Istanbul (not Constantinople)

"Istanbul" literally means "in the city" - a Greek derivation reflecting this city's long history as the most significant metropolis in the region and the seat of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman empires.  As They Might Be Giants sang, it's Istanbul, not Constantinople, and it is clearly on the rise as one of the largest cities in the world.

View of the Bospherous from Gülhane Park

Ed joined us in Istanbul - so now we have the whole family together!  But we were welcomed by an unusually bad heat wave - 90 degrees every day and icky sticky humidity.  The heat is compounded in our 5-story walk-up without air conditioning, thank you very much.  (Nicole's not quite sure how she missed that detail on the apartment, but now we can say we experienced a very local lifestyle in the Galata district.)

Notwithstanding the heat, Istanbul is fascinating.  This city is alive with people (and, oddly, lots of stray cats) in a landscape that packs 6th century buildings next to newly-minted nightclubs.  On most days, we hear the call to prayer six times a day, starting well before dawn.  The ezan is literally a summons to the mosque for prayer (although the Muslim faithful may pray on their own).  They happen at approximately the same time of day, based on the movement of the sun, as follows:

• Imsak - two hours before dawn
• Günes - dawn
• Ögle - midday
• Ikindi - afternoon
• Aksam - sunset
• Yatsi - right before the last light of the day disappears

The call can be very calming but at the same time not very conducive to sleeping.

Our friends Daphne and Molly also arrived in Istanbul, so we are a real party.  After the new arrivals got a chance to get their sea legs, we headed out to test the tram system (excellent) and check out a few sights (stunning and many).  Due to the heat, we looked for something cool in both senses of the word. Here we are at the Basilica Cistern, a 6th century sunken chamber that could hold up to 100,000 tons of water for the Great Palace of Constantinople:

The cistern was reportedly constructed by some 7,000 slaves who used 336 columns gathered from around the empire.  Of particular note are these mesmerizing Medusa heads at the base of two of the columns.

Thankfully, it was about 20 degrees cooler inside the cistern than out on the streets.  So, when we emerged, of course, we had to fortify ourselves with some ice cream. And not just any ice cream.  MADO ice cream is the pride of Turkey, first commercially manufactured 150 years ago and made from goat's milk and the fruit of the Ahir mountains.  We sampled many of the flavors, including sour cherry and mulberry.  Yummmmm.  (Well, except Dad's tutti frutti.  Not so good.)

With greater strength, we made our way through Gülhane Park and meandered around until we found the entrance to the Topkapi Palace ("another palace?!?!" say the girls).  This one was home to the Ottoman sultans for some 400 years.  The weapons section of the palace was renovated last year and is a beautiful display of Ottoman war artifacts (including bows and arrows for the Hunger Games crowd, as well as bejeweled rifles of the sultans and their Jannisaries).

More photos from the day are here.  Think of us listening to the ezan as day progresses.