istanbul was constantinople now its

Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople

PONTE VEDRA BEACH -- Hello from (slightly outside of) Jacksonville!

It's my second night here and I'd have checked many more things off my

to do list had I not been sick this morning. Ah well. A great night at

The Pearl is better than anything.

My baby bro and I went to our favorite bar and killed the place. I was

so happy to be there; I was smiling the whole night and admiring all

the new stuff on the walls. The DJ played everything I requested and

gave me a whole list of music to find.

The craziest thing was that one of the bartenders -- who's been

serving me beer since late 2002 -- told my brother, a friend of his,

that I'm hot. Really? All of a sudden? After nearly five years? Maybe

it was the smile. Maybe it was the black pants, black tank and grey

heels. Whatever. He kept saying things like, "Josh, mind if I'm your

brother-in-law" and asking me if I'd like to move to Oregon. It was

... interesting. The part that still blows me away is that I've

"known" this guy longer than my brother has. Hell, I introduced Josh

to the bar!

The only downside was that when we left, someone had broken into

Josh's car. He called the insurance company and I called the cops. And

I went back inside for water, whereupon the DJ told me it's a bad

neighborhood. I replied, "it's coming back, it's not as bad as it used

to be, oh, and I used to live around here. Don't start with me about

the dangers of the neighborhood."

I crashed at my brother's house, so very happy with sore feet from

dancing like crazy to beautiful indie music.

Today, instead of driving around Jax to do my 10,000 errands, I slept,

puked, slept, and finally awoke to pack up dishes, crystal, and random

other things to take back to Melly. Mom's going to be a travel nurse,

if she can ever get the contract together. And maybe by Turkey Day

I'll have the money to get all my future furniture!

Maybe, too, at Thanksgiving I'll hit the Pearl three nights instead of

another great day in istanbul

Another great day in Istanbul

Yesterday we went to see Topkapi Palace, the Sultan's residences. Then

we spent the afternoon at a street-facing coffee shop along our

favorite street here, Istiklal Cadessi (see a video here). We people

watched for hours in between sips of dark Turkish tea. We then walked

istanbul

istanbul to zonguldak

Istanbul to Zonguldak

Hi all, yesterday we left Istanbul at 7.00am and headed for Zonguldak

on the Black sea arriving just after mid day. We past thru Eregli

which is huge ship building port with coal and steel prouction as

well.

We have hired a car and driver/guide for 6 days and will go from the

Black Sea down thru Capadocia to the Mediterainan and back to

Istanbul. He is proving very good value, we took a bit of a gamble

having engaged him from using him as a taxi driver one night in

Istanbul.

Whilst wandering around Zonguldak a english speaking teacher

approached and offered to take us to visit his private school with 350

children. Of course there was no holding Pauline back so we ended up

by being mobbed by hundreds of screeming kids (just like home). We

then headed for Bartin and onto Amasa where we stayed the night. On

the way we saw farmers making hay the old way - cutting by hand,

loading it dried and unbaled onto trailers and thhen hand stacking. We

stopped to take photos and were asked home for a drink of sour yogurt

which we accepted of course, although I somehow managed a sore tummy

on the way - no way was I going to drink that! But Pauline bravely

managed some - and survived. What friendly people, within no time the

almost whole village (300) joined in.

Next thing the cows started wandering up the street, being returned

from grazing in the nearby hills. (everyones in the same herd) They

all knew which house they belonged to, turning into the dirves without

direction where they would be hand milked and spend the night under

the house.

These people are very poor - no tractors or cars for most, but they

share what they have. The women and old men do all the work, the young

men just seemed to wander about watching. The Black Sea seems to be

very foggy most of the time, but the countryside is very green and

quite steep and hilly. Its hard to imagine it snows here in the

istinye istanbul

Istinye, Istanbul

Summer has arrived very early in Istanbul and although it creates a

more aesthetically pleasing environment it is creating concerns for

the summer's water supply - same issues all around the world by the

sound of it. Here are a couple of snaps taken on the week. Istinye is

a 20 minute bus ride from home, along the Bosphorus.

Istinye, Istanbul Turkey

Istinye, Istanbul Turkey

turkey travelogue 11f istanbul

Turkey Travelogue 11f - The Istanbul Archaeological Museum (Cont'd)

The museum complex also has a large collection of treasures from the

Ancient Near East. I took pictures of a few highlights.

These are reliefs from the Ishtar gate in Babylon, which was

constructed by Nebuchadnezzar II in 575 BC and excavated between

1902-1914 (according to Wikipedia):

Other reliefs from the same gate are apparently scattered in museums

around the world including Detroit, Sweden and the Louvre.

According to the write-up beside this picture, this "winged genie" was

taken from the northwest palace of King Assurnasirhpal II (ca. 883-859

B.C.):

And this is Shalmaneser II (858-824 BC), king of Assyria:

(In case you are wondering, the Shalmaneser mentioned in 2 Kings 17:3

and 18:9 is Shalmaneser V who ruled between 727-722 BC.)

The tile museum is housed in a building constructed in 1472. Lots of

pretty things here. This looks like one of t's home-made Christmas

decorations:

Wall decorations:

istanbul 2006 may

Istanbul 2006 May

Finally uploaded the latest photos that were made during my last stop

over on my way to Hungary. The weather was hot and humid and

everything but ideal for taking good photos, neverless - here they

are. Except for 2 or 3, I was using only the 14-45

zoom:http://balazsgats.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=a

istanbul day 5 city walls of byzantium

Istanbul Day 5 - City Walls of Byzantium

Pakup's Istanbul refracts the city through his own eyes as well as

those of other Istanbul and foreign writers such as Flaubert, Nerval,

Gautier and Twain. This is what makes this book such a powerful

testimony. It's not an over-romaticised view of the author's city but

an honest account of many perspectives. He sees that foreign visitors

can see the picturesque in a way that is difficult for its residents,

as they harbour too many memories. He also sees how western art

managed to capture the city in a way that Islamic art did not. On the

other hand he praises the journalism and historians of his own city.

Grand Bazaar

A walk through Bazaar is no real hassle and there's much to see, and

buy. It's a riot of colour, but really aimed at foreign tourists,

therefore full of tat. The entrances, however, I loved. Just outside

of these the city springs into real life. Inside, it's all a show.

Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque (1609)

Returned to step inside the famous blue interior. The interior has

scale but not the elegance of the Suliymaniye. Its tile covered walls

are certainly impressive - it nearly exhausted the Iznic kilns but I

prefer the exterior with its six minarets.The cube is topped by an

ascending system of domes and semi-domes, culminating in the central

dome, which is 33 meters in diameter and 43 meters high at its central

point. The overall effect is one of perfect visual harmony, leading

the eye up to the peak of the dome. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the

only mosque in Turkey that has six minarets. When the number of

minarets was revealed, the Sultan was criticized for presumption,

since this was, at the time, the same number as at the mosque of the

Ka'aba in Mecca. He overcame this problem by paying for a seventh

minaret at the Mecca mosque. At its lower levels the interior of the

mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles, made at

Iznik (the ancient Nicaea). Its upper levels are painted. More than

200 stained glass windows with intricate designs admit natural light,

today assisted by chandeliers. On the chandeliers, ostrich eggs are

found that were meant to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque by repelling

spiders. The decorations include verses from the Qur'an, many of them

made by Seyyid Kasim Gubari, regarded as the greatest calligrapher of

his time.

Roxene's Hamman (1556)

Suleyman's wife's bath complex. Now a carpet museum/shop this is well

worth a visit. Completely symmetrical (men and women entered at

opposite sides), you wander trough rooms littered with wonderful

carpets. Extensively restored, it was a working hamman until 1910.

Archaeological Museum

This was a real surprise. One room contains a chronological history of

Istanbul with full explanations for all of its major Roman and

Byzantine buildings, gone or still standing. This is an ideal

introduction to the history and architecture of the city. There's a

full floor of exhibits from Schlieman's Troy, displayed layer by

layer. Then there's a beautiful pavilion dedicated to the history of

tiles and ceramics. But the masterpiece is the Alexander Sarcophogus,

not his tomb, but that of a Lydian King who decorated his tomb with

deeds of his hero. The workmanship is astounding. The treaty of

Kadesh, which we had seen written at Abu Simbel in Egypt a few months

ago was seen written from the other Hittite side in cruciform on baked

clay in the museum.

Lunch at an excellent little kebab restaurant in Emindou - a spicy

lamb stew roasted in a metal dish with onions, peppers and tomatoes

and superb baclava.

City Walls

After lunch we took the tram to Topaki, a poor area but bang on the

middle of the city walls. It felt a little dangerous, and indeed

someone did warn us about `bad men', so Gil headed back with Carl to

the hotel but Callum and I persevered and walked the couple of miles

down the outside of the walls to the Golden gate, almost on the

Bosphorus. Earthquakes, especially in 1894, have caused more damage

than cannons ever did but these walls are fairly intact with their

octagonal towers, main curtain wall, second front wall and moat and

ditch in front, now used as a series of market gardens. At various

points, the original gates, one can see the width and structure of the

walls in cross section. The Golden gate was an original Byzantine

structure topped with a statue of a chariot drawn by an elephant. The

Ottomans build a castle facing inwards to the city behind the gate

after they captured the city in 1453. We walked along its walls and

inside its huge towers. Sure enough, on top of the Golden gate, we

found the hollowed out footprints of the now missing elephant. The

areas directly behind the walls are dirt poor but everywhere is

brightened up with pastry shops and small restaurants. E had a look at

fright in istanbul

A fright in Istanbul

What is this Bilderberg Group thing held on the third of June in

Istanbul, Turkey? Luminaries attending included Henry Kissinger; Henry

Kravis of KKR; Marie-Jos�e Kravis of Hudson Institute; Vernon Jordan;

Etienne Davignon, Bilderberg Group President; Her Majesty Queen

Beatrix of The Netherlands, daughter of one of the founders, Prince

Bernhard; and the King and Queen of Spain . The article I read raises

question on whether there is going to be a One World Government where

powers go to the hands of the chosen few. The idea seems scary enough,

reminding me of this classic, Animal Farm.

Talking about Istanbul, I would rather travel back through time to

December 2006 when I backpacked there with some friends, visiting

among other places, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, London among others.

Istanbul, once known as Constantinople, is dubbed as one of the great

romantic cities in the world besides being Turkey's cultural heart. A

sprawling city straddling the Bosphorus strait, this city boasts of

the world famous Blue Mosque, sultan's harems and bargains in Kapah

Carsi (Grand Bazaar).

Ah! Talk about being scared. During this trip, we stayed in a hostel

where we met three young fellow Malaysians, engineering students in

Germany who were there for their semester holidays. They were supposed

to tour the whole of Turkey but unfortunately one of them lost his

passport. Instead of visiting places of interests, like the

archaeological site of Troy, a well known UNESCO World Heritage Site,

they had to instead take a bus to Ankara, the capital of Turkey to pay

a visit to the Embassy of Malaysia.

Losing a passport is definitely a scary experience for any traveler

especially one

who travels on his own!

Travel Tip: Take great care of your precious passport!

2007_03_01_archive

Presentation Card of Walk

LONDON - ISTANBUL

2,000 miles...10 countries...120 days...On foot!

Between May and September 2007, Paul will travel across Europe from London

to Istanbul on foot. His route will pass through some of the continent's

major cities: Brussels, Mannheim, Munich, Salzburg, Belgrade and Sofia. The

walk will present a vigorous physical and psychological challenge. Paul will

undertake this journey alone, walking twenty miles a day for 6 days of the

week and will have to cross a series of mountainous ranges including the

Bavarian and Austrian Alps. Not only will this journey be an enormous

personal achievement, but also Paul hopes both to raise significant sums of

money for his two charities - the British Heart Foundation and Europa Nostra

- and to raise public awareness about European cultural heritage.

THE CHARITIES

The British Heart Foundation is the largest independent funder of

heart research in the UK. It plays an important role in funding

education targeted at both the general public and health

professionals. The BHF is also a major provider of life-saving cardiac

equipment and support for rehabilitation and patient care. Its

overarching aim is to play a leading role in the fight against disease

of the heart and circulation so that it is no longer a major cause of

disability and premature death.

Europa Nostra is the representative platform of over 200 heritage NGOs

active throughout Europe. It serves as the voice of this vast movement

of European civil society towards major international bodies, in

particular the European Union, the Council of Europe and UNESCO. As

well as supporting national and international campaigns for the

preservation and rescue of Europe's heritage at risk, Europa Nostra

works to promote high standards in the fields of heritage

conservation, architecture, and urban and rural planning.

WHY A EUROPEAN WALK?

By doing this walk, Paul hopes to demonstrate in practical and

symbolic terms the importance of promoting unity and harmony

throughout the European continent. Alongside ever-progressing

political and economic integration, Paul believes that it is important

to advance social cohesion and foster a shared sense of cultural

identity amongst the European people. This can be done by promoting

and celebrating our common heritage.

The walk will demonstrate the wealth, richness and diversity of

Europe's heritage. Along the way, Paul will visit several prehistoric

and Roman archaeological sites, medieval fortresses and castles,

Second World War cemeteries and a number of World Heritage Cities

including London, Graz, Salzburg and Istanbul. The journey reflects

one made by Patrick Leigh Fermor, who walked from London to Istanbul

in the 1930s, at a time when the continent was on the verge of being

changed forever. To celebrate and explore the discoveries and

experiences of his walk, Paul will be organising an exhibition in

London on his return in September.

