Turkish Delight


I've tasted it-- it's a bit like a really moist fruitcake with powdered sugar and sweet nuts-- quite good if you like fruitcake. I've also tasted what I consider to be the true Turkish Delight... that would be the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and people of Turkey. Delicious! Over the past two weeks, Don, Marla, and I, along with 13 people traveled to Turkey to see how we might be used by the Lord, and to visit Biblical sites. Names are withheld to allow those who labor there to keep their anonymity.

Istanbul Population, 9,760,000


Friday, October 6, 2006

We flew into Istanbul at 10:30 am, which was 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, after 15 hours of travel. Moving through the airport we immediately began to notice cultural differences in the dress of the people around us. Most of the men had on business suits, and about 70% of the women were dressed in long trench coats with head scarves. The remaining percentage of women wore more western clothing. I did spot a woman or two in a burka. (This fashion report is included specifically for my friend Julie, who truly knows what is important in life.)

We boarded a bus and headed for our hotel. All of us were staring out the windows, eager to see the city as we drove down the coast of the Bosporus and saw the continent of Asia across the water as we neared our destination. Istanbul is a city that sits on two continents: Europe and Asia, and our hotel was in the European part of the city. There were lots of questions spoken by all on the bus about the possibility of unspoken traffic rules, as the ride was rather exciting, to say the least. One of the first sights that prompted comments was the huge fish market situated on the shore of the Bosporus. Arriving at the hotel SABA, we were given 15 minutes to get ourselves settled into our rooms and meet back in the lobby to continue our day.

The women needed to go over to the Asian side of Istanbul to meet with our interpreter for the women's teaching sessions. One of the missionary couples serving in Istanbul met us at the Hotel. It was decided that the men would visit some historic sites while we were meeting, so the group split up for the afternoon. The guys plus Marla headed off to see the Hagia Sofia, and the women along with our missionary guide took a taxi to the Ferry and met our contact for lunch.

Meeting with the interpreter, our guide, and contact was a wonderful experience for the women on our team. We had tea and cake on the balcony of our interpreter’s apartment, in a beautiful section of the city called the Moda district. (Moda means fashion in Turkish.) We noticed lots of billboards and signs for famous designers on our walk up to the apartment from the ferry. Our time ended in prayer and it was profoundly moving to hear praise to our Lord offered up in the Turkish language.

October is the month of Ramadan for the Islamic faith. Each morning, Muslims rise before dawn to eat a breakfast of dried fruits, yogurt, bread, cold meats, boiled eggs, cheese, and either tea or coffee. (Really, really strong coffee.) At sunset each day, “the faithful” gather on the streets of the city and break their fast. People began staking out places in the hippodrome in front of the Blue Mosque around 5 pm, and by 6:00, there was a veritable sea of people. Our group of women traveled back to the hotel by ferry and by foot, as the crowds prohibited the chance of taking a taxi. It was quite an experience to walk back to the hotel through the throngs of people. We were on sensory overload as we took in the smells of the food stands that had been set up all around the hippodrome, heard the calls to prayer being simultaneously broadcast from several area mosques, wound our way through the crowds, and tried not to get lost.

The men and Marla were waiting for us in the lobby of the hotel, and we quickly set back off through the crowd to eat at a nearby restaurant with a dining terrace on the roof that overlooked the hippodrome. We ate kabobs and pide (a pizza-like bread) and reflected as a team on our day. The men had seen the Hagia Sofia and talked a bit about their impressions. The Hagia Sofia was built between 532 and 537 by the Christian Emperor Justinian I as a Byzantine church, and remained as such for the next 900 years.



In 1453, the Islamic Ottomans took over Constantinople (now Istanbul). They wasted little time in converting the Hagia Sofia into a mosque. It served the Muslims for almost 500 years. The Ottomans painted over the Christian mosaics - and erected the four defining minarets seen today. In 1934, Turkey changed the Hagia Sophia's status from mosque to museum and uncovered the priceless Byzantine mosaics.

Marla fell asleep at the table during dinner—she’d had a very long day and couldn’t stay awake any longer. We carried her back to the hotel and joined her in sleep, dreaming of the delights of Turkey.