A Spring Saturday



Getting an expensive shoe shine from the guy who helped us find Chora




One on the mosaics in St. Saviour in Chora (Kariye Camii)



Atop Theodos II's walls

View of the Golden Horn from the wall, Galata Tower to the left

We continue to explore our city when we can.  On Caitlin's birthday, March 26th, a sunny Spring Saturday, we celebrated by venturing to the south side of the Golden Horn.  (She was in the Poconos.)  The trek involved a walk down the hill, a bus to Kabatas, then the tram to Aksaray, then stumbling around looking for the Metro, the metro to Ulubatli, then trying to follow a map through winding streets to get to St.  Saviour in Chora.  Finally we were helped by a Mehmet-on-the-spot shoeshine guy.  While he shined my boots he showed us pictures of his children in Ankara and told us of how much it costs to get to Ankara (50 Euro).  When he was done he wanted 20 TL PER SHOE for his service.  We smilingly left him with only 20 for both.  Pretty ridiculous but we were feeling generous and didn't have any smaller bills. 

The Byzantine church has the best preserved frescoes and mosaics that I have seen anywhere.  This church was part of a monastery complex dating from perhaps the 4th century.  The mosaics and frescoes are from the beginning of the 14th century. The Ottomans turned the church into a mosque, but it's been a museum since 1948.  We had an early dinner next door at an elegant restaurant which specializes in Ottoman food prepared according to historic recipes from the records of the Topkapi kitchens.  Their terrace wasn't open, which seems like it would be delightful, but the dining room was beautiful and the food and service outstanding.  We got a bus to Besiktas, which took at least an hour, and another one home.  We spent more time in transit than we did at our destination, but it was worth it.