Topping Topkapi

 Wednesday June 8

This morning our travel tyrant broke from her well established routine and let the kids sleep through the pre-dawn bugle call. Sgt. Huth decided they needed to get a few more Z's, and we now wonder if it is she who needs more sleep. 

As a function of our lost luggage the only bottles of contact solution and hand sanitizer in our possession look what might become painfully similar.  Patti is the only one without daily disposable contacts and has come close to prepping her contacts with hand sanitizer a few times and has already 'sanitized' her hands with contact solution.

We lumbered out of our accomodations and found our way to the Blue Mosque which is located in the same plaza as the Hagia Sophia and close to the Topkapi castle, which we visited later in the day.

We were underwhelmed by the Blue Mosque experience due to ongoing restoration work that started prior to, and was much delayed by, Covid.  We caught some glimpses here and there through the scaffolding. 

We once again observed the tradition of removing shoes for all, head converting for women and men with shorts above the knees had to wear loaned out skirts.  No skirt for me as I was rockin' the pants. The girls kept their attire modest and casual which was a precondition of mine to travel to this city which has a quite contrasting mix of very conservative and a bit risqué. No need to draw any more attention to these Americans. Here they are donning the requisite headscarves.

Our cultural encounter for the day was the Topkapi Palace. It was a royal residence from 1478–1853 then an accommodation for military officers until 1924 when it was made a Museum.  This very expansive property seems to have the main attraction as the harem building. Do men who glory in their power ever change?

It was not over the top in opulance.  I would have to say some of the Islamic palaces and structures we toured in India , including the Taj, had very impressive stone inlay patterns on the walls while these were painted tiles, albeit by hand.

That is not to say that there were not a few rooms worthy of Patti.

Their was an ancient, and not loved for centuries, church on the grounds. It would be interesting to listen if these stones could talk.

The front desk man for our four nights in the 12-ish room World Heritage Hotel really hooked us up with a great reservation to the Istanbul Fine Dining Rooftop Restaurant overlooking the Sultanahmet complex. Even though this is "officially" a 3 star hotel, which is already 2 gold stars above typical Huth accomodations, this place was great in every respect.

Back to the food - I had looked into a few other rooftop bistros in the neighborhood but the prices relagated us to ground level grub. However this place, just steps from our hotel, was about $60 all included (Patti and I even split a beer!). The kids voted and the rooftop dining topped the Topkapi.

Now here is a much better picture of the Blue Mosque from the balcony next to our table.

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