Homeward bound - Istanbul Turkey
Alan's Log:
Joan's Log:
November 2008
On our way home for Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays we treated ourselves to a three day mini-vacation in Istanbul. We even splurged a little and stayed at the Ibrahim Pasha, a beautiful little boutique hotel and got the off-season rate with an extra discount for cash, always a nice bonus.On the roof of the hotel was a small bar and terrace with a fantastic view of the Blue Mosque as well as the Sea of Marmara. At sunrise from the roof, the Mosque and the minarets turned a pale pinky violet in the glowing light as hundreds of sea-gulls swirled on the soft breeze and the lights of the awakening city twinkled on or off. Magical.
The weather was chilly during our stay and the city was cloaked in a damp, misty veil, which added to the moody, mystical atmosphere. In our short time there, we walked from one end of the Sultanahmet to the other. We visited the elegant and beautiful Blue Mosque and walked around the outside of the enormous Hagia Sophia with its massive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantime architecture, I would have to say it it is the epitome of achitectural over-kill.
The hotel was located in the heart of the old quarter - The Sultanahmet. We explored the area little by little each day, eating at the local fast-food stands and admiring the displays of many different types of baklava glistening in brightly lit shop-windows.
We found we were in easy walking distance of all the great sites. We went below the streets and wandered through the cavernous underworld of the otherworldly Basilica Cistern, supported by 336 marble columns which came from the early Greek and Roman temples of Constantinople.
The Romans dug this enormous cistern in 500 A.D. right in the center of Istanbul to store water for the growing city. The roof is supported by mis-matched columns and stonework reclaimed from old greek temples. It is a mixture of doric, ionic and a few corinthian columns and was never intended to be on display. It worked so well over the centuries that by the time the Ottoman Turks conquered the city its presence under the city was completely forgotten. An underground aqueduct ran from the source 12 miles away and citydwellers simply dug their wells down into the ground above the cistern and pulled up clean water! Until modern times it remained full of water and fully functioning. It has since been drained and is open to the public. It featured in the first Bond movie "From Russia With Love". Strangely I found this the most impressive site in Istanbul. Buried deep at the back of the cistern are several columns that were slightly too short to shore up the roof. An enterprising stonemason found an old statue of medusa's head which, placed on it's side proved to be just the right size to to support the column.
The Topkapi Palace, home of the Turkish sultans and their harems, built in 1465 by Sultan Mehmed II who conquered Byzantine Constantinople; was opulent and OTT but beautifully preserved and maintained.
Most rooms in the palace are decorated from floor to ceiling with ceramic tiles. The effect is quite overwhelming and to my eyes garish. The Islamic constraint against portraying images of living things (people animals, plants) has created a world filled with calligraphy and the abstract art of repetitive decorative elements. While I am used to seeing this thematic on carpets I am not used to the lack of images on walls. Consequently in touring the palace I find that I pine for a decent landscape painting, or a portrait of a sultan showing his court and surroundings. As such the sparsely furnished and elaborately tiled rooms seemed devoid of life to me.
The many exhibits included the belongings of the sultans, and their jewels, huge! Their swords and daggers, many! Not that they were ever used. Even a large display of their elaborately and heavily embroidered clothing, including their underwear. One could easily imagine what life was like inside the thick walls of the palace. The harem women, guarded by an army of eunuchs, must have felt like captured birds in their gilded cage.
I could easily imagine the thousands (as many as 4,000) of attendants, slaves, and workers whose only purpose in life was to tend to and grant every petty wish and whim of the spoiled, fat sultans.
The city of Constantinople, now Istanbul was founded as a market at the confluence of Europe and Asia. For centuries it was the foremost market in the world and we spent some time getting lost in the massive labyrinth of shops and stalls; The Grand Bazaar where there are 6,000 shops and 58 streets;
Once the center of commerce in Asia, and in continuous use since 1455, when one could purchase anything imaginable, maybe even a magic lantern or flying carpet, now it houses shops that cater mainly to the tourist trade…carpets, leather goods, knock-off everything, pashminas, jewelry - and more to my liking - antique brass-ware and tribal jewelry. And of course, every shop had the ever-present, ever-so-attentive salesman, desperate to make a sale…and some not so much! Overwhelmed by it all and weary of beating off the overzealous shop keepers, we stopped for a tea break in the center of the bazaar, then carried on to another ancient market still in operation, the exotic Spice Bazaar. This one was more interesting to us, lively, richly scented, colorful and crowded with local people, the stalls containing artfully displayed piles of every spice and medicant conceivable. There were even healthy live leeches for sale at several stands. A feast for the eyes! We would return exhausted each evening to our cozy little hotel, with the comforting smell of wood smoke coming from the cheerful fire in the lobby fireplace and a big welcome from the old resident white lab.
We eventually found a reliable carpet store and purchased an old Kilim rug.
In the early morning of our last day we drove to the airport on an eerily empty freeway, hardly passing another car, to begin our long journey from Asia to home and family in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Next....We get back up to date! In January 2009 we rent an apartment in Florence, Italy for 2 months before heading back to Moonstruck in Turkey.