We began Saturday by heading to the Topkapi Palace, which was the residence of the Ottomon emperors from the 15th to 19th centuries and is now a museum.
The palace has plenty to see, including courtyards and countless rooms with décor and artifacts dating back centuries. If you buy a supplementary ticket, you also may tour the Imperial Harem, which was home to the Sultan’s mother, his wives and concubines, as well as his family and servants. This was definitely the most interesting part of the visit.
As a quick aside, it was interesting to hear the description of the suntan’s concubines. I can’t remember the specific language from the museum guide, but according to Wikipedia the Topkapi concubines were: beautiful and intelligent female slaves “procured” from neighboring countries for the perpetuation of and service to the Ottoman Dynasty. I wonder what these poor girls thought at the time about their “procurement”.
After the Topkapi palace we grabbed lunch at Pandelli, which is in the Spice Bazaar and has windows overlooking the chaos taking place in the shops below. The food was traditional Turkish, but a bit more upscale than the food at other restaurants that I'd eaten at thus far.
We then visited the Spice Bazaar itself and walked over to the Grand Bazaar to tour that as well. Given that I absolutely despise shopping – I only go when I know exactly what I want and can’t remember the last time I actually went to a store without a specific purchase in mind – these places weren’t high on my list of to-dos. That said, it was interesting to see them given their historical relevance, while some of the shops (namely the ones selling spices, carpets and local crafts) were nonetheless nice to browse through.
One thing that I quickly learned in the markets (something that is actually relevant throughout Istanbul) is the fine art of ignoring the salesmen. When I first arrived, if anyone said something even remotely in my direction, my natural response was to acknowledge him through either responding verbally or just making eye contact. But by the end of my tour of the bazaars, someone could be inches away from me trying painfully to grab my attention and I could ignore him without the slightest flinch. This turned out to be very useful.
As a quick aside, throughout Istanbul there are people selling corn on the cob, roasted nuts and a weird type of ice cream (“dondurma”) that looks more like taffy and likely requires a knife and fork to eat it. None of these items looked particularly appetizing to me (well perhaps the ice cream, which at least was somewhat intriguing) and I didn’t really see anyone else partaking either. But someone must keep these guys in business since they were everywhere.
After a long afternoon of walking around, we decided to get off our feet for a couple of hours by seeing a Whirling Dervish show. There are a number of locations to see them in Sultanahmet, but we chose a specific one based on a recommendation from Emilie’s mom. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what quite to expect from a Whirling Dervish show since I was only vaguely familiar with the related figure of speech and had no idea where the term originated.
The performance took place in a former Turkish bath that had been converted into a cultural center and, as can be seen from the photos, it made for a very unique and beautiful setting. There was a strict no camera policy during the performance (this was ignored by one woman who apparently thought the world operated on her terms…), so I unfortunately wasn’t able to take any of the actual dervishes.
Everything about the performance was very ritualistic and it began with the musicians taking the floor and ultimately heading to their instruments. They then proceeded to play for around thirty minutes before the dervishes came out. After going through a full “pre-spin” routine, the dervishes began to spin…and spin…and spin. I never specifically timed them, but they must have gone for 10 minutes at a time before briefly stopping for more ritual movements and then spinning for another 10 minutes…over and over…for a solid hour in total.
You’d think that watching people spin for such a long time would get boring, but during the actual performance you’re so mesmerized by the performers that time flies by. Each dervish has his own style and in a way you fall into a trance following each one’s movements.
The following is a description of the ritual spinning from Wikipedia:
Sufi whirling (or Sufi spinning) is a physically active meditation which originated among Sufis, and which is still practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order. It is a customary dance performed within the Sema, or worship ceremony, through which dervishes aim to reach the source of all perfection, or kemal. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, egos or personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun.
And here’s a video clip from youtube that does a fair job of showing a portion of what we saw and heard (at least for the spinning part), though the venue in the video isn’t nearly as impressive.
After the show it was late and we were famished so we searched for a restaurant on the walk home to the hotel. Since we hadn’t received a specific recommendation this time, we tried to find a spot based on three criteria: (1) no menus with non-Turkish food, (2) no annoying “salesmen” trying to get you to eat at their restaurant, and (3) no outdoor menus with pictures of the menu items and descriptions in English.
We finally found a place that sufficed and the food was great. I really liked the dolma (rice and other ingredients wrapped in grape leaves) and the hummus (which I always hated in the U.S.) as well as the freshly baked bread.
And here’s a picture that I took of the Blue Mosque on the walk home. The lights in the fountain added some interesting color to the shot.
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