From tear gas to Bazaar

Saturday June 1 was an incredible day.  We woke up to the electricity being off, as construction was taking place outside our apartment and neighbouring buildings.  Luckily, water is a separate connection and we were able to shower.  We had already heard about the demonstrations in Taksim Square the night before and had seen some demonstrators walking up the pedestrian street in that direction.  The immediate issue is the plan to build a shopping centre on Gezi park, near Taksim square.  This is one of the last green spaces in the city.  The police used tear gas and water cannons on Friday night to disperse a peaceful crowd.  A number of people were injured and three killed.

We are staying at an apartment on a street near the centre of the pedestrian street- Istiklal Street.  We had not walked north to Taksim Square, although it is not too far.   We decided to go for a coffee at a Cafe just a block from Istiklal Street.  The cafe was open although the metal covering was rolled down. We were having our coffee at about 11: 00 a.m. and heard some people chanting and then saw a big cloud of tear gas wafting our way. When we thought the cloud had passed, we decided to cross the street to a pharmacy to buy a face mask, which everyone was wearing.  We were hit by residual tear gas and our eye started to burn immediately.

While the Pharmacy was out of face masks, the person working there gave us some cloth with apple cider to help with the pain.  We headed the other way where a group of demonstrators were gathered.  They gave us water and sprayed a milk concoction in our eyes, which really helped.  One of the young men who spoke very good English said the demo was about more than the park, and was really about the erosion of civil rights over the last five years.  The most recent announcement by the government is a plan to restrict alcohol sales and advertising.  One person noted a concern about a return to the "Ottoman Empire" and the increasing Islamification of Turkey.  We took a number of pictures, before deciding to head down to the old City to escape the tear gas.

Demonstrators with face masks

More folks

Small groups gathering

Restaurants had lemons out for people to take to help with tear gas

More people in the streets

Everyone with face masks

By the end of the afternoon, entrepreneurs were selling face masks.

Face masks for sale

#occupy turkey--- lots of graffiti

We walked down to Galata bridge, stopping on the way at the graphic t-shirt store where Alain bought a T-shirt, where the owner gave us a suggestion for a place to have a great cup of turkish coffee.  He also gave us tram directions.  The Istanbul light rail transit system is very modern and makes Toronto and Rob Ford look like Neanderthals.  For a city of 15 million, the dedicated track makes travel fast and one can top up an Istanbulkart at the tram stops.   

Clean, modern and fast LRT on dedicated track

Alain adding money to his Istanbulkart

We took the tram to a stop near the coffee shop called Corlulu Ali Pasa Medresesi.  I was one of the few women in the coffee shop.  It is also a place where one can smoke tobacco in hookah pipe (very popular again).  The coffee was superb as promised.

At the coffee shop-- lots of men with water pipes

The menu

Alain with his turkish coffee

After our great Turkish coffee, we walked up to the Grand Bazaar (Kapali Carsi), where there are approximately 5000 vendors waiting to sell you goods.  Part of the Bazaar dates back to the ninth century and trading started in earnest in 1461, just eight years after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople.  There are different gates into the bazaar leading to areas that specialize in specific products; e.g. silver, gold, leather, ceramics, glass lamps and, of course, rugs.  It was actually more organized than we thought and many of the booths are numbered.  We only covered a fraction of the area of the Bazaar.  However, we did stop for a bit of late lunch and some tea as Fes Cafe.  Alain had a lovely yogourt soup with mint and we shared a chicken salad.

Scene at the Grand Bazaar

Jewellery

One of the many entrances to the Bazaar

The Scene

Yogourt soup

Chicken salad

We left the Bazaar and then walked by a Garden with a number of tombs of Sultans, including Mahmud II.  Very peaceful space with some ancient tombs.

Tomb from 1312

More Sultans

We stopped at a Turkish Delight place to get some baclava and turkish delight (my new favourite is pistachio and pomegranate).

Sweets

We then walked back to the Hippodrome, a great public space where chariot races once took place.  The Obelisk of Tutumosis III, a 13th century B.C. solid block of granite had been brought to Istanbul from Egypt by Emperor Theodosius I.  It was placed in the square in 390 A.D.

The Egyptian Obelisk

We then went to see the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii) which was constructed between 1609 and 1617.  It is one of the finest examples of classical Ottoman architecture.  Unfortunately, we were not wearing appropriate clothes and could not enter the mosque, but the outside and the six minarets are spectacular.  There were also a number of posters on two walls with quotes from Prophet Muhammad.

View of Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

Columns at one side of Mosque

The Blue Mosque-- just superb

The last sermon

After the Blue Mosque, we relaxed in a nearby park and people watched.

Park near Blue Mosque

Alain relaxing in his new Istanbul graphic T

We walked back to the funicular which we took uphill.  We had to avoid Istiklal Street, but ran into a police barricade near our apartment.  When we arrived at the apartment, the electricity was off again and we had to phone our host.  He came quickly and luckily it was just the main circuit breaker.  

Police gathering

We then went to eat at Krependeki Imroz founded in 1941 and one of the city's oldest meyhanes (like a tapas bar).  We shared some meze and had our first glass of raki (a liquor like pernod, that one adds water to and it turns a milky white).  

The restaurant

Octopus salad

Alain with raki

We headed home for some tea and dessert, the blog and sleep.