File this under: Jobs I’d Love!

I spotted this guy when we were in Istanbul, Turkey, in the Beyoglu area of the city – a younger, more modern area full of shops, restaurants, and kiosks packed with chocolate!

The chocolate is sold in nondescript aluminum foil, and perhaps that might fool you into thinking it’s cheap. It’s not (though it’s also not expensive) and it’s quite good!

Let’s get a closer look….white, dark, and milk chocolate studded with hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios or just plain.

If you were working there, which kind of chocolate would be mysteriously  “Low on Inventory” at the end of the day?

Beyoglu – Nostalji – Elit Cikolatasi (Chocolate Kiosk)
Address: Istiklal Cd. No. 69-A, Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey
http://www.elit-chocolate.com/eng/index.php

More posts about Istanbul on Ms. Adventures in Italy

---
Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• Visit a Harem: Imperial Harem in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey
• Spice / Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey
• Turkish Coffee and Turkish Breakfast in Istanbul, Turkey

The Imperial Harem (Harem-i Hümayûn) is one of the most visited sights inside the Topkapi palace just mere meters from the Blue Mosque.

I have to admit I’ve read a few historicals that were set in harems so I was curious to finally see one. The harem was at its heyday during the 16th and 17th centuries.

There are an estimated 100 rooms in the Imperial Harem, though we were only able to see a percentage of them. Here, inside the Hall of the Ablution Fountain.

The mother of the Sultan (Valide Sultan) was the most powerful woman in the harem, even more powerful than the Sultan’s numerous wives and concubines. Here, the Apartment of the Queen Mother was the closest to the Sultan’s.

This was the Imperial Hall, also known as the Imperial Sofa, Throne Room Within or Hall of Diversions, is where the Sultan would be entertained along with treasured guests and his family. On the upper left is the balcony where the Sultan’s mother and his wife/favorites could view the entertainment.

Even outside walls in some courtyards were decorated in tiles.

Like the Blue Mosque and much of Turkey, tiles are very important in the decoration of the harem, and the quality is still very clear even after so many years.

Here in the Twin Kiosk, built in the 17th century consists of two rooms, with stained glass windows and more tiles.

I loved the decorations used in the harem. The bathroom is perhaps the most stark-looking of all the rooms in the harem – all cement walls and marble floors with bright gold lavatory fixtures.

The visit to the Harem was definitely a must-see and I recommend it. You’ll have to purchase an extra ticket to see the harem, and even the audio guide is extra, but worth it.

I can only hope that they open more rooms in the future to give us a better glimpse of life in the harem. I even found an excellent 360-degree virtual visit to the Imperial Harem in Topkapi Palace worth checking.

Resources

• 360-degree virtual visit to the Imperial Harem in Topkapi Palace
• About the Imperial Harem from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey
• Wikipedia’s Topkapi Palace – Harem and the Structure of the Harem
• The sultanate of women from Channel 4
• The Ottoman Harem from All About Turkey
• Another food blogger’s look at the Harem at Topkapi Palace
• Katie Parla’s posts on Istanbul

---
Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• Beyoğlu Çikolatacıs – Chocolate Kiosk, Istiklal Street, Istanbul, Turkey
• Spice / Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey
• Visiting the Sultan Ahmed Mosque – Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey

If you missed my previous posts about Istanbul: Turkish Coffee and  Turkish Delight, or Lokum / Loukoum, in Spice / Egyptian Bazaar and Spice / Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey

If you remember my post about Turkish coffee, I was lucky enough to start the morning looking at the Blue Mosque during breakfast. Of course, there were only a few tables that were fortunate to face the Blue Mosque and after you secured one (by piling as many personal articles as possible on chairs, tabletop, unfurling the napkins and licking the juice glass if necessary) you had a great view.

The Blue Mosque, built between 1609-16 whose original name is Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is unlike most religious establishments that I’ve had the fortune to visit because it is definitely available first for worshipers, and then for tourists. In fact several times during the day tourists are not allowed to enter the mosque while Muslim prayers, Salah, are underway.

Though I visited the mosque as a tourist, people were very gracious and we always felt welcomed. Even the man supervising the removal of shoes made a little joke and offered my OH 100 camels for me. Luckily, he declined.

