Our hotel in Istanbul was the Hotel Alzer. Located across the Hippodrome from the Blue Mosque in "old" Istanbul, it was the perfect location. We were able to walk from the hotel to all the interesting sites we would see during our time there.
The hotel is operated by Memet Gulseven, a long-time friend of the Greinke family. Memet has excellent English and contacts in the area for everything from purchases at the Grand Bazaar to leather goods made while you visit.
Here's Memet and his staff wrapping up some of our loot from the Bazaar for safe transit.
Ramadan was in full swing while we were in Istanbul. The Hippodrome, which was right in front of the hotel, was a gathering place for many people as they waited for the call to prayer at sunset and the breaking of their daily fast. I was interested to learn that Muslims not only do not eat during the day but they also do not drink any liquid during that time. Given the heat, probably 90 degrees or more, I was surprised that they take no liquid from sun up to sun set. Another interesting thing is that children under the age of 12 are exempt from fasting.
As they waited for the call, they spread out blankets with the food they would eat and sat patiently waiting for the Iman's voice to come over the loud speakers. After the call from the Blue Mosque, you could hear the same call repeated at mosques all over the city. Then almost everyone stayed in the Hippodrome until the early hours of the morning talking and shopping at the booths set up for Ramadan.
Muslims in Turkey who do not practice the restrictions of Ramadan call themselves "republicans."
The next day the four of us jumped on the local trolley and took the Marmara Line to the ferry. The ferry took us to Uskadar (Asia). We only did this to be able to say we had been in Asia as well as Europe, Africa and, of course, North America where we started. That gave us four continents in two weeks.
Lunch was back on the European side of the Bosphoros at a restaurant under the Galata Bridge. From there we toured the Egyptian Spice Bazaar and took a quick walk through the Grand Bazaar.
The Grand Bazaar has 6,000 booths featuring all kinds of goods for sale. The architecture was amazing. I particularly liked the ceilings. They were made many centuries ago.
That afternoon, Jon and I had our first Turkish Bath. As one would expect in a Muslim country, men and women bathed separately.
I thought I wanted to do this before we came and my advise to anyone who finds themselves in Turkey is to be sure to take advantage of this unique custom.
The building the baths were in was built in about 1000 common era. I always thought of Turkish baths being filled with steam. But, the architects who designed these buildings built in a complicated series of vents at the top of the dome-shaped rooms to draw the steam from the room.
It was still very hot and humid. The bathing process itself was quite interesting. First, a woman, who spoke just enough English to get her point across, brought me into the domed room. It had stained glass windows and a large marble platform in the middle. Arranged around the sides were smaller cubicles where as many as eight women could sit on the marble benches. Three water basins without drains were on the sides with both hot and cold tap water.
Once I was seated on the bench, with out clothes, she poured water over my head and body with one of the brass bowls resting on the basin. Then she scrubbed my body from head to toe with a loofa and covered me in a gray paste. The most difficult thing about the Turkish bath is to sit on the marble without sliding to the floor from the gray paste.
She brought me a glass of water and a huge plate of fresh fruit to munch on while I waited the 10 to 15 minutes for the paste to do its work. That was the second most difficult thing to do: eat a piece of fruit without getting gray goo on it.
After rinsing off all the paste, she washed and conditioned my hair. Then I was escorted to the marble platform. It was large enough for 20 or more women to lie head to toe around the circumference.
I laid down on a towel and she poured more water over my body. Then taking what looked like a pillow case, she wet it, rubbed soap in it and squeezed the water over me. She took the pillow case and fanned it open until it billowed with air. Holding the open end closed, she stripped the bubbles from the fabric over and over again until I was covered from head to toe in bubbles. The popping bubbles tickled.
Once I was completely covered in bubbles, she washed my entire body under them. I could feel her hands on my skin but I could not see them through the soap. I'm sure this was a way to protect both my and my washer from embarrassment in this modest society.
I turn over and she repeats the process on my back. Then rinses me and takes me over to yet another basin for another rinse.
From there we go to the massage room where she gives me a 30 minute light massage. I have to say I walked out of there grateful for the short walk to the hotel. I felt relaxed and pampered.
This is a must do in Turkey!
Dinner that night was at a restaurant called Surplus on the shore by the Galata Bridge. On the way back we noticed that the mosques had signs in lights strung between the minarets. Most likely they said, "Let us love, let us be loved."
We returned to the hotel to sit on the patio outside the hotel with Memet and watch the people enjoying the Hippodrome during Ramadan.
