Istanbul – Part IV

Since we had an early afternoon flight, we were up (relatively) early for our final day of exploration. Our first stop was the Hagia Sophia, which served as the cathedral of Constantinople from the 4th – 15th centuries before being converted into a mosque after Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. In the early 20th century the building was secularlized following Turkish independence.

I was very impressed by the sheer size of the Hagia Sophia (for nearly a thousand years it was the largest cathedral in the world) and its massive dome in particular. While the building itself is a bit run down (though holding up quite well given its age), it has plenty to capture your attention. The mix of Christian and Islamic symbols / imagery was definitely unique and something that I found very interesting.

































After the Hagia Sophia we made a quick stop by the Blue Mosque since Emilie wasn’t there during my visit on Thursday. She came prepared to respect the local customs…

We used our remaining hour to do some shopping at a nearby marketplace. We both bought some nice gifts and managed to demonstrate some absolutely terrible bargaining skills. The key to a successful bargain is being ready to walk away from the purchase if the price isn’t right – and we unfortunately weren’t willing to do this. Thus we never had a chance -- full retail price for us. But at least we liked what we bought.

And before I go, here are some random final observations…

- The double security screen / bag x-ray at the airport (the first just to get into the airport; the second was a regular one) was a first for me
- There were cats absolutely everywhere in Istanbul. Similar to Greece with all its dogs
- The metro tokens looked like they belonged in a childrens’ board game. And it was interesting that you couldn’t always buy the tokens at the actual metro stop – sometimes you had to buy them from a small store nearby (which wasn't always easy to find)

Istanbul – Part III

We began Saturday by heading to the Topkapi Palace, which was the residence of the Ottomon emperors from the 15th to 19th centuries and is now a museum.

The palace has plenty to see, including courtyards and countless rooms with décor and artifacts dating back centuries. If you buy a supplementary ticket, you also may tour the Imperial Harem, which was home to the Sultan’s mother, his wives and concubines, as well as his family and servants. This was definitely the most interesting part of the visit.



















As a quick aside, it was interesting to hear the description of the suntan’s concubines. I can’t remember the specific language from the museum guide, but according to Wikipedia the Topkapi concubines were: beautiful and intelligent female slaves “procured” from neighboring countries for the perpetuation of and service to the Ottoman Dynasty. I wonder what these poor girls thought at the time about their “procurement”.

After the Topkapi palace we grabbed lunch at Pandelli, which is in the Spice Bazaar and has windows overlooking the chaos taking place in the shops below. The food was traditional Turkish, but a bit more upscale than the food at other restaurants that I'd eaten at thus far.

We then visited the Spice Bazaar itself and walked over to the Grand Bazaar to tour that as well. Given that I absolutely despise shopping – I only go when I know exactly what I want and can’t remember the last time I actually went to a store without a specific purchase in mind – these places weren’t high on my list of to-dos. That said, it was interesting to see them given their historical relevance, while some of the shops (namely the ones selling spices, carpets and local crafts) were nonetheless nice to browse through.










One thing that I quickly learned in the markets (something that is actually relevant throughout Istanbul) is the fine art of ignoring the salesmen. When I first arrived, if anyone said something even remotely in my direction, my natural response was to acknowledge him through either responding verbally or just making eye contact. But by the end of my tour of the bazaars, someone could be inches away from me trying painfully to grab my attention and I could ignore him without the slightest flinch. This turned out to be very useful.

As a quick aside, throughout Istanbul there are people selling corn on the cob, roasted nuts and a weird type of ice cream (“dondurma”) that looks more like taffy and likely requires a knife and fork to eat it. None of these items looked particularly appetizing to me (well perhaps the ice cream, which at least was somewhat intriguing) and I didn’t really see anyone else partaking either. But someone must keep these guys in business since they were everywhere.

After a long afternoon of walking around, we decided to get off our feet for a couple of hours by seeing a Whirling Dervish show. There are a number of locations to see them in Sultanahmet, but we chose a specific one based on a recommendation from Emilie’s mom. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what quite to expect from a Whirling Dervish show since I was only vaguely familiar with the related figure of speech and had no idea where the term originated.

The performance took place in a former Turkish bath that had been converted into a cultural center and, as can be seen from the photos, it made for a very unique and beautiful setting. There was a strict no camera policy during the performance (this was ignored by one woman who apparently thought the world operated on her terms…), so I unfortunately wasn’t able to take any of the actual dervishes.










