Party Time in Istanbul

I have found the local hot-spot and it's only about three minutes from my hostel. I am meeting lots of other travellers there, but it is undermining my sight-seeing efforts. Yesterday we actually had a bit of sunshine, so I did the hangover tour of the neighbourhood. I visited the Blue Mosque, Ayasofya and the cistern. I was somewhat disappointed that the Blue Mosque did not appear to be blue at all and is really much more impressive from the outside than inside. Aysofya is an amazing building (basilica turned mosque turned museum)with some beautiful Christian mosaics which have been uncovered for public viewing. They were plastered over when the building changed faiths. (I guess the building doesn't really have a faith does it? What I meant is when it went from being used by Christians to Muslims. They also added minarets at that time.) The cistern is this huge underground pool where they stored water which was brought in from 19 kms away via aqueducts. It's really beautiful down there with lots of carved columns holding the place together.

I am finding the mosques are generally leaving me cold. I'm not sure why - maybe it's because I can't really relate to the faith or maybe it's because they are just big empty buildings. I always felt such a warm and wonderful energy in the tiny little Buddhist chapels I visited. They were simple stone or mud building that were stuffed full of statues, benches, altars and offerings. The mosques are much more grand and I can certainly appreciate the majesty of the buildings, but they are devoid of any furniture or other paraphernalia. They feel quite barren and just don't provoke any emotion in me at all. They are certainly beautiful structures from the outside and they really adorn the city.

In the afternoon I went for a walk around the shore of the Marmara sea following a beautiful old roman wall. It was really lovely to look across the water at the other parts of the city and the entrances to the Bosphorus and Golden Horn. The shores are full of fisherman as are the bridges. I wandered through the spice bazaar which sells so much more than spices, but smells heavenly. I discovered Turkish delight which is nothing like what we call Turkish delight at home. It is very appropriately named. Roasted chestnuts seem to be the snack of choice here and there are stalls selling them on every corner. It has me singing Christmas carols all day.

The city is full of cats who seem to run the place. They are obviously healthy, well fed and loved. They wander the streets and make themselves at home in the bars and restaurants. It seems like every establishment has at least one in residence. Last night I was sitting at the bar and a cat leapt into my lap, curled up and went to sleep purring away. It was great to have a cuddle. I also had a great time playing with a litter of kittens outside a shop the other day.

The men continue to be a bit of a pain. Everyone stops you in the street to chat or sell you something and they get so offended if you don't want to talk. If I stopped to talk to everyone who approached me, I literally wouldn't get anywhere. They always say that they don't want to hassle you, but they don't seem to understand that just by stopping me every three steps they're already hassling me. On top of it they're all smokers, so they're blowing their stinky smoke into your face while they're not hassling you. I have come to realize that I just miss talking to women. Certainly no local women in these countries ever approach me, and even in the bars where the tourists hang it, there are very few women and even fewer who aren't with men. I think that's one of the reasons that I enjoyed my time with Toni in Kathmandu so much - I haven't really had much in the way of girl-talk over the last year.

We're back to rain today and frankly I didn't accomplish much. They are predicting the same for tomorrow, so I won't get to see the full moon over the Bosphorus. Friday is supposed to be clear so hopefully I'll get the views then - I'm sure the effect with be the same with a one day off full moon.