Yesterday I hit the wall. Between heat and jet lag and trying to keep up with Ali (a very fast walker)…I was ready to do nothing, nada, zip. What nothing looks likes is first sliding out of the apartment down to the Starbucks, the nicest I’ve ever seen. Here’s the Rayman and Larry headed toward Starbucks.
We then went back to the apartment and did nothing in particular until early afternoon (3 pm) when we went to a Byzantine church from the 11th century and looked at the incredible mosaics. Here are a few pictures I snapped.
Here’s a picture of a mosaic man and below it us a close up of the foot in the same mosaic.
Information about the church
http://www.choramuseum.com/articles/thomas-whittemore-has-been-chipping-away-plaster-walls-off-for-14-years/
On the way in I took this picture of the outside because it was so architecturally interesting. See below. And then after the viewing we had to wait for a ride to grandma’s house and while waiting I struck up a conversation with a man sitting by the cab pick-up point and I asked him if I could take a picture of him having determined that he spoke english when I bent down to rub a leaf of a plant that looked like basil…but wasn’t…and he then told me it was a flowering plant that would bloom in a month of two from now. The picture follows.
We were invited to grandma’s for tea. I expected tea and crumpets but it was a full blown meal. Pictures of the event follow. It was quite lovely and the only thing I ate all day except for the gelato cone that I had for lunch. The stuffed bells were fabulous as was all the food. She made a fava bean molded dish that was excellent.
And here we are gathered round.
After our meal, we sat around and shared with each other some of the pictures we took. Her home is in the basement of a building which actually is a good place on a hot summer day. She has two windows looking out at sideway level and I decided to try to capture a picture of someone walking by…I have to be honest, a muslim woman in all black. Never could get it right but I did get a shot which I share here.
On our way to events, I took these pictures of the wedding dress stores. The particular street had dozens and dozens of these stores. Ironic. Perhaps the muslim women are allowed to get all gussied up for their wedding as it is the last time their skin will be seen except for hands and face and an occasional foot. Don’t know. Just saying.
The rides to and fro were amazing. I felt like I was in a car chase scene. In Istanbul the car drivers play a game with the pedestrians and pedestrians play a game with the car drivers. It is called, “let’s see how close I can come to you without killing you outright”. And the car driver goes as fast as possible tooting the horn to warn of impending death or crashes with other vehicles. On the way back Ray was on one side of the backseat, I on the other and Susie in the middle. That’s when she decided to look up on her iPhone the song, “Stuck in the Middle with You” and we sang it out loud with the volume up and windows down…too much fun…as we zipped toward our destination. The Turks who saw us seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. And I snapped these pictures. Oh, and no, we only had tea and Turkish coffee with lunch.
The Rayman and the Roman aqueduct. Below is a big sign on the bridge.
For the evening, everyone converged at a hotel rooftop restaurant and bar for a drink and a view. I stayed back and worked on my blog. End of a very relaxing day. Cooler too. A breeze picked up and we were all relieved. And it’s cooler today also.
Well, we’re off to the Grand Bazaar. This should net some fine stories!!
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