Thursday, 25 January 2024

Adventures in Europe: Istanbul, Turkiye

We had another full day in Istanbul today, and we made it a bit of a lighter day than yesterday had been. We visited the Grand Bazaar, again, and rode the ferries across the Bosphorus, again; . . .


. . . and went back over to the Galata neighbourhood for Diana to do some more shopping, beneath the large face(s) of your friendly local president. 


I also found more opportunities to eat baklava. Anyway, the highlight of the day for me was a "proper" whirling dervish experience in a community centre in Sultanahmet. After the performance at the dinner cruise last night, I was keen to see the whirling dervishes in a more authentic setting, and this was exactly that. We had seats right by the zither player--pretty fascinating instrument!


The room was a fairly intimate space, and the ceremony lasted about an hour. 


There were three dervishes, plus the three musicians. 


Here is some video. It was a really cool experience to take in!


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