Grey Day in Istanbul

Today was Patty’s second day of her conference.  I was on my own,  but it was actually a good day to be stuck inside.  The temperature has dropped to about 50 degrees and there is a steady light rain accompanied by umbrella destroying wind gusts.

Last night we got to board a bus for a Istanbul law firm sponsored dinner at the restaurant on top of a hotel overlooking the Golden Horn and the Bosporus.  The dinner was attended by about 50 of the conference registrants, and was good food with unlimited wine.  The company was good as we sat with Manau, Patty’s friend from the Netherlands, who is easy to spot at these events.  She is about 6’4″ and does stand out in a crowd.  (She is also the chair of this year’s event.)  Her law partner from Paris also sat with us and it was a nice evening.  Both have toddlers at home so there was a lot of baby talk.

As Patty went off to her conference on the second floor, I bundled up and headed out.  There were lots of vendors on the street selling cheap plastic umbrellas, so I acquire on of those and kept at least my head dry.  I walked across the Taksin park to Taksin Square and caught the funicular down to the water level.  From there it is about a fifteen minute walk to the Dolmabahce Palace.  The Dolmabahce was built in around 1850 to rival other European palaces, and has the look and feel of palaces of that era.  It is amazing that they architects had so little imagination and just built square or oblong rooms stacked next to each other, of varying sizes, but the same boring rectangles.  The furnishing are extraordinary and the palace uses its views of the Bosporus that runs along the east side, to good advantage.

An extra cost tour is of the “Harem,” which of course brings to mind all kind of salacious thoughts, but in reality is just the living quarters, as opposed to the ceremonial and administrative parts of the palace.  It is just a collection of living rooms and bedrooms, all with the same boring boxiness.  It is amazing that given all of the money and power these rulers had, how uncomfortable their living quarters and furniture look.  I think we have learned a little about home design and furniture design since that time.

The rain was unrelenting, and it was nice that the palace tours were inside.  After finishing the tours, I took the funicular back up the hill and had lunch at another local place on the main shopping street.  After that I walked down the shopping street looking for something interesting.  However, the stores are Gap, Addidas, Puma, Nike, etc., and it is hard to get excited.  There are little stalls selling tourist junk,  but that also lacks much interest.

We have a recommendation for a 100 year old Turkish restaurant for tonight (also recommended by the Rick Steve’s book) called Haci Abdula, so we may try that.  Our flight home leaves about 12:20 p.m., so we need to leave the hotel by 9:30 a.m.

It has been a great trip and we have seen a lot.  I think, especially with the weather, we are ready to come home.  We had just about adjusted to the time change, so time to get whacked again.