First part of our Istanbul Diary (2000)

Home Diaries Best Pictures Road Trip

Istanbul, Part 1, Arrival

Saturday, April 1, 2000

Dear Family and Friends,

We've been back a few days now from Istanbul and I'd like to share our trip. There will be three parts, mostly because I had such a hard time throwing away pictures. Everywhere we looked there were colors and images. It was quite a change after a Winter in Kiev.

We left last Saturday morning. Since we believe all those warnings about getting to the airport two hours ahead of time, we ended up spending more time in Kiev airport than we did on our plane. It's only about an hour-and-a-half to Istanbul from here and the flight was completely uneventful. We had travelling companions since two families from school were also on their way South. One family is Turkish and they were going home for Spring Break but the other family would be at the same small hotel with Marianne and me.

Arrival was easy enough. The Istanbul airport terminal is less than one year old and it is very modern and efficient. Of course we had to buy visas but even that was pretty painless - much easier than obtaining visas for a place like the US or Ukraine/Russia. That was one of the first signs that Turkey LIKES foreign tourists (and their money of course.)

We stayed in a 16-room hotel in the Sultanahmet area, a block or two from all the most famous downtown attractions. The Kybele Hotel turned out to be a wonderful establishment, run by a very entrepreneurial family. Here are Marianne and Chin signing us in with Alysia looking over shoulders. Alysia is Chin's daughter and Marianne's student. Overhead are the fanciful lamps that are everywhere in the hotel. Our room had over 50! We liked then so much we bought one (just one) for our new apartment.

"Mike", one of the three brothers who runs the business, invited us in for a drink and then said there was going to be a "carpet lecture" and asked if we wanted to join. I raised my hand in agreement and within minutes of arriving, we were having our first carpet sales pitch. Sounds bad but it was great fun. The entrance to the lecture hall was above one of the other shops behind a hidden door. The hall itself was filled with carpets, hangings, lamps, and STUFF. Lots of STUFF.

Mike grabbed a lecture stick and proceeded to tell us the difference between bad rugs, which other people sell, and good rugs, such as the ones produced by his company. Lots of blah, blah, blah but FUNNY blah, blah, blah and he really was telling us some good information. At least it matched what we have read about rugs and what we know from past purchases. He knew the places where some of our rugs had been woven and said "Good pieces, but too expensive." He was right on that. At one point he brought out a nice, inexpensive rug that looked like one we had at home in San Jose. When we commented on it, Mike asked where we had bought our rug. When we told him "In San Francisco", he said "Maybe from my friend Ed on Fillmore Street?". Another correct call. Amazing. Halfway around the world and this guy is telling us where we bought a rug. Needless to say, we bought a rug. Here is a happy Marianne.

It made me happy too because we had planned to buy a rug for the new house and now that goal had been reached. It made turning down all the other rug salesmen easy and that made walking in the street easier. The people in Istanbul are very friendly but they DO try to sell. Every doorway has a hawker begging us tourists to go inside. "Look at our carpets." "Look at our souvenirs." "It's free to look." "Mister, you missed my store." "Let me help you spend your money." "Authentic carpets." (Like, what's a non-authentic carpet?)

But we had culture to cover as well. Our first big stop was the Blue Mosque. The six minarets are instantly recognizable and the mass of the 17th Century buildings most impressive. This is an active mosque but, between prayer times, anyone can be admitted. Shoes are removed and any woman without completely covered legs is provided a wraparound cover for proper modesty. Inside, the floor space is immense and completely covered in a handwoven carpet. Hanging above heads are candle holders in huge iron wheels. The effect when filled must be fascinating. Higher up, all the walls are tiled and all the windows made in stained glass. Of course all the decorations are geometric patterns since Islam discourages imagery of people or animals. The overall effect was most impressive.

At the end of our tour day, we descended into a cistern first built by the Roman emperor Constantine over 1500 years ago. Going down into a cistern may not be YOUR idea of fun but here it's different. There is a walkway going through the area and the whole trip is 15 or 20 minutes. There is classical music playing which combines with the steady dripping to make a very unique aural experience. However, I have to admit, "aural experiences" don't show up well in the pictures.

In Part 2, we'll see another Mosque and just some walk-around sights. Then the last part will cover a bit of exotic shopping and some of the world's finest carpet museum displays.

Till then, stay in touch.

John and Marianne.

Previous Diary

Next Diary

Home Diaries Best Pictures Road Trip

Originally sent April 1, 2000. Reformatted for the Web May 20, 2001.

This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.