Posted by Paul Gardner at 15:32 0 comments

London-Istanbul Webblog

Welcome to my the London-Istanbul Webblog site. Here you can follow

the my progress as

I hike across the European continent.

The 2,000 mile journey will start at 9am in Trafalgar Square, London

on 6 May 2007.

From there I will walk in a south-easterly direction, traversing ten

countries,

one mountain range, several rivers and hundreds of towns and villages

istanbul

Istanbul

Dear all

I am writing this post from Hotel Tashkonak in Istanbul facing

beautiful Marmara sea. White gulls flying in few meters while large

vessels and small boats are hanging around. It is a beautiful city.

Yesterday my application to my US student visa was rejected in US

embassy in Ankara. Well I will never more apply for a US visa in my

life. If US embassies are really representatives of the United States

then US is not a good country to live or even to study in. What I

faced in US embassy is a severe discriminative behavior and what I can

never tolerate is discrimination. I have never asked for any type of

relations more than 3 times. All my 3 applications to US were rejected

and that is why US is out of my mind for ever. I have already

recovered the bad feelings I had about the event yesterday and I am

enjoying the marvelous weather here.

I had a chance to visit Ayasofia yesterday. It is really nice and I

had the opportunity to read understand and enjoy the texts on the

walls (what Turks could not do themselves). I also visited Museum of

Turkish and Islamic Arts. The so called 'Islamic Art' has been

fascinating for me from early childhood although I am not sure if the

name Islamic art is the correct name for this art. Any way I hope to

istanbul day 6 topkapi and turkish fast

Istanbul Day 6 - Topkapi and Turkish fast food

Istanbul is often seen as a meeting of East and West, but to my eyes

it's just as much North and South. The Bosphorus runs N-S and it is

this route that gave the city its rich customs duties. It guards the

Bosphorus. Even today you hear Russian and eastern Europeans and

hardly any English voices. Pakup's Istanbul is wonderfully evocative

when it comes to the Bosphorus and it's role in Istanbul's geography,

history and sense of place. He describes the ships that collided,

exploded and went on fire, the huge Russian warships sailing through

in the dead of night, the shipload of 20,000 sheep that sank taking

most of its sheep with it, the sad decay of the yalts (mansions) that

line the shore, the castles, the city walls and the differences in

cultures between the different parts of Istanbul. This is true. One

can walk across the Galata bridge and feel that you're in another

country.

Topkapi Palace

I was disappointed by the seamier side of Ottoman decadence as the

exhibitions are one big blingfest. Room after room of jewel encrusted

objects. Nothing more than the lazy expression of power and wealth.

The views over the Bosphorus and the relic room holding the Prophet

Mohammed's relics were the only highlights. A gold gutter from the

Kaaba, his mantle (case), hairs from is beard, sword, bow, dust from

his tomb, even his footprint. Beginning to spot key Arabic phrases

such as Allah, Prophet Mohammed, In the name of God the compassionate

and merciful. The view across the Bosphorus is the high point of the

palace.

Stopped off for some Turkish fast food, potato pastries, meat rolls

and fresh orange juice. Sad to see a few Macdonald's around when

there's so many good Turkish fast food joints. Thankfully, I only saw

foreign tourists inside.

Why a Fez?

I've always liked the Fez so looked it up on Wikipedia at the airport.

Turns out it's a Greek Byzantine invention, taken up by the Ottomans,

as western hats couldn't be kept on during prayer, as one's forehead

had to touch the ground. You'll not see a Fez anywhere other than on

hotel bellhops and at fancy dress parties, as in Istanbul as a

reminder of Ottoman rule.

Tommy Cooper tells a great story of him visiting the bazaar in Cairo

and looking at a fez, when the shopkeeper comes up to him and says,

`Just like that!'. Tommy says, `I am Tommy Cooper,' and the guy says,

`Who?' He explained that everyone who came up to buy a fez had used

that phrase, He had no idea why.

Farewell to the excellent Hotel Niles and off to the airport. This was

a fine little hotel. The two people on the front desk and all of the

staff have been hired for enthusiasm and go way beyond the norm to be

istanbul day 2 ottoman mosques

Istanbul Day 2 - Ottoman Mosques

Pakup's Istanbul - the real Istanbul to be found in its poorer areas.

Just take off on a route perpendicular to the route between two famous

landmarks and you'll come across shops, cafes, restaurants, markets

and streetlife completely different from the Sultanamed. These

backstreets make for great strolling. We walked through the wholesale

shoe district, clothes district an area of wooden houses that could be

a museum in itself. Ottoman houses, slums - cheap hotels.

Gazi Atik Ali Pasha Mosque (1496)

One of the oldest mosques in the city built by a eunuch who became

Grand vizier. Like many mosques the gardens have a caf�. A little

exchange with the attendant at the door as the correct etiquette i.e.

NOT to take your shoes off until you are right in front of the

entrance carpet.

Nuruesmaniye Mosque (1748)

Quite strange to see recognisable Baroque features on the outside,

then inside, of a mosque but this 18^th century mosque has curved

pediments and the ornamentation one would expect to see on a church in

Rome. This set the trend for baroque and Rococco design for a full

century in Istanbul.

Cistern (Roman - 4th century)

14 rows of 16 columns, this water cistern was used as a rubbish dump.

The vents in the roof used as disposal bin. It took months to clear

the rubbish and inside you see a huge expanse of pillars. There's no

water to be seen but an exhibition on the right hand side has computer

generated images of the hippodrome and other Roman buildings. There's

a caf�/restaurant inside, although the dark and damp don't add to the

atmosphere.

Hippodrome (Roman)

The rough shape of the stadium can be ascertained, although little

remains, A tall block built obelisk, which was originally clad in

bronze, stands at one end, then the bronze Serpent Column, a spiral

pillar from Delphi celebrating the Greek victory at Plataea in 479 BC.

One of the bronze snake heads can be seen in the archaeological

museum. Then there's the Thutmose III Aswan granite obelisk from

Luxor.

Evening meal at Olympias, a fish restaurant in Kumkapi. L0ots opf

2006_05_01_archive

flags blowing chi town winds in

Flags blowing - Chi-town winds in Istanbul

danggggggggg......the wind was blowing hard! Today seemed like

hurricane winds or something. Ok, i'm exaggerating a bit, but being

located on the 6th floor of an apartment, the wind was howling.

Turkish flags with Ataturk whipped the air. I thought my roomie's flag

would fly away, but it stood strong.

Before coming to Turkey, I always presumed that the Americans were the

most patriotic. Car stickers, USA flags on houses, companies like

OldNavy incorporating flags in shirts, american flags are everywhere.

