Parker-Stan...Kyrgyzstan That Is!

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Pictures from Istanbul

More pictures from Istanbul

Pictures from Istanbul

Istanbul, Turkey

Earlier this summer we visited Istanbul, Turkey for 9 beautiful, fun and relaxing days. Istanbul is a fascinating city and very easy to get around; between walking, ferry boats, trams and taxis, we were able to see most of the major sites in town. After landing at 6AM on July 28th we treated ourselves to two lattes at Starbucks. Normally a stop at Starbucks would not be noteworthy, but in our case after going 10 months without a Starbucks treat, we were ecstatic to find a cafe in the airport! We took the time to figure out how to get to our hostel and thoroughly enjoy our drinks. We filled our first day by taking a ferry ride over to the Asian side of the city (the Bosphorus waterway splits Istanbul on two continents – the European and the Asian side). We then took a city bus through the newer part of Istanbul and hiked up to the tallest point in the city. The views were terrific and we could get a great lay of the land from there. Our excursion to the Asian side took up a good part of the day and we ended our first day in Istanbul with delicious pizza in a little neighborhood street side café and also sat in front of the magnificent Blue Mosque and took in the evenings’ call to prayer and people watching.

Our second day was spent touring around the Archaeology and Ancient Orient Museums, lunching under the famous Galata Bridge and enjoying fresh fish sandwiches, taking Europe’s shortest underground tram to the new part of Istanbul (on the European side), visiting the Pera Palace Hotel (which is where Agatha Christie holed up for a awhile to work on “Murder on the Orient Express”) and walking through the beautiful Topkapi Palace Gardens. Later that night we met up with our old-time friends Tawnia, Rob and their two children, who had flown down from Amsterdam to spend a few days with us, and had a delicious room-service dinner consisting of steaks and hamburgers (items that don’t readily exist in Kyrgyzstan!)

On Day #3 we walked around Istanbul with our friends, taking in such sites as the old Hippodrome (horse arena) area, the Mosaic Museum, the Carpet Bazaar, the ancient underground Cistern (water catchment), and ending our day at an outdoor Turkish restaurant which featured a Whirling Dervish show.

July 31st was spent relaxing upon a yacht that took us up the Bosphorus, so we could see the outlying areas of Istanbul, and all the way out to the Black Sea. We enjoyed stopping periodically and diving into the warm waters of the Bosphorus and Black Sea and swimming around with Tawnia, Rob and the 2 kids.

On Day #5 we strolled around the Palace park again with our friends, shopped in the Grand Bazaar which is known to be one of the longest running outdoor bazaars in the world, visiting an ancient Turkish bath house (but has since been turned into a museum and carpet store) and relaxing at our friends hotel.

On August 2nd we said good-bye to our buddies after touring part of the Topkapi Palace and having lunch. It was a great visit with Tawnia, Rob and the kids and it also came at a great time during our service. One of our hardest challenges in being in Kyrgyzstan is not being near our dear friends & family back in the states. Spending such a wonderful amount of time with our friends sure did help ease our homesickness and we sure did appreciate them taking a break in their European Adventure to come see us!

Later in the afternoon on August 2nd we were lucky to have Mike’s Dad and Stepmom fly in from NC and also spend a few days in Istanbul with us. Having to adjust from some jetlag we took it easy during Tom and Kathy’s first day by relaxing in the Palace park and enjoying tea while looking out over the Bosphorus and taking in an early dinner complete with a Whirling Dervish and Hooka Bar.

The following day, August 3rd, was a huge touring day. First thing in the morning, the four of us went to the famous Aya Sophia (or Haggia Sofia) which over the course of history has been a church and a mosque and is now a museum. The building is beautiful from the outside and enormous on the inside. Afterwards we toured the inside of the Blue Mosque, walked through the grounds of Istanbul University, toured Suleymanieye Mosque (which is the largest mosque in Turkey) and finished our day with a fresh fish dinner on Galata Bridge and the most delicious baklava which was sold by a nearby street vendor.

On our last full day in Istanbul we went on the tour of the Harem of the Topkapi Palace and saw where sultans of times past lived and reigned from. We also took in some of the other areas of the Palace with Tom and Kathy before enjoying a delicious Turkish lunch at a nearby open air café. Our afternoon/evening were spent visiting the terminus of the Orient Express and relaxing on one of the many public ferry boats that cuts across the Bosphorus. It was a lovely way to take in a spectacular sunset over Istanbul. On our last night we walked along the Sea of Maramara, taking in the smells of the ocean and found a great café for dinner. We had a night cap consisting of Istanbul’s famous and tasty apple chai while listening to the call of prayer and looking again at the Blue Mosque (with a full moon rising overhead).

Before catching our flight back to Bishkek on August 5th we walked around the famous Spice Bazaar and purchased some apple chai to take home with us and also Mike worked with a vendor to create a fragrant and savory spice concoction. (Since then we have used this spice mixture to make one of the best chicken curry dishes we have cooked!)

For those of you who have traveled to Istanbul we hope that this blog entry conjures up the sites, smells, sounds and tastes of the city. And for those of you who have not made it to Istanbul, we hope you add it to your list of places to visit! The city is full of life and is quite modern, but it still retains its mystery and romance of times past. The food is incredible – by far one of the best cuisines in the world – full of fresh produce, flavorful spicing and delicious desserts. And the people of Istanbul were lovely to talk with, friendly and helpful and full of smiles. We hope to return to Turkey someday and travel throughout the other regions of the country.

Puppet shows are a success

After each 3 day program the children were able to keep their self created shadow puppets and our puppet masters donated marionette puppets to each group.