Istanbul Day 3

Istanbul Day 3

This town is too much. It is difficult to comprehend what my eyes and ears are taking in. We have traversed the monstrous city on foot, rail, bus, and tomorrow, boat. This morning, there was the breakfast on the rooftop, Basilica Cistern, Grand Bazar, and the to the train station to get tickets.

The Basilica Cistern is this giant water storage facility under the ground that provided cool drinking water for the Justinian Romans. It was then covered over and not discovered till a few hundred years ago. Now, there are a few fish in there, repaired columns, and a nice temp of about 60 degrees. Hopefully, the pics that I took will do this place justice. What's funny is that it was discovered because homeowners were lowering buckets into the ground to get water and what came back up was water and a few fish. When they fully explored the place they found that some used the giant hole as a dump for corpses. Yummy! Today, it is lit up and kept really clean with a few of the columns being supported with concrete and steel. I think it's a great job still giving the original impression and awe that would be expected with a huge engineering marvel such as this.

After yesterday's adventure to the spice market, today was a romp through the Grand Bazaar. And let me tell you, it is called Grand for a reason. This place had everything from gold and antiques to suits and musical instruments. We must have covered every stretch of space in the building. Some say that this was the first mall ever and it is protected by heavy built walls along the perimeter. At each entry point there was a guard with a metal detector which I never saw being used, even though I might have been a little suspect. Most impressive was the gold. You could buy, in hand, gold bullion at market price or sell to these stations. There were gram sizes up to 1000 gram bars. Even though there was bullion, there was jewelry as well. The lights illuminating the treasure surly made it impressive. It is clear to me now the ever lasting obsession that humans have had with gold. This place has been selling the stuff from the 1400's. This Bazaar was not as packed as the spice market, but seemed to have higher quality merchandise. I have to say I am a little tired of the rip off clothing trying to copy name brands. It's pretty apparent with the knock offs and their poor logos and thin cotton. I have to say, we did not purchase anything from the place. That does not matter. There is no room in my bag and only getting a chicken sandwich on pita bread was enough for me.

Lastly, was the Turkish bath. We took the recommendation from the hostel owner and used the service that picks you up from just out front. When you bring up the whole bath thing to anyone, you get all kinds of responses. I had never been to a Turkish bath and had only heard stories about what happens there. Speaking truthfully, I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but upon entering and going with the flow, it worked out fine. Now I feel much more relaxed and clean. Nothing weird goes on in there at all. It is actually a first class treatment and the reputation is something based in fact. Upon entering, you go into a changing room and put on a small towel around your waist. This towel you will have on the whole time and never take off completely. Then, you head into the sauna for a few minutes. After sweating it up a while, you get called into the main room with marble floors and benches. Your attendant takes you over to the faucet, pours water over you, scrubs you a bit with an abrasive sponge, and plops you onto the marble table. This is where the massage is given and some extra scrubbing. My dude, stood on my back and did some yanking of my leg and arm at the same time to crak different joint. Actually, pretty cool. Then, it's back over to the water area for the wash down. The whole place was hot and humid and the heat comes from an underground fire that keeps the whole place rocking. Everything must have been built thoughtful since this bath has been operation from the mid 1400's. No joke. When you are all washed up, it's back to the sauna and then to the cooling pool. The next step is to dry you off. This took a few extra towels and a special attendant too care of this by drying my mopey hair and finished it with a nice head wrap. All in all the bath was a sauna, washing, massage, cooling pool, and a dry off. But, what makes it super interesting was the building it all took place. The cielince were all round, the floors marble, and the walls tile. It was like being in the Grand Palace to get all cleaned up. Nice! No one inside was speaking English. It was all Turkish, so maybe they were making fun of me or talking about my mom, or discussing how much money they are all making. Oh well. Cleanliness is one of the 7 pillars of Islam and it was a great experience to take part in such a ritual. Although a washing like this would talk place about once a week, the other bathings would happen at home or as frequently as possible. Sometimes though, around here, I wonder who is actually bathing at all. Every once in a while you get a whiff of some nasty cloud a danger and want to push them in the direction of the baths. I probably needed the bath as well.

Tomorrow should be a little easier day with a Bosphorous cruise with coffee and preparation to leave on the night train to Sophia, Bulgaria. Once again, it's gunna be tough to leave another great place in search of more adventure.