Loving Istanbul

We are preparing to head back to Boston for a week. We'll leave Jungle in Istanbul, while Jenée and I fly back for a Fraine family wedding and a full Fraine Family reunion (2 parents, 9 kids, tons of neices and nephews and grandkids - wow). Not sure if we have any great - great grandkids. I'll get back to you on that. While in Boston I'll check on some medical stuff. A crowning point of the trip for us is Jenée's son Garrett is flying in to meet with us and the family for the week. Garrett recently passed the entrance exam for the San Diego Sheriff. He will now begin the long process to follow in his Grandfather, Marlin Stapleton's, footsteps (LA policeman turned lawyer). I don't want to besmeerch the SoCal exam, but I think one of the answers in the test was; "Dude, put down the surfboard and back away!". Garrett is now at 6'6", 250 lbs, so here's to hoping he still has a great sense of humor.

In one of the recent updates I talked about Alev and Jason (Aysun) Orhon. They own a very well stocked Marine store (Horizon) next to the Setur Marina and Alev helped us track down a refridgerator repair person and proceeded to act as interpreter and coordinator over the phone between me and the repair guy. At the end, Jason came by to negotiate the final bill. Needless to say, we love these two fine folks and greatly appreciated their generosity towards us. They are quite in love as well, which we are always happy to be around.

Before leaving we decided to have dinner together. Jason and Alev took us to one of their favorite restaurants for a Turkish dinner. And what a dinner! Look at my face. That is the full giddy Jimmy face when I'm in heaven at the dinner table. It included all kinds of appetizers with eggplant, vegetables, you name it. The main course included some great steak and lamb.

Dessert was this pistachio in philo dough treat, combined with ice cream. Pretty much everything we tried was the first time for us and we loved it all. We ate most of it to boot. Merhaba! Alev and Jason's daughter is married and living in Tampa, Florida and they plan to be there full time by next year. We'll be keeping in touch.

The next day it's back to school! Turkish style cooking school that is. Jenée came upon the suggestion in a travel book and set it up. You learn to make 5 courses with master chefs, prepare all the dishes, then sit down and eat them. Here is Chef Cap'n Jimbo dicing up the herbs. Man, I can dice! Check out my weapon.

Here the class is preparing the meat wrapped in grape leaves. It's the Turkish version of dolmas only it is more meat (lamb and beef) and little rice. Quite a process to prep.

We see the class in action. All very nice folks who like to eat. Nice common ground. That is master chef Evelyn in red and Faisel in white. Very effective instructors.

These are the zucchini pancakes in the frying pan. Best right out of the pan.

This is the finished grape leaves and meat with yogurt. We also had zucchini boat salad and figs stuffed with walnuts, simmered in syrup. I make a great Turkish meal, but enough about me.

These ladies are from Dallas, Texas with the aspiring chef in the middle. Her sister to the right and friend on the left came to join in for lunch - they gave us 4 stars! OK, made that last part up. I was very helpful. Whatever they didn't finish, I did.

The restaurant/school is in a little neighborhood just behind the Blue Mosque.

Very nice neighborhood.

Just strolling around.

We decide to walk back towards the port to enjoy the street life and walk off the 20 pounds I've gained over the last 24 hours.

We make our way to the ferry port and the famous spice market. Let me tell you, they have lots of unique spices and we've used some ourselves - fantastic. Jenée also bought some unique teas.

It's time for the ferry and one last trip via this way back to Jungle.

The next morning we sail south for the Princes Islands. This group of islands is only 7 miles from Istanbul and is a Turkish hangout during the summer. Not much English spoken here.

This is the island of Burgazadasi and has a neat little waterfront town.

We strolled the streets on a hot day. Good thing we are steps from the water.

Little shops and we're loving these flowering trees and shrubs. Who knew I'm a shrubbery guy?!

Ho hum, beautiful everywhere.

Jenée spots an outdoor market.

Here we go. We loaded up on fruit.

Taxi service. No cars allowed on any of the islands, so plenty of horse drawn carts.

This particular beach is mostly rock. That's our anchorage.

Actually a mooring and that's our view. That's Istanbul off in the distance.

The next day we head for our marina to leave Jungle while we fly back to Boston. We pass a nice little set of homes. Turkey has undergone a great deal of waterfront expansion and not all of it very attractive. This works.

At the marina we find tight grouping of ducks, or a bevy of ducks, or a gaggle of geese, or a shitload of birds. Whatever works. I fed them some old bread so they dug me.

 

Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia Church) and more of Istanbul.

Tonight we assist our friend Dennis as he assembles his almost seaworthy dinghy. Dennis bought this vessel on his way down from Denmark, via Poland and the Black Sea. Unfortunately, a strong wind tore out the bow cleat and Dennis' dinghy is no more. Oh well, such is life on the seas. Prior to this photo, we had a nice dinner on board Jungle, compliments of the admiral.

Today we visit the Hagia Sophia (hi-ya sophia) also Aya Sofia or St. Sophia. This is considered a true ancient wonder and definitely is so from an architectural standpoint. First dedicated in 360 AD, in then Constantinople, it accidentally burnt down in the same century. Rebuilt and dedicated in 415 AD, it was burnt down in a riot some 100 years later. This third revision has stood since 537 AD and took only 6 years to build.

An inside view of the impressive ceiling and pillars.

The center dome is an architectural marvel based on sheer size and lack of supporting pillars. Rather unique in the world. Only 3 other cathedrals in the world have larger domes. This one is 65 meters (200+) feet across.

We see the intricate tilework on the dome.

An impressive main floor.

The sad story to the Hagia Sofia is the tile artwork, paintings and other relics have been removed.

When Turkey moved from the Christian Era to the Muslim Era the church was converted into a mosque, all Christian references were removed, with hammer and chisel.

And Islamic references installed.

Including the stain glass windows. It's tough to see here but they are classic stained glass windows with Islamic scripture installed over.

And the pulpit for the Imam.

This is an example of some of the 6th century tilework that was removed from the church.

Here is a Christian relic that escaped destruction.

In 1935 it was changed again, from a mosque into a museum by then president Ataturk.

Still a beautiful place.

With reminders from all eras.

Here is a tiled art piece that depicts Constantine on the right showing his model of Constantinople to Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus. Emperor Justinianus is on the left with his model of the Hagia Sophia. I guess they got the green light.

Outside, we see the Blue Mosque off in the distance.

A look from another angle at the Hagia Sophia.

And a final look.

Then we are off to the Pera Palace. It's not a palace but a hotel built by the owner of the Orient Express Railway, which holds the famous Orient Bar. Ernest Hemmingway tipped a few whiskeys here. Agatha Christie is rumored to have stayed here and made this the basis of her book, Murder on the Orient Express. This point is up for debate.

It also has the now famous Orient Terrace.

Jenée Fraine is rumored to have eaten there.

With her husband Jim. They were rumored to have a Turkish Pizza and two Efes beers. Pure conjecture.

We took the road less traveled back to the ferry. This may be considered a seedier part of town, but was still enjoyable with all the locals kicking back and taking it easy. We've found nothing to dislike about Istanbul, with the possible exception of the traffic. Good thing we're not driving.