Leaving Tulsa Friday afternoon with a flight out of Chicago (yes, I ate my favorite Mexican food in O'Hare at Tortas Frontera) I arrived at Heathrow to then connect to a flight to Istanbul. Typical flights - ho hum food, not much sleep, very sore bum (as the English would say) from sitting too long.
I knew one of the class participants from a previous trip, so we met up to go out to dinner. Our hotel is very centrally located for a tourist with all the major tourist sights nearby. This also means there are restaurants and shops that are there to try to lure you in to sample their fine food. One guy even try to entice us with his good looks, pointing out how much he looked like a young George Clooney. We did not bight and headed to a restaurant recommended by the hotel that did not have to resort to high pressure tactics to attract diners. The food was good and kept us awake long enough that hopefully we would not struggle with jet lag on Sunday.
Sunday we were up bright and early having breakfast at the hotel before heading out to explore. We were fortunate to have the tram very near our hotel that served as trail marker to the nearby sights. Our first destination was the Galata Bridge where locals hang out to fish. There are also restaurants on the bottom tier, but we avoided that for now. The men and boys were all lined up on the bridge with poles dipped in the water. This is fishing season for a local variety much like sea bass. The fish looked small, but apparently they are big enough to eat.
There were street vendors selling roasted corn, roasted chestnuts and their version of a pretzel. We also ran into a guy talking on his cell phone dressed like Viking. It's a large city (17 million) and I guess they have their fair share of crazies too.
Next we headed back to the Blue Mosque area. I know this will be one of our stops during the week so I'll wait until later to describe it fully. This area was full of people out on a sunny Sunday enjoy the fountains and food. Along the back side of the mosque is a small bazaar that is open on Sundays. We had been told to look for the famous Turkish bath towels which could be found here. Well, we found, we bought, we shipped.
Wondering back to the hotel, we stopped for a quick bite to eat with a good vantage point to people watch. The streets are the home to a fairly large population of what look to be well fed cats. They say you can tell a lot about a country by how they treat animals, so I think Turkey may be near the top of the list. We also say many women in full robes with only their eyes uncovered. We were later told that this were most likely Arab families that had come to Turkey to sight see and shop. Turkish women either go with stylish European fashion on wear colorful silk scarves.
This evening, we had our first chance to meet our group. Several of them know each other but are from all over the country. There also appears to be varying skill levels which came as a relief to me! We took cabs to dinner at Asitane where we enjoyed recipes dating back to the Ottoman Empire. It was quite tasty. Back to the hotel to get a full nights rest before heading out to shoot tomorrow.
I knew one of the class participants from a previous trip, so we met up to go out to dinner. Our hotel is very centrally located for a tourist with all the major tourist sights nearby. This also means there are restaurants and shops that are there to try to lure you in to sample their fine food. One guy even try to entice us with his good looks, pointing out how much he looked like a young George Clooney. We did not bight and headed to a restaurant recommended by the hotel that did not have to resort to high pressure tactics to attract diners. The food was good and kept us awake long enough that hopefully we would not struggle with jet lag on Sunday.
Sunday we were up bright and early having breakfast at the hotel before heading out to explore. We were fortunate to have the tram very near our hotel that served as trail marker to the nearby sights. Our first destination was the Galata Bridge where locals hang out to fish. There are also restaurants on the bottom tier, but we avoided that for now. The men and boys were all lined up on the bridge with poles dipped in the water. This is fishing season for a local variety much like sea bass. The fish looked small, but apparently they are big enough to eat.
Next we headed back to the Blue Mosque area. I know this will be one of our stops during the week so I'll wait until later to describe it fully. This area was full of people out on a sunny Sunday enjoy the fountains and food. Along the back side of the mosque is a small bazaar that is open on Sundays. We had been told to look for the famous Turkish bath towels which could be found here. Well, we found, we bought, we shipped.
Wondering back to the hotel, we stopped for a quick bite to eat with a good vantage point to people watch. The streets are the home to a fairly large population of what look to be well fed cats. They say you can tell a lot about a country by how they treat animals, so I think Turkey may be near the top of the list. We also say many women in full robes with only their eyes uncovered. We were later told that this were most likely Arab families that had come to Turkey to sight see and shop. Turkish women either go with stylish European fashion on wear colorful silk scarves.
This evening, we had our first chance to meet our group. Several of them know each other but are from all over the country. There also appears to be varying skill levels which came as a relief to me! We took cabs to dinner at Asitane where we enjoyed recipes dating back to the Ottoman Empire. It was quite tasty. Back to the hotel to get a full nights rest before heading out to shoot tomorrow.
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