We’ve been saving our trip to Topkapi Palace for a rainy
day. Today is Christmas Eve, and I was surprised to wake up to snow this
morning. The snow soon let up, and it began to rain ever so lightly. So off we
went to the palace…
I was delighted. I think this is the first place we’ve been
that was enough of a museum that I could learn something about the history of
the buildings while admiring them. It is also the first place we’ve been where
Eka was very interested. We walked in with two tall men wearing turbans and two
men in suits whom I think were their body-guards. A few people took pictures of
them, and I can’t help but wonder if they were politicians I don’t know. We
walked around a huge yard, trying to figure out how to avoid being in the
galleries while the school groups were in them. First we went into a room where
the sultan’s advisors used to meet before reporting to him. Then we began going
through a series of treasuries. The craftsmanship was incredible. There was so
much gold and there were so many diamonds, emeralds, and rubies! The bejeweled
sultans’ possessions included a suit of armor, weapons, writing boxes, flasks,
candlesticks, a bow and arrow, a cradle, thrones, flasks…and of course jewelry.
My favorite piece actually was not made of gold, and it didn’t have many
jewels. It was a throne made of dark wood and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It
was stunning. I should say that many pieces in the collection were not made in
Turkey. They were either pieces stolen in wars or pieces given as gifts to the
royal family.
There was one special treasury gallery that I’m still not
sure how to feel about. The doorway was elaborately decorated, and there was a
sign (next to the usual “no pictures” sign) asking that visitors please dress
appropriately. It was the treasury of relics. If I’m to believe what I read, we
saw Moses’ staff, Abraham’s turban, body parts of different saints, pieces of
Muhammad’s beard and Muhammad’s swords. I have no reason not to believe,
really, but I never in my life expected to walk into a palace museum and find
myself staring at Moses’ staff. I’m just not sure how to process such a thing.
This gallery was decorated the whole way through, and there was a man reading
verses from the Koran into a microphone. His voice echoed through the different
rooms of the gallery, even over the voices of all of the visitors (and there
were many).
After the treasury of relics, we walked through the armory
and then through a gallery dedicated to Sultans’ clothing made from Italian
fabrics. We finished up with the sun still shining brightly overhead, so we
walked out through part of the palace garden. I would love to see this garden
in the summer. The part we saw was lovely even without the flowers. And even
more than missing flowers, I just miss walking through parks. In Oni, I can
walk through nature (with a man or with a handful of stones in case I meet a
bear or a bride-napping party, or so I’m advised). I can sit under the
grapevines in the garden at our house. But I miss being in a park, where I can
read and people-watch and maybe chance to meet a friend. It’s different. There’s
no need for it in Oni, but still…
Then we went off to a shopping mall in search of Eka’s
favorite Turkish clothing store. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a mall.
As if I needed a reminder that I hate shopping. At least being with Eka while
she shops in interesting because she’s good company. But really…I hate malls.
We were home pretty early, but I facebooked Yavuz. He agreed
to meet us for coffee, and we had a really great time together. He was very
curious about Georgia and its language. We talked about the US and about all
the places we’ve lived (combined, we’ve lived in 7 countries and speak just as
many languages). We talked about university systems and history and food...it
was so refreshing to have intellectually stimulating conversation again.
When Eka and I went back to our hotel, we watched “Heartbreaker,”
which was a really cute French romantic comedy about a man who breaks-up
couples for a living. She likes those goofy romantic dramas that I usually have
no patience for, but we don’t get to watch movies often in Oni so having
movie-time together each night is really nice. Then I sent a few emails (I so
appreciate internet access!), and we went to bed before midnight.
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