Monday in Istanbul

After a limbo weekend consisting of a canceled Friday night Turkish Airlines flight from Boston to Istanbul, an extra day in Boston (with a Walden swim), and an actual flight a day later, Chuck Luce and I arrived in Istanbul on Sunday 8/24, which turns out to be a holiday of some sort, or maybe just Sunday as we know it.  The shoreline from Ataturk airport to Sultanahmet was lined with picnicking families featuring tiny hibachi-style grills and producing a massive, mouthwatering haze across the city.  There was lots of footy going on, even on the basketball courts, and quite a few people splashing into the Marmara Sea.

A rooftop dinner of grilled octopus and sea bream at Mostra Restaurant was outstanding, and just a short walk from the HOTEL ERGUVAN, just below the Blue Mosque, where we're staying for two nights on a recommendation from my friend Bob Mulcahy.  It's a decent place in a great location with a panoramic roof terrace for breakfast and evening drinks.

Today, Monday, we ventured out after a late breakfast with no particular plan but to check out a few of the many historic sites within walking distance of the ERGUVAN.  It turned out to be a bad day for it as the Hagia Sophia is closed Mondays, driving the throngs of tourists to the Blue Mosque, Cistern, and Topkapi Palace.  After suffering about a 20 minute ticket line at each of the Cistern and Topkapi, we succeeded in scoring some serious tourism points.

The Basilica Cistern is an underground reservoir built during the 6th century by Emporer Justinian to hold water fed from the Belgrad Forest (19 miles away) via aqueduct.  It's a cool retreat from the hot August sidewalk, but there's not a lot to be seen down there besides some huge darkness-loving koi, an interesting structure called the peacock-eyed column, and two column bases carved in the shape of Medusa heads.  Still, the very size and improbable fact of it make it well worth the hour or so spent there.

The Topkapi Palace is the 16th century palace of the great sultans of the Ottoman Empire.  My favorite spots were a breezeway between the Felicity Gate and the Hall of Audiences, and a porch amidst the Treasury rooms overlooking the Bosporus strait.  The harem, eunuchs' quarters, queen mother's quarters, sultan's quarters and crown princes quarters were very interesting, but I think people with guides were getting a more colorful historical experience, from what I could overhear.
Unlike European palaces, the Topkapi features nearly no artwork beyond decorative tiles and a few 19th century frescoes in the queen mother's quarters.  The tilework, and other adornments are indeed beautiful, but they don't impart an implicit narrative to keep you looking.

Late lunch at a laid back place called the Palatium was punctuated by a surprise descent from the center of the restaurant down to an excavated portion of the original Byzantine palace that dates back to the time of Constantine.

Tomorrow we're off by bus to Ravda, Bulgaria to join up with Nathan Longan for some Black Sea swim training, general merriment, and/or contemplation of our own mortalities.