We finally arrived yesterday afternoon after a 17=hour trip overseas. We were lucky enough to get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep on the plane, and we were pretty much on Istanbul time. We're actually 10 hours ahead of California.
We had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany, and took full advantage of our time there to sample some of the local beer. Gotta love those Germans!
My parents were waiting for us at the hotel when we arrived, and we got a room directly across from the Suleymaniye Camii, a mosque with two minarets, each with about 3 megaphones. The evening call to prayer was amazing. The voice of the caller rang out through the streets.
We spent the evening chatting with my parents at the local restaurant and catching up. My sister and her husband flew in from Macedonia and caught up with us about 10 pm. We had all had quite a few drinks by that time, and we were glad to see them. The local Turkish beer, Efes, is quite tasty and only costs about $1.50.
Colleen and I were lucky enough to get a good night's sleep, and the dawn call to prayer didn't even wake us up. The hotel has a breakfast buffet, and we ate our share of cheese, hard boiled eggs, bread, and some funky meat.
We then set off for Topkapi Palace, the home of the Ottoman sultans for about 400 years. We saw some really cool things including John the Baptist's skull and arm, Moses' staff, and some of Muhammad's hair and ashes. It's hard to process all of that in such a short time. We weren't prepared for some of it, and the sight of John the Baptist's remains left both of us reeling.
This afternoon Colleen and I left the rest of the family and headed out for the Museum of the Ancient Orient, which turned out to be much better than advertised. The collection included enormous painted tiles picturing animals taken from the Ishtar Gate from Babylon, Hammurabi's Code etched into clay in cuneiform, a law code from Sumer that predates Hammurabi's by about 400 years, and the Kadesh treaty, drawn up between Ramses II of Egypt and the Hittites in the 13th century BC.
We were then walking toward the Blue Mosque when the call to prayer rang out. It was surreal standing between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia as the music resounded across the landscape. Since the mosque closes during prayer times, we decided to come to an internet link and send off this message.
Suffice it to say that the first day has been more amazing than we ever could have imagined.
More to come soon.
Paul and Colleen
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