Istanbul

Well, I made it. Met up with Caity yesterday afternoon in a sleep-deprived haze. I think i might have slept 2 hour from Boston to Zurich.
She had hired a driver so we got a ride to our hotel as soon as I got it, which was nice, because I was so out of it, I just followed.
We got settled in and then went out to wander a little bit. Our place (Hotel Poem) is right in the middle of the old city. I got quite the deal, considering. Its like a 5 minute walk to the AyaSofja (Haggia Sofia), and the Blue Mosque and everything else is within walking distance. Its a pretty great base for doing all of the touristy stuff, which will likely fill these first 3 days but I'm thinking it might be worth asking about staying another night.
So we wandered up to the main area of Sultanahmet (the old city), stared up at the Blue Mosque and the Ayasofja and then just kind of wandered around, getting lost and building up an appetite, passing outdoor cafe and restarant, one after the other.
Turkish hospitality is really aggressive. "PLEASE! Come here! Just look! Just look at the menu, my friend!"
"You are hungry, yes? I can see that you are hungry! Look! Look at the menu> Just for your information purposes!"
You end up politely turning down some hawker standing in front of each and every restaurant..."Please! Just sit for tea? Turkish coffee! You don't have to eat!"
And thats turkish lite. You should see the bazaar.
We sat and ate at one outdoor cafe after wandering around, getting a sense of things for about an hour. I had Lamb Divane, which was little matchsticks of lamb, cooked in some tomato-based sauce, over a bed of spinach. C got the Iskander Kebap, which Creighton recommended, which was thinly sliced beef (i think) stewed and served with a yogurt sauce. Hummus for the appetizer.
Wandered back, got a nightcap. C got a beer and I ordered a Raki, which is this strong grape-based anise flavored liquor, ridiculously strong, which is cut 50/50 with water. It tastes like ouzo or absinthe. Really fucking strong. Went back to the hotel and apparently I fell asleep literally five seconds after the last sentence I managed to get out, which was something about Ice Age II: the Meltdown.
We toured the Hagia Sophia thismorning after a breakfast of street bought clementines and bananas. The H.S. was a church built by the Byzantine Emperor in roughtly 400 a.d. and was the largest free-standing domed building in the world for about 1000 years, until the Catholics built St. Whoevers cathedral in the vatican. Sometime in the middle ages, the Ottomans took over Constantinople and converted the Haggia Sophia into a mosque. It was really interesting to see this layering of religions. Islamic traditional calligraphy and tile murals, and then 1500 year old byzantine tile murals of Jebus and Mary and whatnot.
From there, we wandered winding, poorly labeled streets, out of the tourist throng and into the real-deal of greater istanbul. Definitely the only blue eyes in the neighborhood. But we did it! We found this off-the-beaten-path, you're-in-the-know lunch place, Imren Lokantasi. Very unassuming and cheap. and holy shit, the guidebook wasn't kidding about their ffantastic lentil soup. Wowsers. And the rice pilaf. Apparently, rice pilaf is one of the marks of a good turkish chef. Separates the men from the REALLY HAIRY men who can make a mean fucking gigantic wok of rice pilaf. And I don't doubt it. This stuff was so buttery and rich! Sigh.

From there, we wandered up Gedikpasa Cad to the grand bazaar. Its a huge covered labyrinth of shopkeepers who are TWICE as aggressive as the restaurant guys. One dude actually took my forearm, to like stop me as I walked past. But I think thats just the deal. Hand-painted pottery. Antique Ottoman or replica antique ottoman daggers. Scarves of cashmere. Turkish rugs. Tea sets. Lamps of beautiful stained glass. Plates and tiles. Shitloads of gold and silver jewelery. Knockoff Prada bags. Watches. Bronze genie lamps. It was all quite overwhelming. Fortunately, I am extremely limited by an already overfull backpack and I am in transit. I think I might have walked away with quite a bit more if I was on a vacation and then heading back to the states. I really want one of these lamps. They are fucking gorgeous. But there is just no way that I want to carry this thing around with me when I am already overloaded as I am. Methinks when I fly out from Istanbul in June, mayhaps there will be a return to the bazaar in order, though.