Istanbul
I love this city and its beautiful mix of Eastern and Western cultures. Smart business people brush past in their business suits marching alongside the gentlemen in their flowing robes and headdresses. Topkapi museum, the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya minaretes and domes jut out as you cruise along the Bosphorus at sunset. The grand bazaar with more than 5000 shops and the spice bazaar pull you in with their wondrous wares. Silks, aromatic spices, delicious Turkish delight, sparkling jewellry and sipping mint tea while you bargain for an exotic carpet or a ceramic. They loved my Japanese aunt Mitzi and she managed to get some cool bargains because the stall holders have an affinity for Japanese people. Aya Sofya or Hagai Sophia is now a museum but was once a church and also a mosque, Topkapi Palace with it’s royal jewels and its harem, which was a cage to hold the sultan’s women. A sad memory of this palace is the coffins that held the whole Royal family down to the babies. If a Royal died then his successor had the whole family killed to avoid conflict with relatives claiming the throne. We drank strong coffee, smoked apple tea througha hookah, drank mint tea, ate donar kebabs, steamed in a hammam and ate our fair share of Turkish delight. The call to prayer woke us up early every morning and we delighted in travelling round the backs streets of Istanbul and walking down to the Bosphorus to watch the boast come in. Istanbul is a stunningly beautiful city and the Blue Mosque with its 6 minarets, many domes and blue Iznik tiles is one of the most visited. It was the project of Sultan Ahmet I (r 1603–17) who wanted to build a building to rival that of Aya Sofya.
