{"id":24969,"date":"2016-06-30T00:06:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T07:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=24969"},"modified":"2016-06-30T00:06:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-30T07:06:15","slug":"istanbul-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/istanbul-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Is an Istanbul Trip Too Risky for You? Here’s What You’re Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Two<\/a>
These two Turkish women spoke fluent German; they told me they had spent many years as household workers in Germany. Most of the women we saw in Istanbul in 2009 did not wear hijab. These two\u00a0had just come from prayers in the mosque and were dressed in their finest. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jon and I took the kids to Istanbul back in pre-ISIS, pre-Arab Spring 2009. What we experienced was a\u00a0energetic culture with a complicated\u00a0past, great food and beautiful people. Not to mention gorgeous architecture: the Blue Mosque,\u00a0the Hagia Sophia and Suleiman’s tomb, just for starters.<\/p>\n

\"Gravestones<\/a>
Gravestones with Arabic calligraphy. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lucky for me, the endless halls of the Grand Bazaar and the lively shops of the pedestrian\u00a0street \u0130stiklal Caddesi\u00a0made for some serious\u00a0shopping. I came home with some hand-woven rugs and my favorite thing, hand-painted china.<\/p>\n

Maybe you’re thinking today’s not the day to fly into Istanbul Atat\u00fcrk Airport. Put Istanbul\u00a0on your bucket list anyway. The day\u00a0will come.\u00a0Humanity has a way of righting itself, I’ve noticed.<\/p>\n

Another\u00a0travel story at “The Poop on China — And the Pee.”<\/a>\u00a0More shopping at “Sue Johnson’s Lamps and Shades.”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The ever-bustling pedestrian shopping street \u0130stiklal Caddesi. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
This \u0130stiklal Caddesi shop was packed to the ceiling with\u00a0china handpainted in Turkey. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Squares<\/a>
Squares of Turkish delight candy in a shop window along the \u0130stiklal Caddesi. I took home a box of it. Fortunately for me, I was the only person in the family who appreciated its delicate sweetness and gentle\u00a0texture. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"In<\/a>
In an Istanbul park, a street vendor offered\u00a0me\u00a0handwoven cloth with blue beads. It was cheap. I bought it. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"In<\/a>
In Instanbul’s Grand Bazaar, a merchant offered hand-stitched pillows and hand-woven\u00a0rugs. I took home\u00a0a kilim rug. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Exterior<\/a>
Exterior walls of the ancient Hagia Sohia basilica-turned-mosque-turned-museum. You can read more about my fraught visit to the Hagia Sophia<\/a>\u00a0in an earlier post.\u00a0Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Interior<\/a>
Dome of the Rustem Pasha Mosque in Istanbul. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Colorful<\/a>
More candy for sale. I resisted. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Exterior<\/a><\/p>\n

Jon and I took the kids to Istanbul back in 2009. What we experienced was a energetic culture with a rich past, great food and beautiful people. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1743,679,28,34,1744,1496,561,1387,1745,1746,55,1747,1748,866,33,872,1136],"class_list":["post-24969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","tag-arabic-calligraphy","tag-candy","tag-china","tag-dont-miss","tag-german","tag-germany","tag-hagia-sophia","tag-hand-made","tag-hijab","tag-istanbul","tag-family-stories","tag-pedestrian-streets","tag-rugs","tag-shopping","tag-travel","tag-travel-adventures","tag-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}