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Published: January 15th 2008
Turkish Tulips
Outside the Aya SofyaThe first and best thing I noticed about Istanbul when flying in, was that it’s not ‘just another European city’ and also perhaps not quite what I had imagined.
It’s surrounded by water - clean looking water - and its skyline is punctured with the minarets of the many mosques located all over the city.
I was impatient to get to our hotel and be able to explore the city further. Naturally, I was pretty happy when I found that mine and Beth’s room was overlooking the ‘Schzade Mehmet Camii’ mosque opposite, and only a short walk down the road to the ‘Aqueduct of Valens.’
We wandered through the centre of Istanbul just as night was falling, to see the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya lit with its evening lighting, whilst on the search for dinner plus Beth’s mates Michelle, Wade, Rowan and gang, who we just happened to bump into at the same restaurant on the other side of town!
The following morning we found out what wasn’t so cool about having our hotel room directly over looking the mosque next door - and that was the 5am mosque callings that rang right through our room!
We set out for a day of sightseeing, starting at the ‘Aqueduct of Valens’ - a large stone, multi-arched bridge that used to carry the city’s water supply 24km from a lake to the Basilica Cistern, which we will see tomorrow, and carried on towards the centre, we passed the ‘Beyazit Camii’ mosque in the large very old, and quite intriguing, cobbled square, which wouldn’t be complete without its pigeons.
Next stop was the amazing Aya Sofya (Church of the Devine Wisdom) that has and an interesting history. It started life as a church in 532AD, until the Ottomans took over Istanbul and converted it into a mosque in 1453, plastering over all the mosaics on the walls. These were not found again until Atatürk turned the Aya Sofya into a museum in the 1930s, and you can now see what left of these ancient mosaics today.
Inside, Aya sofya is massive! The central dome, one of its more famous features, towers high above - over 55m in height - creating a massive central area. In one corner is the ‘Stele of St Gregory Thaumaturgus’, which when you turn your thumb inside, will apparently gives you good luck.
But there ain’t no way I’m sticking my thumb in a random hole for something to bite it on the other side!
One Turkish fact I found very interesting, was that tulips are originally from Turkey, and were actually a gift to Holland, now famous for its tulips, in 1554. Therefore not surprisingly, the beautiful garden that we’re now sitting in having out chicken kebab for lunch, between the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque, has numerous flower beds full of bright tulips.
The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing Topkapi Sarayi, the palace, where the Turkish Sultans have lived since 1463, until they moved to the Dolmabahce Palace in the 19th Century.
Not surprisingly, the palace is in prime location - encompassing the cliff top over looking the Bosphorus River and the Sea of Marmara. Topaki Palace itself is not based on a typical European palace plan, (if there is such a thing), it is made up of a number of courts, which prescribe who is allowed to enter these areas, progressing from general public to completely private areas. We had a look through the Harem, where the sultan, his 4 wives and concubines lived, and
at the various displays, such as the collection of Chinese celadon porcelain which arrived via the Silk Road from China, plus some of the royal collections of silver and glassware.
Day three and we finally get to meet our tour group for a tour of Istanbul. First stop - the Basilica Cistern, which is a large underground chamber, built in 532AD to hold water for the city and the near by palace. It was built using old marble columns from other buildings in and around the area. The most interesting thing to note is the two large marble stones used under shorter columns. As Christians built the Cistern, they didn’t not care which way the stones were laid, and these two large pieces with medusa’s head carved into them, are upside down!
We walked over to the impressive Blue Mosque (Saltan Ahmet Camii), the centre of attention on Istanbul’s skyline, with its 6 minarets and large dome high above any of the surrounding buildings.
The mosque, built in 1609 for Sultan Ahmet I as a rival to the Aya Sofya, has the biggest courtyard of all the Ottoman mosques, along with its beautiful gardens, it certainly took
centre stage.
Inside, the mosque was very spacious and decorated with thousands of intricate hand made tiles - each tile a work of art itself. It surprised me to see that the individual tiles were mostly white with blue inscriptions; however the combined effect was amazing - giving the mosque its iconic name.
We had a look around the neighbouring Hippodrome, which was the centre of Byzantines life for 1,000 years, and the Ottomans for 400 years. It was once used for chariot racing, but since then the stone blocks have been used for other buildings, including the Blue Mosque, and looks like any other urban park. A few interesting artefacts remain, including an Egyptian obelisk, the “Obelisk of Theodesis” carved in Egypt around 1450 BC and later brought to Constantinople in AD 390.
After a rummage through the Spice Bazaar and collecting half a kilo of fresh Turkish Delights, we went for a boat trip up the Bosphorus River. We got to see a view up the Golden Horn and past the Topakai Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, and a number of mosques, and other elaborate houses and buildings along the way. However, it wasn’t all glitz and
Aya Sofya
in sunny Turkey glamour, and not far behind these nice buildings you could see the more poor areas, with tall shapeless box-structures jammed full with small apartments, and washing hanging out random windows.
Our last stop for the day was Taksim, in the new town, for our ‘traditional Turkish evening’. Where we sat back and got entertained by belly dancers, some Turkish male dancers, knife throwing, fire juggling, a numerous other cultural dancers, all while having a four course Turkish dinner. … oh, and a couple of boys from our group got pulled up to do the Maori Haka in front of everyone. .. good on ya Brent: show ya proud!
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