We had made a plan the night before to get up super early and go see the Haifa Sophia mosque, as it showed on Google Maps as being open 24 hours. But overnight I realized that this might actually be the opening times for people who are praying, and a quick check confirmed that visitor’s hours were from 8 am. So no need to get up super early – we could sleep in. Kuniko slept really well and all signs of a fever were gone, so we were back to full health. We went downstairs to see what our hotel’s breakfast might be like.
When the elevator opened at the hotel lobby a man was sitting nearby and he gestured towards the door to the adjacent restaurant, Big Chefs, where we had drinks and manti the previous evening. We grabbed a table and waited patiently for the staff to come over and explain the plan. When they arrived, the plan was this – order coffee and wait for food to arrive. You had to pay extra for cappuccino upgrades, so we stuck with the standard coffee. While we sipped coffee the staff were just getting ready for the day. They were smoking outside, arranging some equipment, and eventually one came by with a sheet of paper. It was a list of guests at the hotel, and we all got together to try to figure out where we were on the list. The print was tiny, and the morning was early, and so it took a surprisingly long time to work things out.
Breakfast arrived on a big tray, and there were lots of little plates of food. There was cheese, olives, sausage, some bread rolls, some cucumbers and tomatoes, French fries, butter in honey, some jam, and a boiled egg. The boiled egg must have just come out of the water – it was so hot we were burning our fingers trying to peel it. I’m not complaining about the breakfast, but I do prefer choosing my own items. I would have chosen fewer things and we could have avoided some food waste.
After we finished breakfast we went back to the room to get ready to go out for our last day of sightseeing. We took the train to Venznecilar station, and were surprised that the way up and out of the metro was only via elevators – there were no escalators at our exit – that seems dangerous during a disaster… Once on the surface we walked across the campus of Istanbul University. The buildings of the university were beautiful, we saw plenty of cats playing and it was nice to leisurely walk through without a bunch of students around.
From there we walked on regular streets for about 20 minutes, passing so many mosques along the way. Kuniko kept thinking the dramatic mosque that we were heading towards was the destination, but nope – still more to go. Finally we arrived in the area that I remembered from our first visit, a large plaza surrounded by the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.
It had been 13 years since we had been here, and some things had changed. The grounds were now more decorated, with fountains, green lawns and a sort of Disneyland feel. They looked nicer and ready to accommodate a higher level of tourism. Last time we saw the Blue Mosque but didn’t have a chance to check out the Hagia Sophia mosque, so this time I was there to see it. It is under construction (and will be for the next 10 years I heard) so we had to look past various structures and equipment to see the beauty underneath.
First we had to get tickets and get checked out for following the dress code. Kuniko had brought a scarf to cover her head, and our legs and arms were covered – the fashion police at the entrance checked us out and gave us the thumbs up. Some Asian ladies were stopped at the entrance – one of them was wearing see-through pants! I don’t see a lot of women wearing see-through pants but to see one trying to enter an Islamic holy place… that’s weird. People without coverings were pointed toward a shop that was selling covering fabrics, and they weren’t cheap.
Inside we walked through the upper levels of the mosque. The lower levels were reserved for prayers. There were staff all around who looked a little bored. They had little to do but watch the tourists and pet the cats. At one point Kuniko’s scarf slipped off her head and the guard very politely asked her to be careful to keep her head covered. Another guard helped an American tourist with a shawl that he was wearing over his legs – he had shown up in shorts and had to tie a shawl over his legs for modesty.
Inside the mosque were mosaics with the image of Jesus, often accompanied by images of kings, mayors, and governors that had contributed funds to the maintenance and repair of the mosque often the years. It turns out these images predated the building as a mosque, and when it was converted they plastered over the images – inadvertently preserving them for the future. It was jarring to see but very interesting.
After the mosque we went back out to look again at the exterior of the Blue Mosque. It was still stunning – I was glad to see it again. We did a short walk through the plaza and then caught the light rail from Sultanamet station towards to waterfront. We had planned on taking it all the way back to our hotel, but the train stopped at the water. Rather than wait for a transfer we decided to walk and enjoy the views instead.
