A view of Istanbul over looking the body of water known as the Golden Horn, an inlet that is shaped like a horn and glows golden in the sunset. It was and still a major port for the city.
Water plays a major roll in Instanbul which is surrounded by th Dardanells, the striaghts of the b
Bosphorus. the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, part of the Aegean Sea. The area saw many cultures, Persian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Bysantine, european Crusaders and finaly Turkish. The Turks were originally an oriental people who were forced to migrate due to pressure from the Chinese and Mongols. They finally settled in Turkey in 1299 A.D. as small tribal groups led by a local sultan. One principality under the Sultan, Osman, became dominant. His named was mispronounced as Ottoman, hence the Ottoman empire which, at its height occuppied parts of Europe,the north coast of Africa, and the coast of the Persian Gulf.
The Home of the Sultan was the Topkopi Palace, built on a penisula created by the Golden Horn and the sea of Marmara. It had four major courtyards, each of which had increasing restriction on who could enter. The first two were relatively open, The third restricted to people who were granted and audience with the sultan and members the Royal advisor council. It would have been highly unlikely that Arleen were be allowed to enter the building as seen below. Note the lovely blue sling from Greece.
Across from the palace is the Blue Mosque, one of 2,ooo that serve the 16 million people of Istanbul. it is so named because of the beautiful blue tiles used on the interior. It also had many beautiful stain glass windows.
Our last stop for the day was the Grand Bazaar, a shopping mall with 4,000 small shops selling everything under the sun. Enought to make women drool and grown men cry. We were warned that you had to be an expert shopper not to get taken for a ride, and then we were given an hour and a half to be taken.
You should find this picture strange. Our, Nigar (ryhmes with cigar) did not have a head covering for the blue mosque. Arleen found a hat in Greece that had been lost to the wind and run over by lots of buses. She cleaned it up and has been using it. So she lent her Greek hat to a Turkish guide to wear in a mosque. Neat, huh?
2 comments:
From: Mike (your favorite brother) and Barbara
So clutz how is the pain. Except for the ending, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln.
Thanks for the education on Turkey. Sounds like it is a wonderful trip. Do you want a friend of ours to look at your x-rays for his evaluation. Hopefully it is only a bad sprain. They are doing the right thing to wait until some of the swelling goes down before making further treatment.
Regarding your lack of sleep. Sleep is over-rated.....Ask any college student
Stephen and his new (est) girlfriend came to visit for a shot-gun wedding of a mutual friend. It was a short visit with little time for Mom or Dad, but we will have to get used to that...it's not easy.
Otherwise, other than fall head colds we are all fine, here.
I hope this 'minor' medical setback doesn't ruin your entire trip. It will give you something special to remember.
Mike and Barbara
I'm hoping this time it works - I've sent multiple postings, but...
I also sent you an email - I've very concerned about your arm. Is it broken? Is it your arm or your wrist? It looks painful and I'm so sorry.
I sent you info earlier on who won America's Got Talent and random American news. Did you get any of those?
Hope you are both having a good time. Please keep up the blog and the pixs. I love them. I want more details when you return. Stay off of animals, watch when you walk down stairs, and don't run with scissors.
Love, Deb
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