Turkish Delight

Turkish delight, on a moonlit night, even.

We're baaaaaaaack.

We moved (and are still in the process of moving).  We got a temp internet connection.  One of us got accepted into another Master's program--and is dealing with all the stress accompanying it.  We also are in the midst of a German Christmas which is proving to be much more Christmasy than an American Christmas--as we hope to show you later.

BUT, we also know that we left you hanging on the whole Turkey thing.  And Turkey, well, Turkey was pretty faREAKin' fantastic.  So fantastic, that it doesn't deserve to just be shunted to the blogging corner.

What I'm really saying is that there is too much  to tell and I can't figure out what to start with or where to go from there.  So, I decided to pick 3 pictures at random from our trip and then tell you about them.  That's a good beginning right?  I think so.

So, first, the Turkish Delight.  Did you know this is what Turkish delight looks like?  For some reason I thought of it as being really red and somewhere there was meringue involved.  Way, way off.  We found this little shop off the beaten path and bought a box--we told the shopkeeper to just fill it with a bunch of different kinds.

I'm still trying to figure out what they all are/were.  I know that at one point I ate a coconut covered marshmallow with a hazelnut on top (top left in the box).  I also know that at one point I ate something very similar to a square gummy-bear flavored like rose petals--which sounds poetic and exotic doesn't it (the rose petal eating, not the gummy-bear thing)?  But...the taste of rose petals...imagine drinking perfume.  Kind of the same for me.  You want to like it because it smells pretty...but your mouth is having none of it.

Paul loves Turkish delight now.  I'm sort of "glad I tried it, it's okay" about it.  So chances are good that you would be happy to try it sometime in your life.  Especially if you're in Istanbul, where it was, like, invented.

Check it.  I'm loungey.  I'm a Turkish loungey princess.

Second.  I'm pretty sure we found the all-time raddest restaurant in the old city part of Istanbul (which is called Sultanahmet, for future reference).  It was literally next door to our hostel (which was also rad).  It's called Palatium and you should go.  You need to go.  Go.  Look at that pizza thing in the picture!  Also, I'm totally drinking yogurt stuff (Ayran).  Go.

Why is this place so rad, you may ask?  Well, for one, you eat Roman-style--lounging on these big low couches next to your big, low table.  Also, sections of the floor are glass and you see down into the excavation of the old Great Palace of Constantinople (circa, like, 400 AD).    Also, people are smoking their apple flavored water pipes around you and it smells incredible.  Also, you can seriously eat a lot of food and only end up paying 35 euro.  Also, you can borrow a backgammon board and play (Turkish game, did you know that?).  ALSO, if you go out into the back courtyard there's this nondescript staircase down underground that lets you go wander through the ancient Palatium Magnum (Great Palace of Constantinople)--completely sans tourists (other than yourselves)...and actually sans any other people!**  Get your Howard Carter on!

Oh, just wandering through an ancient, now-underground palace by
ourselves.  No biggie.  I think I'll touch the wall.  Yeah.  I just
touched that ancient wall.

Okay, those last two pics were just for explanation--they don't count as my third choice.

THIS is my third random picture--a dome from Chora Church (originally built in the 4th century AD).  It has some of the most beautiful Byzantine mosaics in the world and I'm a mosaic nut.  I think mosaics are some of the most beautiful, complex, wonderful genres of art.  Chora did not disappoint.

This is just one of a bazillion pictures we took, all in this tiny, little church-turned-mosque-turned-museum way out by the old, sixth-century city walls.  This dome was one of my favorite parts.  I love all the angels, how they're all different; faces, robes, holding different things.  I love the rainbow around Mary--a very Byzantine/Eastern Othodox thing.  I love how the borders in between the angels all are different, intricate patterns/  I love the gold leaf on the mosaic tiles*.   I loved Chora!

I can't help myself-here's some more Chora.

From top left, clockwise:
1) A circular story-telling of the temptations of Christ--
I love how Byzantine mosaics read like comic strips without the boxes.
2) Sparkly...Also, notice those varied colors in the hair.
Or his slightly rosy cheeks. Or the subtle tint changes in the robes...
They did that with tiny pieces of tile.  That's amazing.
3)  I loved all the different colors of marble in Chora--
much of it recycled from older buildings.
4) The "Anastasis" fresco (which means Resurrection).  It's Jesus
saving Adam and Eve from the grave.  Our guidebook
called it "Rambo Jesus."  Hah!  Yes.

Yes, "Rambo Jesus."  And I'll leave you on that macho note.


**  Actually, I was wandering by myself through the ancient palace corridors for a while when I stumbled into one vault that had a deep freezer, a couple bags of potatoes, and some 18 year old woman just sitting there texting.  Scared the crap out of me.  Scared the crap out of her.  Why was there a freezer down there?!  How did she have a cell phone signal?!  I don't know!

*  I learned something about the gold tiles on this trip.  It's actually gold leaf that is sandwiched between a tile and glass--so it can't flake off!  Those Byzantines, so smart.  They really get the short end of the Social Studies stick in my opinion.