Final Delightful Day

The best part of staying at the Turkoman Hotel is eating breakfast on the roof terrace. I know the owner so joined her for breakfast with her friends, an American artist and an Australian selling textiles. They recommended the exhibit at the Pera museum and when I complimented the American on her ring, she told me about the Afghan store in the Covered Bazaar.

It was great going directly to Tribal Arts in the bazaar and not dealing with the other aggressive store owners. Muhammed is an Afghan who had walked as a child to Pakistan to escape the war. He travels to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmanistan and other eastern countries to collect the traditional silver jewelery. He pointed out the origin of each piece. He also sells wholesale. As usual various cousins also work at the stall- literally a hole in the wall with additional merchandise - including yemini slippers - decorating the outside columns. I had recently seen a video in a museum about the yemini slippers, so purchased a pair.

Despite the rain, I took a bus to Balat- up the Golden Horn - which was a Jewish neighborhood a long time ago. It is a 20 min. ride from the center of Istanbul, but a place frozen in time. Narrow passageways, small shops, cobblestone alleys, two-story houses cobbled together with plaster and tin. Even though it was raining I loved wandering around. Asking an abaya-clad woman for directions, I received a friendly smile and hand gestures to the center of town. I had visited the Ahrida synagogue in the neighborhood in 2006. This time I stumbled upon an entrance way with hebrew inscriptions in the lintel.

Next stop was the Pera museum to see "The Lure of the East," an exhibition of the most important works of British Orientalist painting around the world. It was magnificent. The east was so mysterious for the Europeans. A British woman traveled to Turkey in the 1800s and observed first hand the life in the harem. She commented that it was liberating for women - they could do their own thing, away from the supervision and constraints of male society.

I met Gurbet for dinner. She is a business librarian at Koc. I really like her. She lived in Houston for a few years and even in Cappadocia. I think she is a little off-beat. She wanted to make sure I had a traditional meal. She brought me to a place to have bazlama, a type of crepe. Women sit in the restaurant window in traditional dress making the bread. I thought these places were tourist traps, but that is the beauty of Turkey. Turks like to frequent such places, too! We then moved on to a cafe with a 10 page menu of desserts. It was sad when Gurbet asked me what was next - you've seen Turkey, where's the next adventure. I had been saying to so many people that of course I would see them again. Now, I wasn't so sure.

A final walk back through the bustling city streets. Packed for an hour. Up at 5:30 and on the tram at 6 to catch my 9 am flight. One more post on reflections