After arriving in Pristina on September 1st, I spent a day catching up on some long overdue sleep. E took me on a walking tour of town, but other than that we just lazed around our apartment in Downtown Pristina.
On the morning of the 3rd we headed back to the airport for an afternoon flight to Istanbul. After navigating our way through the line/horde at the airport ticket counter we queued for the various security checkpoints. A few minutes after the flight departed, the flight attendants began a frantic distribution of meals (who knew airlines still served full meals to coach passengers on short haul flights! Turkish Airlines does folks)! Literally five minutes after the trays were placed in front of us, the flight attendants desperately (at least according to their facial expressions) began collecting the trays again. As they moved down the aisle and towards the middle where we were seated, you could feel a palpable panic spread. People began eating faster and almost with choreographed synchronization - ourselves included. I gobbled down the surprisingly decent offering and chugged the water that was included- just in time – the flight attendant’s hand reached in to take my tray and I breathed a deep sigh of relief/indigestion.
A little while later we arrived in Istanbul. As E was getting cash, I heard a call over the loudspeaker for “El Koppel.” Apparently E’s first name had been shortened and assumed to be part of his new Arab last name.
We settled into our hotel room in the center of Sultanahmet with a fantastic view of the Aya Sofya. Using our eight year old guidebooks, we found an inexpensive restaurant favored by locals and enjoyed our first holiday meal (which included beetroot juice for the intrepid E).
Over the next two days we toured the Aya Sofya (aka Hagia Sophia), the Blue Mosque (constructed between 1609-16), and the Topkapi Palace (including a visit to the Sultan’s Harem). I was especially impressed by the tremendous history within the Aya Sofya or “Church of Holy Wisdom.” Built on the footprint of two earlier churches, it was inaugurated by Emperor Justinian in 537AD. When you see the massive domes and marble floors, you too will be amazed at how old the building is. In the 15th century, the Ottomans moved in and converted the church into a mosque. As a result, there is an interesting/odd blend of items to see… minarets, tombs and fountains were the Ottomans contributions, but a number of beautiful golden mosaics of saints and other religious figures remain to betray the building’s original purpose.
E especially enjoyed (he doth protest) our wander through the Sultan’s harem at Topkapi palace (we highly recommend arriving right at 9am so that you don’t have to queue forever). Women of the harem were not locals. They were slaves brought from the furthest reaches of the Ottoman empire and beyond. Competition was stiff to be favored by the Sultan, because to bear him a son might lead to marriage. For those of you who have ever competed with someone else for the affection of another, imagine a competition with such high stakes that you’re competing with up to 1,000 other concubines! That’s right – the harem was FULL of women – and the only men allowed were the Sultan, his sons, and the Eunuchs that guarded the harem. For added intrigue, the mother of the son who the Sultan chose to succeed him (no primogeniture – ie, right of the first born son – there) became the Valide Sultan – the most powerful woman in the Harem. She had a suite of luxurious rooms and she wielded significant power in the matters of the State. She also held significant estates. I could go on and on about the interesting social dynamics that governed behaviour in the Harem, but then you’d have no reason to visit and learn more for yourself!
During our week in Istanbul, we also drank a significant amount of Turkish coffee. If you’re not familiar with this form of coffee, it is worth experiencing. It is essentially finely ground (to powder consistency) roast coffee beans served in a small espresso-sized cup with the dregs forming a solid sludge at the bottom of the cup. The Turks call it turk kahvesi to distinguish it from the relatively recent emergence of “instant coffee” or “nescafe” that is also available.
We also conquered the Istanbul trolley/subway system, visited the Galata Tower, took the locals’ ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul, visited Taksim Square, took a daylong boat-trip to the Princes’ Islands where J was singlehandedly responsible for NOT getting us lost (ie, refusing to accept E’s persistent insistence that we were going the wrong way), and befriended numerous dogs and cats (who seem to be well-loved in Turkey) along the way.
Finally, while the Turkish folks had a lovely habit of sitting together at small cafes for backgammon games, E and I had our own take-off of an afternoon/evening social game… “travel scrabble.” To protect the innocent, I won’t say who won more of the many matches we played that week. Suffice it to say that in the process of proving that you can play “travel scrabble” on a boat, in a park, at a restaurant, at the airport, overlooking the Bosphorus, on a Castle’s grounds… we both had a number of 300+point games.
On September 9th it was back to the Istanbul airport, and from there to our little home in Pristina once more.
