Family Re-Unite

Well, we've been busy the past couple of weeks with the three boys visiting Turkey.  Sam was here from March 17 until March 24, and Tyler and Mitch got to Istanbul on March 22 and will leave Ankara next Sunday, March 31.  

As Mitch and Tyler are still here, I'll only take a few minutes to post this, with more to follow after they leave.

Peggy, Sam, and I flew to Istanbul last Friday morning, and met Tyler and Mitch at the Ataturk Airport.  We already had rooms reserved and had hired a van to pick us up. (When we arrived we were told that our rooms were given to others and we were put up in a neighboring hotel a few blocks away.  Peggy's persistence got the airport transports for free for our troubles) 

So, from Friday at about 1:30 until dark on Saturday we did a lot.  So, we toured the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cistern, The Hippodrome (chariot races) and its Obelisks (think Washington Monument), The Grand Bazaar (twice), Spice Bazaar, Galata Tower, and walked by/visited the Haghia Sophia,  Galata Bridge, Istikial Caddesi (modern shopping district), St. Anthony and St. Mary's Catholic Churches (and heard the Ava Maria sung and witnessed the last 5 minutes of a wedding!), and a Greek Orthodox Church (plus consulate/embassy from countries and lots and lots and lots of merchant shops.

Yes it rained Friday afternoon.  Outside one of the entrances to the Grand bazaar

Enjoying a "happy hour" in the shadow of the Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque Friday night

Dinner on cushions "Turkish" style

In front of the  Haghia Sophia

The Blue Mosque

Entrance to the Topkapi Palace.  Most amazing:  Moses' staff, David's sword, Joseph's turban, Mohammad's hair from his beard

From top of the Galata Tower

St. Mary's Catholic Church 

St. Anthony's with a banner of the new pope  

We estimate we walked at least 8 miles over the 2 days.  Plus we took the tram whenever we could!  We all left Istanbul at 6:00 am Sunday, with Sam starting his return trip, and the rest of us off to Ankara for the week. 

Kariye Muzesi-Chora Museum in Istanbul

This past weekend we flew to Istanbul on Friday evening.  We left Ankara at 5:30 and 38 minutes later landed in Istanbul.  Flying is probably cheaper than driving, as you can get one way tickets as low as 19 TL or about 10 dollars to Istanbul if you can fly during the low times.  Of course, Friday night and return on Sunday night are not low times and we paid 79 TL each way (plus 35 TL taxes and fees).  For about only $125.00 we flew round trip.  Not bad. Of course the havas-airport bus-took 1:50 to get us to the old city, which normally takes about 50 minutes, but Friday night rush hour traffic in a city of 16 million slows you down! 

Jan from Fairplay, Colorado, and Fran from Seattle, Washington, our tour guides.  Picture taken from the top of our hotel.

We went with Jan and Fran, who took us under their wings and showed us around.  Tyler, Sam, and Mitch will all be together in Istanbul.  Their overlapped time will be March 22-24, as Sam will be leaving and Tyler and Mitch just arriving for their spring breaks.  So, this trip was an opportunity for us to get acquainted with the most historic, important, and touristy parts of Istanbul's old city before the boys get here.

Chora Museum from the outside

We saw and experienced way too many items for one blog, so today I'll share with you the Kariye Muzesi, or Chora Museum.  It is located quite a ways from the notable Blue Mosque, so we taxied to this area to the west.  The full name was Church of the Holy Savior in the Country, or Church of the Holy Redeemer in the Fields.  This Byzantine era Christian church was originally built in 413 outside the city walls, or in the chora, "country."  The present structure was built in 1077-1081 and the frescoes and mosaics were added between 1315 and 1321. It's a museum now because of it's artwork.   

Frescoes painted in the side chapel walls and ceilings.  Christ being pulled both ways by God and the devil in the lower fresco.

There are six different domes within the church.  Much of the art has deteriorated and only bare walls and ceilings are left, but probably 60% remains.  What is there is remarkable.  Most of the mosaic tiles for detail on the faces are about the size of your pinky fingernail.  The larger tiles are still less than an inch in size.  

Jesus's first bath

The holy family.

The Virgin Mary's death

One of the domes.  All of the gold tiles are really gold.

This mosaic close up shows the intricate detail.  Hopefully you can see the very small tiles detailing the face and beard.  

The old marble floors were impressive as well.  You can see the main sanctuary area and ceiling have no art work visible any more in the main church. Above the door from the inside is the mosaic of Mary's death.

Of course when the Muslims conquered Constantinople, churches for Christians were often abandoned and mosques built.  In the case of the Chora church, the Muslims did not destroy it, but couldn't have their services in a place adorned with Christian symbols, as Islam does not allow iconic images. So, rather than destroy the art, they covered it with either wood, plaster,  or "white washed" over the art and used the building as a mosque for over 500 years until 1948.  A Byzantine historical organization began restoring the church from that time until 1958, when it was opened as a museum.

There you go.  We saw lots, and will see more with the boys, but I really don't think you could see every historic, artistic, or holy place if you were in Istanbul for a month.  So, we'll have to back again and again and again...   

  

Baking Cookies

Last week's news on CNN International was all about the  Mediterranean Diet.  Well, that's basically what it is here in Ankara.  We have a nice salad bar everyday at school, but no dressings.  They have lime juice, lots of olive oil, a pomegranate sauce, and vinegar for the international folks.  Most meals are vegetarian or chicken.  We have some type of meat-lamb or beef-about once every 5-7 meals and chicken maybe once a week.  So, they eat very healthy with little red meat.  

Their regular kek (unfrosted cake) and pasta (frosted cakes) are not very sweet and sometimes a little tasteless.  So, baking and making things to satisfy the sweet tooth is a must if you don't want baklava all the time.  Peggy has made crepes, and bars, and yesterday it was the first time attempting cookies.  

Ingredients are somewhat different here.  The brown sugar is exactly like our white sugar, except brown,  so a recipe that says "a cup of packed brown sugar," just doesn't know that moist brown sugar isn't available.  So, we make do.  

Karbonat is baking soda, kabartma tozu is baking powder, maya is yeast, and vanilin is--yes vanilla,but in a powdered form-think strong vanilla flavored powdered sugar!  All are about a teaspoon in measure.

We don't own a mixer, so it's a strong stir in the bowl.  We haven't found shortening, but lard is everywhere, so extra butter in this recipe.  The brown sugar just doesn't "cream" like it's supposed to.  And, chocolate chips are eluding us, so M & Ms have to do.  

We have one cookie sheet, and one broiler pan-a cooling area since there is no cooling rack.  Our timer is 2.95 TL from IKea, and the recipe book was downloaded on the IPad.

The end result was actually pretty tasty considering the swap for some ingredients and adjusting to others.  These were actually for Peggy's class and another 1st grade room, plus we're trying to butter up the housing guys who clean and manage the lojman, in case we need something, so the rest went to them.