Istanbul, Wednesday 18 June, Day 56

We got up and out the door earlier this morning, and it was amazing what a difference a half an hour makes to the streets. It was cool and quiet in the streets but the tour buses were starting to pull up near the Hagia Sophia as we passed there on our way to the Topkapi Palace. The Palace was begun by Mehmet II on the ruins of the Palace of Constantine. You can see the Roman foundations in some places, and the main road leading into the palace is the same road which has been there since Byzantine times. The complex is vast and confusing, probably deliberately so.

We started off in the Harem wing which had lots of small corridors and courtyards, and some lovely walls of ceramic tiles. It was a peaceful place to wander around for the first hour or so as we moved from building to building. It is situated in a magnificent location, but somehow didn't seem to.be making the most of it. The Alhambra in Granada is more beautiful I think.

After a while the crowds started to thicken and people jams were building in some of the narrow spaces. The queue for the treasury was stretching out well into the courtyard, so we decided to give that a miss. On the way out there was some sort of ceremonial procession of fierce looking Turkish gentlemen all with fine moustaches and clad in archaic costumes, clutching swords or long poles or playing instruments, all marching along in a sort of step where you take two paces then face 45 degrees off to the right, then swing round to face 45 degrees off to the left, and repeat. The procession came down the main processional avenue that has been used for ceremonial processions since Byzantine and Ottoman times - a nice bit of local colour.

We explored a new area of the city over towards Eminonu, the Sirkeci neighbourhood with lots of restaurants and little hotels. Looks like a lively place, a bit more touristy and a bit easier to get around than our side of town. We walked back through the Women's Handicraft exhibition, which has come part of our routine. There are interpreters who are there to help you talk with the ladies who have produced the items. Anne was looking at a pair of wool slipper like socks, beautifully knitted. They looked on the small side, and she asked the bescarfed Turkish lady via interpreter if they were for adult or child.  'Tell her to wash them at 90 degrees and they will stretch' came the response. The Turkish sense of humour is quite like the Australian.

Next we explored the Aresta Bazaar, which has a reputation for being more relaxed than the Grand Bazaar, and so it proved to be. After seeing so many cats in not so great condition, it was lovely to see this one testing out the merchandise outside one of the rug and cushion shops, and it gives an idea of how chilled the place was.

We had lunch there, then managed to find the entrance to the Great_Palace_Mosaic_Museum which display mosaics from a courtyard from the time of Justinian. After seeing so many religious mosaics, it was interesting to see the Byzantine craftsmen's approach to secular topics. A major theme seemed to be animals biting other animals, or humans. The artists did a good line in gore.

We felt we'd got our money's worth out of the Museum Cards, and retired home satisfied. We are regulars at the restaurant around the corner now, and headed down there for dinner tonight. Two brothers, one around thirty, the other just eighteen, are the main waiting staff. They are very serious, very handsome, and both speak fluent French and English. It is a very relaxing place and we feel very welcome there.

Two more days to go.

Istanbul, Tuesday 17 June, Day 55

My phone this morning gives me the current temperature for two locations, Istanbul - 22 at 7.30 am, and Altona -  11 at 2.30 pm. A reminder that we should enjoy these beautiful blue skies and warm days while we can.   A good thought to keep in mind as we puff and pant our way up the hill and walk to our first stop of the day, the Istanbul_Archaeology_Museums.  They are in a very good spot for an archeology museum, as this spot has been the focus for so many civilizations over thousands of years. One cabinet is filled with finds from an excavation to lay foundations for extensions to the Museum.  The Byzantines, and then the Ottomans have controlled vast swathes of the planet's surface and have both cheerfully appropriated so much, that the resulting collection is astonishing, the glazed tile gate from the temple of Ishtar, artefacts from Troy, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Phoenician as well as Greek and Roman statues, artefacts plus Islamic ceramics.

The museum also has some wonderful artefacts from the past of the city itself including a bit of one of the serpent's heads from the Serpent_Column and some links of the chain that was strung across the mouth of the Golden Horn to prevent hostile ships entering that body of water.

There is so much stuff that the surrounding gardens are stacked with statues, fragments of lintels some beautifully carved, columns and capitals. We had morning tea on a terrace surrounded by assorted chunks of antique stonework.

Use and re-use are big in Istanbul. I particularly liked a Herma that had lost its head, and had been reused as a baluster. A translation of its Greek inscription reads

For a beneficent god

For good fortune

For a fine season

For rain bearing winds

For  prosperous summer

For an autumn

For a winter

It always amazes me how you can find some object that speaks across the centuries, and you get a sense of connection. Today it was just abut the last thing we saw in the Museum, a Roman Gravestone for a dog. The dog on the stone stele was lovingly carved, a large shaggy thing, and the inscription read in part:

His owner has buried the dog Parthenope that he played with

in gratitude for this happiness (Mutual).

