Closing Shots--my random photos of Turkey

Dawn Air Balloon flight

Dawn Air Balloon flight

2012

Richard overlooking "new" section of Görüp

Ankara Arch. Museum lion figure

Ankara Arch. Museum fertility figure

Ankara Arch. Museum

Courtyard Hotel Elvan

Ankara Arch. Museum Hattusha statue

Göreme

  stone formations

Göreme

  from the air

Hotel Elvan in 

Görüp

Troy is not very big

The Hellespont where Alexander crossed to Troy

Monument at Gallipoli Battleground Ahmet carries Joe

The Turkish Army stands ready

This was Hattusha

Hattusha ancient capital

Walls of Troy

Grand Bazaar and Grand Tower: 2,7,8 and the subway

 Shopping Is a Process

 Especially if you are in a place with 4,000 shops.  The place is wild, chaotic and an absolute must-see.  I could not begin to tell you all the things that are there. 
Doesn't matter:  it is there.

Buying a rug is a process.  Pretend disinterest, then, well, maybe I could look at some kinds of carpets.  Well, OK, I will have a glass of apple tea.

The doorbell is pushed and sooner than you think a young man shows up with a tray and glasses of tea.  Look at some more rugs.  Count the knots per square cm. Express disinterest.  Hesitate to ask a price.  Signal dismay at the price.  And, if you are serious, start the process of bargaining.  Remember, it is impossible to cheat one of these merchants. 

Forrest and I enjoyed finding an open courtyard.  In the courtyard you can find water to splash and things to climb.  That, too, is a process.
It was a great deal of fun to look at treasures and decide what someone back home might like as a remembrance of this exotic place.

Galata from between the buildings

 

Tram to Galata Bridge.

This was a day of intriguing wandering.  Our goal was the Galata Tower and to see what we could of the Galata and Koroköy.

This Pera section used to be where the foreigners lived.  There were large communities from the various Italian City-States.  The Galata Kulesi (Tower) has been a fortress, a prison, a fire tower and now a museum.  It was built by the Genoese long before the fall of Constantinople when Genoa controlled the north shore of the Golden Horn.  While Kathy, Gretchen and Sean enjoyed the tower, Forrest and I enjoyed the courtyard.  There was more water to splash, a fountain to play in and a vendor selling really good karpus (watermelon).  I was even interviewed on Turkish television with the question:  Is it better for you to live alone or with someone? 

street scenes

The narrow winding streets around the tower house many small hotels, pensions and upscale shops.  This proved to be the place to find the mother-of-the-groom dress. Perfect.

Then it got interesting.  We were heading toward the water with the intention of catching a ferry back to the other side of the Horn.  We were in real neighborhoods.  One section was where all the electrical supply houses were.  Another section was like an open air Home Depot.  The looks we got certainly indicated that we were an unusual sight for that area.  There were blind alleys and obstructing highways.  Nothing dangerous but we did not know where we were and had no useful map.  Just a general sense of direction:  there is the sun, there is the water, that is west, that is south.

Sean from the top of the Tower

Now we are walking along an ancient wall and see that it is part of the aqueduct system. 

Subway.  And Cab.

Istanbul has the beginnings of a subway system.  Just beyond the aqueduct was the station.  On top of a huge bridge.  We did not know where we would end up except on the other side of the Horn.  We got on board and ended up quite near the Istanbul University.  We were really deep in the ground and took several long escalators to get to the surface.  Forrest was happy.  It was late afternoon. it was hot and we were a long way from our hotel.  We hailed a cab and gave an address.  We lumbered into the late afternoon traffic on the only ring road that circles the old city.  We sat.  After twenty minutes of not moving very far, we thanked our driver, paid and climbed out.  Foot was going to be quicker than the cab.  AND, you can see things. 

We worked our way around to the Galata Bridge where we knew we could catch our tram.  We ate sweet corn that was grilled over coals.  Glad I tried it; don't need to do that again.

The day ended with an effort to see the Blue Mosque but the kiosk was closed as I wrote previously. So we celebrated by picking a sidewalk cafe and enjoying a hookah along with a delicious meal of fish and vegetables. 

That night, of course, we packed.  We also enjoyed finishing off some bottles of port that Gretchen and Kathy had brought from the Vienna segment of their trip. 

The next day, we traveled.  Our taxis were perfectly on time to get us to the airport.  And the ten hour flight was not too horrible.  Thank you Turkish Airlines.

Me sucking on the pipe

Things for Next Time.

The Egyptian and Spice Bazaar

Dolmabahçe Sarayı

Bosporus Boat Tour 

Revisit the Archaeological Museum near Topkapı

Spend a day on the Asian Side to wander the streets, see the Florence Nightingale Museum and Hospital

 Take in the crafts fair in Ortaköy

Konya to be in the land of Rumi and the mevlanâ

I have had a great pleasure in writing this out.  I hope that you have enjoyed it.

