Falling in love with Istanbul again

OK, I admit it, I am something of a coward. Read between the lines of my last post and you’ll see it writ large. Yesterday returning to Istanbul was hard, I had become comfortable in and with North Cyprus and assumed that because the language and the money were the same I would just slot back into Istanbul. Not so, maybe it was culture shock, maybe I was tired after the trip here, but I was overwhelmed.

Today I faced the day with trepidation, but a visit to the Cistern entranced me and I was won over again.

The cistern is an underground water storage area set up a thousand or so years ago to store water for the city, one of many but the only one that has been restored and opened as a museum. The water in the cistern is clear and full of carp. It is truly an awesome sight to wander around and look at the columns, the arched ceilings and the various carvings on the columns. But the best was yet to come.

The Medusa columns, one is based oon Medusa with he rhead upside down, the other sideways.

The teardrop column

A street in the heart of Istanbul

Another view of beautiful Istanbul

After the cistern I walked around behind the blue mosque and discovered the Arasta bazaar.

This was set up to provide an income for the mosque, and is a kinder, gentler and smaller bazaar than the grand bazaar. I wandered among the shops enjoying the displays of goods on sale and thoroughly enjoyed the drama of it all. As I left the bazaar walking back towards the blue mosque I passed a store with some pretty things on sale, so I stopped to look. The salesman enquired about where I came from and we chatted for a while, then contrary to my usual avoidance of sales pitches I accepted his invitation to come into the store to look at the carpets. Half an hour later I had met the lady who made some of the rugs, heard an interesting dissertation on rugs of different types from different regions and had a complementary glass of apple tea. The sales pitch was low key and I enjoyed myself so much I bought myself a small silk killim.