Today ended earlier today, so the team headed out to the Spice Bazaar near Sultanahmet, and enjoyed a Turkish dinner in an outdoor cafe adjacent to the Bazaar. One member of the delegtion of the team from the United Kingdom and a newly made friend Mark, joined us on our excursion and our dinner. We took the normal taxi-ferry route to the European side of the city, and then made the short walk to the spice bazaar. Along the way, we stopped by Hatyazi Calligraphy, where I had an Arabic proverb hand-drawn in Arabic calligraphy on a nice-stock paper scroll. Written on the scroll is:
أعـقِـل
وتـوكّـل
The Proverb is, I believe, Qur'anic in origin as it reads: Trust in God, but tie up your camel. The proverb originates from, as I understand from my Arabic class, when a follower of Muhammed kept leaving his camel untied as he joined the other early followers of Muhammed for their discussions. The other followers kept trying to give the man the sound advice about tying up the camel, but the man refused - saying what happened to it was God's will. The others turned to Muhammed, who responded with the popular Arabic saying. The calligraphic piece also says Istanbul in Arabic, and is dated.
We then proceeded to the Spice Bazaar, where everyone took in the multi-sensory experience that Mr. and Mrs. Tolksdorf experienced the day before.
After enjoying the bazaar, we ate at a large outdoor cafe beside the bazaar. It was interesting from the get-go and we experienced some local Turkish culture. Firstly; there are many outdoor cafes, so waiters from two cafes tried equally to hustle us into their restaurants. Secondly, the shopping does not end while your're in an outdoor cafe - street vendors and peddlers bring their wares right to/on your table and attempt to sell their items. Thirdly - the cats are ever present. I am not sure if this point was mentioned in an earlier post, but cats and dogs wander freely about the city, and can be found wandering on skywalks, at outdoor restaurants, on major streets, and even on the outdoor lawns at the hotel. They actually look well-fed and well cared for; it seems that people provide food and water to the strays. Anyway, back to the restaurant. We witnessed a fight in an adjacent cafe between waiters, potentially a dispute over territory infringement when our cafe staff hustled us into their restaurant. We primarily all had some from of shish (chicken or lamb) and then inadvertantly ordered tea. Apparently, there was a miscommunication between "check" and "tea," but we all ended up with a yellow Lipton tea. Mark quickly identified the tea as Lipton, as his knowledge of recognizing teas by sight, smell, and taste far exceeds our abilities - after all, tea is much more popular in the United Kingdom. We did finally manage to pay, and quickly made it back to the ferry to the Asian side.
Pictures from today are posted below:
Order: Spice Bazaar, nearby cafe, Sultanahmet Istanbul from ferry
Post: Alex
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