 

ISTANBUL Explore the Sultanahmet Area

dome and minarets of Sultan Ahmet Cami

This district on the eastern end of Istanbul is called the "Sultan Ahmet" district after the iconic Sultan Ahmet (Blue) Mosque.  Near the Blue Mosque but a bit further west is an exquisite mosque called the "Little Blue Mosque."  Both are worth a visit.  When I visited the Little Blue in 2012 with friend Richard Boober,  we found every square inch of the floor of this treasure to be covered with brand new carpet.  One of the benefits of having Federal money go to support mosques--but only mosques--in the secular democracy of Turkey.

Interior, Little Blue Mosque

The Big Blue has a very strict dress code.  When we arrived to see it, the kiosk where immodest men (shorts) and women (shorts and no head coverings) can get sarongs to cover themselves was closed and we could not go in.  Kathy was able to go back the morning we left and was able to explore the galleries outside and learn about the mosque.

Gallery

 It is called "blue" because of the lavish use of Blue Iznik tiles in the interior.  See the National Geographic video.

On to the Hagia Sophia/Aya Sofya.

Justinian completed building his "Church of the Holy Wisdom" in 537.  It is the greatest work of Byzantine architecture.  No viewer can forget the great dome 18 stories high and 100 feet across.  It would be 11 centuries before a larger dome could be built (and stay standing), St Peters in Rome. Hagia Sophia has survived earthquakes, looting Crusaders and the conquest in 1453.  It is said that when the conqueror Mehmet II entered the church, he threw dirt on his head in humility.  He also wasted no time in converting it to a mosque.  It remained a cami until conversion to a museum in 1935 on the orders of Kemal Mustafa Atatürk.  Photos cannot adequately show its grandeur, from the gold mosaic tiles that stud the ceiling to the revealed frescos showing Christian figures like the Virgin and archangel Gabriel and the Byzantine emperors and their wives.  The Empress Zöe is displayed next to her husband(s)--there were three husbands and the faces were changed with each new consort.

immodest tourist R Boober

outside Blue Mosque

On to theTopkapı

Dome Mosaic

"Repurposed" column, lighting fixture, calligraphy.

Doors of the Library of one of the Caliphs

There is so much to the Aya Sofya.  Read about it.  Google it. Words fail me.

Detail of chandelier

Lower half-domes below the great dome

Panorama of interior of Aye Sofya

Harem audience room ceiling

Topkapı  Palace Sarayı

(no dot on the "i")

Sarayı, Seralgio, (remember Mozart), Palace.

Fodor rightfully calls this the "Showplace of the Sultans" and is was and is.  Unimaginable wealth and display.  Power and comfort.  Fear and trembling before the ruler of the world.  It was also a truly gilded cage where the sultan lived in isolation from his family and in constant fear of assassination, insurrection from his Janissaries, betrayal by his pașas, military defeat, unpaid tax income and separation from his wives and harem.  Read the books about the 19th Century eunuch detective Yashim (Jason Goodwin) and learn how the real power often lay in the hands of the sultan's mother and in the Chief Eunuch who guarded the harem.  One of these novels is even set in the cistern system of Istanbul.

Court of the Chief Eunuch

Line to see the Treasury

Divan in audience room of harem

It was "wicked hot" and the line to see the Treasury was long.  I did not think it could be hotter but when I entered the first room of the treasury, there was a blast of hot, fetid, wet air that nearly drove me out.  But I had to see the treasures again.  I saw them in 1995 but did not want to stand in an even longer line in 2012.

Galata Tower from Harem Courtyard

Asian part of Istanbul across the Bosporus

That left time to explore the grounds, get a breeze again and look out from the point to the Asia side.

The circumcision court was just what the name says:  the place where the sons of the sultan were circumcised in accordance with Islamic Law.

We got brave and walked from the Palace to the 

Sean exploring the Circumcision Court

Galata Bridge.

This provided us a chance to see what the real parts of everyday

Istanbul are like.  It was late in the afternoon, people were returning from work or shopping.  It was still hot, but cooling

off and we walked along the sidewalk.

This brought us by the train station that was the end of the line for the Orient Express Train, the Sirecki Station.  There are still the trappings of the 19th Century on the exterior and interior of the building.

At the Galata Bridge, we planned to eat a fish dinner.  The men still fish from the railings and haul their catches up in buckets to present to the restaurants that fill the lower level of the bridge.  It is a good experience, it is way overpriced but, in my opinion, a good part of the Istanbuli experience.  For example, the Cuban couple sitting at the table behind us paid over $200 for a lobster.  The Mainers were amused.

A "bebisit" was brought for Forrest.  Forrest by the end of the trip was quite adept in signing and letting us know what he wanted and what he did not want.  There was a clear and gratifying reduction in his need to emit this dental-drill shriek that had become his signature before the trip.

You can finish your day in a square filled with outdoor eateries

We bought tokens and took the streetcar back to our stop for our hotel.  I think it was 2 lira for a ride.

There is not a straight street in the entirety of Sultanahmet district but we managed to meander our way back to Tulip House for a pleasant sleep.

Today we did 5,6,8, the Galata Bridge and the Railway System.

The Orient Express Route until 2009