Istanbul Diary - Bosphorus views

Depending upon the weather, the waters around Istanbul take on different shades of blue or grey.

Luckily for us, the day we took the cruise on the straits was a lovely sunny day, with the waters that beautiful blue that stays in your memory.

Subsequently, we took a couple of ferry rides across to the Asian side, but then it was a cloudy day, and everything was tinged in grey, like this picture, at the southern end of the Bosphorus, at the mouth of the Golden Horn, where you can see the Topkapi watch tower, poking out of the trees.
This picture is in the Golden Horn actually, with the Eminonu waterfront drawing up.

Below, is a panoramic view of the Golden Horn,and if you click on the image and see it in full size, you will see all the suspects - the Topkapi, the Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque to the left, and the Sulemaniye mosque in the background to the right.  The tower in the centre of the picture is the Tower of Constantine (under renovaton during our visit), and the mosque in the foreground on the waterfront is the Yeni Camii.  The Galata bridge is right in front.  To the left, around the Seraglio hill, and in the background, is the Sea of Marmara.  So, the Bosphorus straits would begin from the left foreground

We took a tourist "cruise" down the Bosphorus - no, not a fancy one with gourmet food and wine, but one of those boats with an enclosed cabin, and an upper deck, and a guide who points out the sights.  I think our guide was somewhat left-leaning, as he pointed out the playfields of the rich, with some sarcasm.

In hindsight, if we had taken the local ferry boats, we would have probably managed the whole ride much cheaper, and we could have probably gone much farther north.  These tourist cruises take you to the Fatih bridge and then you return.  Also, the one we took started from Karakoy, rather than Eminonu, so you dont get to see the Golden Horn at all on a tourist cruise.

Once you are in the straits, "Europe" is to your left or west, and Asia is the eastern shore.

The European sights

Dolmebahce PalaceThe new palace of the Ottomans, which probably bankrupted them.  Was also used by Ataturk I think, as a state HQ, on his visits from Ankara.  
Crumbling and neglected
As well as new and spankingThe Bosphorus has strong currents.  On the surface, the water flows from the Black Sea towards the Sea of Marmara.  But below, there is a current flowing in the opposite direction.  In ancient times, these strong currents discouraged the setting up of settlements on its banks, with populations preferring the safer Golden Horn.

The Bosphorus Bridge with the Ortakoy mosqueI read that in the 6th century the Persian armies needed to cross the Bosphorus, and tied their boats together to forma a "bridge", in order to cross over!  This modern Bosphorus bridge was built in 1973.

The Ortakoy Mosque, up-close
The club where the F1 crowd party.  Notice the curtains, which are drawn for privacy during such dos
Ataturk's Yacht - not bad for a socialist!
The lovely Rumeli HisariThis fortress has an interesting history.  Can you imagine, that the whole thing was built in 4 months in 1452?!  This was in the time of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who took over the city from the Byzantines in 1453.  He used the fort to choke off supplies and reinforcements coming from the Black Sea to the city of Constantinople.

The fort comes just before the second Fatih bridge, across the Bosphorus.

Fatih Bridge and the Asian shore

The Asian shore

Anadolu HisariAnd adjacently opposite the Rumeli, on the Asian side is this fortress.  This is older than the Rumeli, and was built by Sultan Bayezid in 1390, to give some control of the Bosphorus.  So, after Rumeli was built, they had controls on both sides of the Bosphorus.

Florence Nightingale was here
The Beylerbeyi Palace

Semsi Pasha mosque at UskudarUskudar is one of the oldest settlements on the Asian side.  We took a ferry across one morning, and it appears that now it has developed into a posh suburb, with large, well-guarded properties lining the shore.

The picture below shows how the Uskudar hill has been built up.

The Leander tower

Back at the southern mouth of the Bosphorus. This little tower has been a watch tower, customs house and also a lighthouse at various points. Now, its just symbolic and marks the entry point into the straits.

Istanbul Diary - Day 4: Encounters with Voldemort and the Death Eaters

This has to be Voldemort...

And here are his death eaters!!

