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Painting of the "Blue Mosque"
a painting of the Blue Mosque in the Ephesus Museum at Selcuk (see next week's blog)Turkey is a nice place for a holiday. Of course I try to avoid “nice” places, but it’s a nice change for a bit. It’s easy to travel in, at the moment it has lovely weather, the people are friendly, and in the tourist areas everyone speaks English and probably German and a few other languages. Reading the maps and guidebooks feels strange to me because you can’t help bumping into somewhere famous. There’s so many places which are of course used as settings for God’s bestselling novel (not bad for a first work, but the sequel was disappointing), and historically it seems to have been the hangout for people with cool names, like Suleiman the Magnificent, who obviously had a better PR guy than Selim the Grim. I don’t know about you, but if I were the ruler of Constantinople and my town was besieged by Mehmet I’d say “who, Mehmet the greengrocer?” and as soon as they told me “No, Mehmet the Conqueror” I’d be out there with a white flag saying something along the lines of “Excuse me, err, Mr The Conqueror … is there some way we can come to some sort of arrangement?”. Modern surnames (which
Istanbul
looking across from the old city on the European side, across to the Asian side, across the Bosphorus, as it enters the Sea of Marmara. all Turks now have, thanks to Kemal Ataturk, the hero of modern Turkey) just don’t have the same effect! Obviously, Istanbul (formerly “Byzantium”, and after that, “Constantinople” after the guy who invented Christianity nearby) has been the capital of three major empires, and is in many ways one of the cradles of western civilization, and today is (according to Wikipedia) the largest city in Europe and fourth largest city in the world.
I didn’t really have any expectations about Turkey, because I hadn’t been planning to spend a long time there. I was even vaguely surprised that they use pretty much the same alphabet as us (again, thanks to Ataturk, the compulsive womanizer, who made it illegal to use the old Arabic script two months after introducing the new one, and then went on to completely change the language). For a country that’s somewhere around 98% Muslim, it’s surprising how readily alcohol is available, and it doesn’t seem extremely expensive. People even have pet dogs! So it’s very much a modern, Western, country, thanks to the efforts of Kemal Ataturk whose image is found on all the banknotes and in statues all over the place, and who died in
Istanbul - Kenedy Caddesi
the foreshore, looking across the Golden Horn to the CBD on the European side the 1930s from cirrhosis of the liver. Everyone still seems to be talking about their on-going attempt to become part of the EU, and it seems that at least in touristy areas Euros are as widely accepted as Lira. Property prices and other expensive things seem to be more frequently quoted in Euro or even US Dollars.
I noticed that the websites youtube and geocities were blocked, something I thought only happened in China. I think one of the main blogging sites is also blocked. I asked Mehmet (the guest house manager, not the Conqueror) about this, and he said that it’s blocked because it contained videos critical of Ataturk. He said it’s illegal to publish or access sites critical to Ataturk or the Prophet Muhammad. I think he meant the Ataturk who believed that the Turks were the Aryan master race, and the Prophet who consummated his marriage with his youngest wife when she was nine years old. I guess that’s the sort of thing that happens in countries like Turkey and Australia which don’t have a constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, but not in countries like the USA or China which do have a constitutional guarantee
Istanbul - Ataturk statue
I found this statue kind of hidden away, facing away from the road, overrun by weeds and smelling of urine. There was no caption, but I think it looks like their hero, Kamal Ataturk. Strange that the statue is in such disrepair, if it is really him. of freedom of speech.
One of the other nice things about Turkey is that they do 90-day, multiple-entry, visas on arrival. So at the airport you get into a queue and pay your $US 30 or so, then get into another queue to get through customs and you’re in. They don’t even use up a whole page in your passport like the other Turkic countries! There was a plane from Riyadh that had arrived about the same time as mine, so there were a number of couples in the queue with the man wearing western-style trousers and short-sleeved shirts, and the women wearing black burqas, albeit without the grills. In general though, the people in Istanbul pretty much dress like westerners. A fair few women still wear a head covering, but nothing extreme. It’s probably much different in the far East of the country though. In Istanbul, I did see a few youngish men each with two women following a few steps behind them, one in the full burqa and the other (“display wife”?) in similar attire but with her face showing. I assumed that these people were tourists though. I also saw a fair few middle-class looking Africans,
Istanbul - Sultanahmet Camii
Sultan Ahmet Mosque ("Blue Mosque") showing all six minarets whom I assumed to be tourists; but I later read that there is a fairly large subculture of descendants of African slaves from Ottoman times.
