Category: Chasing Sunsets

Twenty Years Ago Today, Wednesday, December 16, 1998: DS-Antalya, Turkey; Panes – Istanbul

LOG: Topkapi Museum

CHASING SUNSETS: p232, “The Topkapi Dagger, centerpiece of the Emerald Room in the Topkapi Palace Treasury, was stunning. The three huge emeralds in the hilt almost take attention away from the scores of diamonds that cover the rest of the hilt and scabbard, each one of which even Elizabeth Taylor would gasp over. Thrown casually under the dagger were more emeralds, one bigger than my fist. In other displays, emeralds and rubies bigger than hen’s eggs were common, and pearls were scattered with gay abandon. Want a snuff box – here, carve one out of this emerald, add a little gold trim, not much, but it will do! Baby’s cradle – well of course it is solid gold, and we had to do something with those couple of hundred pearls, emeralds and rubies that were left over after we made the Sultan’s writing set!”

 

2107 December 15, Topkapi Museum cradle2107 December 15, 1998 Topkapi emerald dagger 454

 

 

Twenty Years Ago Today,  Tuesday, December 15, 1998: DS-Antalya, Turkey; Panes – Istanbul

LOG: Topkapi

CHASING SUNSETS: p233, “…in the cold and the rain that dogged us all day, we toured the Harem in the Topkapi Palace. Contrary to your (and our) immediate Pavlovian reaction concerning orgies and debauchery, the Harem was simply the private living quarters of the Sultan, his four wives, hundred or so concubines, children, eunuchs (black and white, the black fixed early and coming voluntarily, the white through capture and subsequent part removals) and servants, some 400 to 500 people in total. Apart from the Sultan’s quarters and those of his mother and his heir, the place was something like a plush rabbit warren. Hollywood’s Sheiks would never have found the swooning maidens, and if they did, would have been lost getting back to the horse.”

 

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2107 December 1998 Istanbul Topkapi Palace 5 xxx289

 

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2107 December 1998 Topkapi xxx284

 

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Twenty Years Ago Today ,Friday, December 11, 1998: DS-Antalya, Turkey; Panes – Istanbul

LOG: Yesil Ev

CHASING SUNSETS: p231, “Our hotel, Yesil Ev, or Green House, was a converted house, painted green, right in the middle of everything we wanted to see in Istanbul. The big three (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi, together with the Yerebatan Saray, were all within 300 yards of the front door.

Who needed a TV (there wasn’t one anyway), when the misty blue, flood lit, Blue Mosque filled the window. Who needed alarm clocks (you guessed it, none in the room), when the call to prayer boomed at us, from at least six mosques, at first light. They seem to practice call- and-respond, or we-can-be-louder-than-you, or both, randomly. Although these were more strident than most, we have been woken by similar calls for almost two years, since Indonesia, so our response was to sleepily note that it must be six o’clock, and roll over for more snooze.”

 

 

Twenty Years Ago Today,Wednesday, December 9, 1998: DS-Antalya, Turkey; Panes – Istanbul

Twenty Years Ago Today,Wednesday, December 9, 1998: DS-Antalya, Turkey; Panes – Istanbul

LOG: Hagia Sophia

Church turned mosque -now a museum.

 

Twenty Years Ago, Today, Sunday, October 4, 1998: Ucagiz, Turkey

Twenty Years Ago, Today, Sunday, October 4, 1998: Ucagiz, Turkey

LOG: Calm – so sanded & put 4th coat of varnish on cockpit.

CHASING SUNSETS: p 228, “We would have liked to have dove on the ruins, but a special guide was required for all diving in Turkey. Unguided diving was forbidden because there are so many underwater ruins and antiquities that the Authorities wanted to preserve from damage and looting.”

 

Twenty Years Ago, Today, Saturday, October 3, 1998: Ucagiz, Turkey

Twenty Years Ago, Today, Saturday, October 3, 1998: Ucagiz, Turkey

LOG: Stayed put. Dinghied out to tombs in sea. Small islands all covered w/ruins.

