Day 63: Kapali Çarsi Grand Bazaar, Beyazit Mosque, the Archeological Museum

China may boast the world's largest mall but Istanbul can claim the world's oldest. A portion of the bazaar dates back to the ninth century. It is a labrynith of 65 vaulted corridors with well over 5,000 shops. If you idle for too long, you will be approached by shopkeepers making their next pitch, especially if you are a camera-wielding tourist easily identified in dowdy nylon clothing. If you're in the market to buy, settle in for as much tea as your bladder can hold. This is a waltz, not the fox trot. Visitors are invited to enter mosques provided they are dressed appropriately, they stay in designated areas, they do not take photos during prayer, and they are not disruptive or disrespectful. J and I intended to visit some of the lesser known mosques and then found ourselves observing mid-afternoon prayer at Beyazit Mosque, the oldest imperial mosque standing in Istanbul.

We routinely wake at 5 a.m. every morning at the city's first call to prayer. Even at that hour, the call is moving and haunting and I find, comforting. But to be in the mosque during prayer, my conspicuousness dampened feelings of communion. J kneeled in the back of the mosque while the men prayed under the dome. I, though no one instructed me to, found myself slinking into a dark corner to the area designated for women so that I might obscure my obviousness. A shame that we couldn't appreciate the cadence and ritual more, but I'll have to believe that we were at least less offensive than the tourists who talked and walked and posed for photos right smack in the middle of prayer while the holy man and muezzin led the congregation.
The Archeological Museum is a collection of antiquities that spans 5,000 years. The chance of viewing all the open galleries? As good as the dodo's at evolutionary adaptation. Your dogs will give out before you've seen everything so we walked choice displays of relics. J reminded me that architectural pediments and statuary were painted in vibrant colors once. An even more impresive display of pomp and importance than the alabaster white buildings and busts we associate with classical times. Some of the pieces had evidence of their original paint.
The Tiled Pavillion is an outbuilding of the museum that dates back to 1472. It was the sultan's viewing venue where he overlooked the gaming field--a Persian-style mini-stadium of tile and marble.