Travels With Talbotts: Mediterranean 2009: Friday 31 July

Sailed into Istanbul at about noon. Completely overwhelmed by the sheer size of the city; every part of the skyline is punctuated my minarets, which makes it quite an awesome sight. Very easy to see why this is called the gateway between East and West. It looks as if all the world's cultures simply collided into one colossal heap and somehow formed a city.

Began our guided tour at 1:15 on bus number 22 with a guide called Salem. We drove to the "Old City", passing the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, getting a spectacular view of the world's only intercontinental bridge.

We arrived at the Topkapi Palace, but it was hard to tear ourselves away from the stunning sight of the Blue Mosque just a short distance away. Framed by a lovely park with fountains and trees, just to stand outside this magnificent piece of architecture and hear the call to prayer was sublime.

As Salem herded us into the palace, we found that it was also indeed impressive, with Eastern architecture (domes and spires) and beautiful courtyards of cypress, palm, and flowering trees. The museum rooms held ceremonial robes, jeweled swords, and other antiquities, but unfortunately, these areas were not air conditioned, and the addition of the masses did little to assist the atmosphere. We scanned the exhibits first at a trot, then at something closer to a canter, and by the time we neared the last few rooms I believe we had hit a full-on gallop. We did manage to catch a glimpse of the 80 carat diamond (wow!) as well as a casket full of cut emeralds (even more wow!) as we sweated our way through, and I must say that these rivaled anything I have seen in the Tower of London as far as display of wealth in terms of jewels.

Anyhow, we sat in the shade for a bit to try to catch to some fresh air after our exertions (we had about 30 minutes before we were required to meet our group) and I was able to do a bit of sketching while James bought what was apparently a $7.00 Coke. And to think, a man who tosses money away like this on such frivolities turned his nose up at a €650 sculpture in Santorini? What gives here??

Next, we moved on to the Saint Sophia, or Hagia Sophia (pronounced Aya SO-phia) to see the 1000 year old dome at its center. It is currently being restored, but even so, it is still one of the most amazing sites we have yet seen. 1000 years old, and it has survived earthquakes over 7.5 on the Richter scale numerous times. Unbelievable. The frescos and mosaics, many in gold leaf, are exquisite, again, all the more so for their age and for their method of construction.

We were able to climb to the second level to get a better view of the marble floor and the mosaics, and this is where things went terribly, terribly wrong. I suppose since the Old Man fell yesterday, Ton felt it was only fair that she do so today. Somehow, on the ramp back down to the ground floor, she twisted an ankle on one side, and broke a toe on the other. (The smashed toenail on the injured foot looked so awful that it gave us ALL the heebie-jeebies.) Thankfully Hagia Sophia was our last stop on the tour for the day, so we headed straight back to the ship, where the attending doctor took x-rays and wrapped it all up. The ankle is only a nasty sprain, but he wants to send her to an orthopedist tomorrow, which means that she will miss the trip across the bridge to Asia, the Blue Mosque and the Bazaar. Hopefully they will give her a brace so she can continue on with most of the activities for the rest of the trip. James and I sent chocolate covered strawberries to her room, so if that doesn't help, I don't know what will.