Cappadocia to Istanbul

Monday, April 19, 2010
Cappadocia to Istanbul
While some poor suckers had a 6 am flight to Istanbul this morning, ours was at 9:30. So we had enough time in the morning for our regular breakfast, then off to the airport for our flight. We arrived in Istanbul at around 11 am and were taken to our hotel, the Grand Hyatt. After settling into our rooms, we all met down in the lobby for our various afternoon tours. Augie and I, Mary Ann and Jerry had signed up for the Treasures of the Ottoman Empire, which took us to the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar.

The Blue Mosque gets its name from the blue tiles which cover the inside of the mosque. There are four huge pillars holding up the half domes and huge dome in the center of the mosque. The floor is covered in carpet, there are no seats, for the Muslim style of prayers.

Next we visited the Topkapi Palace, with it’s collection of the royal family, the caftan collection of the Sultan, and the religious artifacts such as Moses’ staff, Abraham’s cooking pot, Joseph’s turban, and Mohammed’s footprint.

Our last stop was the Grand Bazaar. Jerry needed a watch, but he was quickly overwhelmed with the pushy vendors who were insulted when I showed them my $12 Walmart watch. They proclaimed their wares (obviously fake Rolexes and other high end watches) were far superior to anything we could get at Walmart. Mary Ann started asking them if this was their one day watch or two day watch, further insulting the vendors. We were having fun. I bought a selection of Turkish Delight, a confection made of ground nuts and sugar just because I was hungry.

At 6:30, we met up again with our guide and were driven to the ferry which would take us to the island where our entire group was meeting for the evening’s welcome festivities. The wine flowed freely and the two long buffet tables lined the walls. We indulged ourselves on good food and wine until the loud music began and all of us "old folks" decided to make our exit. We grabbed a few cabs and crammed ourselves in for the ride back to our hotels. We agreed to meet again in the morning at 7:30 to begin the conference.