(Pavillion roof at the Topkapi Palace)
For more pictures, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourlingue/sets/72157623570814422/
Friday, Feb 19. Arrived from Barcelona end of afternoon, on Turkish Airlines; dark already. Needed to get visas to come in – no surprise, but why C$45 per visa for Canadians when Americans pay only $15, and French nothing?!? (Canada must have pissed off the Turkish Government somehow!) Picked up by the hotel – twice as much time we are told to get to hotel – one hour+ because of the Friday night traffic; not surprising…
Staying at the Ceylan (the C is pronounced J as in Jell-o; and while we are at it, Ç is pronounced “ch” like in “church”) Intercontinental. Built on a steep hill across from the Golden Horn, near central Taksim Square (in the so-called “new” town, Beyoĝlu – the accent on the g in Turkish is reversed, and it makes it silent); great view overlooking the city and the Golden Horn. Dinner with colleague and his wife (also a colleague, from another Society though) at Abracadabra Restaurant; their suggestion; featured in the London Times the week before (as one the 20 lesser-known good restaurants in Europe). Not disappointed – pride itself as authentic classical Turkish cuisine. Hot place! Located up along the Bosphorus, past the bridge to the Asia side. See http://www.abracadabra-ist.com/
“Istanbul, 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe” – funny! You wonder...Obviously a marketing ploy to bring more (European) tourists into the city during that year, but it is rather odd for a city that has always defined itself as distinct from Europe – even Constantine chose to leave the West (European) side of the Roman Empire to start afresh in a new capital – Constantinople – in the East! And of course Istanbul evokes nowadays much more the Ottoman side of its nature... The danger here is that a city, any city, risks of losing its identity if it is trying to be too many things at the same time...
Saturday, Feb 20. Later start than anticipated. Breakfast on the club floor; there is commanding view over the Bosphorus (only broken by the hideous Ritz Carlton building, standing in the way). I am reminded of the Hong-Kong Harbour: lots of water traffic going back and forth across to the Asia side of the city.
Go to Süleymaniye mosque – the work of Sinan, the great Turkish architect of the 16th century (his tomb is nearby) - only to find out that it is closed for renovation(has been since 2007)! (Aerial view picture here taken from a poster outside the mosque!)Have to be content with visiting Süleyman (“the Magnificent”)’s tomb on the grounds of the mosque, and that of his concubine\wife of many names – a wily woman! – in a mausoleum next to his. Never mind, we go to visit the nearest other mosque, Sehzade Mehmet – worth seeing, much smaller but surrounded by green and very quiet gardens. (picture of its dome)
Midday prayer has just started –some people coming in late, or walking out to take a phone call on their mobile! Have lunch at the adjoining restaurant that you access through the gardens, the Sehzade Mehmet Sofrasi. We are practically alone, in the courtyard; warm enough to eat outside. Great place to take a midday break!From there, we walked to the famous Grand Bazaar,
the largest souk in the world, they say, after having a quick look at the book bazaar nearby, Sahaflar Carsisi. Walked through the bazaar – it’s covered, and has been practically since its creation in the 15th century, so that business can carry on regardless of the weather (not raining today though, but grey and cold...) Survived it without having to part money – not due to lack of solicitation (that suave polyglot carpet salesman as we walked out of the bazaar was something else, with his impeccable French, baise-main for Cynthia and all)! Pushed further, towards Sultanahmet just to have a first look from the outside to Topkapi Palace and Haghia Sophia. 
Accosted by someone (“I am not a guide”!) who is trying to coax us to go to his nearby carpet shop, offering first to take us to the Blue Mosque.(view of Haghia Sophia from the Blue Mosque - click on the picture to blow it up: you will see the "herder", bottom right, talking to Cynthia!) Can’t shake him off – and he is good nature (aren’t they all!) So we visit the mosque with him and then accept to follow to the shop, where he “delivers” us to the owner, and then takes off (presumably to “herd” back another prospect!) The pattern was to repeat itself on every possible visit in the week, but we soon learned how to shake them loose pretty quick! Meanwhile we were shown beautiful carpets at the store, but managed to leave without buying... Dinner at the Safran restaurant at the hotel; Turkish cuisine, with live music on 2 traditional instruments.