Love is rewarding, like the one for this dog.

Having been a friend to my owner

I have deserved this grave.

After a siesta back at the hotel we had a late lunch then set off for our long awaited visit to the Hagia_Sophia. It was the spiritual heart of Constantinople, and it has pretty much been the key destination that we've been heading towards since we left Melbourne.  I was moved to stand in the portico, to see the vast bronze doors and the marble steps worn down by centuries of footsteps, and then to be in that space that has been the location of so much. It is an imposing space and it has an extraordinary atmosphere.

You can see from the scaffolding that there are restoration works in progress. There certainly is plenty to do. More mosaics are hidden under plaster, paint is peeling, and the floor on the upper gallery is unnervingly uneven, as if a bit of the supporting structure has dropped a few centremetres. But for a building that has been in pretty much continuous use since 542 and that has seen so much, it is doing  marvellously well. It was a very satisfying visit.

On the way back to the hotel we bought a few things to bring home, then went out to celebrate a great day with some lamb cutlets and a small bottle of Turkish red wine at our favourite restaurant.

Feels like we're getting to the end, and we are wrestling with the question of which of the many pleasant activities on offer we should explore in our last few days here.

Istanbul, Monday 16 June, Day 54

This morning we visited the Church of Saint Saviour, otherwise known as Chora_Church. Getting there was almost as much fun as being there. We walked up the hill behind our hotel via a zig zag road that we've discovered which has generally good pavement, and reasonable gradient. We caught a tram to Eminonu, a major transport hub on the shoreline, then found our way to the Golden Horn Ferry terminal. The ferry we wanted had just left so we sat happily admiring the view of the Galata_Tower built in 1348 by the Genoese which still towers over modern Istanbul, and the buildings of Beyoglu across the water, and watching the busy water traffic. The ferry ride was a real hoot too, and I enjoyed sipping my Turkish tea while we sailed to our destination. The walk from the ferry follows the line of the Theodosian wall, so I was able to fill in a bit that I missed on my previous walk.

Having seen mosaics by Byzantine craftsmen in churches from Ravenna to Palermo, it was interesting to see a real Byzantine church. The mosaics are quite late, around 1320 I think, and you can see that the artform has moved a long way from the stiff stylized figures of Ravenna to something which captures a much more human dimension, an art which is rendering the world is a more natural way. One of the most beautiful panels is of the Holy Family.

It is had to get a picture that begins to do justice to this. I love the body language of Joseph and Mary with their heads touching, cradling the young child - the mosaic tells the story of Joseph's suspicion about the virgin pregnancy, and the bottom section is the reconciliation I guess.  I particularly liked the peacock in the bottom right corner. Instead of being just a bit of decorative pattern, as birds are used in other mosaics we've seen, this one is turning his head away from the action to nibble on a bit of tasty foliage, a wonderful bit of naturalistic observation. And the representations of the buildings beat Escher by 700 years.

After our necks were ready to seize after so much craning upwards, we had a leisurely lunch in a peaceful restaurant in a courtyard shaded by massive plane trees. Once again, we had an audience of attentive, hungry cats, who were happy to share some omelette and cheese pide with us.

The bus back to Eminonu was a hot and uncomfortable, but we got to cross over to the Beyoglu side and come back again. On our walk back through the Hippodrome we wandered through an exhibition of Turkish women's handicrafts, admiring some beautiful embroidery and lace work.

There were black clouds gathering and the sound of distant thunder so we headed back to the hotel expecting a storm. But when we looked out again after siesta, the sky was clear and the streets were dry. We had dinner at a basic little restaurant where you can select a range of side dish sized portions of various dishes. We had Turkish Irish Stew I think, and rice, with tea and a delicious pasty to follow. Very nice it was too.

After dinner we walked around some back streets, discovering an unmistakeably Byzantine church being carefully restored. We looped round to the sea front and discovered a little marina full of fishing boats, a sort of promenade with lots of fish restaurants, a whole bunch of shops selling fish all artfully displayed, and, not surprisingly I guess, a whole lot of stray cats. Everywhere we go we see cats, mostly in pretty poor condition.

We have started the 72 hour countdown on our Museum pass. Tomorrow I think Hagia Sophia and the Archaeology Museum.

Istanbul, Sunday 15 June, Day 53

A windy hot morning so we decided on inside and cool activities for the morning. First up we visited the Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque aka the Blue Mosque. A huge crowd milling about meant that it did not have anything like the peaceful atmosphere of the Little Hagia Sophia round the corner, but it is an impressive space none the less. Next we pottered round the Hippodrome, site allegedly of a massacre of thousands of revolting citizens ordered by Justinian  during the Nika_riots in 532.  Hard to imagine as it is such a peaceful and pleasant place today. The Mosque souvenir shops are a pleasant change from many other shops as you don't get hassled, so we bought a few things there.

