MELITOUR TURKEY 101 SEPTEMBER 2014

Day 3 Sept 8, 2014 We woke to thunder and lightening in Istanbul. Meli got us started early heading to the Grand Bazar, because she could see the big cruise ships docked in the harbor, and she wanted to beat the crowds. On the bus we got a new Turkish phrase". Goo niden". Means good morning. Good night means good morning! Meli ordered a special bread from a tiny bakery at the market entrance. Its so popular that it sells out quickly.. Later she will give us a snack. By 11am we were done at the Grand Bazaar. People bought lamps, soaps, Turkish delight, jewelry and souvenirs like evil eyes. As we left the market we were amazed by the skillful dance of the busses as they managed to get the multiple big busses out of the tiny parking lot. We saw Turkish collaboration in action!. The traffic in Istanbul was a series of heart stopping moments with the continuous close calls and games of chicken that drivers play with each other and giant busses. Meli and our driver had some special words with one particularly crazy driver. perhaps they were giving him driving tips! Next we headed to the Chora Curch to see the best 10 th century mosaics in the world. We sat in a cafe under the cool trees to listen to Meli's prep talk. She shared the special bread- water borek-and we were brought the classic Turkish tea in the tulip cups. As always Meli gave us a lot to think about, mentioning how travel is so important to broaden our education. We often only get partial history in our own countries, since each country chooses which parts of historical facts to emphasize . For example, most of us tend to think of the renaissance when we think of the most important Christian art, but it started much earlier. The role of art changes with each era. In early Christian art, the purpose was to teach and the artists would use symbols that would have specific meanings for their culture, and would depict things that had value to them, and would make the people and environment look familiar to the people so they could relate to it, but there were always some common denominators as symbols, such as the cross, keys for saint peter, etc. In 82 AD roman persecution of Christians started, and this created a lot of solidarity among Christians. Later, when Constantine came and the Christians no longer had to hide, it got harder to create that feeling of solidarity, one of those ways was through worship of a variety of saints, during the 5-7th centuries. The saint worship got to be too much for the church leaders, so there was a period of no iconography. The beautiful Christian mosaics in the Chora Chuch were completed in the 10th century, and they set the template for how Christianity would we depicted and interpreted during the byzantine era. During the crusades much of the church was destroyed, and later it became a mosque. But the Muslims protected the Christian art, and Meli is proud that those ancestors preserved them. Our group found the mosaics and frescos fascinating, and were surprised at their good condition after so many years. We had lunch in the garden patio setting of what had been the Suleymaniye Mosque soup kitchen 500 years ago. We had puff borek, salad, chicken stew and rice, then sweet pastries. We had a relaxing and interesting boat ride on the Bosphorus, then dinner on a terrace that had the most incredible view s of Istanbul. The sunset with the full moon inspired many photos to be taken. A special treat was seeing a young man propose to his girlfriend in the Turkish tradition, there on the terrace with the beautiful view.