Gunga- Returning to Istanbul

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For ten years I have wanted to return to Istanbul. It is a pulsating city that straddles two continents. For 4,000 years it has been fought over by mongol hoards, Christian Crusaders, and Arabs. This has resulted in an eclectic mix of civilizations, a mix that is evident not only in the architecture and religious practices, but in customs and cultural quirks. As I walk along the tiny, winding back streets by our little hotel ( stonehotel.com) I have seen fully veiled and black clad women walking with their daughters who are dr essed in bright pink leggings and sparkly pink jackets. In a restaurant waiting for dinner I can hear the call to prayers from several different minarets while at the same time watching music videos from pop stars that feature scantily clad women sometimes in front of the famous mosques.

The pace of life here is fast. Businessmen rush by, always on their 'mobiles' ,(as they call cell phones). Lines gather in front of a collection of ATM's (directly across from the Blue Mosque). Street sellers approach you from every angle asking you to buy scarves, bracelets, bread, chestnuts, postcards, or books. And the tour buses pull up in front of every famous site discharging their English, or Australian, or French, or Japanese, or American tourists who pile out of their buses like so many dazed cattle ( I know, I've been one of them). They follow their guide into whichever spot is next on their itinerary, listen to an overly long explanation, and then pile back onto their buswithout a clue as to where they are within the city.

But this time is different. We are here for 10 glorious days where we can plan to do whatever we want and spend as much time doing it as we desire. We can walk in which ever direction the desk clerk points out for us discouraging us from taking a taxi as we are so close to all the famous landmarks. Last time I visited the Aya Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Suleyman mosque AND Topkapi all in one morning. Truthfully, I couldn't remember one thing about any of them it was so rushed together.

Our little hotel ( which is currently without hot water because the boiler blew last night) is in the heart of the Sultanahmet district. We can walk to the famous mosques in about 15 minutes. We love going along the winding cobblestone streets and being greeted by the shopkeepers ( who by now- day 2- recognize us). So yesterday we took all day and went to the Aya Sophia, a 1,500 year old giant red ( now mosque) that is probably Istanbul's most famous landmark. It was originally built by Emperor Justinian in 532! It was painted blood red to serve as a warning to would be revolutionaries. It was, when built, the grandest building in the world. But, here the plot thickens, the crusaders, those good Catholic soldiers, looted the holy relics, destroyed exquisite carvings, and seated a prostitute on the patriarch's throne in order to ridicule the Eastern Church. Wait,wait there's more......then came the Byzantines who regained and retained Constantiople for another 200 years before it fell to the Ottomans in 1453. Whew!

Next, we went to the Blue Mosque. This is, to me, the most beautiful one of all. It is relatively new compared to some others since it was built in 1617. It is a practicing mosque and one has to remove their shoes, dress modestly, and for women wear a head scarf. It is not unusal to see men and women dressed in blue 'mosque' attire as the doorkeepers deemed their shorts or skirts as being indecent. While it is not as large as the Aya Sofia, to me it is more beautiful because of the delicately patterned Iznik ceramic tiles- a total of 20,143 ( no, I didn't count them) in seventy different styles. There are six minarets which is unusual. No mosque except the great mosque in Mecca has six. But the story goes that the sultan asked for a minaret capped with 'altin' (gold) but the architect thought he had asked for 'alti' ( six) minarets. The rest is history.

Enough.....
Carolyn/ gunga

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