Wednesday June 20 in Istanbul

The boys and I went for a walk down to Sultanamet. Our apartment is in Beyoglu, and we see Sultanamet from our balcony across the Golden Horn and the Galata Bridge. It is an unimaginable view. Sultanamet looks quite distant but can be easily reached in a walk of less than one half hour. It is the land of the sultans, holding the original palace of the sultans, called Topkani Palace. It is also the location of the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Sultanamet Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, Istanbul University, the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar.
We went by Hodjapasha Cultural Center to buy tickets for the traditional Turkish dance show for the following night. After buying tickets, the boys and I had some tea and Fanta in the alley next to the cultural center and played some tavlah (backgammon). It was very relaxing and fun to watch the activities on the alley. We saw barbers meticulously shaving guys with straight razors. We saw guys closing their little stores where they sold a limited genre of items, like brooms and mops. We saw guys delivering tea to the various shops using the old style tea trays.
After playing tavlah for awhile, we walked to the spice bazaar to buy a couple of gifts. I saw some Muslim women with veils, eating ice cream by discreetly lifting their veils to get a taste.
Apparently the bazaar closes around 7 and the shop owners were eager to make sales at closing time. We were able to negotiate some fair deals on some gifts.
We then walked from the spice bazaar to an area where olives and cheese were being sold by the pound. The prices here were much less than the retail up in Beyoglu. We bought a pound of olives for the equivalent of $1.75. Needless to say, these were of the type olives we might pay $9.00 a pound for at home. We got baklava for 25 lira (about $14) a kilo (2.2 pounds). It was selling for 40 to 50 lira a kilo elsewhere in the city. The baklava comes in many forms and is chock full of pistachios. Excellent!
We walked across the Galata Bridge as the sun set, watching the fishermen fish and the kids try to hustle bottles of water. Troy bought 6 pairs of "izod" socks for 5 lira. We headed up the Tunel funicular to the eternal busyness of Istiklal.
We went to dinner at a little hole in the wall where we sat in the small street and were fed a feast of grilled chicken, chicken wings, lamb and the ground beef kebab, all cooked meticulously over a small charcoal grill until perfectly cooked and yet moist. The meat was served with an array of tomatoes (grilled and raw), onions (grilled and raw), small pickled peppers, flatbread and a spicy hand chopped relish of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. We enjoyed tea as we dodged the rear view mirrors of cars driving through the narrow alley.
On the walk back, Fariba had some of the famous trick ice cream. She played along although by now she was fully familiar with the tricks of the ice cream hustlers. Darius had a waffle filled with strawberries and other fruit, a real value at 7 lira. We made our way back to the apartment and slept good.