Wednesday witnessed the opening of the conference. With Julian spending the day actually committed to working (for a change), Sara and Zoe met up with Bulent again for a day of touring the old city – Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar. We had toured each of these locations on our visit in 2005, but all are well worth a return visit.
The 400 year old Blue Mosque, we were reminded, is not the largest or most beautiful mosque in Istanbul, a city whose skyline is shaped by the minarets of many, many mosques and where the call to prayer rings out in all neighbourhoods five times a day. Its popularity is a result of its location in the old city and proximity to other tourist locations. That said, it is still big and very beautiful with its 20,000 tiles in over 50 tulip designs (the tulip symbolizes God) and more than 200 stained glass windows!
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| The low hanging lights are reminders of when candles were used to light the space. |
Tourists (millions each year) are kept in the back of the mosque behind a rope. Children, however, are welcome - encouraged, in fact - to squeeze under the rope and run and play in the carpeted prayer area. Zoe was happy to oblige. The refreshing message we received loudly and clearly was “We like you; you are welcome in our country and our house of prayer!” We were treated in this manner and it was reiterated verbally by our guide several times.
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| Zoe running laps in the mosque's prayer area. |
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| Zoe tumbling in the mosque's prayer area, encouraged by smiling mosque officials. |
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| Bulent and Zoe in the gardens between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. |
The 1,500 year old Hagia Sofia is simply awe inspiring with its massive dome, towering doorways, beautiful mosaics, and rich history.
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| The dome inside Hagia Sofia |
A mosaic that had gone unnoticed during our visit to Hagia Sofia in 2005 was an 11th century rendering of Empress Zoe with Constantine IX and Jesus. Needless to say, it garnered extra attention from one particular member of our group during this visit.
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| Constantine IX, Jesus, Empress Zoe |
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| Zoe, Zoe, Bulent |
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| The Blue Mosque as viewed from Hagia Sofia |
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| Zoe posing at a children's fancy dress shop outside the Grand Bazaar |
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| Zoe with her grand Grand Bazaar purchase, her very own "pashmina" |
And what would another evening in Istanbul be without another reunion with friends? Just to backpedal slightly, the conference was being organized locally at Bahcesehir by Yavuz. Yavuz and Julian overlapped for a couple of years during their PhD days and have kept in touch ever since. Well, more than that, in that they have collaborated on research and have published perhaps a dozen academic papers together over the past 20 years. On our 2005 trip, we had dinner with Yavuz, his wife Deniz and their then 5 year-old Whirling Dervish of a son, Mete – dinner being an understatement, as Deniz had prepared one of those Turkish gourmet feasts that never ceases with course after course after course…. On this (2011) evening we were treated to a magnificent dinner on the waterfront patio of a restaurant on the Golden Horn with Yavuz’s family that has now grown to include 6 year-old daughter, Aylin. Somehow this dining establishment seemed totally insulated from the regular urban hustle and bustle, yet provided wonderful views of many historical and stunning parts of the city. And have we mentioned the weather yet? Every day was sunny, always accompanied by a maritime breeze, with the temperature always in the 21C-28C (70F-82F) range, highs and lows inclusive. How can we adequately convey the mood on this evening as the sun set over the city? The food was great. The company was wonderful. The location was perfect. Enough said.
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| Zoe resting up for dinner with Yavuz and his family. |
Thursday was bit of a rest day. During the day, that is. While Julian was busy with the conference, including his research presentation, Sara and Zoe stayed “local” by browsing the neighbourhood shops and bookstores, enjoying the nearby park and playground, which was then followed by the remainder of the afternoon spent poolside. It was during the morning shopping that Zoe’s two kids appeared. Zoe loves to pretend and role play and has a wonderfully creative imagination, but she has never had imaginary friends that lasted more than one or two play sessions. Until now. At some point during the morning, she acquired two children that she proceeded to take care of for the remainder of the trip and still conjures them up on occasion here at home. She cautioned them on the uneven sidewalks, showed them various evil eyes, lost them on occasion and had to check in various candy shops to find them. She was finding such joy in their companionship and ensuing antics that it was impossible to do anything but play along.