Since we stayed so close to the mosque, we visited several times. Since Muslims practice Salah five times a day, and these times change depending on the season (since they are linked closely to sunrise and sunset) we found the best time to go was in the morning, after first prayer call and before the noon prayer call.

Here’s the inner courtyard just before entering the mosque. The entrance is usually used only by worshipers, and then it’s used as an exit for tourists. Tourists go on the right side around to the back to enter the mosque. Those tall spires are called minarets, and the more a mosque has, the higher its importance. The Blue Mosque is one of two mosques in Turkey that have six minarets. A seventh minaret was erected on the mosque in Mecca after the Sultan Ahmed Mosque was built.

I love tiles, ceramics and stained glass, so I loved the interior of this mosque. I can only imagine how bright its original colors were. The tiles come from the Turkish city of Iznik.

The Blue Mosque, while it may appear to be called that because of having a slight blue tinge to its outside, is actually called that because of the intricate blue tiles that decorate the inside of the mosque. Here are some of those tiles. Unfortunately the light was less than adequate on a winter afternoon.

Another reason I could see that the mosque really is for the worshipers and not the tourists is the numerous amounts of wires suspended from the ceiling that bring hundreds of lights down to the floor. Personally I feel it ruins a bit of the open space and majesty that one could experience without them, but again, being a tourist I can’t appreciate the practicality and necessity the light brings down to the worshiping floor. The chandelier wires make the interior seem a bit like a spiderweb.

If you go early in the morning, you may also get a chance to see the floor entirely empty, except for a lone worshiper, and perhaps someone vacuuming. The entire floor of the mosque is carpeted and you must remove your shoes before entering. Plastic bags are available to carry them around in during your visit.

Since we stayed in that area, I often saw the mosque at night and couldn’t help snapping a few pictures.

Here’s a non-professional video we took inside the mosque. Note there are worshiper-only areas roped off in several parts of the mosque.

---
Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• Visit a Harem: Imperial Harem in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey
• Turkish Coffee and Turkish Breakfast in Istanbul, Turkey
• Spice / Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey

The Spice Bazaar, Mısır Çarşısı in Turkish is also called the Egyptian Bazaar because of all the import duties paid by the Egyptians. Its presence goes back as far as 1660 when it was part of the New or Yeni Cami mosque and the rental of bazaar stalls goes to pay for the upkeep of the mosque.

The Spice Bazaar, like many famous attractions around the world, is not really where Turkish locals go to buy their spices, though since it’s in a busy shopping area, it’s not void of Turkish locals. It provided a dry haven while we were walking around in the rain.

True to its name, the Spice Bazaar is the place where you can buy foodstuffs, snacks, nuts, tea, lokum, and of course, spices.

In the Spice Bazaar, you will see tons of ground and whole spices out in the open. Cenk recommends, and rightly so, if you absolutely have to buy spices at the bazaar, you should avoid the ground spices and get whole (unground) spices where possible. The ground spices are already starting to lose their potency being out in the open, and even the whole spices are losing potency. A safer bet might be to get good spices in a local supermarket.

Besides spices, there are stalls dedicated to selling nuts like this snack mix of mixed nuts, Karışık Çerez. The Turkish currency is called lira (similar to the old Italian lira) and was about 2 lire to the euro.

These treats were fascinating to me and I’d love to see how they are made – they seem to be honey or sugar-syrup-based treats that are packed with nuts, and I imagine formed into long ropes and hung or twisted off. Anyone know what they are called?

Dates stuffed with walnuts

Dried figs, suzme incir, and plump dried apricots in the background (one of my favorite things on the earth!) Those stange looking black pods on the right? Carob pods.

A kind of baklava made with pistachios, antep tatli and lots of dates in the background!

A woman stands in front of a stand selling the nazar boncuğu, evil eye stone. I saw a lot of these wards against the evil eye in Greece, too.

While I think the Spice Bazaar is definitely worth a walk-through, you probably won’t want to put all your culinary hopes on finding treats there. I suggest walking in the surrounding streets behind the market as there’s a lively, local market atmosphere there.

---
Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

• Turkish Delight, or Lokum / Loukoum, in Spice / Egyptian Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey
• Visiting the Sultan Ahmed Mosque – Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
• Beyoğlu Çikolatacıs – Chocolate Kiosk, Istiklal Street, Istanbul, Turkey