Next stop was the Basilica_Cistern, another but more benign outcome of Justinian's rule. For what is effectively an underground water tank or reservoir, the Byzantines certainly put in a lot of effort. The columns come from all over the empire, and are recycled from other buildings. The capitols - mostly Corinthian - are very ornate, and you wonder why they put that much effort on to something which you wouldn't expect many people to see. But it makes a great spectacle today, and we enjoyed the vaulted ceilings and eerie vistas, the dark water with the occasional huge fish gliding into the patches of light, and, of course, the mysterious Medusa heads which form the base of two columns in a back corner.

Did the builders have a couple of columns that were just a bit short, and a couple of chunks of old Greek marble statue lying around that were just the right size to make up the short fall, or is there some meaning in the placement of the heads?

We walked back to our neighbourhood, past one restaurant proprietor who now knows us well by sight, and seems more crestfallen each time we don't eat at his establishment. We might have to have lunch there soon, or find another way to walk.  We hardened our hearts today however, and had lunch at the place in the park again, which is very relaxed and peaceful, and the food is good.

After a rest and catching up with some things, we headed out again, this time to visit the Grand Bazaar. We only skirted down the edge of it, but that was plenty thank you. We tried out our Istanbul kart, a myki like RFID card for public transport. It works really well. Tram stops are like mini train stations, with turnstile entry gates. Each gate has a burly security guard with a hefty truncheon, so fare evasion would be minimal. Recharging is easy and fast. You put your card on one of the recharge terminals, machine says something in Turkish. You insert note, wait 10 seconds, the machine says something else in Turkish and the new balance on your card flashes on screen. You take card and walk away. The whole transaction takes about 30 seconds. With a population of 20 million to move around the city, you have to have a system that works. You might think the same would apply for a city like Melbourne with 5.5 million people, but apparently not.

As we headed off down the hill a Turkish man said to us "You're walking like carpet buyers", a nice bit of wry humour. The people are often very witty, and extremely sharp.  Three different traders have identified us as Australians. I'm not sure what the tell tale characteristics are.

We had dinner at the cat restaurant, both of us secretly wanting to see the mother to be cat again so we could feed her, but there was a different cast of cats who were appreciative of some of our sea bream - as we were. It was delicious.

We got Museum passes today, which are valid for 72 hours from first use, so tomorrow we will start on the museum trail.

Istanbul, Saturday 14 June, Day 52

First off this morning we visited the Little_Hagia_Sophia begun by the Emperor Justinian in 527.  The church was used as the model for San Vitale in Ravenna, which we saw, and as a practice run for Hagia Sophia.  It was converted to a mosque during the Ottoman period, and the mosaics removed. The walls are plastered and there are no images, but in a way that makes it easier to appreciated the space. Here is Anne, lost in wonder shortly after entering.

It was a very peaceful place to spend the morning. I think we will be going back there, which is easy because it is so close. Next we enjoyed a stroll around some of the local streets - I think we've explored nearly all the streets in our neighbourhood. The streets are very lively, kids running around, grannies sitting in doorways with babies, people shaking carpets out windows, people pushing round carts with fruit or various goods for sale, or just junk - maybe the last are the equivalent of rubbish removal services.

We had lunch in a great restaurant situated on the edge of the nearby park. Nice basic food, and the service picked up significantly when the televised World Cup game finished. Neither of us slept well last night and Anne wanted to rest her knee, so she stayed at the hotel while I set out to visit the Theodosian Walls built originally by Constantine the Great, and developed as a double line of fortifications by Theodosius in the 5th Century. They protected the city from multiple would be invaders for almost a thousand years. The story of Constantine XI and the fall of Constantinople is one that impressed me deeply when I heard it, and I wanted to go and see what is left of the walls and to pay my respects.

Getting to the wall, and then walking beside it, makes you realise what a huge city Constantinople must have been. I walked for around an hour and a half along beside the wall and traversed probably less than half. There are bits of wall that have been restored, bits that have been turned into very fine houses, bits where houses have been burrowed into the wall, bits where homeless people sleep, bits that are about to fall down or which have fallen down.

When I could see the water of the Golden Horn below I decided to call it quits, and managed to find my way back to the hotel without too much trouble. A bit muggy and overcast this afternoon and I was glad to be back in the air con and to see Anne.

We had dinner at a quieter restaurant nearby - a much more peaceful experience then last night and much better for the digestion. We ate attended by three cats, one of whom was very pregnant. A pretty cat and starving, poor thing. We gave her as much meat from our plates as we could without attracting the attention of the waiting staff. When we got back to the hotel we enjoyed watching the party on the roof of the sports club opposite. Lots of dancing and high spirits. I just hope they get tired soon.

