Eminonu and Suleyman Cami

We both woke up at 6:00, refreshed, had breakfast and went to the village to take the ferry to Eminomu. The ferry clerk was very unhelpful, telling us there were no boats to town. As we waited, a smaller ferry sailed up, and we hopped on as it was heading to Ortakoy, Besiktas and eminomu. We had a great ride, good pictures, though it was cool, because of the breeze. We got off at the Galata Bridge, and wound our way up to Suleyman, a delightful walk because the streets were narrow and colorful, though nothing like last Saturday; we should nevercome to the city on Saturday. We picked up some mixed nuts, maras biber, lemon pepper, and various evil eyes along the way, taking about an hour to get to Suleyman, where we are now sitting, drinking tea at a restaurant, in the shade, with a lovely breeze. Along the way we small the following: ktichen wares, delis, maniquiins, tea and coffee, olive shops, spcies, shoe shine kits, lighters, suits, luggage, It was a delightful morning to walk, browse, no hurry and not many people, at least not like last week. Everything around the outside of the spice bazaar seemed cheaper and wonderful, whether fish, cheese, spices, or other food stuffs…a great area to walk and not busy. Unfortunatley, when we got to Suleiman, it was closed, as John has said, so we were able to only enter part of the grounds, and a bit of the antechamber, but not the mosque proper, which was very disappointing. We stayed only a short time, and mosyed around the area for a bit, mostly a unintersting, more modern area, just below the university. We ended up eating at the same place we had tea, Kanaat Lookantasi Kuru Fasulyeci; the specialtiy, obviously is kury fasulye, and it it wonderful, served with a hot pepper in the bowl. The restaurant is packed, and of the five restaurants in a row, just outside the mosque, everyone specializes in kuru falsuye. Again, it’s a beautiful day, especially for eating outside, a nice breeze, not to hot yet, as people, mostly Turks, enjoy their lunch outside. We ended up staying for Turkish coffee and tel kadife, shredded wheat with sugar syrup. The bill was 28 liras mostly because of the dessert which cost 7 lira, the coffee, which all added up. We then worked our way down through alleys, as the streets were much more crowded in the afternoon, and the Galata Bridge was, as usual, a mass people moving in all directions, with hawkers, food stelles, interspered everywhere. Thank goodness they have walk ways that go under the street, or to the other side of the bridge, otherwise it would be a nightmare. We took the tram to Kabatas, the bus make to the village, shopped briefly at Migros and went home. We worked on pictures, took a cat nap, and went for a walk to Bebek between 5:30 and 6:30. We took the next hour and a half to get ready to go out with the RC grads, as the car was picking us up at 8:00