The Amazing not a Race: Return to Istanbul, part 2

I just lost steam on that last post and had to close up shop for the night. We are experiencing the effects of a Daylight Savings now, which just took place here, and I'm kind of dragging...

I've been thinking of another one of my Travel Rules lately, which is Sometimes it is better to create new memories, than to try to relive old memories.

This is true of travel, especially when we are revisiting places we have been before. We had visited Turkey before, as I have mentioned, but we were on a tour and did not have much free time. This time we kind of skimmed over some of the familiar sights, or skipped them altogether. But a couple things we wanted to do again were taking a boat trip on the Bosphorus and seeing a dervish ceremony.

We had our hotel make reservations for the dervishes and we realized that it would probably be a very different experience from the first time we saw them. That had been held in an ancient caravanserai, or caravan rest stop along the Silk Road. The ceremony is really a religious practice whereby the dervishes come into a trance- like state through their spinning, and controlled movement,which helps them communicate with the divine. That first time seeing them was quite spiritual and moving and I have never forgotten it.

This time the ceremony, while good , felt a bit like a performance piece, with a kind of light show as a backdrop, which I felt detracted a bit from the experience. Also, if you were caught talking, the usher would shine her laser light at you! So this might have been one of those experiences that was better not repeated. That being said however, if you ever have a chance to see whirling dervishes, take it!

It's really pretty incredible to watch them spin slowly, then faster and faster...

Now, as for the boat ride on the Bosphorus, the second time was every bit as great as the first time, and maybe better because it was sunny this time.

We were trying to decide on whether to take the 11/2 hour ride or a shorter ferry ride, when a tout approached us about his bait trip that was leaving in 5 minutes. It was pretty good timing, and although the price was a little higher than advertised, it was a " bird in the hand" so to speak, so we payed him and took a short mini van ride to the dock.

What a good value! For about 8$ we got a fabulous trip through a bustling and lively waterway for 11/2 hours, complete with dolphins swimming alongside the boat for a bit! Pretty cool.

Last time I think we paid about 4 times that amount,,because it was through the tour company. And no dolphins.

The Bosphorus is lined with wonderful buildings, fancy hotels, mosques and elegant structures from bygone eras. If I was rich, I would live there and watch the world go by ( for a few months).

Or maybe just stay in one of the upscale hotels we passed.

As we came back to the dock, I spotted the perfect craft for my Wilamette River ferry business that I've wanted to start for years now .

Oh, and did I mention that there were thousands of jellyfish in the water?

It was while cruising by our hotel that we discovered that Istanbul Modern museum was practically right next door!

This was my favorite piece from the museum that we went to the next day.And by turning a different way out the door , down the street behind the mosque, we discovered a whole new and wonderful neighborhood filled with small restaurants and delightful bakeries. Heaven! Don't you just love it when that happens?

These folks know how to use lighting to liven up a dark alley. One if my favorite lantern photos of the trip.

I'm so glad we didn't miss seeing this street.

And to cap off a good day, we ate at the cool restaurant, Naïf. It was obviously a very happening spot. I had spotted it from my hotel window, but didn't realize how great it was inside until I saw these lamps.