But since my stay in Turkey, I am starting to second guess this. I

have seen many flags attached to ppl's windows. I've even seen ppl

using the Turkish flag for the phone's background. And I've never seen

so many flags strung up on a string and hanging across highways.

The economist noted that there exist a surge in nationalism in Turkey

in March (article)

Now, in the eye of war, it appears that Turkish ppl are uniting more

catch up with

Catch up with...

The Wedding of Hassan Fattah

Part One: We meet Hassan Fattah, follow him from New York to Baghdad

to Turkey. He invites friends to his wedding, and introduces his

fiance on a trip back to New York. Vanx and Kara are in.

Part Two: Vanx paints Kara and their friend Nancy at the Chelsea Hotel

in New York. A perfect day, during which Vanx and Kara agonize over

whether they can pull off the trip.

Part Three: Vanx, taking code name Rikki Mullin, enters the Muslim

World. He can't find Hassan and he gets cornered at sunrise.

Part Four: Your wedding guest takes in the sights around Sultanahmet

and gets busy with the sketchbook. A series of surreal, invigorating

and unfortunate events at the Galatasaray Hammami follows, and we wind

up with fish at the flower passage. Editor's note: Skip the ice cream.

Part Five: A day at the bazaar, the wedding ceremony, and a night on

the Bosphorus.

Part Six: Sketching on the Street of Carpenters and dancing at the

Asma Sultan Yalise reception.

metro of istanbul

Metro of Istanbul

Metro:

The 7.6 km-long line runs through the districts of Taksim, Osmanbey,

Sisli, Gayrettepe, Levent, 4. Levent. It is a short metro but very

useful for most of the citizens because if you do not travel by metro,

it will take your one hour to pass the 7,6 km.

There are 6 stations at these points. The journey time between the two

main stations (Taksim-4. Levent) is 12 minutes, with trains departing

every 5 minutes. Passenger capacity is 70,000 persons/hour-one way.

istanbul municipality logo on white t

Istanbul Municipality Logo on White T-Shirt

The blue logo of Istanbul Municipality. It represents the mosques in

Istanbul.

Buy this t-shirt?

talk show about turkey on italian tv

A talk show about Turkey on Italian TV

Last night on one of the Italian TV channels, La7, in the program

called L'infedele, conducted by Gad Lerner, they talked about Turkey,

Iraq, PKK and the Armenian issue. During the whole day in our mailing

lists for Turks living in Italy we received mails asking for Turkish

people (around 5 people were asked for) living in Milan who would like

to participate in the program as part of the audience to represent the

Turkish side. The program was supposed to be on air at 21.30 and the

audience was called for 20.30. The problem is, if they were really

sincerely willing to have some people representing the Turkish side

they would have made this call days before so that people would get

ready/cancel appointments etc. to be able to attend the show. When you

receive a call just hours before a live talk show it is not easy to

say immediately 'OK, I am available'.

I wasn't willing to watch the show, in fact, since I get usually very

angry seeing these one-sided discussions that go nowhere. But my

husband while zapping had found the program and called me saying 'They

are talking about Turkey again'. After finishing whatever it was I

doing, I joined him. From the Turkish side there was only Yasemin

Taskin, correspondent of the Turkish newspaper Sabah in Rome.

Otherwise, there was someone from the Catholic University in Milan,

some expert on Pakistan, a guy, whose name I don't remember, born in

Turkey but of which origin he is I have no idea, an Armenian woman

with the surname Arslan, an Italian economist (she seemed really well

informed, and talked quite reasonably) and audience which was just

watching... They had a live connection to Murat Belge of Bilgi

University, Istanbul. Everything said in the program in Italian was

translated to English for him, he gave his answers in Turkish and his

words were translated back to Italian. The first sentence, the first

translation to Italian and it was not correct, so I lost my interest

and belief in the program immediately.

Once again, I am no politician or politics enthusiast, so all I can

report is how everything looked to 'a Turkish man on the street'. The

'Turkish side' did not exist. Whoever was chosen to represent the

Turkish side was, in fact, on 'the other side', thus it was quite a

'one-sided' discussion, again. Nothing seemed to be resolved, nothing

seemed to be clearer, they tried to draw a parallel between the

Turkish army and Pakistani army (!!!!), which was opposed by, if I am

not mistaken, the guy from the Catholic University in Milan, Murat

Belge was himself as usual, Yasemin Taskin was left alone there to

give the Turkish view (the cameraman was fixing the camera on her most

of the time; she is quite attractive, to tell the truth), and before I

fell asleep on the sofa nobody from the audience said a word.. I don't

think they said any words at all afterwards either.

Hence, another pointless discussion on TV that caused only a

discussion between me and my husband. Yes, me and my husband always

have some kind of fiery discussion when we watch these things because

he being from the west, although quite ignorant on our issues, thinks

to know everything and has the right solution to all the problems, and

me being Turkish and quite a nationalist (in his eyes) have to defend

myself, my people, my history. I am so fed up being on the defensive

side! It is not easy being a Turk outside of Turkey. We are like fish

of neurology and istanbul

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turkiye day 8 istanbul

Turkiye Day 8 - Istanbul

If you have not done so, read the previous related post here, or start

from the beginning of the Turkiye posts here.

This is the final entry on my vacation to Turkey, a very nice place

with a good mix of things to view. Took me more than a month after I

returned to complete documenting the entire journey.

The time has come for our final day in Turkey. Being on a holiday for

8 days (excluding flight) somehow makes you think that it will be nice

to be on holiday all the time. Our last day in Istanbul started off

with some free time in the morning. As our hotel was near Taksim

square, a retail area, we went out to take a look around. At noon, we

were going for a cruise along the Bosphorus, the straits that divides

the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. Essentially we will be cruising

between Europe and Asia. After the cruise and our lunch stop-over, we

headed to the largest shopping complex in Europe. Although it is

actually average sized by most standards elsewhere.

Some sort of monument in Taksim square

A rare sight, a church, notice they have dome designs too

Pushing off in our cruise ferry. Paid quite a bit, the ferry could

easily carry 200 or more but there were only like 20 of us chartering

the whole ferry.

Picking up speed

Asia side of Istanbul

Minarets galore!

The first bridge we encountered that spanned the Bosphorus. We crossed

it when we came back from Bolu.

A mosque by the sea, there are a few of these

I think this was some government building during the Ottoman Empire

The sultan's summer palace

Reaching the first bridge

Another mosque, we will return here later for lunch

Passing under the bridge

Seagulls

Some old fortifications

Passing the second Bosphorus bridge, after which we were bordering the

Black Sea and the ferry made a U-turn.

Expensive houses that are conserved

One of the conserved houses. They can cost something like USD$60

million and you are not allowed to change the exterior design.

Military school

Another Mosque

We disembarked next to this mosque, there are lots of food stalls and

relaxing cafes around here too. The black soot on the mosque is a

result of heavy shipping.

