Istanbul by Sea

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I read that one of the best museums in Istanbul is the Chora Church. It is tucked away in the western section of the city that has few other sites to motivate tourists to go there. However, it is has the best examples of Byzantine frescos and mosaics in Istanbul, and that convinced John and I to find our way there. We decided to take the Golden Horn ferry up the Golden Horn, then cab it the rest of the way. We weren’t disappointed. The church is small but well preserved. It, like all other churches in Istanbul, was converted into a mosque when the Ottomans took over. They plastered over the frescos and mosaics, which actually helped preserve them from being damage.The church is an empty building; due to its dual life, but the art work makes it far from ordinary. What was particularly interesting was the buildings dedication to Mary. There are frescos depicting her life from birth to death, a story rarely told. '

Since we took one boat up the Golden Horn, we decided to take the Bosphorus cruise later in the afternoon. The Bosphorus strait is the main waterway of the city, running from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. It was a cold but relaxing way to view the city from a different vantage point. After the cruise we decided to walk to a restaurant underneath the Galata Bridge for an Istanbul staple-the fish sandwich. It was definitely more of a treat for John, but I managed to get half way through it.

We finished the day with a Whirling Dervish performance in a building that was converted from a traditional Turkish bath. The whirling is actually a Sufi Muslim ceremony. There is some sort of connection between the shape of a circle and spiritual maturity. There was a small stage where the musicians played and singers accompanied them in chant like songs. The dervishes spun around with their eyes closed and arms raised, they seemed to be in a trance like state. It was quite meditative, though I can’t believe they didn’t get dizzy, spinning for up to five minutes at a time.

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