Istanbul - Part Two

[editor]

More pictures form the Spice Bazaar.

Sirkeci Station (sir-ketch-ee). This is where the famous Orient Express ends. It still runs, but only once a year.

Looks like I did manage to take a picture of one soldier. Way more machine guns on the street than Paris. Fewer than Bangkok.

Like the tea vendors mentioned in my first post, there are also these guys. They sell simit, which is like a large thin bagel covered on all sides with sesame seeds. Most of them balance their load of bread in an intricate stack on their heads, which is why my wife and I started calling it "head bread." The guy in this picture has some kind of wooden table. Cheater! One simit costs about a buck. It has an unusual sweetness to it, and doesn't dry out your mouth like you'd expect bread to.

If you can't read Turkish, this sign isn't going to help you.

I wonder how many bananas you can fit in a ship that size. It's probably on its way back to South America from Russia, Georgia, or Ukraine.

They're rusty, but at least they're satellite dishes. In the markets I saw working sat dishes made out of all sorts of things like woks, umbrellas, colanders... pretty much anything with a parabola. Satellite TV is huge there and all the big American players are represented: CNN Turk, NBCe, Fox Turk, etc...

This guy is selling root beer by a ferry terminal. Remember, it's a Muslim country -- no alcohol.

People seem to love to fish. Anywhere the water meets the land there is a line of anglers shoulder-to-shoulder. This is a bridge across the Golden Horn (a creek and estuary) that has fishermen on the top level, and then underneath are dozens of seafood restaurants. It seriously doesn't get any fresher than that.

I crowded street. Note the trolley trying to make its way down the middle of all the pedestrians. If you don't get out of the way, it WILL hit you. I saw a few people get clipped. And the drivers don't seem to notice much about the passengers, like wether they've gotten on or not. I was on, my wife wasn't and it started to pull away, so I grabbed her one-handed around her waist with my other hand holding a handle and pulled her onto the moving trolley. It was very Indiana Jones. She wasn't impressed, and refused to ride the trolley again.

Kanyon. My favorite mall in Istanbul. It's like the Galleria, but outside. Mostly. We arrived between seasons and were able to see them remove the glass panels that keep the heat in during the Winter.

Another of Istanbul's transport methods. This is an underground funicular railway built by the French in the mid-1800's. It still works as well today as when it first opened.

A military school. Lots of military buildings around town.

Laundry.

An Ottoman lighthouse

A modern lighthouse

Guy waiting for the tram

Another lighthouse

A minor mosque (only two minarets)

Another mall. This one's called Metrocity Millennium. I bought socks at 70% off and no sales tax at Marks & Spencer. For some reason I didn't pack enough socks.

The "New" Mosque

An old mosque. Actually, it's an old church that was converted into a mosque. This used to be the seat of Christianity. After the city fell every church except for one was either destroyed or converted into a mosque.

This guy was having his picture taken. So I took a picture of him having his picture taken. I wonder if someone was taking my picture, too...

One of the (very) few churches allowed to operate in Istanbul these days. It's Saint Anthony's. And just like Catholic churches in every other country I've been too, it's a magnet for homeless, the lame, and the needy. Why do Catholics attract the less fortunate?