Lunch, a really huge potato! I think they call it Kampir

Looks familiar? We also saw some stalls selling prata -- yes they

called it prata.

Efficient use of parking space

A glass blower showing some tricks

The time came for us to leave this place, our coach captain was

pretending that there was something wrong with the engine since he

cannot stop at this side of the road for long. Rather hilarious!

The roof of the largest shopping mall in Europe -- a clock that did

not seem to be working. There is also a small indoor amusement park

here.

Evening came and it was time to catch our flight back home. Thus ends

our vacation with a heavy heart, some wine and hazelnuts. Next up, I

turkish armenian editor shot dead in_19

Turkish-Armenian editor shot dead in Istanbul

By Paul de Bendern and Thomas Grove, Reuters:

A high-profile Turkish-Armenian editor, convicted of insulting

Turkey's identity, was shot dead outside his newspaper office in

Istanbul on Friday.

Hrant Dink, a frequent target of nationalist anger for his comments

on the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War

One, was shot as he left his weekly Agos around 1300 GMT in central

Istanbul.

istanbul

Istanbul

[Click on images to make them bigger]

In January I went to Istanbul for about a week. An amazing and ancient

city. Some parts are very conservative while others, like Taksim,

where we were staying with the illustrious Nese, are chocked full of

five floor buildings with a club or bar on each level. The city is

built on seven hills and you are constantly walking up or down steep

inclines. This also means that almost every top floor of a building

has a spectacular and uninterrupted view, usually in more than one

direction. It's a bit of a cliche but the city really does feel like

East meets West in terms of culture. Unfortunately it rained pretty

much every day me and Casey were there - hence the dark and mysterious

pics... I have a tonne of pics so this will be a long one.

I did manage to get one sunset out of the whole trip while riding a

ferry up the Bosphorous. I was coming from visiting a castle where I

managed to get chased by stray dogs when I got too close to them

fighting over some kind of horse skull. It turned out for the best

because this Australian fellow was laughing at the whole thing and we

played back-gammon and drank tea the whole way back.

I should have paid attention to the sign.

Wasn't going near this one.

Turkish food is amazing. The pastries and baklavas there were the best

I've had. Too much good food to get in to - and combined with a super

hospitable atmosphere everywhere it was really nice. Every restaurant

baked its own bread and served Salep - which is basically really thin

yoghurt with a bit of salt in it. Super refreshing to drink.

These guys had a boat based restaurant going which was impressive...

... given that the straits were really dire that night.

Markets come out at night.

Istanbul is a bit like Havana in that there are not that many street

lamps on at night. So it kind of feels like you are a character in

"Double Indemnity".

Sultanahmet. One of the biggest mosques in the city (there are

hundreds). Apparently there was a big stink when it was constructed

because it had too many minarettes and was coming a bit too close to

Mecca in grandiosity.

Inside Sultanahmet.

The Hagia Sofia was also really impressive. It no longer functions as

a church or mosque and is now a museum.

This is Sulimanye mosque. The whole city is marked by hundreds of

buildings by the architect Mimar Sinan and this is one of his best.

It's amazing how many of the buildings in Istanbul are his work or

derived from him.

There is a cemetery attached to Sulimanye. Interesting to note how

important cultural reference is for NOT getting the heeby jeebies in a

cemetery. No Christian imagery or western style tomb stones = no

ghosts right?

Heating coals for smoking nargile.

Backgammon and chess are really popular. Seriously, all ages.

Deniz, Nese, Casey and me smoking and drinking coffee. Coffee there is

really tasty but hard to finish because it is the consistency of mud.

Pump ya brakes and drive slow homie! 3,300,000 Lire cab ride... That's

how we roll.

Back in the 4th century Constantine 1 had some massive cisterns built

to service the city.

Night life is a bit under-represented in this post given how many bars

and clubs we went to. I guess I was too busy learning how to dance in

9/8 Turkish style to take photo's. It involves a lot of out stretched

arms, eye contact and aggressive hip thrusting. My new dance moves

have gone over really well back in the A'dam. Clubs really varied

widely - from gay bars with table dancing trannies and lots of bad

euro-trance to salsa music. One club was playing all thugged out

hip-hop which is rare for there (thankfully) and was populated by a

whole bunch of 7 foot tall guys (and girls) from the southern states.

Apparently they were playing basketball there. Strange to ask some guy

where he is from and have him answer "Yeah, A'm frum Jawgia, you know

- Hot-Lanta" while in Istanbul. By far the best night out was with the

band in this picture. Traditional music. Everyone in the place in

cluding the band was dancing. Awesome.

The Sultan's seal.

At the grand bazaar. Best sweater ever?

At the airport.

Taking off from Turkey.

The clocks changed here today - in the losing an hour sense of course.

I think it would be better if every time they changed we just gained

an hour. Eventually day and night would just reverse. I wonder how

istanbul turkey

Istanbul, Turkey

On the way back from Izmir, I stayed for one night in Istanbul. Of

course, we wanted to experience a traditional Turkish evening, so we

asked some of our Turkish colleagues for some advice on where to go.

They arranged for us to attend an evening at a restaurant where thay

also had 'traditional Turkish belly dancing'. It was certainly an

experience I will not forget... mainly because I left this

'traditional Turkish' experience singing "La viva Espa�a!". Suffice to

say that I didn't feel that I had really grasped the esscence of the

Turkish traditions... though we did see some very interesting

dancing!!!

It's hard to make a real judgement in one night, but I think it might

have helped if I hadn't spent most of the night listening to someone

singing Spanish songs!!! It seemed to be a very interesting place, but

istanbul confluence of cultures

Istanbul : confluence of cultures

How interesting would be to reside on one continent and go to work on

another. One can so easily do that in Istanbul with bridge over Sea of

Marmara connecting Asia to Europe. With almost 65% out of 12 million

population inhabit on the Asian side But European side is the nerve

point of Istanbul's cultural heritage.

Turkey may have just applied for EU membership but country has already

set a tone to be EU country. The best example of this change over is

Istanbul airport. This is modern, spacious and more functional airport

than most I have come across. Despite being governed by traditional

Islamic party, Turkey remains secular in character. Mosques- symbols

of Istanbul are as much tourist monuments as prayer halls with open

access to both sexes and all religion. Guards outside mosque however

provide plastic bag to carry your footwear and even provide wrap for

those who are scantily dressed. Islam is major religion but weekend is

Saturday/Sunday. During Ramadan no special concession with less

working hours are offered as in Middle East.

But in terms of tourist security, it still has some work to

do.Visitors to Istanbul need to be agile so as not get duped by smart

operators. Unfamiliar language, some crooked people and currency

complication can make visitors easy victims. Lira has so many zeros on

her currency that it takes few days to get used to. By then, you may

have accepted 10 cents as a dollar. Beware of touts who tempt you to

go to pubs only to leave in the clutches of Mafia rogues. Tourist

police are at service and I am told they are not corrupt.