I stayed in Sultanahmet, the Old City, on the European side. So after flying back from Oral (in Europe) to Almaty (in Asia) and on to Istanbul (Europe) I spent a few days there, took a ferry across to the Asian side to explore for a day, took the ferry back to Europe and the next day headed off to Anatolia (Asia). Of course Europe is less a continent than Ceres is a planet, so it’s not that exciting. By the way, I haven’t been able to get a Lonely Planet, so I’ve got a Rough Guide for Turkey. They say that along with Russia, Turkey is the only country to “incorporate” both Asia and Europe. They’re clearly forgetting about Kazakhstan. Everyone forgets about Kazakhstan. Arguably they’re also forgetting about Georgia.
Anyway. I think it’s better for you to look at the photos than for me to describe everything. I went to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (“Blue Mosque”), Haghia Sophia, the Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market, mosques, the Aquaduct of
Istanbul - Haghia Sophia
the Haghia Sophia ("Aya Sophia", "Hagia Sophia"), photo taken from approximately the same spot (in opposite direction) as previous photo. The fact that they look similar isn't coincidence. Valens (an old aquaduct), the old city walls, and Galata Tower (an old tower that overlooks the city). I had a Turkish bath, and even a couple of puffs of a
nargile (hookah). There’s a lot of photos of the touristy places, so if you’re interested make sure you view all the pages of photos (I think it’s not always clear that there’s more than one page of photos, one of the many things wrong with Travelblog).
On the last few days I hung out with an American staying at the same hotel as me. He liked walking even more than I do, so we ended up exploring pretty much the whole city on foot, including some local markets and such-like. Everywhere I go in the world I bump into US Peace Corp volunteers. This time it was a couple working in Macedonia, which made me realise I didn’t know exactly where Macedonia is, which was a bit worrying. On my last night in Istanbul all four of us went out in Taksim and drank
raki, the unofficial national drink which looks like water if you have it neat, but if you mix it with water as is traditional
it becomes a milky colour. If you drink it neat it tastes like being kicked in the throat by an aniseed-flavoured mule; if you mix it with water it tastes like being kicked in the throat by a dishwater-flavoured mule.
Istanbul is a very modern city, quite tidy and colourful. While the location keeps a lot of the pollution away, there still did seem to be a bit hanging over the main part of the city north of the Old city (across the Golden Horn). Wandering down the foreshore I did see some strange characters, including some who seemed to make their home in little shelters between the granite rocks; an old man with his trousers falling apart shuffling along yelling at pigeons; a middle-aged, scruffy, man facing prostrating himself towards qiblah on a dirty piece of cardboard; and further away, in Taksim square where at night all the good-looking people go, an old man with a massive beard, a small plastic bag of belongings, an almost-empty five-litre bottle of water and a massive bag of birdseed enjoying all the pigeons congregating around him. The normal sort of thing you get in a large modern city.
The only
Istanbul - the Basilica Cistern
the sideways Medusa head at the base of one of the pillars thing where Istanbul seems less modern is in the touristy places. There as well as the scams you might get in a developed city, you have all the touts yelling at you to come into their restaurant or buy their carpet. In this regard it feels a bit more like being in Bangkok, which is a bit strange. There’s also too many cats and even a few dogs roaming the street.
Haghia Sophia was worth seeing. For almost one thousand years this was the largest manmade enclosed space in the world (i.e. the largest manmade building after things like the pyramids and the great wall of china). Today I think the largest enclosed space is an aircraft hanger, which might say something about the differences between modern and ancient societies. When they were building it, people didn’t believe it would be able to hold up, being so large, but that was 1500 years ago, so I guess it did quite well already, really. It’s interesting to see the Christian icons mixed in with the Islamic furniture and calligraphy, as the empire changed from an Eastern Christian one to a Muslim one. The Muslims did destroy some of the artwork
Istanbul - the Basilica Cistern
the other (upside down) Medusa head which they found particularly idolatrous, such as covering up the faces of the seraphim, although the evidence for the greatest desecration of the church isn’t that obvious now, it was by the western Catholics who along with other more substantial things, hired a prostitute to dance on the Patriarch’s throne. The Catholic Crusaders of course were well known for their ability to find prostitutes, which I guess is a useful skill if you want to desecrate a Christian church in the name of Christ. Apparently there’s also some Viking graffiti to be found, but while there’s photos of it, it doesn't seem to be well signed. As you might guess if you speak English, “Haghia Sophia” is from the Greek for “Divine Wisdom”, referring to the putative wisdom from God, not to anyone called Sophia. However, almost all the tours around the place seem to mention “St. Sophia” as one of the churches they visit, which is a bit annoying as there was no St Sophia, at least not in connection with this building.
