As you might have picked up from our last blog post, we are feeling good about being in Europe. The rest of our time in Istanbul was spent exploring some areas of the city that weren't just right around the corner. On Saturday morning we went to Topkapi Palace, and in the afternoon we explored the Galata area thanks to one of Lonely Planet's walking tours. We came across some sort of protest at the local university, but decided we had better just keep walking.
On Sunday, we actually got up and went to church. As we were making the hour-long walk, we realized we hadn't been to a service since our time in Sydney, where we met some wonderful people, one of whom gave us great information about Istanbul, including the name of our hotel (Thanks Marguerite...The Side Pension is amazing!). The worship space was a beautiful, cozy brick room with simple stained glass windows. There seemed to be people from all over the world in attendance for the English service. There was even a group of college students from the University of Memphis who were in Istanbul for a spring break service trip. As we walked away, we both commented on how great it was to be a part of a worshipping community again, even if only for an hour or two.
Our last couple of days in Istanbul included the exploration of an aqueduct, a few more churches and mosques, including Chora Church to see the mosaics, a more extended walk through the Grand Bazaar, and a few more visits to Gracyn's favorite cafe Hafiz Mustafa (that chocolate pistachio cake really is spectacular).
On our final night, we attended a traditional Whirling Dervish ceremony. It is hard to put into words how amazing it was. At a basic level, it includes music and men spinning in circles, but it is so much more powerful than that. Even though we couldn't understand the words being chanted, it was obvious that the performers (do we call them that?) were engaged in an act of spiritual worship. It was a perfect way to wrap up our time in Istanbul.
On Sunday, we actually got up and went to church. As we were making the hour-long walk, we realized we hadn't been to a service since our time in Sydney, where we met some wonderful people, one of whom gave us great information about Istanbul, including the name of our hotel (Thanks Marguerite...The Side Pension is amazing!). The worship space was a beautiful, cozy brick room with simple stained glass windows. There seemed to be people from all over the world in attendance for the English service. There was even a group of college students from the University of Memphis who were in Istanbul for a spring break service trip. As we walked away, we both commented on how great it was to be a part of a worshipping community again, even if only for an hour or two.
Our last couple of days in Istanbul included the exploration of an aqueduct, a few more churches and mosques, including Chora Church to see the mosaics, a more extended walk through the Grand Bazaar, and a few more visits to Gracyn's favorite cafe Hafiz Mustafa (that chocolate pistachio cake really is spectacular).
On our final night, we attended a traditional Whirling Dervish ceremony. It is hard to put into words how amazing it was. At a basic level, it includes music and men spinning in circles, but it is so much more powerful than that. Even though we couldn't understand the words being chanted, it was obvious that the performers (do we call them that?) were engaged in an act of spiritual worship. It was a perfect way to wrap up our time in Istanbul.
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