July 15, 2012 A Day Of Brides
Disclaimer: I do not know very much about the Muslim culture
or religion and while I will speak about it a little below I want to say I
could be totally wrong in my statements.
As per, much of what I write is purely from my point of view &
opinion as well. I do not intend to
speak ill of anyone or misrepresent cultural rules and values.
We weren’t about to be rushing to make it on time to
tonight’s wedding reception, as we were Friday night to the garden ceremony, so
we all planned to meet way ahead of time to get the tram to the ferry that
would take us to Maiden Tower. So we
made our way on the same tram we’ve been taking every day up to the Sultanamet
stop where we were the day before, this time with plans to actually go inside
one of the big attractions. BUT FIRST,
because time in Turkey
seems to just fly, and it does anyway with children, it was lunchtime and we
needed to eat. Back in the same touristy
area as our tense, overpriced meal the day before, we found a little
cafeteria’ish place with yummy looking vegetarian items in the chafing dishes
in the window. My typical vegetarian
meal in Turkey
has consisted of eggplant, potato, mushroom, tomato and spices which I’m going
to make it my main goal when I get home to figure out how to make. You’d think I’d get sick of ordering it, but
I don’t, it varies ever so slightly each time but is generally always
good. It’s all in the spices I
think. We had a relaxed, non-glamorous,
decent priced, filling meal before moving on to the Blue Mosque. The place was enormous and impressive with 6
minarets and massive domes. Along the
outside wall there was what reminded me of a dugout kind of space where dozens
of water spigots lined the wall and people could rinse off in the shade before
going inside the mosque to pray. There
was a dozen or more stone stairs leading up to the courtyard and we weren’t
about to heft the stroller up that so we decided to take turns going inside. I waited for Tony and then went up myself,
just as the midday prayer call started up, so the mosque was closed to visitors
briefly. Five times a day, from loud
speakers all over the city, the call to prayer echoes in the background whether
you are inside or out. I never actually
saw anyone stopping to kneel and pray but I assume that’s because I was mostly
in tourist areas and I’d heard that those who would halt their day to do so
plan accordingly so they didn’t find themselves in a bind. Like I guess the taxi drivers won’t take a
fare that could interfere with prayer time.
All I could think to myself was, if there is a God, does he really expect people to stop what they are doing 5 times a day and pray to him?? Ok, that’s maybe
harsh to say and I don’t mean to put down whom or how or when people practice
their religion, but it just seems so extreme to me to have to stop what you are
doing 5 times a day to get on your knees and pray wherever you are. Funny thing is, I was actually kinda digging
on the prayer calls – you knew exactly what time it was (I guess some people
don’t even wear watches because they let the calls tell them the time) and it
was not unlike a sort of lullaby, if you will.
Not that it put me to sleep but rather it just felt soothing. It’s a man’s voice (naturally, it wouldn’t
possibly be a woman’s considering they aren’t equals & they have to cover
up head to toe even in the god awful heat!) must be a recording, I guess but
don’t really know, it always sounded the same but I didn’t listen that closely
and even if I did I doubt I could tell the difference. Getting back to the story though, I wouldn’t
have been able to go inside the mosque anyway because there was a sign strictly
stating women must have their heads covered and not have exposed legs. I didn’t bring the little scarf/head wrap
thing that day that I’d borrowed from my mother-in-law before the trip and I
was wearing a spaghetti strap sundress that didn’t even reach my knees. Oh well, I took pictures of the courtyard and
was content with that. Back out in front
before moving on Tony insisted Tyler & I pose individually with his
precious Turkey
flag and I felt absolutely ridiculous.
When I protested he told me he’d posed for sillier things for me, though
I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what that would be, so I went along
with it. I was just imagining driving
through North Beach
in San Francisco
and seeing some tourists taking pictures of each other holding a big American
flag and how random that would seem.
Then again, maybe it would be nice, I mean it’s definitely a positive
feeling you get seeing a tourist with your flag.
It’s a nice day for a white wedding
As we walked the short distance from the Blue Mosque to the
Aya Sofya, yet another historical mosque, we passed by a couple having their
wedding day photos taken. You’d never be
able to tell from the man’s appearance that they were out of the US, his black
tuxedo looking crisp & dashing while his bespeckled face looked so young
& sweet & innocent. The bride
was really who caught my attention, wearing an ivory colored gown fairly
shapeless, completely covering her neck, chest & arms with a head wrap
covering her hair below a bridal headpiece and veil behind. I could tell even from a distance the dress
had beautiful beading detail that seemed to wrap in front creating a V where
her décolletage would be. She was
stunningly beautiful; the amount of make-up on her face making her look older
than her groom but her flawless skin gave her the appearance of absolute
peace. In fact, she seemed almost like a
deity to me, as if I was actually in the presence of a higher being. That’s saying a lot coming from me and I
really can’t explain it any better than that.