Most of hotel rooms are small like in Western Europe but not that

expensive. One can get better deals over internet than booking it

locally. Restaurants are plenty and night life is abundant. Sultana is

one such joint which have belle dancing, Turkish folk dances over

dinner. Direct booking would cost 60Euro, going through hotel be

40Euro inclusive of transport. I also had an opportunity to have

dinner at Cirgan Palace Kempinsiki Hotel - on the banks of Bosphorous

by far the most luxurious palace I have ever been.

My work kept me locked in convention center located next to Hotel

Hilton overlooking Black Sea. With just a half day at my disposal, I

visited Sultan Ahmet - Blue Mosque, the most celebrated site of

Istanbul. It is believed to have been built by some of the same stone

masons who helped construct the Taj Mahal. Interior walls of the

mosque have 20,000 blue ceramic tiles and 260 stained glass windows.

This and other mosques have unique architecture of central spherical

dome along with semi spherical domes placed in cascading fashion.

Minarets too are slender with top end similar to Cathedral. Near by

Turkish Islamic museum houses the relics of different period of

history, they also have carpet section forming the richest collection

of carpet art in the world.

There is so much to see, observe and enjoy not just in Istanbul but

all over Turkey that only package tour of minimum 7 days would do

justice to immense natural, historical, cultural legacy provided that

Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires of the past.

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prauge to istanbul n 3 days

Prauge to Istanbul in 3 days = ......

Happy croozin through the rolling hills of the Slovak Republic and

Hungry. Crossing into Serbia we find ourselves presented with a 120

Euro bill for their Grun Karte (a special car insurance for tourists

with absolutely no function). To the suprise of Serbian boarder

control we pull a Uey, wave to our friends on the Hungerian side of

the fence and head for Romania in search of better fortune. Our gamble

pays off and our wedge is saved.

Into Romania we notice a correlation between the heat and the locals

exurbarance behind the wheel. The combination of dodgy roads and a

universally mavrick driving style demands a sense of humour and total

concentration. Observing the over-taking ritual on these unsealed

single lanes we find that a mutal congratulatory flash is good

practice to signal success in avoiding near death. But a complimentray

two-hour servicing from some boys in a dusty garage restored our faith

in the Romanain nation.

The road leaving Romania becomes increasingly exciting. Wanting to

prove my independence i stupidly decline a police escort to the road

for Bulgeria. The extent of the mistake becomes obvious when the good

road, which seconds as a train track, becomes a combination of debris

the size of dumper trucks and car size crators. To my delight, after

overcomming these, the path is blocked by an enourmous mountain of

rock. A quick Uey and back to the relative saftey of the train track.

Brilliant. Within an hour the road clears. A futher 30 minutes and we

find ourselves facing arrest or substatial fines for speeding. I

expres my doubt to the police, arguing that the 50cc scooter that was

overtaking me at the time i was apparently speeding was more deserving

of this penalty. Predictably this fails so I resort to lying through

my teeth and assure them I will thank them on British national

television for their understanding.

Success.

Bulgeria and the Balkan Penninsular pass without hitch and our first

kebab in Turkey comes as a well earned treat. Must crack on, its hot

in the Turkish desert and Iran calls.

Ian.

cant leave istanbul without seeing

Can't Leave Istanbul Without Seeing a Harem and a Bazaar

There's a lot about travelling that makes you feel closer to your

fellow man: invitations to a family celebration, sitting down together

over local food, and the camaraderie developed on an ill-fated tour,

to name a few. Unfortunately for me, being surrounded by the masses at

a popular tourist attraction is not one of them. I can be a somewhat

relentless optimist, but there's nothing like a popular and crowded

exhibit to make me want to start shouting 'Stop pushing! Wait you're

turn!' It's very American of me. But I've learned from travelling that

Americans are unnaturally good at queuing. And that busy tourist sites

turn me into a misanthrope.

On our last day in Istanbul, Tyler and I decided to fit in a few more

sights: Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, and the Mosaic Museum.

Topkapi Palace was first on the list. Just down from Sultanahmet, the

neighborhood we stayed in, remained the grounds that served as the

home and heart of government for the Ottoman sultans for almost 400

years. The grounds are huge--we didn't have time to explore it all--so

we made a beeline for one of the more popular attractions, the Harem.

You have to pay extra to visit this titillating area, but it was well

worth it. In actuality, the Harem was not quite as licentious as the

word suggests now. Rather, it served as the private quarters for the

Sultan and his family (which did include eunuchs and concubines). The

rooms were quite beautiful and clearly built and decorated to befit a

royal household, with beautiful tiling covering most of the walls,

marble baths with gold faucets, and huge mirrors and chandeliers.

Tyler entering the Harem. Note the specially made cordoning tape for

just this part of the museum.

One of the sumptuous rooms within the Harem section

An inner courtyard of the Harem showing traditional Turkish

architecture

Having done some ceramics work myself, I couldn't help but be in awe

of the gorgeous tiles that covered much of the Harem, the glazes still

brilliant after all these years.

Detail of one of the many beautiful tiles within the Harem

Another detail of a tile design

My favorite room ended up being the Crown Prince's Quarters, two

meeting rooms with Turkish carpets, low seating around the edges, and

amazing tilework and stained glass windows.

One of my favorite rooms, the Crown Prince's Chambers

Stained glass windows and tilework in the Crown Prince's Quarters

After wending our way through the open sections of the Harem (already

getting a little frustrated by the crowds rushing their way through),

we made our way to one of the sites Tyler wanted to see, the Arms

Museum. This included a pretty interesting if macabre array of swords,

rifles, and armour. I had to marvel at the artistry that went into

creating items intended for such dark means.

Ancient helmets from the weapons display room

Then we decided to brave the crowds to see the big draw, the Treasury.

As our guidebook noted, this section is the easiest for the masses to

appreciate because you just get to look at pretty things and humongous

jewels. They had small boxes made entirely of emerald, huge diamonds,

boxes full of jewels, and golden thrones. Surprisingly, they even had

relics of Saint John the Baptist--parts of his skull and his forearm

and hand. But the crowds! You'd think if everyone would just get in

line and wend their way through, everyone would be happy enough. But

people would get impatient and walk through the inner circle, barging

their way through to get a glimpse of some bauble, then continue to

the next. I know I should be a bigger person about it, but after

getting literally pushed a few times and finding myself having to hold

my ground to see something I'd been waiting and sweating to see as

someone tried to scoot past me, my patience began to fail. So the

treasury items were impressive, but I think my overwhelming memory

will be of fighting the crowds.

