We slept in a bit due to our late arrival; heard the 5 a.m. call to prayer and turned over and went back to sleep.  After breakfast, we went in search of a dentist (Craig had a crown that fell out in Rome, which was fairly simply glued back in place) and then took the tram to the Sultanahmet Square in the center of the Old City, where numerous historical structures are located.  We first tried to enter the Blue Mosque, but it was at that point closed for worship.  Heading on down the historical district, we were hijacked by a rug dealer’s scout (unbeknownst to us at the beginning) as we glanced into a nearby bazaar.  This fellow was smooth; he chatted us up about the U.S. and Alaska, and offered to show us some hospitality.  Unfailingly polite and trying to avoid an Ugly American image, we went along for a cup of apple tea, and ended up listening to a fairly informative lecture about rug weaving by the fellow’s cousin (yeah, right) followed by a fairly hard sales pitch.  After escaping, again with politeness all around, we went on to the Hagia Sophia, which was completed in 537 AD by a Holy Roman Emperor as the greatest church in Christendom.

When the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire, Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque.  In 1935, Ataturk (the Father of His Country, the visionary who founded modern Turkey and, as we will later see, the hero of Gallipoli) proclaimed it a museum.  It has beautiful mosaics from Byzantine times (including one in which the Byzantine empress Zoe had to keep changing the adjacent mosaic of her husband’s face because she had three of them), and many Muslin touches added after its conversion in 1453.  The most impressive feature is the dome, which appears to be floating above everything else due to its support columns being imbedded in and hidden by the surrounding walls.  According to an historical architecture course Phyllis took, it is one of the most unique and imaginative support systems ever created.

Afterwards, it was rainy and a bit windy and we needed lunch, so we adjourned to a nearby shop for a lunch of apple tea (which apparently only tourists are caught dead drinking, but it is very good) and baklava.  This is our Turkish version of gelato for lunch.  On our way across the plaza afterwards, we encountered yet another friendly person, who had an even better story about his experience with the U.S. and Alaska in particular.  And so, we learned even more about carpets, but this time turned down the cup of apple tea and eventually escaped with just the fellow’s business card in hand.  We clearly have much to learn, but it is against our nature to just say “no thank you” abruptly to everyone who tries to start up a conversation.

We headed back over to the Blue Mosque, now open for tourists but only without shoes and only if the women cover their heads in traditional Muslim fashion.  Phyllis started out with her raincoat hood pulled up, but quickly changed to the loaner headscarf that was available by the entrance.  Completed in 1616 by an Ottoman sultan intending to outdo the Hagia Sophia, the entire interior of this mosque is covered with stunning blue tiles of various designs.  The effect is almost overwhelming, but the interior of the dome is not nearly as ethereal as the one in Hagia Sophia.  Rather than floating above everything, this dome is very obviously grounded on four huge columns that look like enormous elephant legs.  Still, it is an amazingly beautiful structure, all the more so because it is in continuous use by devout Muslims, who come in and make their prayers without being distracted by us visitors.

By then, it was getting dark (and still a bit wet and windy) so we retreated to the hotel to get dinner suggestions.  A rainy walk up to a local restaurant resulted in a delicious meal called clay pot kebap, a specialty of Anatolia in central Turkey, where the meat (lamb, beef or chicken) and vegetables are cooked inside a sealed clay pot which is then broken open at your table amid flames and much fanfare.  Besides being so tasty, it was a great show.  We also had our first Efes beer, or at least Craig did and, as we were to learn, there is no finer beer in Turkey.  In fact there is no other beer period that anyone seems to stock.  It was a good ending for a very busy day.