These menacing specimens, we saw at the Istanbul Archeological Museum, which is in the Topkapi palace complex, though outside the Felicity Gate.

I dont suppose they were meant to be menacing, but mutilating the face has that effect.  This museum, which is a collection of all kinds of ancient stuff - from Hammurabi's code tablets to Cuneiform writing of the Nubians to large animal friezes from Babylon - which in itself is an indication of the extent of the Ottomonian influence in those days.

The whole museum seems to have been the brainchild of Oscar Hamdy, who appears to have been a collector and cataloguer, far ahead of his times.

The only problem, for me atleast, was that room upon room of one section of the museum was filled with these statues - some faceless, many headless and the rest only heads.  I kept thinking, so many heads and bodies, why cant somebody match them?!  I think it requires somebody with a more well-developed sense of art (than me!) to appreciate these mutilated statues.   I was filled with a sense of sadness and dissatisfaction, seeing these once-lovely works in this state. This huge statue of Hercules was one that was more or less in good shape.  

The Sidon Necropolis

On the other hand, in a beautiful and complete form, were the finds from the Sidon Necropolis. Morbidly fascinating, to think that these kingdoms put their best artistic efforts into making these receptacles for the dead, and it probably was buried or entombed, away from human eyes.

There's a quaint article from the New York TImes of 1898, which talks about the finds of the Sidon Necropolis.

The Lebanese  coastal town of Sidon has had a chequered history, and I think was part of the kingdoms of Assyria, Egypt, Greece and even Rome.  Alexander also passed through in the 4th century BC.

The sarcophagus of Alexander

See, the picture above - that's Alexander in battle!

And that unfortunately, is the only reason its called the Sarcophagus of Alexander.  Its believed to be the sarcophagus of a Sidonese king called Abdalonymous, who decided that he wanted Alexander on his coffin.

Abdalonymus, a royal gardener made king by Alexander.  No wonder he wanted his mentor on the tomb!Alexander in battle against the Persians

The write-ups say that the soldiers and Alexander all would have carried swords or lances made from gold, which have been looted.  The whole frieze was probably painted, and you can still see the remnants of the red.There was this other sarcophagus, called The Sarcophagus of Mourning Women, which was also beautifully done I thought.

And so ended our stay in Sultanahmet. We then crossed the Ataturk bridge, over the Golden Horn, and moved to the Taksim area, which is the business district of istanbul, now, though in days long past it was the area where the Genoese lived.

Istanbul Diary - Indian saffron and the evil eye

Spot the manjal in the front row.  Indian saffron?!  Then there was garam masala and Hindistan nutmeg.  When the shopkeeper tried to sell me some spices, I very gleefully replied that we were from Hindistan and so did not need any of this, since we got more and better there!!

Misir Camii or Egyptian spice bazaarThe Egyptian Spice bazaar is one of those exotic and aromatic places on the waterfront where you go for spices, dried fruits and other local trinkets.  Completely enjoyable, just wandering the alleys, if you dont mind the constant selling.

Of course, the other completely touristy market is the Grand Bazaar, through which we walked,  a couple of evenings.  There are no fixed prices, and you can drive a bargain, if you know how to.  Unfortunately, I do not have these skills and make timid efforts at price reduction which are firmly resisted by the shopkeepers!

As we walked through the alleys, we saw remnants of old decorations on the arches.  The aspect that struck me, going from Indian bazaars and markets, is how clean the alleys were, as also the fact that there was discipline among the shopkeepers not to occupy the common areas, and leave space for visitors.

Nazar boncuk everywhere!

Any visitor to Istanbul will surely carry memories of the "nazar boncuk", those pleasing blue and white "eyes" we saw on key chains, trinkets, tiles, bracelets, buses, buildings and hotels.  The markets and souvenir shops are full of them.

I guess they are to ward off the evil eye.

Istanbul Diary - Day 4: The Great Palace Mosaic

Remember the bird on a mosaic?  Well, we saw that at the innocuously named Tile Museum.  We thought this was a museum of the Iznik tiles of Istanbul, but no, this was a museum of the mosaics that tiled the great byzantine palace floor!