After extricating ourselves from the grounds to preserve my faith in

mankind, we walked to see the Grand Bazaar, aptly named as it is one

of the largest covered markets in the world with 58 streets and 4000

shops. While Turkish retailers have been relatively benign compared to

Egypt, we were still set upon as we entered one of the market's gates.

It started with a compliment of Tyler's beard, worked its way into a

connection because of a brother living in Houston, Texas, then became

an invitation to come visit his shop. 'Come, I give you my card! Maybe

you look at a few things.' Then, when we tried to politely decline,

'But Houston! Texas!' But we walked on, American connection or not.

The Bazaar is full of about anything you could want: rugs, jewelry,

leather, lamps, what-have-you. Unfortunately, our bags are already

near the breaking point after six months of hardly buying anything, so

while we could marvel at the Bazaar's scope, the excitement of

avoiding salespeople and ignoring pretty objets we couldn't/shouldn't

buy only entertained us for so long.

One of the many gates for entering the Bazaar

View in the Grand Bazaar

Because we still had time to kill before catching our night bus to

Goreme in Cappadocia, we swung by the much less popular Mosaic Museum.

I was inspired to come after seeing the few examples on view at the

Aya Sofya, and I had memories of beautiful slides from those Ancient

Civilization classes in college. This museum had mosaics from the 6th

century made during the Byzantine period. They are known for their

detail and color due to many tiles of varied materials and the small

squares, or tesserae, used to create scenes of people, landscapes, and

mythical creatures.

Example of the mosaics. Though I don't think the picture does it

justice, the mosaiced trees seemed especially impressive.

Mosaic griffin

Then the time had come for a little food and the shuttle to the night

bus. Turkey seems inordinately fond of having their long bus rides

pass overnight. On the one hand, there is some logic to not spending

10+ hours during time you could be sightseeing. On the other, the

romance of long bus rides--especially overnight--has worn off over

time. Now all they really mean is a cranky Tyler who can't sleep, me

with a poor night's sleep, and still losing half a day to napping. But

we tried to keep in mind our excitement of landing in Cappadocia, a

region of colorful, rocky valleys and fairy chimneys.

papal mass at cathedral of holy spirit

Papal Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Istanbul

The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul The Statue of Pope

Benedict XV can be seen in the shadows.

The interior of the Cathedral.

A close-up of the High Altar.

A chapel dedicated in the memory of Pope John XXIII who was nuncio

here.

Banners outside the Cathedral announcing the visit and greeting the

Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Patriarchs as well as the Pope.

The Papal Mass, a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Cathedral of

the Holy Spirit was a very interesting affair, showing off the

universality of the Catholic Church with prayers and chants in

Aramaic, Chaldean, Latin, French, Armenian etc.

However, my one complaint is that EPII was used instead of the Roman

Canon. Thats just plain silly. Patriarch Bartholomew of the Greek

Orthodox Church and Patriarch Mesrob of the Armenian Apostolic Church

were in attendance and exchanged the kiss of peach with the Holy

Father. The Patriarch and Pope also imparted the final benediction, in

Greek and Latin respectively and then processed out together.

The Pope's arrival at the Cathedral.

A general view of the Mass.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch can be seen towards the right.

The Patriarch greeting His Holiness.

The Gospel was read by Bishop Louis Pel�tre, Vicar Apostolic of

Istanbul.

The celebration of Mass. Eucharistic prayer II was chanted.

The Pope and Patriarch exchanging the kiss of peace.

The Pope and Patriarch gave the final benediction together in Latin

and Greek.

All photos courtesy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

(www.patriarchate.org) and N. Manginas.

You can access them directly here or by clicking the thumbnails below:

Photo N. Manginas

Photo N. Manginas

Photo N. Manginas

Photo N. Manginas

Photo N. Manginas

Photo N. Manginas

Photo N. Manginas

Photo N. Manginas

day 2 istanbul by land

Day 2 Istanbul by land

Here is a lot of pics from various places in istanbul. Starting in Top

Kapi palace, or at least thats what it sounded like, which was the

ottoman sultan palace. Thats where the trees are and the pic of the

gold bar door supposedly houses a room with Muhammeds tooth in it.

Also found out that the sultan liked to smoke pipes too, I want one

like him. Then to Aya Sofia church which is huge i think its something

like 180 ft tall at the middle of the dome, it was wierd too because

the little chandeliers which are just about 7ft off the ground are

tied to the top of the mosque so they need 180 ft of wire, musta been

really picky about lighting placement. Then There is the blue mosque,

its the blue one. Also the grand bazaar which is a trip, its kinda

like a nice Rosarito, many many shops selling the same things and

hustling you. It is massive, I would have totally got lost if it

weren't for our trusty guide Mustafa. Also those big spires on the

mosques are called minerets and thats where they do the call to prayer

5 times a day, its loud. There were two mosques right next to the ship

and I heard the calls clearly in our cabin. Kyle had his earplugs in

so he didn't hear a thing. People are supposed to wash up before going

in the mosques so there is a pic of that, one guy was smoking a fat

cigar while washing, so cleanly. Then hot muslim chicks oh ya. Any

lynette sumait istanbul turkey

Lynette Sumait, Istanbul, Turkey.

bastard of istanbul

The Bastard of Istanbul

Here is an entertaining quote from Elif Shafak's The Bastard of

Istanbul, a novel about a Turkish family and an Armenian family and

their intertwined pasts. Amanoush, the Armenian-American beauty with

no friends, meditates on the subversive power of novel-reading and

can't stop talking about books on dates. (Novels do seem to be

disapproved of by people who read only history, science or

biography--they're considered light-weight--and perhaps that's why so

few novels get reviewed in The New York Times Book Review. And perhaps

that's why Shafak includes a long chapter about Amanoush's reading ):

"Though books were potentially harmful, novels were all the more

dangerous. The path of fiction could easily mislead you into the

cosmos of stories where everything was fluid, quixotic, and as open to

surprises as a moonless night in the desert. Before you knew it you

could be so carried away that you could lose touch with reality--that

stringent and solid truth from which no minority should ever veer too

far from in order not to end up unguarded when the winds shifted and

bad times arrived. It didn't help to be so naive to think things

wouldn't get bad, as they always did. Imagination was a dangerously

captivating magic for those compelled to be realistic in life, and

words could be poisonous for those destined always to be silenced. If

as a child of survivors you still wanted to read and ruminate, you

should do so quietly, apprehensively, and introspectively, never

turning youself into a vociferous reader. If you couldn't help

harboring higher aspirations in life, you should at least harbor only

simple desires, reduced in passion and ambition, as if you had been

de-energized and now had only enough strength to be average. With a

fate and family like this, Armanoush had to learn to downplay her

talents and do her best not to glimmer too brightly...."

