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.
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.
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