Istanbul Miscellany

So not surprisingly we saw things worth remembering in Istanbul that can neither be described as a food nor a site. For example, our favorite oddities in the Grand Bazaar were these pipes:

And this perplexing porcelain ensemble:

Pomegranites are grown throughout Turkey and you can buy fresh pomegranite juice on the street anywhere in Istanbul. I recognize this is food-related. So shoot me.


This shop had two traditional musicians, served nothing but pomegranite juice and was packed all day:

Next up: the fish market. All goods apparently caught nearby and no ice anywhere in sight.


Along with four hundred or so middle schoolers, we caught an historically accurate jannisary band performance at the military museum (this shot captures about half the action and none of the booming).

Finally, we spent an afternoon in the Islamic Art Museum (housing the most extensive collection in the world now that the Baghdad Museum's is gone and funded almost entirely by the San Francisco Bay Area Carpet Association, I kid you not). The calligraphy was really amazing - this scroll commemorated the Ottoman victory in the Cretan town of Hania, where we had been just a week earlier.

So that was Istanbul, take one. After five days we weren't ready to leave, so we'll be back for another half-week soon.

xoxo Jessie