Thursday November 14
Today's big event was meeting Deniz for lunch! It was the perfect motivator to get out of the house. Now, whenever I think of Deniz at work (which, I suppose, wasn't that often), I know what her surroundings look like! At lunch we finally got to taste
manti, the curious little pasta pinched wonders found in bulk bins everywhere. We also reaffirming why yogurt is sold by the kilo in Turkey. It is eaten with every dish, heaping portions of it, even yogurt soup! After lunch in Besiktas, we headed back to Sultanamet to visit
Karakoy Gulluoglu, baklava emporium extraordinaire, stock up on bulk nuts at the spice bizarre, score an inner tube for Poppet, and to see the Basilica Cistern.
It's hard not to be in awe at the resourcefulness and ingenuity of past generations, who constructed such massive structures such as the Basilica Cisterns, without the aid of large sophisticated machinery. Pure and simple manual labour. It's really enough? Evidence says says. Mind boggling. Impressive. Inspiring. The days the Basilica Cisterns no longer serve their original function, storing water for sultans, but welcome tourists into their moody depths. Pillars in every direction were lit with soft yellow light, and in the background ambient music mixed with the sounds of dripping water. Touring around, one half expects to see a Gollum slinking in the shadows, no thanks to the sight of Medusa heads supporting two of the cisterns pillars.
Emerging from the cisterns at 5pm into darkness, we were made acutely aware that days are much, much shorter now. Thankfully, night time in Istanbul means bright lights and vibrant activity, be it on bridges, on docks, or boats. Everywhere, someone is fishing, and each mosque minaret is lit up like Christmas (but only to us, because this is a Muslim country).
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| A small fishing boat on the Bosphorus. |
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| One of the many ferries motors its way to Kadikoy (?) |
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| More fine views from The 'Bos |
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| Baklava with pistachio from Karakoy Gulluoglu, the delicious original. |
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| A variant on the original, baklava with milk. |
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| Jenn keeping on eye on our purchases. |
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| Madalene drinking cai at Karakoy Gulluoglu - it goes very well with the honest infused baklava. |
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| Life on the bridges of Istanbul. Fishing. Walking. Chatting. Tea drinking. |
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| Which bait would you like to use? |
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| Madalene poses in the Basilica Cisterns (yes, the Arc'teryx jacket is still going) |
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| Madalene and Jenn at the basilica cisterns. |
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| Pillars, vaulted roofs, and yellow light making for interesting ambiance in the cisterns. |
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| Recycling at its finest in Turkey. |
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| The pillar of tears. |