Everything about the performance was very ritualistic and it began with the musicians taking the floor and ultimately heading to their instruments. They then proceeded to play for around thirty minutes before the dervishes came out. After going through a full “pre-spin” routine, the dervishes began to spin…and spin…and spin. I never specifically timed them, but they must have gone for 10 minutes at a time before briefly stopping for more ritual movements and then spinning for another 10 minutes…over and over…for a solid hour in total.

You’d think that watching people spin for such a long time would get boring, but during the actual performance you’re so mesmerized by the performers that time flies by. Each dervish has his own style and in a way you fall into a trance following each one’s movements.

The following is a description of the ritual spinning from Wikipedia:

Sufi whirling (or Sufi spinning) is a physically active meditation which originated among Sufis, and which is still practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order. It is a customary dance performed within the Sema, or worship ceremony, through which dervishes aim to reach the source of all perfection, or kemal. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, egos or personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun.

And here’s a video clip from youtube that does a fair job of showing a portion of what we saw and heard (at least for the spinning part), though the venue in the video isn’t nearly as impressive.

After the show it was late and we were famished so we searched for a restaurant on the walk home to the hotel. Since we hadn’t received a specific recommendation this time, we tried to find a spot based on three criteria: (1) no menus with non-Turkish food, (2) no annoying “salesmen” trying to get you to eat at their restaurant, and (3) no outdoor menus with pictures of the menu items and descriptions in English.

We finally found a place that sufficed and the food was great. I really liked the dolma (rice and other ingredients wrapped in grape leaves) and the hummus (which I always hated in the U.S.) as well as the freshly baked bread.











And here’s a picture that I took of the Blue Mosque on the walk home. The lights in the fountain added some interesting color to the shot.

Istanbul – Part II

Today I took a boat cruise up the Bosphorus Straight to the entrance of the Black Sea and back. The weather was beautiful and made for a very nice trip, which lasted around six hours in total – a two hour ride up the straight, a two hour stop in Anadolu Kavagi, and then a two hour ride back. Here’s a shot of the Galata neighborhood just as we were beginning the journey.

The boat was very crowded but large enough so that you weren’t completely overwhelmed by the number of people. And if you didn’t care about having a seat, there was even more room available since there were a lot of open spaces along the rails. This worked out well for me as I didn’t need a seat and preferred a nice view in order to take pictures.

On the first leg of the cruise, I stood on the port side of the boat and thus had views of the European side of the straight. There were a number of interesting sights including the Rumeli Hisari (a 15th century Ottoman castle), the Dolmabahçe Palace (a 19th century Ottoman palace) and the Ortaköy Mosque.



















During the stop in Anadolu Kavagi, I spent the majority of my time at the Yaros Castle. It is about a 15 minute hike up the hill and offers beautiful views down the Bosphorus towards central Istanbul and in the opposite direction toward the Black Sea. The castle dates back to the Byzantine period and has been a strategic fortification throughout its history. The castle ruins are in fairly good shape, though the fact that site is not supervised results in a lot of tourist scaling the walls and thus ongoing deterioration.











I had been told that ancient Greek inscriptions remain on some of the castle walls, but I wasn’t able to find any. At least I’m pretty sure that this wasn’t one of them…

Here’s a shot of me with the entrance to the Black Sea in the background. And, no, I haven’t gained forty pounds around my waist. It was the wind…

Anadolu Kavagi itself is a small fishing village. The main area down by the small harbor is lined with fish restaurants that cater to the many day visitors who take the Bosphorus boat cruise from Istanbul and prefer to spend their two hour stopover having a relaxing lunch rather than hiking up to the Yaros castle. Here’s a shot of the calmer section along the water that is away from the heart of the tourist activity.

During the return leg of the cruise, I stayed on the port side of the boat in order to have views of the Asian side of the straight. There were a number of interesting sights including the Anadolu Hisari (a 14th century castle across from the Rumeli Hisari), the Beylerbeyi Palace (19th century Ottoman palace) and the Selimiye Barracks (where Florence Nightingale cared for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War). My favorite pictures, though, were simply of houses and the general scenery along the waterfront.



