CHASING SUNSETS: p 228, “Most of the surrounding islands are covered in ruins, so this must have been quite a metropolis in its hey-day.”

Yes, that is the castle way up in the mountain that I climbed yesterday.

And yes, the water is very cold. Ryan jumped in, as Dad asked so he would be in the picture, and popped right back up. Dad took a quick pix, and Rye hopped into the dinghy to be wrapped in towels then snuggled in blankets.2105 october 2, 1998 turkey, kale ryan climbing

Twenty Years Ago, Today, Friday, October 2, 1998: Ucagiz, Turkey

Twenty Years Ago, Today, Friday, October 2, 1998: Ucagiz, Turkey

LOG: Dinghy to Kale Koy – ancient Simena. Walked up to castle w/2 ladies who sell scarves. One age 52 helped Carole up & down. Lunch ashore at Ibraham – big hands to attract yachts to his wharf; Hassam flags to attract. Walked through tiny village to more tombs.

CHASING SUNSETS: p 228, “We dinghied to Kale Koy (ancient Simena), past rocks with stairs cut in them leading to the top of the rock, but nothing else; past huge sarcophagi with holes smashed in their sides by ancient grave robbers, and tied up at the wharf at the foot of the stairs to the castle. Two ladies immediately attached themselves to us and were our guides up and down the very steep staircase. Carole’s assistant was short and heavy and looked much older than Carole. She leapt up and down the stairs like a gazelle, a fact I was smart enough not to mention more than once. The view from the castle walls was worth the climb.

Carole: Those stairs had no railings, glass smooth stone surfaces, and sheer drops. Laurie was lucky I didn’t just sit down and scoot my way up and down on my bottom. It was gorgeous though, and well worth the terror.”

Twenty Years ago today: 27 June 1998

Twenty Years Ago, Today, Saturday, June 27, 1998: Marmaris, Turkey

LOGS: Laundry, swimming, drinks at night. Purchased small Turkish silk carpet $US500.

CHASING SUNSETS: p221-2, “Marmaris. …the carpet shops. The carpet vendor who broke down our impenetrable “no thank you” wall, was a man with Turkish parents, who was born and raised in England, who was getting out of the carpet business, and who’s opening offer was for a stack of fifty or so carpets for $US10,000. Our actual purchase was a more modest single silk carpet.

Turkey

Carole: For some reason this is not in CHASING SUNSETS – but should be: That silk carpet – we did not buy it right away. Laurie and I left the shop; had coffee in a restaurant overlooking the harbor, and discussed if we really wanted or needed it. We had not bought much on the trip and decided to buy this. I remember it as being very pretty – a medium blue with some flowers on the edge with a white background around them. I do not remember exactly what it looked like because I have not seen it in almost twenty years!! As we remember, we brought the carpet home with us that Christmas and stored it in a closet in my mother’s house where we were storing some other items. It was not there when we unpacked the closet four years later. Were we mistaken? Did we really leave it on the boat? We have torn DS apart dozens of times looking for it. Years later when we sold my mother’s house, we looked everywhere for it. The whereabouts of the expensive small 2×3 foot carpet is still a mystery.

Twenty Years Ago, Wednesday, May 1, 1996: Anaho, Marquessas 

Twenty Years Ago, Wednesday, May 1, 1996: Anaho, Marquessas
LOG: Another reef walk; snorkeling.
CHASING SUNSETS: p 42,  Ryan (age 8) “‘Dad gave me our fish spear and I was picking around in the tide pools when I saw a flash of green behind a rock. It was a five-pound parrot fish. I jabbed it with the spear, which bounced off the big scales, but the fish jumped out of the pool onto the coral and I speared it. Everyone was amazed. It was only later when I told how I really caught it.’

Taking the dinghy back through the passage in the reef, we noticed a man knee-deep in water catching fish on the incoming tide, killing each with a quick bite just behind the eyes. As we watched, fascinated, he caught a small octopus, dispatched it in the same fashion and held it out to us. He seemed surprised when we turned it down, but we had just spent the low tide walking on the reef and watching the octopi scuttle in and out of their holes. Who eats the floor show?”