Turkey - Part V
Sep. 19th, 2009 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
motetusAfter a very reluctant goodbye to the cats, it was off back to Istanbul (which had flooded in our absence). This time we were staying in a renovated wooden Ottoman house just behind the Blue Mosque - great location, if you don't mind being woken up at 5am by the call to prayer.
The Blue Mosque from outside:
And the inside. It didn't seem as vast inside as the Hagia Sophia thanks to those massive stone pillars supporting the dome and all the black cables holding the lights. I was also miffed that most of the beautiful blue Iznik tiles that give the mosque its name were up in the gallery which wasn't open to the public.
Istanbul is great for just wandering around and observing the locals.
On our final day, we took a tram up to the 5th century city walls and wandered around some decidedly dodgy-looking areas until we found Chora Church, an 11th century church with the most incredible Byzantian frescoes and mosaics. Like the Hagia Sophia, this church was also turned into a mosque and the mosaics covered up, but most of these ones have survived really well. This fresco is called the Anastasis and shows Christ standing over the gates of hell, raising Adam and Eve from their sarcophagi with saints and kings in attendance.
Jesus and the Virgin:
St Peter and his keys to the kingdom of heaven:
This one shows the census held for the enrolment for taxation and registration of Mary and Joseph:
My very religious grandparents used to have paintings of Jesus that depicted him with long hippy hair, big puppy eyes and a simpering expression. I much prefer Stern Disapproving Jesus.
And then I finally got to do a spot of haggling at the Grand Bazaar. There are over four thousand shops in there, but I managed to get away without too much damage to my finances. Next time I need to go with a female friend or relative, because the boy just does not understand that the point of a shopping companion is to encourage me to buy lots of shiny things.
I've found my dream wedding dress:
And the spice bazaar, where you could buy pretty much any kind of tea - including one consisting of whole dried rosebuds.
Mmm, lokum.
it was of course Ramadan, and the Hippodrome and every evening the little park between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque would be filled with Turkish families, sitting down with their dinner laid out and waiting for the call from the mosque at sundown. For those who didn't bring a picnic, there were stalls set up selling everything from food to photo opportunities with girls in what were probably historically-incorrect Ottoman costumes.
The ice-cream sellers are great fun to watch. They make a big show out of scooping up the entire block of ice-cream with a rod and showing how far they can stretch it, while hitting bells strung up above them. They get very excited about getting you to buy their ice-cream, but we got accosted by another stall owner who insisted on us trying his delicious sticky fried sweets (was a bit like the Indian sweet gulab jamun), promising that it would produce "a night of romance, and you will have 5 children!". I would have returned the next day to demand my 2 lira back, but it was so great that I didn't mind that it didn't have the promised effect!
And that was the two weeks over, far too soon. :( I'm now thinking that in a couple of years we'll go back and do Eastern Turkey, hopefully with a few more people. Anyone want to come along? The only requirements I ask for is a willingness to walk around historic sites all day and put up with me being, in the boy's words, "a photo nazi".
The Blue Mosque from outside:
And the inside. It didn't seem as vast inside as the Hagia Sophia thanks to those massive stone pillars supporting the dome and all the black cables holding the lights. I was also miffed that most of the beautiful blue Iznik tiles that give the mosque its name were up in the gallery which wasn't open to the public.
Istanbul is great for just wandering around and observing the locals.
On our final day, we took a tram up to the 5th century city walls and wandered around some decidedly dodgy-looking areas until we found Chora Church, an 11th century church with the most incredible Byzantian frescoes and mosaics. Like the Hagia Sophia, this church was also turned into a mosque and the mosaics covered up, but most of these ones have survived really well. This fresco is called the Anastasis and shows Christ standing over the gates of hell, raising Adam and Eve from their sarcophagi with saints and kings in attendance.
Jesus and the Virgin:
St Peter and his keys to the kingdom of heaven:
This one shows the census held for the enrolment for taxation and registration of Mary and Joseph:
My very religious grandparents used to have paintings of Jesus that depicted him with long hippy hair, big puppy eyes and a simpering expression. I much prefer Stern Disapproving Jesus.
And then I finally got to do a spot of haggling at the Grand Bazaar. There are over four thousand shops in there, but I managed to get away without too much damage to my finances. Next time I need to go with a female friend or relative, because the boy just does not understand that the point of a shopping companion is to encourage me to buy lots of shiny things.
I've found my dream wedding dress:
And the spice bazaar, where you could buy pretty much any kind of tea - including one consisting of whole dried rosebuds.
Mmm, lokum.
it was of course Ramadan, and the Hippodrome and every evening the little park between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque would be filled with Turkish families, sitting down with their dinner laid out and waiting for the call from the mosque at sundown. For those who didn't bring a picnic, there were stalls set up selling everything from food to photo opportunities with girls in what were probably historically-incorrect Ottoman costumes.
The ice-cream sellers are great fun to watch. They make a big show out of scooping up the entire block of ice-cream with a rod and showing how far they can stretch it, while hitting bells strung up above them. They get very excited about getting you to buy their ice-cream, but we got accosted by another stall owner who insisted on us trying his delicious sticky fried sweets (was a bit like the Indian sweet gulab jamun), promising that it would produce "a night of romance, and you will have 5 children!". I would have returned the next day to demand my 2 lira back, but it was so great that I didn't mind that it didn't have the promised effect!
And that was the two weeks over, far too soon. :( I'm now thinking that in a couple of years we'll go back and do Eastern Turkey, hopefully with a few more people. Anyone want to come along? The only requirements I ask for is a willingness to walk around historic sites all day and put up with me being, in the boy's words, "a photo nazi".
