Cherry Juice Sellers and Evil Eyes



Saturday, October 7, 2006

This was Day 2 of our trip. (I’m not counting the Flying Day out of Orlando—I’m starting where the real fun began.) The men got up early in the morning, had breakfast on the roof (except for Don—it was tough getting out of the room that morning), and set out for Asia (with Don) to a place where Reggie had been scheduled to teach on the writings of Paul, and to answer questions that we don’t struggle with so much, but to the Turkish men were critical for their view of the Deity and Humanity of Christ. I’m thinking Reggie might blog on this… They would be there until late in the day, so the ladies decided to get in a little sightseeing.

We first went to the Blue Mosque, which was just a few minutes walk from our hotel. The Blue Mosque’s real name is Sultan Ahmet Mosque, and it was built between 1609-1616. Although it’s a functioning mosque, it’s open to the public, so we 5 ladies plus Marla went right in. We had to remove our shoes, and those of us who had necks or arms showing had to put on a blue cotton shawl. On entering the mosque, I was stricken by it’s jewel-like beauty. The entire interior is a robin’s egg blue, and is covered with Islamic calligraphy. Although beautiful, it felt slightly eerie and my spirit was troubled. We only stayed inside for about 8 minutes or so.
We next decided to walk to the Hagia Sofia (pronounced "eye-ya"). We headed across and down the street, crossing a lovely park area. Lynne, Marla, our guide, and I took off with Leah and Mary Beth just behind us. When we arrived at the Hagia Sofia, we realized we’d somehow been separated from Leah and Mary Beth. We were in the main entrance, so we decided to wait there. A few minutes later they appeared, but had a short tale to tell. It seemed that men dressed in festive garb go around selling tart cherry juice to tourists and allowing their pictures to be taken if juice was purchased. Leah had decided to taste the juice and take a picture. How much could it be? When the man asked for her payment, she said she had nothing smaller than 15 liras, and he promptly reached over and took it from her hand. Unable to speak the language, she could only stand there as he went in pursuit of another tourist. Able to speak to us in English, she had much to say about this the rest of the day.

We toured the Hagia Sofia and were amazed at the architecture, art, and historical significance of the building. (See Friday’s blog.) It was wonderful and depressing in the same instance.

We huddled briefly upon exit. Did everyone want to go to the Grand Bazaar or to another historical site? Grand Bazaar—unanimous decision! Marla took this shot of a merchant's stand in the Grand Bazaar. We quickly learned how to haggle over prices with merchants, and learned the importance of the ‘evil eye’ in their culture. The Turkish people really love children. Everywhere we went, people would comment on Marla and how sweet she was. Shopkeepers would come out of their stores to pin little charms on her meant to protect her from envy and ill-will. These little amulets, called evil-eyes, look like a blue eye painted on a teardrop background. The eye is symbolic of the snake eyes that were featured in Medusa’s deadly hair of snakes in ancient mythology. According to myth, to be gazed upon by one of Medusa’s snakes resulted into one being turned into stone. By the time we left the bazaar, Marla had several pinned to her shirt. Before we left Turkey, she had amassed a small box-full of them.

We had to walk back to the hotel again due to the Ramadan crowds and arrived just ahead of the men. Reggie’s teaching had gone well, and they had lots of stories to tell as we all visited the little Kabob restaurant down the street for a second night’s meal together.

By the time my head hit the pillow that night it was practically spinning. So many people around us all day long, and almost all of them Muslims. We were in the land of the lost, and it was very strange. That night I dreamed of thousands of people milling around, cherry juice sellers, and blue eyed-amulets.