SITREP - Istanbul - 41.0082° N, 28.9784° E - 2031Z15MAR25

 

Picture taken from the walkway in front of Suleymaniye Mosque. The body of water in the left portion of the picture is the Golden Horn. Central is the Bosphorus, with the bridge spanning it, joining Europe, on the left, to Asia on the right. People are no longer able to cross it on foot, due to the number of suicides that occurred soon after it opened in 1973.

Well, this week has been interesting. Since getting the flu on arrival, sinusitis and some horrible productive cough, complete with sweats, aches and pains, and delightful moments of being as weak as the proverbial kitten, I have still managed to get out and about. It just hasn't been fun

So, the bad stuff first, being sick hasn't helped at all. I've had a bit of a struggle being on my own this week. Being out all day exploring, everyday is an adventure, is great, however, the time alone, essentially after hours, has been less fun. Getting back to the hotel, usually at around 1800 every evening, to an empty room whilst sick left me somewhat despondent. The time difference between Istanbul and predominantly Australia, although add a couple of other places including North America and parts of South East Asia, made being able to ring people less easy, and I found myself doom scrolling through Instagram just to pass the time. I was having trouble sleeping as well. So, that was the first few days. Now, I'm up and running again at about 60%, so it is pretty much good, and the metaphorical dark clouds have finally passed; thank whatever God you favour. So that was the bad stuff, put it all down to the flu, and it's now behind me.

Other less fun stuff has been the major protests in Serbia; the biggest one was today, and it's easier if you google it, although I will say that there has been a deep concern that the country will erupt into violence. V's family is there, and I worry about them. Plus, I had been planning to head back to Serbia next week, and that will only happen if it is safe enough to do so. In the case that it is not, I will have to figure out another plan forward. Watch this space. 

Now, the good stuff. 

Each day I have been doing a free walking tour of Istanbul. The first one I did covered much of the older part of the city. Things like Topkapi Palace, what was the Hippodrome, taking in the monuments there, around, but not inside the Hagia Sofia (Aya Sofia), down to the Golden Horn, and onto a ferry to the Asian side of the Bosphorus. The second day, whilst in a similar spot in the old city, covered many backstreets and food areas I hadn't seen before. Sadly, being unwell and in pain with my back, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first tour. Either way though, I saw and learned a great deal about things I had repeatedly walked past before, and yet didn't have a clue about. As an example, in the the public gardens of Topkapi Palace, there is a rather boring looking stone on the ground, fairly close to one of the walls and a fountain (Turkish fountains don't squirt out of the top, rather, they are a tap set into a marble face, and are often used for washing hands/feet/arms/face prior to going to prayer in a mosque). As luck would have it, that stone, a round edged cube of roughly 40cm by 40cm by 40cm, had been the palaces executioners block for a couple of hundred years, and there it was, just laying in the grass. The fountain was there for the executioner to wash up under after the job was done. This is it.

Today's walking tour was less about historical sites, and more about the day to day culture of Turkey. Things along the lines of - what is the process and family dealings people have to go through to get married? What happens with a person's body when they die, and what time period you have to bury them after death (wrapped in a sheet, and buried within three hours of death is not unusual). We walked through one of the universities, and learned that education is free, as is health care, although in certain cases there may be a nominal amount paid to a doctor; think 1 euro.

Suleymaniye Mosque, and a free visit into it, with detailed descriptions of how Muslims actually pray, what the actions are, and what other things are involved in being a practising Muslim was next. A point of interest for me was that the Q'ran (Koran) is 600 pages long, and that people read 20 pages per day, which means that it takes them a month to read the whole thing - and then they start again; it's a never ending process, and done for the whole of life.

Many people have been asking me what the food has been like. Well, it's fantastic, and I eat like a king, although the Turkish food here amounts to lamb, chicken, some beef, and is usually accompanied with rice, salad, and an ever present basket of bread which I don't eat. There is a great deal of sea food on offer, although I haven't consumed any personally. Apparently it's very good though. Something I had looked forward to, yet had never seen, was lamb/goat on a spit, and having that food easily and readily available. This had been the norm over the last couple of thousand years. Until about two years ago. When Turkish inflation went through the roof, roughly 150% inflation last year according to my guide, and people just cannot afford it. However, yesterday, for the first time, I encountered it in a restaurant window, and sadly didn't have the time to go back and try it (it wasn't fully cooked when I saw it, and I was on a guided tour). 

This is it. 

So there you go. It's now Saturday night, and that has been my week to date.

My absolute best to all, and I daily put up photos and videos onto Instagram and Facebook, if you are interested. See the links below.

N.

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