Sultans Palace, Turkish Bath, Adventures

September 3

Today I went to the Sultan’s Palace, Mosaic Mosque, lunch adventure, Turkish bath, dinner date night, and a long walk. The Sultan’s palace was beautiful. My favorite part is that it overlooks the Bosphorous Straight. I sat there and drew a piece of the palace until it started raining. The Palace has so much detail especially in it’s tile work. The tiles were mostly nature related because the Sultan was not allowed to leave the palace very often. The majority of colors used in the Palace are different shades of blue and gold.

We then had an hour and a half of free time to eat lunch. My group decided to walk far away to find a less expensive place. Little did we know it ended up being more expensive and we had to run back in order to meet our group on time. It was quite an adventure: 9 people running through the crowded streets of Istanbul, but I had a great time. The group met up and we went to the Mosaic Mosque. We did not spend much time there but it had incredible detail and the fact that it has lasted to this day is amazing.

With our few hours of free time a majority of the girls decided to have a traditional Turkish bath. It cost 50 lyra, which is $25 for a scrub down, massage and shampoo. It was an interesting and most definitely bonding experience as nudity is the only option, but it was worth it. Now that we were all cleaned up for “date night” we went back to the hotel and listened to our Wednesday readings. Then we went on our date with whomever we chose. I chose Dan (one of the teachers) and Thanda. We walked around all over Istanbul until we found a place to eat. I had an eggplant pizza type dish. Dinner came to an end when construction began on the streets.

After getting to know each other better, we walked back to the hotel and Dallen and I went on a walk throughout Istanbul. We must have walked at least 5 miles. My favorite adventure of the night was meeting a man on the street who sells tea out of his large teapot on his back. He was a very nice man and unlike most Turkish men, he was not pushy and trying to sell you things. He purely wanted to have a fun talk, and that we did. I believe he said his name is “Ottoman man”. We finished our walk and now I am sitting in my room writing in my blog. Time for bed. Goodnight.