The Blue Mosque is another large tourist attraction filled with tourists except when the actual prayers are on (unlike Haghia Sophia it's still a functioning
mosque). When it was built its six-minaret structure was thought to be slightly blasphemous, but that’s been around for a long time too so I guess God wasn't really that upset about it. Visitors are not allowed in there during the times of prayer, but we did go to watch a Friday prayer at a different mosque. The Blue Mosque looks quite similar to Haghia Sophia from the outside, because it was built to mirror/challenge its older neighbour. While standing there, quite alone, I heard something drop to my feet and saw a pamphlet. Thinking I’d dropped one of the fliers that had been thrust in my hand for a carpet store or a nargile bar or a tour company, I picked it up and put it in my pocket. I later realised that it was a pamphlet telling me how great the Prophet Muhammad was. I don’t know how it landed at my feet, I can only assume it was a sign from God telling me to be more careful where I walk. It had a lot of stuff in there about how Muhammad taught care for the environment, how he taught his disciples to not overburden their animals,
and how he preached fairness and compassion. I guess it’s because they ran out of space, but they don’t mention Aisha his (then) nine-year-old wife, or his beheading of six hundred Jews. Well at least he taught people to not overburden their donkeys, so I guess we have to overlook some minor indiscretions.
At the guesthouse there’s a local who seems to live there most days. I think he’s a friend of the manager, so I’m not quite sure what his role is. He’s a Kurd, so speaks fluent Kurdish and Turkish, but broken English. He’s having an argument about religion with a Frenchman who also doesn’t speak English. Also the Frenchman doesn’t know much about Islam and the Kurd doesn’t know much about Rationality, so it’s a bit like watching deaf tigers discussing vegetarianism. The Kurd’s main point seems to be that the Frenchman should learn about Islam before disbelieving it which makes me wonder why the Kurd doesn’t believe in, say, Raelianism, and that there are some really anally retentive Islamic scholars out there like his hero who spent twenty years just studying one
ayat (which is one chapter of a surah).
Istanbul - Haghia Sophia
From inside the entrance to the Blue Mosque I feel like in my second-last blog I didn’t do Kazakhstan justice, I wrote it too quickly and too long after the event (which is probably also the case with this one). I neglected to mention a lot of the locals we met, for example on trains, and I forgot to talk about the electrified shower. Perhaps it was because there was an electrical storm outside, but it’s kind of weird when you get an electrical shock opening the shower door, dismiss it as static, but only after having turned the water on and being completely wet, realizing that something, somewhere, has gone very wrong with some electricity. In my case I could use the only non-conductive object - my shampoo bottle - to adjust the water, and as long as I didn’t touch the metal shower-hose, the great big tap at waist height, or the doors, I was quite OK except that the water was cold and ran out just after I’d soaped myself up, so I had to open the door with my shampoo bottle and wash the soap off with the coke bottles full of water which they kept there for eventualities like that (the
running out of water eventuality, not the electrified shower eventuality). The zaps didn’t kill me but they were a bit uncomfortable.
Also in the Kazakhstan blog I think I hinted at the taxi system there, which I think is common to most ex-Soviet countries, whereby you stand on the side of the road and stick your hand out, and within a second a private car stops. You tell them the intersection where you want to go and negotiate a price and they take you there. There are almost no official taxis and the few that do exist aren’t metered. Because the economic crisis is hitting Kazakhstan so hard pretty much everyone is trying to do this to make a bit of money on the side. It seems to work quite well, but you have to know that before you get there or you’d be looking forever for an official taxi.
I’m getting behind with my blogs again. If you’re wondering where I am now, I’m about to leave Selçuk (Ephesus) for Pamukkale, I’ll probably be there by the time you get this. It’s less than two weeks now until the Archaeology dig in Jordan.
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