Maybe if I’d seen her more close up my bubble would have burst but I
didn’t so I’m going to let the fantasy live.
We “stalked” the couple for a little while, taking pictures as their
photographer took pictures. I just
didn’t want to leave them but of course we soon did.
We were waived ahead of the long line waiting to get into
the Aya Sofya since we had the stroller and small children which was very nice. The Church
of Divine Wisdom, as it is known in
English, is Istanbul’s
most famous monument, completed in 537.
The entire main area was covered in hanging “chandeliers” which I
thought was random and wondered when they were installed and why, but it looked
pretty cool. The mosaics were gorgeous,
gold colored, depicting Madonna & Child as well as a scene of the
dedication of the Aya Sofya. It was
interesting to find out they were covered up as ordered by Mehmet the Conqueror
in 1453 with beautiful tiles as it was converted from a church to a
mosque. The tiles were removed and the
mosaics restored starting in 1935. The
soaring dome was truly awe inspiring but more curious than that was the several
giant black “medallions” inscribed with gilt Arabic letters, apparently (since
I don’t read Arabic I take the word of the Lonely Planet tour book!) give the
names of God (Allah), Mohammed and the early caliphs Ali & Abu Bakr. They just seemed so strangely out of place,
like big billboards inside a church, but while I wasn’t so taken by them they
added an aspect of uniqueness and separated this beautiful, mammoth church from
so many of the others I’ve seen in my travels.
I diddled around in the museum store for a while after having lost Tony
as I took pictures and then I went outside to wait for him in the shade with
the kids. I waited almost an hour. We saw our friends Nate & Rebecca come in
and go out in that time. When Tony
finally found us we did the whole “where were you? I’ve been looking for you
forever!” back & forth, realizing we must have just kept missing each
other. Oh well, no use in getting
upset. Off we went to the tram and went
back to our apartment to get ready for the big reception.
Dryer Turned Weapon
I took a shower and washed my hair but was almost
immediately sorry I did so, even though it really needed it. It was just so hot & humid that using my
hairdryer seemed retarded and then my hair even kinda felt like it didn’t get
totally clean. Never the less I got the
adapter and plugged my dryer in, turning it on to my normal at-home setting,
high air, and high heat. Suddenly I felt
like I was hold a jet airplane engine in my hand, the high air setting coming
out like it was going to blast off to space!
Seriously, it was crazy loud & intense so I switched it down to the
lowest setting which was what my high setting at home felt like. The other problem was the heat setting, with
it on high it literally started sparking, the coils inside turning so bright
red immediately that I freaked and turned the whole thing off. I tried it again with low heat, low air and I
was just back to the humidity & dirty hair issue, so I managed to dry just
the front and pull some back creatively and the rest I left looking matted and
gross! Hahaha! I was also warned that if my dress revealed
too much cleavage it would be disrespectful to the families so I did my best to
pin my dress up to cover my girls but ended up taking it out later as I
realized many other guests were showing just as much, if not more, cleavage
& leg. Perhaps the warning was about
the garden wedding where there was a lot of very covered up family. That’s something that makes me curious too,
as I walk down the street or sit on the tram next to a Muslim woman who HAS TO
BE sweating to death under all those clothes, esp. if they are the traditional
black, and here I sit with as much skin as I can reveal without being arrested
for indecent exposure. Ok, I’m not
Britney Spears or Mariah Carey, I wasn’t wearing any tube tops revealing my
belly button and shorts cut so high you could see my cheeks hanging out the
back – although I did actually see some of the latter walking around!
We all rendez-vous’d at the ferry terminal ahead of time
where we waited to board. I’ve never
seen such a crowd of fancy (without being way formal) but uniquely dressed,
beautiful women. Ok ok, the men all
looked very nice in their suits too. But
these dresses were gorgeous and I found out they were bought in boutiques in Turkey from
Turkish designers. I took a picture of
one and decided I wanted to do a painting inspired by it. We loaded on the ferry but then just sat
there, rocking & swaying with the waves for a while making me feel like
losing my cookies over the side of the boat.
The woman sitting next to me was so taken with Teagan, and vise versa,
that I tried to lose myself in the distraction.
