Extension Day One

I went to breakfast the next morning, and when I returned to fetch my girlfriend we decided to return to Topkapi Sarayi. The cab driver played Turkish music on the way, and pointed out major sights - we didn’t tell him we already knew what they were. There were a lot of school groups at the palace, but we got to see the costumes and portraits we’d missed the first time. We tried to stop at the Konyali restaurant on the palace grounds, but I decided two million lira was too much to pay for a can of soda. We wanted to see the harem section (an additional 4 million after the main entrance fee of 7 million), but the line stayed very long the whole time we were there, so we gave up. We rested on a bench outside the gate, and fed some cold cuts to a pair of cats - one reacted the same way the cat near the Süleymaniye Camii did, becoming all teeth and claws at the smell of the meat. I had that cat on my lap and we were both petting it when a Japanese tourist asked if she could take our picture - of course we let her. We tried to see the Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzesi (Istanbul Archeological Museum), but it turned out to be closed on Mondays. Why we weren’t told that before walking down the hill to the dead end is a mystery, but we made it back up to the top. I saw a sign for the Turk ve Islam Eserleri Müzesi (Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art), but the sign indicated that was also closed on Mondays. We ended up walking around a bit, and I tried to feed a couple of cats in an alley but they were the opposite of the cats in the high-traffic areas: I ended up tossing scraps because they wouldn’t come close. I found a present for my mom in a handicrafts shop, and we had lunch in a cute restaurant before taking a taxi back to Taksim Square so we could walk to the hotel. As we were waiting to cross the street, a man who seemed to be selling something walked up to my girlfriend and started chattering in Turkish. She tried saying “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Turkish,” but he kept going. I suspect he, like a number of other people in Turkey, thought she looked Mediterranean - she’s heard that several times in the last few weeks, and at least once or twice today from vendors trying to strike up a conversation they hope will lead to us buying something. We’re planning on returning to Kapali Çarisi, and I’m thinking about getting a harem/belly dancing costume, but I think I’ll only purchase if it’s under 30 million lira or so. In the evening, we went over to Istikal Caddesi and found the vegetarian restaurant Nature and Peace, which had been mentioned in our Lonely Planet guidebook. This was the first restaurant that actually provided us with water - everywhere else you had to pay for it. It’s generally inexpensive, but you still have to pay for the privilege of bottled water - I wonder if they’d give you tap water at no charge. The food was pretty bland, but good enough. They were playing quiet music with Spanish lyrics, and we agreed it was nice to hear something other than Turkish or American pop.