Unfinished business

We often have  debate after a holiday along the lines of “would you go back”? It’s a perisher of a question but it does have two species of ‘yes’ answer: yes because I didn’t do everything I wanted to and yes because I just liked the place and could go there again and again. For me the answer to “would you go back to Istanbul” is yes and yes. There were a number of things we didn’t see and places we didn’t go; but I just loved the place, its great food, its lovely people, and its atmosphere. I’d go back just to sit in bars and cafes and hopefully meet people. Oh and for the cats. I loved the cats and some of them reciprocated my feelings.

As for the rest:

We had a lovely morning at the stunning Hagia Sophia which is an absolutely remarkable building. There have been places of worship on this site for seventeen hundred years, under various dominant faiths and cultures. The transition from Christianity to Islam must have been terribly traumatic but traces of the old endure. It’s now in theory a secular space but of course it reeks of its former religious glories. The extensive renovation is in itself impressive, with scaffolding from the floor right up to the main dome. Overwhelmed as she was , of course TSM had to say “what do you do if you get to the top and need a wee?”. I suspect the jobbing Turkish workman has a few empty beer bottle lying around to answer that question …

We made a brief visit to the museum of Islamic science in Gulhane Park but by now were running short of time so it was a whistlestop tour. I'd been keen to visit, having read a little about the remarkable work of mathematicians and astronomers in particular in this culture, but also because I knew it was something that the writers of Western history had understated or even deliberately avoided. Some beautiful models and illustrations of the inventiveness of scholars going back hundreds if not thousands of years.

Afterwards we did a little bit more shopping - that’s something else I would like to do, come here in just the clothes I stand up in and go home with a maximum allowance of purchases. TSM and I had a slight separation over the matter of haggling; I hate it and she gets it and does it. Does it very well in fact.

We had a last lunch and a last glass of Eff (Turkish beer) in the Blu Cafe which I have to say was absolutely lovely. We’ve had loads of hummus and aubergine this week but you never get the same version twice, lots of lovely variations on taste. The stuffed vine leaves today were gorgeous, had a slightly cinnamon or cloves quality to them.

Said a fond farewell to the staff at the Sultania who as ever were lovely and helpful; I don’t think I’ve ever gone cheek to cheek with a member of a hotel staff before but it seemed appropriate. They gave us small gifts as we left to get our taxi to the airport. Lovely place, lovely people.


And then home. This is written during the early evening at forty thousand feet so that I can hit the blip button later without falling asleep over the keyboard. I mean, there’s unfinished business and unfinished business but you have to do your blip, don’t you …

Postscript: came home to  clean house and a home cooked meal courtesy of The Dizzle. A fantastic end to the day.