After the cruise I took the metro across the bridge to Galata and then walked to Taksim Square to see the independence monument. From there, I walked along Istiklal Cadessi, which is a pedestrian street where all of Istanbul seemed to have congregated on Friday afternoon for a stroll in the nice weather.










By chance I noticed the San Antonio di Padova Catholic Church, which is the largest church in Turkey and offers services in Turkish, Italian and English. I also went to the Galata Tower, but did not go to the top because the line was incredibly long.















Here’s a shot of some street performers that were fun to listen to.

I then walked across the Galata Bridge back to Sultanahmet. There were tons of fishermen on the bridge and I’m not sure how much they were actually catching. Regardless, it seemed like a social atmosphere with all of the fishermen having a good time. And they definitely had a very nice view.



















For dinner I stopped at another hotel-recommended restaurant, which was also a local establishment. There was seating on the roof and I arrived in time to see the sunset over the Sea of Marmara. I also arrived just in time for a call to prayer, which complemented the warm sunset and cool breeze well.


I decided to order kebab again and it was very good. So was the bread, which was roughly the size of a football and consisted primarily of hot air. Everything tasted great. Here’s a picture of the bread.

After dinner I headed back to the hotel as it was late and Emilie was arriving soon to join me in Istanbul for the weekend.

Istanbul – Part I

Yesterday I arrived in Istanbul, where I’ll be staying through Sunday. As there are no direct flights from Almaty to Geneva, I had a couple of options for a layover – namely Istanbul, Amsterdam and Frankfurt – and decided to take advantage of the required stop in order to see a new city for the weekend. Since Amsterdam and Frankfurt are both easy to do as a quick weekend trip from Switzerland, I decided to go with Istanbul, which also just seemed like a more interesting place to visit from a cultural and geographic perspective.

I’m staying at a small hotel in Sultanahmet – the historical center of Istanbul that is essentially the former Constantinople. When I arrived at the hotel it was too early to check in, so they told me that I could grab brunch on the roof patio. The food itself wasn’t anything special (though nonetheless perfect following a long flight), but the view was incredible. It was a bit hazy, but not enough to obscure the Sea of Marmara and all the freighters waiting to head up the Bosphorous Straight to the Black Sea.










After finally checking in and finishing up with some remaining work, I headed out for some sightseeing. My first stop was the Hippodrome – the ancient location of chariot races and other sporting events that is now a public square. Though the race track no longer exists, many ancient monuments are still there, including the Obelisk of Thutmosis (Egyptian obelisk from 14th century BC), the Walled Obelisk (10th century AD) and the Serpent Column (a.k.a., the Tripod of Plataea, which was cast to celebrate the Greeks’ victory over the Persians in the 5th century BC).










My next stop was the Basilica Cistern, a large (~450 x 200 feet) subterranean structure near the Hippodrome that was used in ancient (and apparently more recent) times for water filtration and storage.










My favorite part was the two Medusa heads that are found at the base of two columns and whose origin is unknown. Supposedly, the heads were oriented sideways and upside down in order to negate her powers.















It was also interesting to see the giant fish swimming in the water.

I then visited a couple of mosques, including the Sultanahmet (a.k.a., Blue) Mosque, whose architecture and detailed decoration were quite impressive. Given the no shoe policy everyone walked around with their shoes in plastic grocery bag equivalents, which was an interesting sight.



















An ever present aspect of Istanbul (and one of my favorites thus far) is the call to prayer. For those who have never heard one in person, I’m not quite sure how to describe it other than it being very loud. The best part was when the leaders of the call from two nearby mosques went back and forth, taking turns in their recitals. I think I liked it so much because it was truly unlike anything that I’ve ever heard or experienced before.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the city and saw the Valens Aqueduct (a Roman aqueduct from the 4th century AD), the Grand Bazaar (reportedly the world’s oldest shopping mall), Istanbul University and Gülhane Park (a former hunting ground that was converted into a public park). One quick observation is that the streets in Istanbul are pretty poorly marked, which led to a number of wrong turns and other directional mishaps.



















The flowers in the park were very colorful...

For dinner I asked the hotel for one of their “local” restaurant recommendations and they directed me to one a couple of blocks away. It was packed with people speaking Turkish (I figured that was a good sign), but I was nonetheless able to get a table rather quickly. I decided to go with a chicken kebab and it tasted great. Here's a picture.