Haghia Sophia

Monday morning we went inside the Haghia Sophia, which loomed above much of the city.  The sheer magnitude of the mosque was unbelievable, with dizzying arrays of tiles and patterns on the dome above us.  With our wrapped heads, I know we looked ridiculous, but we showed reverence to the culture.  In all honesty, I think that wearing the pashminas around our heads made us appreciate the experience even more.

After that, my partner and I presented on the Baths of Roxelana, which is now a fair trade carpet shop, but because of filming, we were unable to go inside the baths.  Needless to say, that rained on my parade a little, but I was so excited about going to the Asian side of Istanbul that it didn’t matter.

Although we just went over to Asia for lunch and didn’t really get to explore the area, how many people can say that they’ve been to two continents in a day?  Little did I know, but I would be going over to Asia twice in one day.  As soon as we got to the Asian side, I was snapping pictures, and when we sat down at the restaurant, I sat my camera on the table.

Well, during lunch I became involved in conversation and eating, of course, and when we left the restaurant, I totally forgot that my camera had been on the table.  It wasn’t until we arrived back at the dock on the European side of Istanbul that I realized I’d left my camera in another continent.  Before we toured Topkapi Palace, I ran back up to the hotel and asked the staff to call the restaurant to see if they’d found my camera.

They stated that they had indeed found it, and I planned to pick it up after the tour of the palace.  Although I would have loved to have had my camera at Topkapi because it was so beautiful and extravagant, I was just relieved that my camera was still at the restaurant and hadn’t been stolen or lost.

While at Topkapi Palace, we saw beautiful tiles in the harem and gold basins in the palace baths, but the thing that amazed me the most was the view from the inner courtyard of the palace.  From that courtyard, I could see the entire city, and the expansive view was dizzying.  After touring the palace for nearly three hours, Rob and I hopped back on the ferry and crossed over to the Asian side, sprinting to the restaurant and back to the ferry before it could set sail again.  Once back on solid land, we had to pull a “Mission Impossible” move, running into three lanes of incoming traffic to catch the tram back to the hotel.  I was relieved to be back at the hotel safely when we returned.

Read the first entry: Flying to Istanbul

Read the second entry: Sultanhamet Mosques, the Hoppodrome, and spice bazaars

Read the third entry: chora, Cemberlitas bath, and gypsies

posted by Stacy Dyer '96

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