Istanbul (Ortakoy) - Tuesday

First, here is a much requested photo of Chipo. Last night we actually had to lock him out of our room, and it broke my heart. I will miss him dearly when I leave Turkey. 

A few general comments. The amount of smoking done here is inconceivable. It's a national pastime in every country we've been to. We got so excited yesterday when we were asked if we'd like to sit in smoking or non-smoking. After sitting down and commenting that on our table was the first "No Smoking" sign we had seen, four men sat directly behind us. They handed their "No Smoking" sign to the waitress. She handed them an ashtray. They each lit up immediately. Oh well. 

Another observation - lines mean nothing here or in Austria. It's every man and woman for themselves. If you don't push your way up, then you'll never buy your ticket or place your order or get on the ferry. It's odd because people are generally nice, and they don't seem to know that they are being offensive.  I think it's more startling than it would be if not for the lack of deodorant use. 

Anyway ... so Tuesday morning we checked off the final tourist site - Ayasofia (or Hagia Sophia ... The Hag as we affectionately call her). It's a former mosque that has been converted into a museum and is known as one of the grandest buildings in the world. Definitely grand, but we rank it fourth after Topkapi, the Cistern, and the Blue Mosque. 

Jason then orchestrated our day in a wealthy suburb of Istanbul called Ortakoy. We took a ferry along the Bosphorus to Besitkas and then walk about 1 km. First, there was a very cool palace that we opted out of touring - but the exterior is phenomenal. Then, in Ortakoy, we just walked along the water among the other day trippers and Istanbul's elite locals. After a loud, cumbersome walk along a several-lane highway ... we landed at a cafe on the water (The House Cafe, where we had also eaten in the city) and had the most picturesque lunch of the trip. GORGEOUS. Ladies lunching everywhere - we felt like locals. 

When I begin traveling via luxury horse-drawn carriage, the horses will transport me to the Four Seasons in Ortakoy. We sat on the water and considered having our things delivered to us but decided against it in the end. Next time. 

Ferry ride back .... although it seemed clearly marked to all of us, we got on the wrong boat and headed to the Asia side of Turkey. In the end it cost us about one dollar and 30 extra minutes, plus the ride was lovely and now I've been to Asia. So there. It's not every day that you accidentally go to the wrong continent.

What's not lovely is that once we got off the CORRECT ferry in Europe, a bird whose lunch apparently did not agree with him hit all three of us at once. No one was spared the dumping. Could have been worse if it had happened at the beginning of the day, but still one of the grosser things I've experienced. Disgusting. 

I'm adding a few random pictures to this post because I jst looked through them all and feel like I haven't done Turkey justice with the last post. The grilled corn on the side of the street is covered in salt and delightful. They give you a toothpick and a hand wipe after you're finished. Some giant flip flops in a store on Isteklal Street ... odd. And a few more of the palace and some landscapes. It's just amazing here.