Topkaki

Schroomie #1 and I decided to celebrate the holiday a day late by being blatant tourists. We dressed in bright orange, carried cameras and Lonely Planets, and set out to have a day-oh-fun. At the bus stop, a dolmus drove up marked Topkapi--just where we wanted to go. A dolmus is a mini-van taxi that you ride in with a bunch of random strangers. We rode along, laughing quietly at the odd (to us) occurrences, such as when the driver didn't have change, he asked one of the passengers to hop out (in the middle of traffic) and ask one of the other drivers for change--who happily gave it. He finally pulls up to a stop and tells us to climb into another dolmus, which we did, wondering if we needed to pay again. He didn't ask for money or yell at us when we got out without paying him anything, so...okay. One more thing to add about the dolmus--the driver drove the wrong way down a one way street in order to deposit us at Topkapi.

We climbed out, and I said to schroomie, "Maybe we should have told him we wanted to go to Topkapi PALACE." There was no palace to be found in this area of town, which was better described as shanty town. If we'd stood out earlier in our bright orange clothing, we certainly did here! The men would holler at us in their limited English, "Lady Beautiful! I've been waiting for you!" One man poked schroomie in the shoulder to say hello, to which she replied, "Touching me is NOT okay." We left that area quickly and decided to figure out where we going once we weren't in shanty town.

Several stops for directions later, we realize that while we are in the area called Topkapi, the Topkapi Palace is convenietly in another part of town. Everyone we asked for directions would begin telling us how to get to the Aya Sofia, to which we would kindly respond that we did not wish to go to the Aya Sofia, but to the Topkapi Palace. Finally we look at a different map, and understand that the Palace is right next to the Aya Sofia--which we knew how to get to. And from that map, the Topkapi neighborhood is NOWHERE near the palace. Why? Welcome to Asia.

So we ride the Metro back towards the Aya Sofia and hop out near the Palace. We walk along a very Byzantine looking wall, knowing that the Palace surely must be on the other side of the it. It was my first experience of not only a park in Istanbul, but of trees, grass, greenery! We enjoyed the delightful walk, to be out of the concrete jungle for a few moments. At the end of the park, there was the quaintest tea garden overlooking the water and city. I can't wait until it is a little warmer to return there to read a good book.

So we finally get to the entrance of the Palace. It is where the Sultan used to live. (Think Jasmine and Alladin...) Like so much of what I've seen so far, it seemed like something European but with a Muslim touch. The touch this time was a room with a man (like the kind I imagine that climbs the minarets to sing out the call to prayer) in a small booth singing from the Koran. It was interesting to finally have a real picture in my memory (no photos allowed) instead of just my imagination. The room in which he was singing was more packed than other rooms we'd seen, because it is where the holy relics are kept.

I've been lucky enough to see several holy relics in my travels. In Europe, any given hair from any given saint. Immortalized footprints of Saint Peter. Pilgrimage sites where apparitions occurred. In Sri Lanka, we got to enter the temple where a tooth from the Buddha himself is kept safe. Today, I added to my list: hairs and a tooth of the prophet Mohammed, a footprint, his sandle, Abraham's mixing bowl, Joseph's turban, and Moses' rod! All for the low, low price of 12 million Turkish Lira! But dinner in our Galata Tower...priceless.

Yes, we ate dinner at the Galata Kulesi. Let me tell you! We rode the elevator to the floor marked "restaurant," and sat a lovely table for two right next to a window, overlooking the city. After waiting about fifteen minutes for a waiter, we were informed that the restaurant only served drinks. If we wanted to eat, we needed to go upstairs to the Night Clup. Again, welcome to Asia. We went upstairs, and found the clup empty. We were escorted to yet another table for two by a window overlooking a different part of the city.

The maitr'de came over and informed us that dinner, drinks, and the show was a fixed price of 60 Euros. (Never mind that Turkey is not yet in the EU, and therefore doesn't use Euros yet). Oh, we inform him, we only want dinner. No drinks, no show. He proceeds to lower the price for us, to 45 Euros. We explain that it is not about the price, but that we don't drink, and we are not interested in seeing the show on this night. He leaves, comes back, and asks if 40 is a more acceptable price. We state again, that we would simply like to eat dinner, no show. He tells us that their wine is very good, and for 35 Euros, we are getting an incredible deal on it. He points to the menu and shows us that the meal alone is 20 Euros, so we are getting all we can drink wine, and the show for only 15 more Euros. Don't we wish to see true Turkish belly dancing--men and women, and with good wine? Not really a good selling point for these girls.

We explain that we are neighbors, we live near the tower, and will return again. But just for this night, we would only like dinner. No wine, no show. He leaves, and the waiter comes in his place. He asks what I would like to drink, to which I reply, "water." "Whiskey?" He asks. ARG. No, not whiskey. Water. He grins, and I realize he was making a joke. He tells us what we want to order off the menu, and by this point, we just agree so that they might bring us food at some point.

The food did come (with more joking that we didn't understand from our waiter), and it was delicious. We enjoyed the view, and pretended that it was 1896, and we'd just arrived from Paris on the Orient Express. I'm sure we haven't giggled that much in at least a few hours...

When it came time to pay, especially because we knew the time for the bellydancing show was about to begin, we explained that we would like our bill. The response, "No. You sit and enjoy the view for a little longer. You leave at 9:30." We knew the show started at 9:30, and that once it started, we could not leave until it was finished--at midnight. We laughed about how we were being held as two damsels in distress in the Tower. We stopped a different waiter and asked if he would bring our bill--which he did. The two ala carte meals we had (remember, for 20 Euros each)--80 million Turkish Lira. I don't even know how many Euros that is, but I don't think it's 2o...

If you ever want a good deal on wine and belly dancing, let me know. A truly blog-worthy day.