Another gorgeous Turkish woman, make-up impeccable, hair coifed, dresses
so unique and awesome. I made sure Avni
got a picture of me & Teagan with her but it was on Avni’s camera so I’ve
gotta get it from her. Before I knew it
Teagan was being passed around, as was not uncommon in these settings I’d
found. It was nice to be free of her for
a few minutes, let me breathe a little and cool off without her hot body in my lap;
however, it didn’t last long as she went from beautiful woman to older
attractive lady to weathered older man.
I couldn’t blame her, who would want to be held by all these strangers,
most of them kissing her arms or head, all of them pinching her cheeks. It was totally enduring and the most
comfortable, nicest thing I experienced while in Turkey, but just so unusual where
we come from. I wondered if it was that
way with all babies or if perhaps it was her fair skin and blue eyes and round
cheeks. Regardless, soon she was back in
my arms and we were finally headed out to the Maiden Tower.
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair!
So the Kiz Kulesi (Maiden
Tower) is a small island in the
Bosphorous, near the Asian side of Istanbul
and functioned in ancient times as a tollbooth & defense point but there is
a myth that is much nicer to think of, let’s see how well I can re-tell
it. Apparently some ?princess? way back
in the day fell in love with an average guy so she couldn’t marry him but her parents
took pity on their young love and built the little island with light-house to
serve as a meeting place for them. The
guy would swim out to the island, lead by the lighthouse, and the two lovers
could be together. Then something
happened… hahaha, this is where I’m unclear on the details (since up to know
they’ve been so clear!) but maybe it was a revolt or war or something that
pitted the young man against the girl’s family but they would no longer be
allowed to see each other and to make it final one night the lighthouse was
left dark and the man drowned swimming out to his love. I’m not sure what happened to the girl, I’d
kinda like to think she jumped to her death from the top of the lighthouse when
she found out her lover was dead, kinda Romeo & Juliet style, but I’m not
sure :)
We arrived on the island (which is very small, containing a
restaurant inside the lighthouse) to find in the small outside area filled with
big round tables and sparkly, flowery centerpieces, the chairs all tied with a
lavender sash. Our main group of young
Americans were all seated at table 10 Buenos Aires…the table numbers all corresponded
to a destination country capitol, like London & Paris. The
sun was starting to set over the Bosphorous just when someone recognized that a
boat was approaching the island (a while after the ferries that brought us
there had departed) and on it were the bride & groom making their grand
entrance. Now I can’t remember what
music was playing, it may have been a Turkish tune, but whatever it was I got
the chills hearing it and seeing Evin & Deutron waving from their
sultan. It was the coolest entry I’ve
ever seen, personally or in tv/movies. The
sultan looks to me like a larger gondola like you see in Venice
although this one has a motor instead of guys rowing or whatever that’s called
they do with those long sticks in Italy! They did a pass by, circled around and came
in again, this time everyone was hip to what was going on and were all watching
and cheering and videoing. Once they
were on the island and made their entrance (Evin now wearing #4 of 5 dresses,
this one western) they stood on a slightly raised stage and an American woman,
dressed fairly casual & comfortable, giving me the impression she was a very
down to earth, spiritual guide & friend of Deutron’s from Santa Cruz, gave
a very nice non-denominational blessing, which reminds me I need to get a copy
of it since it was so good. There was a
first dance and then we all had our dinner, in several courses, and wine before
the cake was brought out to cut. Another
grandiose fake cake!! Too funny!! There was a live band and female singer and
much of what she sang was Turkish but they also had music coming from an iPod
playlist or something that they intermixed.
It was dark and a little breezy but nice after the hot day. Then up in the sky, a bright flash of light
and “boom” turning all our heads as The Wanted’s song “I’m Glad You Came”
started playing. The fireworks were totally
awesome!! They lasted the whole song and
were big & beautiful, being set off from a boat not far from the
island. It was just the best. Deutron had been the one, along with another
of our friends, to set off our fireworks on the beach at our wedding but these
may have showed up our’s! We all danced,
even Tyler, and
had just a great night. There was a
fabulous congo line that twisted through all the tables and they played “I’m
Glad You Came” one more time when the couple was dancing together surrounded by
all their guests and when the verse “I’m glad you came” played they pointed to
all of us! It was so sweet.
Blisters and Banged Up Heels
We took the ferry back around midnight and everyone went for
a little walk, thoroughly drunk, looking for a hooka bar but once we came upon
it that’s where we split off, not willing or able to stay out with the kids any
later. That was for the best, we were
toasted anyway and not getting enough sleep and the next day we were flying to
Bodrum. All the dancing and walking on
cobblestones totally messed up my feet and high heels, but it was all worth
it!!
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