There was lots of sunshine but the days felt cooler here in Istanbul, maybe because of the breezes off the Bosphorus. We strolled over the bridge passing fishermen catching mackerel. After the bridge we then stayed on the water to pass through Karakoy, full of nice hotels, security guards, and expensive-looking restaurants. We also walked by the Museum of Modern Art, more mosques, and a few military guards carrying assault rifles. These security points were a little out of place – we felt safe until we saw the big guns.
We slowly walked back towards our hotel, using the Galata Tower as a guide. Next to the tower we stopped at the SHOW market to refill on kefir, and also found big bottles of freshly squeezed OJ. I bought one and started chugging it right outside the store – it was so delicious. We saw a lot of orange squeezing machines through Istanbul, and it made me think I want to get one someday.
We passed the base of the tower, and at this time of the day there were far fewer people lined up. Rather than go inside we sat outside a restaurant that had sparkling wine by the glass – Kuniko bought us a couple of glasses (expensive!) and the server gave us a small tray of nuts and olives to go with it. It was rare on this trip to find a place serving sparkling, and it was nice to sit at the high table and watch all the activity around us. When it came time to pay the bill the server (who looked a little like Rebecca Black) let us pay by card. Nice!
We stopped at one more store on the way back, it was on the street dominated by Muslim shops but they had Turkish wine for sale, including a bottle of bubbles. We bought it (the whole bottle cost about half the price of the two glasses we just drank) and brought it back to our hotel fridge to chill out.
For lunch we walked just up the hill from our hotel to eat at the Galata Lily Lounge. It was a great atmosphere, eating at our table on the hillside on a wooden platform, under the shade and feeling the breeze. I had Efes beer, Kuniko had some Cabernet Sauvignon, and we ordered up some kebab wraps. The owner of the place was happy to see us – he gave us some hummus and bread to snack on, and later some baklava for dessert. It felt like VIP treatment. The leisurely pace was nice to watch people walking up and down the hill. Trucks would drive up the one way street and stop to make deliveries, causing a temporary traffic jam. One guy guided a big trash bin downhill, in effect riding the bin as it rolled, barely in control.
As the temperature started heating up we headed back to the room to chill out and take a nap. Later we woke up and popped open the bubbles while we tried to remember our activities for this journal. Out the window we could watch tourists on the top of the tower, looking out over the sea.
Later we decided to go to a place called Ficcin for dinner. Our maps had it just north of us, so we walked along some side streets following our map, dodging some traffic and construction along the way. We peeked down the street and saw a shop with Ficcin on the window, but it looked closed. We walked down the street a bit to investigate, but no luck. We actually stepped into the empty Ficcin shop but it looked closed, and I could hear someone snoring in the back. Felt weird.
But then Kuniko noticed that there were tables lining the street, and then other signs said Ficcin along the way. Turns out the whole street is the restaurant, and we were able to get a place to sit at the end of a long table that was marked as reserved. It pays to eat early! The menu had English and big pictures of the dishes, and the vibe was a little touristy. With some red wine we had some salmon rolls (so-so), lamb casserole (pretty good) and beef manti (yum).
This was sort of our last main meal of the trip, having been traveling for two weeks, and so it served as kind of a recap session about the things that happened, but also about our future plans, places we want to go, and how happy we are to be together. We spent the time laughing and joking, holding hands, and soaking in where we were in the world and in life.
Next to us a couple finished up dinner and stood up to leave, and only as they started moving did I realize how close they were. For better or worse they had to listen to our conversation. But the guy gave Kuniko a warm smile as he left, and hopefully they had as much fun listening to our goofy stories as we had telling them.
We took a different way back to our hotel, down a big shopping street that we’ve seen a hundred times in other cities. The same brand shops – we could be anywhere. But a streetcar ran down the middle, and I remembered this place from 13 years ago.
Back near our hotel we went outside to sit on the benches and watch the sunset. It was even marked on our map as a “Sunset Point”. There were lots of smokers out there, one guy brought beer and a Bluetooth speaker, but his soundtrack choice wasn’t bad. While we waited there a big school group came through. They left via a bunch of small taxis, and I’d have hated to be the teacher in charge of the logistics of that trip.
Finally the sun dropped below the horizon, spreading orange across the sky. Kuniko ducked behind my shade to avoid the sun’s last rays. We did a lot of sun ray avoidance on this trip, so it was a fitting end to our long journey. We went back up to our hotel room to get the last night of horizontal sleep for a while.