This museum, tucked away next to the Sultanahmet mosque, below the Arasta bazaar, for some reason is not given that much importance in Istanbul, though it has these mosaics which date back to the time of Justinian, when the Byzantine emperor had a huge palace complex, which stretched from the area between the Hippodrome and the Aya Sofia, all the way to the coast.

According the the boards at the museum, only an eighth of the original mosaic has survived, and this is about 250sqm!  The mosaics are not religious, but depict hunting scenes, village life and also have decorative borders.

There was a lot of realism and cheer in most of the scenes, but somehow I did not like the children's eyes in these mosaics.  They for some reason looked kind of evil and misshapen  to me.  What do you think of the mosaic on the right?  Its supposed to be a child.

The wild-life is very diverse.  Tigers, lions, leopards, elephants, bears, boar, gazelle and monkeys.  In the first picture, above the dragon are a pair of leopards eating a stag.  There were also hunters stalking a tiger.  All very realistic.  I wondered where the Romans had seen the big cats, and then remembered the Coliseum and the-thrown-to-the-lions business.

Did lions and tigers roam the plains of Europe?  Or were these from their exploits in Africa?  I must read about this.

Then there were all the mythical creatures, griffins and chimaeras, and the wine god Dionysos, all combining to make a fantastic collection.

The mosaics are faded and there are several parts missing, but its not hard to imagine how the whole floor must have looked, with Toga-clad Romans striding across it!  There were Corinthian columns surrounding the large courtyard in the palace of Justinian.

Historically, the current Sultanahmet disrict was the Byzantine palace district, from the time Constantine set up the empire's eastern capital here.  His Palatium Magnum in Constantinople supposedly rivalled the Palatine hills of Rome.  

These mosaics were lost in the ruins, after the destructions of the Fourth Crusade until excavations in 1935 revealed the floor.  With the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque and other buildings now standing in the district, excavations are difficult.  

However, one more lot of excavations are in progress on a 7,000 sqm plot, approximately north of Aya Sofiya.  Byzantine period bath ruins and other such stuff are being ucovered and restored, and is supposed to be open to the public by end 2008.

Istanbul Diary - Of polite crows and impertinent gulls

Surprise, surprise, the crows in Istanbul, were really polite and well-behaved birds.  They let out a quiet caw here and there, stayed in the trees, and seemed all in all rather unobtrusive, unlike their Indian counterparts who are so in-your-face.

Istanbulli crows are actually the Hooded Crow or Corvus cornix, and the Indian one is Corvus splendens.  They look quite different too, dont they?

So, instead of pesky crows they have belligerent gulls, which I thought were Cape Gulls.  But then I referred them to Charlie from 10000birds.com and he opined that they are Yellow-legged gulls.  His detailed comment are posted in "comments" below.  They were everywhere.  Outside the breakfast room windows, wheeling over the old town, along the waterfront and atop the mosques.  Their cry was loud and raucous, and rather demanding, and I think they had gotten quite used to being fed by fishermen and the small eateries.

I think the one above is an immature - not full grown - and has a different colouration, from the adult, seen below.

The parks were filled with pigeons and common starlings, both of which were fed with stale bread - of which there is a lot I can tell you, the city lives on bread - by the locals and children.

 

I liked these starlings, related to the mynahs, very pretty birds, and they were all rather busy as you can see, hopping around in the parks and picking up their pieces of bread or worms or whatever.  

The pigeons were as daft as our local ones.  We had an amusing time one morning, sitting in the park and looking at a mixed flock of pigeons, starlings and sparrows, as the locals threw bread. The pigeons looked around with this duh look on their faces, and the starlings and sparrows were away with the booty before they even moved!  It was like watching a basketball match (oh sorry, game), between Michael Jordan's Space Jam Team and the alien Monstars!

The Bosphorus had large flocks of these birds skimming over its waters, and I never did figure out what they were.  Charlie identifies them as Yelkouan Shearwaters, a near threatened species now.

..... And then there was this lovely mosaic.  What is it - an egret?

More on these mosaics, in the next instalment!