The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Thursday we slept in! We almost missed breakfast but it was nice to sleep over 8 hours without interruption. 

We decided to fly early Friday morning to spend more time on the coast and less in a city. We are looking and ready for adventure involving the outdoors! We cancelled our bus tickets and got a refund as the guy promised. That easy!

We reserved airplane tickets for 8:30 arriving at 9:30am to Izmir. Then we will have the day in Ephesus. We also found a mom and pop hotel there.

We then had a late lunch of pizza and Fanta at Rumist. It was nice to know we'd like the food! The younger guy was pretty entertaining in his schtick to corral customers. Of course it didn't really work but was fun people watching. 

It was much later in the day at this point but nice to have a more leisurely paced day. We hiked over to the entrance of Topkapi Palace. There were 4 courts plus a harem so 2.5 hours was barely enough even rushing. The artwork of every room, wall, ceiling and so on was stunning! I really can't describe it because it truly takes your breath away time and time again. I hope to go back and post pictures on this blog once we are home so you readers might somewhat understand what we've seen. Spectacular architecture and artistry!!

From there an ice cold slushy and stroll down the cobblestones brought us to our next event; folk music. We shared a half carat of wine and listened to a 4 piece group having fun jamming. (violin, oud, cembalon, and a drum that looked like a handdrum or half a bongo.) 

We were then moved in to the official show. We had veggie casserole and veggie curry before three new musicians came and took their place. (oud, special type of flute played like a recorder but a bit sideways, and another drum that looked like a bodhran but wasn't because we are in Turkey, not Ireland, and it had some big cymbals around it)

They performed for a bit and one guy sang a little too. They were very good! We were the closest table to the musicians so I tried to look for indiscrepancies  and suspect the oud player was sitting in on the gig- still very good! 

Out came the whirling dervishes. This is a religious ceremony but not as common as it used to be so I believe this is put on merely for tourists. Normally you shouldn't talk, take pictures or clap but people did all three making it far less authentic. It was still very interesting to watch. It went on for at least 45 minutes. We had the idea after about 10... Lots of walking, bowing and twirling. It was amazing they didn't get dizzy. The flowing skirts looked like fun and I wanted to join in. (I was a twirler on the kitchen floor growing up. I probably drove my mom nuts.)

Finally the guys that played earlier came to the stage for a few jams. A girl got called up to dance with the oud player and I was pulled up by the violin player. I should have tried to take his bow and help him play, though he probably would have been confused and then shocked. The group then went table to table playing for tips. It was a little awkward how they forced the tip giving but some musicians have no shame. We also watched a Japanese guy get yelled at who snuck into the show- amusing but an atmosphere kill.

Lastly, before returning to "home" to crash before our big transit day we stopped and purchased some Turkish Delight! We tried many flavors. The nut and pistachio topped delights were good but Steve and I liked the plain pink one the best! Mmmm sugar. And yet another childhood dream fulfilled. Check.