To the Palace

I got a late start to the day. The trouble began when I woke up around 3 am and then couldn't get back to sleep. Of course once I realized that I was awake, it just makes it worse because you lie there thinking: "Dammit, I'm going to be a complete wreak. If I can only get 5 hours of sleep in my first 3 days, I won't be able to do anything coherently. It will not be fun." Fortunately, around 6 I managed to drift back to sleep and woke up around noon and felt a hell of a lot better.

So, to make the most of what was left in the day, I first decided to hit up the Tokapi palace, which is where the old Sultans used to live. It was very barren compared to other palaces I've been to in Europe and it took me a while to figure out why. When people were living there, everything would have been covered in carpets, cushions etc. Once you take that stuff out, you're just left with stone benches. It was interesting though and the treasury had a lot of interesting things, from a huge diamond, to intricate scimitars to some of Mohammed's hair. I don't understand the religious relic thing that some religions do. Why do you want the shriveled hand or microscopic hair from somebody who died 1000 years ago? It's supposed to be the spirit that's immortal and holy, while the body is just a shell. So why hang onto it? Resurrection? I don't know.

After the palace, it was time to go over the Blue Mosque. You can't go in during prayer services and to control visitors, you have to enter in the back, where you take off your shoes and if you're a woman, put on a head scarf. Inside, it's huge, but it's really just one big room, with big windows facing Mecca. Half of it is for men praying and you're not supposed to take pictures of them. Reasonable enough. The other half is for tourists. And finally, at the back, there are walled off pens for the women to pray in. Such an obsession in treating men and women differently.

After the Blue Mosque, I wandered quickly through the grand bazaar which is chaos to say the least. All sorts of "streets" and wares spilling everywhere. I did end up buying a kilim, even though I wasn't planning on getting one until I get back to Istanbul. I have a problem saying no, I'm leaving. I went into one of the carpet shop and the guy got me sucked into the process. He kept pulling out piece after piece for me to look at and I honestly couldn't decide what I'd like. Eventually, he starts listing prices and he's asking me "what's the most you'll pay". I didn't want to answer because then I'd be held to it, but eventually, he figures out I didn't want to pay much and we looked at the kilims. He says the price is $350 which even I know was ridiculous and so I thought, he if I super low ball it, then I can get out of here. So I tell him the most I could pay is $50. Well long story short, I get sick of this game and just want to leave, so I tried walking out the door like 5 times and each time he grabs me to shake my hand, or says I have to finish my tea or so on. Eventually, he comes down to the $50 and because I said it, I had to buy it. I probably got ripped off a little but at least the damage wasn't too bad.

For dinner, I went to a restaurant near the hostel that had good reviews online. It turns out that they were right. The prices weren't too bad and I had a traditional turkish dish that's a lamb ravioli in a yogurt tomato sauce. Yum!