Thursday evening was special for two reasons: (i) The adults were attending the conference dinner, while (ii) Zoe would have an in-room babysitter. Zoe views babysitters as a special treat, since she has them so rarely – usually only at conferences. Hence, she was really looking forward to her sitter this evening and had been literally anticipating this evening for weeks.
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| Zoe in the hotel prior to the babysitter's arrival. |
As is customary for us, we availed ourselves of our hotel’s recommended service and the sitter, Gulsen, duly arrived at the appointed hour. Only then did we realize that there might be a potential problem with our arrangements – assuming it was obvious, we had not actually specified the need for an English-speaking sitter. Apparently it wasn’t obvious. But everyone seemed happy enough in our staccato exchange of instructions, so off we went. Fingers crossed. Toes crossed. Hoping we made the right decision.
Our dinner this evening was held on a boat cruise of the Bosphorus, the 30 km (20 mi) long strait connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara which leads to the Aegean Sea and then Mediterranean, thus a critical shipping channel for Russia and other countries with access to the Black Sea. The Bosphorus is also the boundary between Europe and Asia. Istanbul straddles the entire length (and then some) of the Bosphorus on both sides making it the only city in the world located on two continents. To say that the cruise - food, company and scenery - was fabulous would be an understatement.
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| A palace on the edge of the Bosphorus |
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| A mosque on the Bosphorus |
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| Bahcesehir University (Julian's conference location) is pictured on the bank of the Bosphorus with vertical blue lights. Our hotel is the tall building (top left) on the hill above the university. |
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| Cruising under one of the bridges across the Bosphorus. |
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| Another palace on the Bosphorus. |
When we returned to the hotel room late that night, everything seemed to be in order – Zoe was asleep and Gulsen appeared happy. The language barrier, however, prevented us from getting any sort of report as to how the evening went. When Zoe woke up the next morning, the first words out of her mouth were “That was the best babysitter ever!!”. Upon asking her what they talked about, she replied that she didn’t really know, because she couldn’t understand what Gulsen was saying but they still had lots of fun. We now definitely suspect that she has acquired the knack for enjoying foreign travel experiences.
Friday proved to be a day of something that had not been previously experienced in Istanbul. There is brand new aquarium located close to the airport – an approximately 40 minute drive from the hotel. Sara and Zoe undertook a special adventure, travelling there via taxi. Part of the adventure was that the taxi driver had no clue where this new aquarium was actually located – but that can be part of the fun in travelling without strict deadlines or destinations. This fantastic aquarium should set the standard for aquariums worldwide! It was laid out in a geographical format with a lot of historical information included, particularly in the Black Sea to Mediterranean areas – a museum inside an aquarium.
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| Zoe and Poseidon inside the aquarium |
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| Looking through a porthole window at the Sea of Marmara |
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| Outside the aquarium on the shore of the Sea of Marmara |
Sara’s only point of contention with this otherwise fabulous facility was that a baby polar bear (statue) was displayed in the Antarctic area along with models of penguins. We had moved well beyond the Antarctic when Zoe became very agitated and kept wanting to return to the Antarctic section. After finally sitting down and discussing why this was so important to her, she explained that we simply could not leave that baby polar bear back there because he belonged at the North Pole. (See? Even 4-year-olds know that polar bears and penguins do not live together!!) Impressed with her reasoning and equally curious to see how this would play out, Sara agreed to backtrack across the entire Atlantic to the Antarctic where Zoe proceeded to pull a pretend leash out of her pretend pocket and loop it over the polar bear’s neck. She then led that baby bear out of the room and all the way through the rest of the aquarium, stopping at various exhibits to catch fish to feed the hungry bear who almost got away a couple times and had to be comforted another time as a large shark swam by. At one point she agreed that it was good we had left her two kids back at the hotel or she would really have her hands full. When we arrived at the end of the museum without encountering an Arctic section in which to leave the bear, Zoe decided we should take him back to Canada with us since polar bears live in Canada. But of course! And thus a baby polar bear joined Zoe and her two kids for the remainder of the trip.
(To be continued in another post...)
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