We've been developing our agenda for the next few days and I am getting the hang of the public transport so tomorrow we are really going to get stuck into Istanbul.

Istanbul, Friday 13 June, Day 51

Great breakfast on the terrace of the hotel this morning. I think we have gone to fig jam heaven - a huge bowl of rich chunky fig jam on the table, along with fresh fruit, salad, and fresh bread. Anne's knee giving some trouble so I went off in search of an ATM to get some local currency and a chemist to buy paracetamol and ibuprofen. I headed off in what turned out to be a wrong direction, but it took me past the Little_Hagia_Sophia built around 527 AD by Justinian, past big chunks of Roman defensive wall in various stages of disrepair or absorption into newer structures, past the Blue Mosque, the Column_of_Constantine, and more.

Eventually found both ATM and pharmacy - pharmaceuticals incredibly cheap here compared to Australia -  as well as a shop to buy some baklava, and completed a circuit walking back down steep narrow streets through what seems to be the rag trade district. A lot of people moving big packages, bolts of cloth and boxes on trolleys or on their backs, as the streets are so narrow and the traffic so gridlocked that human transportation must be the most efficient way.

The weather was beautiful, mid 20's, light sea breeze, brilliant blue sky. We explored some more streets sussing out lunch options, and chose a nice place with an open dinning area under a grape vine, where we enjoyed a leisurely lunch. It is so nice not to have to rush around and to know that we have time to see what we want to see.

We looped up the hill, this time past the Hippodrome and the Obelisk_of_Theodosius, placed there in 357 ad. The Obelisk itself dates from 1450 BC, but owing to the hardness of the granite from which it was carved, it looks like it was created yesterday. The Roman marble on which it stands hasn't weathered so well, though the story of the transportation and erection of the obelisk is still visible.

There were huge crowds of local people and tourists out enjoying the day. We wanted a low key day so we headed home early down some more little streets with beautiful old Ottoman wooden houses, which have a distinctly Eastern air about them. We are staying in a residential area with families and playgrounds, siblings looking after toddlers, washing drying on the lines - it's nice to be part of everyday Turkish life.

For dinner we went to an area I'd stumbled on, with many restaurants down streets radiating out from a central fountain. It was jumping. Large groups of both Turkish people and tourists all out for a good time, coloured lights strung across the shop fronts and streets and a lively festive mood.  Every restaurateur was out the front of his business promising the best food and prices.  We chose a place that seemed OK and sat on the upstairs terrace watching the scene becoming ever more boisterous.  There were at least 5 competing Turkish bands working the crowd, dishes that seemed to involve sheets of flame in a sort of wok shaped dish while the waiter poked at it, people clapping and dancing and singing. By the time we'd eaten, we had complete sensory overload and an exorbitant bill full of mystery charges ... more than enough for day one.

Tomorrow we look forward to beginning our explorations of some of the wonderful structures and historic legacy of this amazing city.

Istanbul, Thurday 12 June, Day 50

We got up super early and left by round 7.00.  Anne slipped on the marble stairs on the way out, and hurt her knee again, just when we were congratulating ourselves on a complete recovery from her previous injury. We caught the bus to the airport and had breakfast there, watching the tough looking uniformed police with their revolvers and caps and shiny boots heading into the Pasticcerie and coming out eating dainty Cornetto pastries. We got the plane to Rome airport to catch our connecting flight to Istanbul.  

As we were leaving the EU, Anne wanted to collect the VAT refund on a number of things she had bought. She had carefully saved all the receipts, had the form filled out, and had the items in a bag ready to display on request. The Italian system is designed to be as off putting as possible. After one failed attempt we learned we needed to have boarding passes - bad luck if you wanted to put the items you'd bought in your checked luggage. Once we had boarding passes, next step was to get the form stamped by customs, for which there was a long queue in an unairconditioned corridor with lots of hot people fighting off queue jumpers, and two people behind the counter processing the claims ... until one abruptly walked off for a bit of me time, rendering the glacial progress even slower. Once in possession of the magic stamp, there was a further queue to actually get the refund. Helped to pass the time but not improve sense of benevolence towards fellow man. Rome is an extremely busy airport and we were glad to get on the plane, a very pleasant Turkish Airlines flight.

We'd arranged with our hotel to be collected, and as the plane was almost an hour late, we were relieved to see someone with our name waiting in the crowd. A nice young Turkish chap whose job is a greeter. He greets the people who have arranged transport, calls the car, and waits with you till the car arrives. Great division of labour. 

It was on sunset as we were driven through the city. I'm not sure what the building is that Anne is looking at through the window - but we are definitely not in Kansas any more. Or Sicily either, though some of the little streets near the hotel feel like it.  Hope we wake up filled with energy tomorrow to begin exploration.