It occurred to me recently that I had better write this blog post before my brother and his wife get here in a few months so that it doesn't seem like I have a steady stream of visitors! So here it is, the Mom and Dad visit:
We drove the rental car back to the airport with Dad back at the wheel and me playing navigator; he really got in touch with his "inner Turk" as we tried to remember that turn signals (and often lanes) are optional and posted speeds are nowhere near to being representative of reality. We arranged for a transportation service to take us to my parents' hotel, as much t
o ensure that they would have prearranged transportation to the airport the following week as to save money on taxis. After a minor mishap wherein we were taken to the wrong hotel, I directed the driver to the correct hotel and got my parents settled in their room. I decided to stay that night rather than going home and returning in the morning; we were all pretty tired after the drive and since I was going to take them to some tourist sites the next day it made the most sense for me to avail myself of the cot provided for a nominal fee by the hotel. We ate at a restaurant across the street from the hotel, after which Mom went back to the hotel and I took Dad to look at the Hippodrome. We let our imaginations take us back to the time when chariots carried competitors around the cobbled circle, marveled at the column situated at one end of the track, and acknowledged one very large, seemingly attention-starved stray dog.
The next day, I brought my parents to
Topkapi Palace, where we made our way through the Ottoman artifacts, treasury rooms filled with gifts from all over the world, and into the tiled rooms of the palace itself. After taking a few pictures of the Golden Horn from one of the many balconies, we made it to the rooms I had been telling my mom about the whole trip: the most treasured jewels of the Ottoman sultans. In these rooms are all the diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones you could imagine, including the
Topkapi dagger which figured prominently in the movie
Topkapi, and the "
Spoonmaker's Diamond," an 86-carat diamond found, as legend tells it, by a poor man who found it in 1669 while digging through a garbage heap who bartered it to a
spoon maker for three wooden spoons. The
spoon maker sold it for ten silver coins to a jeweler, and eventually the sultan heard about it and appropriated it for his treasury.
After
Topkapi we went to
Haghia Sophia, Emperor Justinian's church-turned mosque-turned museum. My dad had read about a bit of Viking graffiti being in the building somewhere, which led me and my friend Mark to spend the better part of two hours searching everywhere we imagined an 8-foot Viking could reach; I eventually gave up, leaned on a railing out of frustration, and as I looked down I discovered the Viking's runes carved
onto a ledge. I saved my parents the trouble and showed them where it was while we wandered through the museum together. Afterwards, I gathered up my luggage and made my way home, leaving my parents to explore the underground cisterns and Blue Mosque on their own.
The next day, I met my parents at the hotel and showed them how to get tram tokens; the three of us made our way to the seaside where we bought tickets and boarded a small ship that took us on a cruise u
p the
Bosphorus to the Black Sea, where we disembarked long enough to wander the fishing village at the mouth of the Black Sea and have a delicious lunch of fresh fish.
On my parents' final day in Istanbul, they found their way to my apartment and I washed some of the laundry they'd accumulated during our travels while they got reacquainted with Loki, and I showed my dad some of the campus while my mom got caught up on some email and checked on the status of the flights-their visit was during the eruption of the volcano in Iceland a
nd it had caused many flight interruptions and cancellations throughout Europe.
After ensuring that their flight was indeed still scheduled to depart on time the next day, we headed over to
Emirgan Park, where the tulip festival was in full swing. It was a fitting end to a wonderful trip. I'm so glad I got to share this beautiful city with my parents! Thanks Mom and Dad!
o ensure that they would have prearranged transportation to the airport the following week as to save money on taxis. After a minor mishap wherein we were taken to the wrong hotel, I directed the driver to the correct hotel and got my parents settled in their room. I decided to stay that night rather than going home and returning in the morning; we were all pretty tired after the drive and since I was going to take them to some tourist sites the next day it made the most sense for me to avail myself of the cot provided for a nominal fee by the hotel. We ate at a restaurant across the street from the hotel, after which Mom went back to the hotel and I took Dad to look at the Hippodrome. We let our imaginations take us back to the time when chariots carried competitors around the cobbled circle, marveled at the column situated at one end of the track, and acknowledged one very large, seemingly attention-starved stray dog.
onto a ledge. I saved my parents the trouble and showed them where it was while we wandered through the museum together. Afterwards, I gathered up my luggage and made my way home, leaving my parents to explore the underground cisterns and Blue Mosque on their own. 
After ensuring that their flight was indeed still scheduled to depart on time the next day, we headed over to Emirgan Park, where the tulip festival was in full swing. It was a fitting end to a wonderful trip. I'm so glad I got to share this beautiful city with my parents! Thanks Mom and Dad!
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