivers look like little old ladies - they come within inches of each other and would just assume hit you if you dont get out of the way. We stopped at a local fish market - talk about fresh seafood - it was like haymarket but by the water. Some of these fish were still swimming in little tubs of water.
We drove over the bridge to the old city - photos will barely do this justice. Our first stop was at Topkapi Palace. It's all so beautiful, our time was limited and we really wanted to see the blue mosque so we walked the gardens on the outside which were just beautiful. Everything is just so old and on a huge scale. Back to the taxi and onward, our driver told us that it was difficult to find a place to park, so we were meeting his brother and he would give us a tour on foot (yeah right a brother - but actually the were brothers and had the family resemblance to prove it). Turns out there are 5 brothers in this family - we met 3 on our journies. As we walked to the mosque, we stopped at one of the many monuments. The mosaic work on the ceiling was amazing. Water faucets surrounded it so that people could drink - and he told us that during festivals, they'll flavor the water with cherry juice for the children.
We made our way to the blue mosque - everyone removes their shoes outside and women cover their head and shoulders. I have never in my life seen anything like this - it was huge and the only way to describe it (and much of our travels in Istanbul) was opulent. The stained glass, the carvings, the detail work - you just didnt know where to look first. The nicest part is that its still in use. Here too, women and men pray seperately - although there was also a place for the sultans family.
Our next stop was the Sultans tombs - this was fascinating. The marker of the sultan's grave is topped with what our guide called a "hat" like a huge white hat that marked the graves of the men. The sultan, his wives, sons, daughters, brother and even some grandchildren all laid to rest together. The respect for heritage is so inspiring here and the Turkish people are very proud to share it with you when you ask about it.
We headed back to our taxi, of course not before stopping at a "friends" shop with beautiful turkish carpets to look at - we werent shocked by this in the least. Actually the owner of the shop had created this amazing mosaic full of pottery pieces on the wall surrounding his store. I asked him about it and he told me that the pieces were collected from all the people that worked for him - and it took 5 years to gather enough for his project. It only took 1 month to complete it though. Very very cool.
Back to our taxi and brother number 1 - we headed to the Grand Bazaar for a quick peek. This place is ridiculous - shop after shop, window after window, wall to wall people, and everyone wanting you to buy something. No prices on anything - we knew it was all bartering, but who knew there was so much. We spent all of a half hour there just checking it out, with plans for our return tomorrow - then it would be serious shopping but for now, it was time for my anticipation to go into overdrive. Thanks to ravelry.com members and the Turkish knitting groups I was able to find the place many said was the best place to go for thats right....YARN. The driver dropped us on the outskirts of what we discovered to be a shopping area and told us which way to head. I had determination, and a piece of paper with the stores name on it and the street it was off of - not to mention my supportive mother. We'd walk for a bit, then I'd show my paper to someone and get pointed in the right direction. We learned that 2 lefts doesnt mean left then left - but rather your 2nd left. We also learned that we had no concept for how many meters ahead something was when they told us. I also discovered that our best chance for people who could help with a few words of English were the guys selling pretzels or chestnuts on the street. I can not begin to describe how crowded the streets are here - mom and I were holding on to each other to make sure we didnt get seperated. We knew were getting closer, more stores full of ribbons and fabrics but I think the "just a little bit further" was probably a good mile plus - but...we found it Kurkcu Han. Wandering through the courtyard and up the steps - there I saw bins of yarn in all sorts of colors and textures. Then I looked to my right and through the door and gasped...bins and shelves from floor to ceiling - I walked in and audibly gasped - there were 3 rooms like this. There was so much to see, and to touch and to take in - our knitting group term of "yarn porn" was just elevated to a whole new level. There was a lovely woman who tried to help me - she spoke no English, I couldnt even remember how to say thank you in Turkish - but we were knitters, we connected on a whole different level. We figured out cotton vs acrylic vs. bamboo etc, and we played charades for things like yardage for a scarf or hat or short sleeve vs long sleeve sweater. I wish I could remember all the different words she tried to teach me - but we both were laughing and smiling at each other and having fun. Of course Mom getting a kick out of me being totally insane with all this fiber in front of me comes in and says "I hate to tell you this but every store in this place has more yarn in it". I about fell over - you mean there's MORE? I brought my purchases up to the register and tried to explain to the two men at the register how excited I was - they figured out I was from the U.S. (big shock - dont think so) but my enthusiasm was amusing to them - they even through an extra skein of one of my selections in. This is the best part - I had more yarn than I could carry and the total purchase was about 47 dollars - are you kidding me?!?!?! It was better than a dream. We made our way through another 4 stores it was so hard to figure out what to buy and how much to get of each and what would it be - so I just abandoned all reasonable thought and went for it - and before I knew it I had more than we could both carry....ooops.
We noticed the day was ending and really wanted to get back to the ship before it got dark so drunk with yarn overload euphoria, we headed back out to the street. Then we realized that not only did we NOT know the word for where our ship was docked, finding people who spoke English was extremely rare in this part of Istanbul. I think we were both a bit uneasy - but there was no way I wasnt getting back to really go through all this yarn, so we knew we'd figure it out. We kept saying "Taxi" and people would point us in the right direction. Smiles really are quite universal - either that or they were laughing at the stupid lost tourists! A mile or so later we found our way to what must have been the transit center and a line of taxis. The answer to "Do you speak English" was always a shake of the head "no" so I pulled out my map of Istanbul that I had from the ship where luckily the local tour person on board had circled where we would be docked - and just pointed. We watched although it probably would have been less frightening if we didnt, as the driver manuvered through Istanbul rush hour - but we started to recognize places we passed earlier in day. He finally did stop to ask a policeman and we got back to the ship - that driver got the biggest tip ever!
Exhusted I piled my treasures onto the table in our room and just laughed...then off to dinner - everywhere we went people wanted to know if I had found my yarn - ok its official - I have an addiction and am very public about it!
We took in a bit of the last show of the cruise - beatles night which was great....but knew it was time to take on the challenge of packing up everything and getting all our suitcases outside our cabin before 11. - I looked at my table of yarn and realized there would be no way to get it all in my suitcase. I'm happy to say mothers always know best - no matter how old we get. My mother in her infinite wisdom and knowledge of my obsession with yarn had packed a canvas tote / suitcase just for this purpose. Yay mom!
We just couldnt believe that our cruise was at an end in the morning.