Monday, July 27, 2009

Saving the best for last


Our final day (for now) in Istanbul was spent seeing Istanbul's most famous sights - the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, both utterly beautiful and amazing buildings, literally across the street from one another. We entered the grounds of the Blue Mosque as directed by the guidebooks - from the Hippodrome side so you enter the courtyard facing the front of the building. The courtyard is the same size as the mosque's interior, and the sheer size is very impressive. Non-worshipers can only enter the mosque itself through a side door. You must take off your shoes and put them in a plastic bag (provided). Men can enter in shorts if they cover the knees, so our crew, in their long shorts, were OK. Janet was in a skirt, which didn't quite make it to her knees, and had to cover up with a blue schmata that closed with velcro (also provided). We had brought our head scarves, so we didn't have to borrow one of those. Getting in was a production with all the removing of shoes and socks, and covering up, but we all managed to make it through.

The mosque itself is very beautiful - the tilework covering the walls is indeed mostly blue (hence the name), but there are also many other colors, mainly shades of red and rose. The space is immense, and huge columns hold up the ceiling. They only let you walk through the rear 1/4 of the mosque - the main part of the inside is empty and you can't go up into it. We took a lot of photos, but it is hard to capture the beauty and scale.

As promised, the Aya Sophia is one of the most "significant" buildings in the world. It was originally built as a Byzantine church in the mid 6th century, and was converted to a mosque after the rise of Islam 900 years later. The domes and arches of the interior were originally covered in mosaics (a Byzantine art). Later these were covered up with ceramic tiles by the Ottomans. Even later, after many of the tiles and mosaics had been damaged or had fallen, a restoration attempt used paint to fill in the missing parts. We had an excellent guide who knew a great deal of the history of the building, the artwork, and the times, and he really made the visit interesting and educational. Books have been written about this building and it's clear why. The stone slabs covering the walls were cut and installed such that they are mirror images of one another, in beautiful color combinations of subtle purple, green, grey, white, cream. The detail in the restored mosaics is stunning. The immense interior is an architectural marvel, with no visible columns to support the domes.

In comparison, the Blue Mosque is exquisite from the outside, and the Aya Sophia, while not much to look at from the street, is exquisite inside.

We finished out our afternoon in the Sultanahmet district with a visit to the Basilica Cistern. This underground water tank was built by the same Roman Emperor who built the Aya Sophia, Justinian, also in the 6th century. Hundreds of columns support the ceiling's arches. Many were salvaged from ruins from other parts of the empire - guess they were cost conscious back then - no sense spending a lot of money for columns to be installed underground where nobody would see them. It was both fascinating and a little creepy. Tons of fish (carp, I presume) swim through the foot or so of water. It's huge, and was built to provide water to Topkapi palace during times of drought or siege. The water came from a forest just outside the city. The cistern was actually forgotten about until 1545 when an archaeologist back then (I find it funny to think of someone in the 1500's as an archaeologist) was told about basements in the neighborhood where people could lower a bucket and get water.

After visiting the cistern, we were for some reason in the mood for fish, so we took the local train, which has a station right down the street from our hotel, one stop to the Kumkapi section of the city, the fishing district on the Sea of Marmara. The train itself was definitely for the locals, not the tourists - old, no A/C, and doors that don't all close. Kumkapi is sort of funky - I think outside of the restaurant district, the area is pretty seedy. There's a town square from which 5 or 6 streets radiate. The square and part way up the street are lined with fish restaurants. They all serve the same things - I mean exactly the same things - the menus are exactly the same, with the prices written in sharpie. Most were willing to deal - discount the prices, give you something "on the house", etc. Tourism must be way down - at the height of the season the 20 or 25 restaurants were really pushing hard to lure in the few customers. We settled on what turned out to be an excellent choice - meze (appetizers) and fish for us, with complimentary dessert - a plate of fruits, and what I thought was the most delicious part of the meal - banana slices drizzled in honey, dusted with chopped pistachios, and topped with the Turkish form of whipped cream. Yum. The kids opted to roam on their own and had kebaps for dinner - also a good and frugal choice. The only disappointment was the wine - Janet ordered a glass of white wine which she described as "paint stripper". I had a sip and had to agree. In fact, she emailed our friends who are coming from England to meet up with us on Friday and told them to bring wine as the local stuff is undrinkable!

No comments:

Post a Comment