Anadolu Ekspressi

July 4th : Train from Haydarpasa to Ankara. First blog from a train! This little computer is rather convenient.

Nice day today – if a little mixed up. In the morning we were pretty busy with packing and getting out of the hotel, although the inn keeper did offer up a late check-out after placing a little flag on our table for the 4th of July. So we had to get back to the hotel around two to check out and then nothing until six o'clock to leave for ferry boats to get us to the train station at Haydarpasa. Also, without a shower or refuge available after three, we knew we did not want to take on another big adventure on the far side of town.

So, the low key business was to wander over and browse the carpets and stuff at the state store in Topkapi (there is a government sponsored store that offers guaranteed good merchandise at an expensive but fixed price – so you don't have to bargain, can know you are getting the authentic item, but no bargains). After that we wandered back to the Arasta bazaar thinking we would just look a bit more and then get to lunch. Saw some nice items there at the store where I shopped last year (Harem 49) – and like good merchants they recognized me and could even tell what I had bought the year before and wanted to know if I was interested in any similar.
After checking out of the hotel – and settling up on my assistant's outrageous Raku bills – he decided he would like to go back to the store.

And so it goes – got a nice little kilim/carpet (kind of a mix) that will really look sweet. The bargaining was fun as always although I wasn't that hard nosed (actually I kind of liked the idea of carrying a bit less cash around with me and this seemed as good a ways as any....). My photo documentarian had also saved up his nickels and tips to buy something, but I'll leave it to him to communicate those details. On the whole it was a nice way to spend an afternoon. I do enjoy looking at the carpets and they seem happy to keep talking, giving you water or tea and praising your good tastes.

After that, back to the real world. Took a taxi over to the ferry boats on the north side of the Golden Horn. I think this was a bit of a taxi scam as I am quite confident the Eminonu boats would have been fine if a bit closer to the hotel. Who knows – if I was scammed, it wasn't a very good one as it involvedjust a quick ride over the bridge. The ferry ride across the Bosphorus is simply about the most fun thing you can do for 1.5 YTL. Then we more or less just had dinner and hung out at the train station. Sounds pretty tedious but it was really very nice. The food was typical but good and about half the price on the other side of the strait. Having an hour to sit on the steps and watch the sun go down over the city while the various ferry boats roared past was a nice way to end the day.

And now we are underway – rolling off into Asia.

Most Remarkable Thing: Of course my new carpet is the most amazing piece of textile art since the tapestries of Chartres, but with slightly less jaded eyes I need to remark on that neat little train station restaurant. It looked like it had not changed that much since World War I (when a munitions “sabotage” mostly destroyed the train station), Beautiful blue Turkish style tiles on the wall – nice white and red table cloths, china that looked like it barely made it through the explosion. It felt like being in an Agatha Christy novel.

Photo: The Sultanahmet (Istanbul) from Haydarpasa Train statin (across the Bosphorus). You can see the minarets of the Blue Mosque (left) and Hagia Sophia (right).