All Spiced Out and not to mention the Blood Suckers

It was to be a 9k day but it was very hot.

The plan for the day was to be the Spice Bazaar and the mosque of Suleymaniye said to be the most beautiful mosque and built once again in a rapid six years to an orthodox yet huge plan by Sinan the famous architect of the great mosques.
We made it but is closed for the next two years for restoration so meanwhile all those businesses around the mosque do it very hard by the look of them. We did enter the annexe still functioning as a mosque and I got to see what Gend would have looked like if I was a practicing muslim.

Today was very hot and it just accentuates the assault that Istanbul is on your senses, each and every one of them. We had decided it was all definitely walkable so set off firstly for the Mosque. we crossed the main ridge road up from our hotel and dropped into the commercial hinterland of alley ways down the side and out the back of the university. No tourists in sight and all shops selling basic Turkish home ware. With a small amount of local input and sentences constructed out of at least three languages we held a course for the spice bazaar and came up at the front entrance in short time.

The spice bazaar just makes you wish you were not travelling and you could actually buy something, as opposed to the grand bazaar where the sheer volume of what to buy is so overwhelming you just shut down and buy nothing.

On entering the spice market you are confronted with stall after stall magnificently presenting every spice known to man and indeed a few that you haven't any idea what they are.

Sacks of a vibrant green powder that I was sure was finely milled Pistachio turned out to be henna that starts green and goes red when mixed with water. That could have caused some problems with my Baklava big time.

I have to say that serious heat, foreign lands endless meandering, walking, jostling and always feigning lack of English to the barrage of touts trying to get your eye or attention to buy something makes any respite unbelievably welcome, and when you do get to sit and order that first round of water, icy cool and secure in its plastic sealed top and you pour a rapid half litre down your throat, there is really nothing else like it. Water usually never tastes that good, in fact most of the time I don't like it as it doesn't have any flavour, but here it is like nectar and an essential to life itself. Its just good to feel that thirsty.

Adjacent to the spice market is the flower market a strange combination of a massive garden centre crossed with Jansen's Pet store blended with a bird rescue operation, except these birds in fairly appalling condition many of them are all for sale.

As you walk down the aisles you are affronted by large ex chilled water containers containing dozens of leaches sucking up the sides of the plastic container till they break out of the water, slime their way to the top then fall back in to the teaming water below to start the process all over again. The signage assures me they are just the cure for Migraines, eczema, and varicose veins . I mime to the owner is that what they are and do I place on my skin and he is convinced he has a sale and starts to get some out for me.

Under the tank is a supply of the omni present used 500ml water bottle for me to take my purchase home . I decline demonstrably and as I walk away I can't help thinking how does he feed them. From time to time they would need a live animal to suck on.Maybe he puts them on his ample Turkish Missus backside when she is asleep? That is what I would do. I certainly wouldn't be offering them my arm.

As we struggle with the rising temperatures everywhere we look are the women completely kitted up with head scarf well wrapped around their head and then firmly gathered around the neck and tucked into their kaftan often worn under a gabardine style coat and all look completely cool calm and collected.

When ever you sit at a cafe it is fascinating to watch the touts that provide the life blood of diners to that cafe do their work. How they work the passing crowd in a torrent of language starting with what they think is the most likely choice first up then decanting down through their other choices till they hit pay dirt. Interesting to hear someone hail you as "Hello doctor yes please you like stop and have coffee"

After sitting for a while you start to see the rivalry at first amongst the several touts for that same restaurant with a friendly camaraderie and banter as to who is pulling the most and how they are doing it and then as their tables fill the boys next door start to berate them presumably for being greedy and obviously imploring then to let a few more through as they are having a lean time of it.

The two factors that for me stand out in Turkey in a social sense is the penetration of cell phone technology into their culture though as I write that I am reminded we have a higher penetration apparently. Here you will see guys at the back of the mosque ostensibly at prayer txting for all they are worth. Whenever you are trying to understand a price they crack open the calculators in their cell phones and show it to you. The second is smoking. Here everyone smokes, I believe they are about to ban it in public places well all I can say is good luck. They smoke serving the food preparing the food and eating the food so it will be a massive piece of social engineering if it ever comes to pass. I guess it must as they must be suffering the same outcomes as the west and obesity is certainly an issue here.

In terms of demographics what is it about Americans and the volume they project in all public places. Commonly among the general background noise of this country which is a beautiful mix of language, traffic, call to prayer, barter and haggling commerce you will here some strident yet resonant American holding forth at full volume and the immediate thought is that this is the only individual I can hear every one else knows how to moderate their communication within this environment.

We have really been confined to the old Istanbul and that is great but we did make a sortie over the Galata Bridge and watched the Bosphorous Boat trip rorts in action and ended up under the bridge ensconced in a large neon coloured bean bag having a beer and watching the world go by at the intersection of Asia and Europe.

PS: We took the tram out of the district and over the Bosphorous to the other side and then caught a one stop underground known as the Tunne up to the start of a huge avenue with cable cars running up the centre in search of the Marmara Pera Hotel and a bar recommended by Don and Pauline. All to no avail it seems their were too many locals with a different idea of where this hotel was to be found and after a large amount of walking we bailed and enjoyed a small restaurant locally for "shish" and beers on a beautifully hot calm night in the middle of the old quarter.

Final reading at bedtime 14.75k. We slept well.