Istanbul, Turkey

The Kariye Museum/Chora Church is a small building that packs a big wallop. Originally built outside the city limits in 413 CE, it underwent renovations and restorations in 843 CE and then again in the late 11th Century. The mosaics created during the last renovation are absolutely spectacular. They remained predominantly intact as they were covered by the Muslim conquerors when the church was converted into a mosque in the 1450’s.

In the afternoon we dropped by the Archeological Museum but only stayed for about a half an hour. After touring for more than 3 weeks we were reaching our limit on sightseeing.

Istanbul was the focus of a political uprising this weekend. Thousands of people were demonstrating against the government in Taksim square. The government is trying to change Turkey to a non-secular, Islamic state. The flash point was the plan to pave over one of the only green spaces in Istanbul and replace it with a shopping mall and Ottoman barracks recreation. The police were using water cannons and tear gas. In the area that we were in, there were almost no signs of any trouble. The only thing that I saw was a counter protest with maybe 100 people wandering around Sultanahmet. It was interesting seeing a line of restaurant and shop workers standing in the front of their stores, watching the pro-government protesters with concerned stares.

The last dinner of our adventure was quite unique. After several days of searching, we bought a carpet late that evening. The owner ordered dinner for us and we dined on amazing grilled Turkish meats, salads and sweets while drinking great Turkish wine sitting on a carpet on the floor in the middle of the shop. An amazing way to finish the trip and definitely something that I will always remember.