And later Amanoush tells her aunt:

"'You see, unlike in the movies, there is no THE END sign flashing at

sights of istanbul

Sights of Istanbul

Here are some pictures from around Istanbul:

Looking up at a chandelere in the Aya Sofia. A cathedral from 527 AD,

turned into a mosque in 1453 and then a museum in 1935 by Ataturk -

the father of modern Turkey.

Soaring towards heaven - the heights of domed Aya Sofia. Fabulous

mosaics once covered much of the walls and ceilings which were

unfortunately painted over. Fortunately some have been restored! Note

the arabic script on the stain glass windows - obviously added by the

Turks.

eu07 istanbul turkey 2 4 june 2007

EU07: istanbul, turkey. 2 - 4 june 2007

turk hava yollari

for zuraidah and i, the EU07 experience started pretty much from the

moment we stepped on board the turkish airline flight. there was a

leceh woman in front of us (which irritated the hell outta me, knowing

how easily irritable i am) and just beyond her, a pretty hot steward.

hehe. he wasn't as good looking as the jude law lookalike i spied in

the aisle on the other side but he was charming as hell. this made me

forget all about miss leceh and i was pretty happy as i settled into

my seat. we got the very last row at the back. little did we know that

this would mean that we would be privy to the antics of cabin crew

when they think no one is paying attention...

haha no lah, nothing naughty. think our crew was pretty friendly, the

guys especially. the girls seemed like they had something up their

arses. not as accomodating. service standards, people, hello?

anyways, the charming steward's butt brushed my shoulder like 3 times

the entire flight. was that a hint dude? wahaha. then towards the end

of the journey i decided to watch a hindi film. bad idea. bad bad

idea. was blubbing like an idiot (come on, hindi leh. and i find

abishek smokin' hot. le sigh.) and this was the exact moment that

charming steward decided to hit my head with his bloody elbow. i was

like, ow. then he was apologising and rubbing my head after that.

haha. he decided to be a little more friendly and started talking to

me. keep in mind that my brain was already muddled by abishek at the

time and all i could do was give monosyllabic answers and grin like a

fool. when the conversation was over, i turned to zur and asked, i

have eye crap in my eyes don't i? aaaarrrggghhh soooo unglam lor!

first stop

then we landed. helloooo istanbul! we got airport pick up with our

hostel and were whisked away to our home for the next 2 nights. stayed

in the old sultanahmet area, within walking distance of the blue

mosque and aya sofya. antique hostel is pretty awesome lah, very

friendly staff, nice setting, good brekkie. too bad we didn't take

pics with the staff. oh well.

we dropped our bags off and walked around before checking in cos we

were a little early. fell in love with the quaint houses and

cobblestone streets. one thing tho, they drive like madmen! seriously!

u would think that a huge tour bus could never make sharp turns and

pass thru little streets and alleys but it can! saw it with me own

eyes! unbelievable. while walking down one of the streets, we got to

know a shop keeper named mehmet tim. he was very friendly and gave us

a few good tips. little did we know that there was an udang di sebalik

batu... hot tip for future tourists- never never accept an invitation

to drink tea unless u really wanna buy a carpet! ez and i got a carpet

each... small price to pay for escaping with our lives. wahaha.

there were hot men everywhere lah... zur and i cuci mata until we were

tired. haha. kept going kacak kacak kacak the entire time. ez wasn't

very amused but he was nice about it, seeing how we're so deprived in

sg of good looking men. haha. needless to say, our malay improved cos

we were gossiping about people right in front of them most of the

time. oh, in istanbul, we are malaysians. natives of kl in fact, cos

apparently they don't like u.s. allies and guess which country is a

u.s. ally? yeah, that's right.

ok this is the brekkie view we get in the morn. cool rite... looks

more awesome live!

took lots of pics of the blue mosque. was pretty obsessed about it.

haha. this is one of them.

inside the mosque... was stunning, tho the smell of hundreds of feet

stank to high hell.

yum yum... our fave restaurant, doy doy. damned good food in turkey.

everything halal sommore!

passing under a suspension bridge on our bosphorus river cruise. very

hot day, think we got a tan.

as u can see, our time in turkey was quite well spent. went to the

blue mosque, aya sofya, a museum or two, walked around and ate like

the locals, washed eyes a lot. haha. we got a glimpse of the new city

when we were on our daytour and we were like, thank god we're holed up

within the walls of the old city. new city like very normal lah, like

every other city around. crowded, tall buildings, etc etc.

our shuttle back to the airport was such an experience. like roller

coaster sia. they were weaving in and out and stuffing bags and people

into the van like no one's business. crazy fellas. just when we

thought they had no more room and couldn't pick up anyone else, they

did. when we thought there was no way they were gonna make it passing

thru a narrow street with a huge truck on one side and a rough wall on

the other, they did. it was simply a matter of maneuvering and closing

side mirrors here and there. u have to experience it to believe it.

really.

and just like that, our turkish experience came to an end. next stop,

roma, italy!

*dey got limit on no. of photos that can be uploaded leh! will put up

istanbul armenians

Istanbul Armenians,

Continued from N1........

The biggest area of interest for me was the life of Armenians in

Istanbul. I remember an Armenian student from Istanbul -Sevan, who

studied at Yerevan State University and our surprise at him telling us

about strong and organised Armenian community in Istanbul. I hate to

say this, but many of us saw them as a kind of traitors who lived

within a nation that subjected us to a genocide not so long ago. Now I

see this tiny community as a bridge that is going to connect these two

nations and help to establish peace. For that they are going to need

support from the rest of the Diaspora, Armenian and, why not, the

Turkish government. In order for this to happen, though, perceptions

about this community need to change as well. We need to stop seeing

them as half-Turks, criticizing them for not joining the rest of

Armenians in open demand for Turkey to recognize the Genocide unless

we want them all to share the destiny of Hrant Dink. The hostility

towards these people is absolutely outrageous. During IInd

Pan-Armenian games I saw local people support everyone who played

against Polsahays and I probably never saw more vocal,loud support or

rather anti-support during the games. The wanna-be-patriots in

Armenian press keep accusing patriarch Mutafyan, for cooperation with

the Turkish government and not voicing the issue of the Genocide. Has

any of them ever been to Turkey and seen the conditions this community

is surviving in? The answer is -NO! The Armenian schools and churches

are all hidden behind protective walls, all the subjects apart from

the Armenian language are taught in Turkish by Turkish teachers sent

by the governement, who also make sure the school doesn't engage in

any 'dangerous' activities. Pictures of Ataturk and the Turkish flag

are all around the place, kids have to verse Ataturk's 'Proud Turk'

before the start of the classes. This people are hostage to

Armenian-Turkish complicated relationships and none of us is making it

any easier for them.

more istanbul and then south day three

More Istanbul, and then south

Day three in Istanbul was dedicated to seeing the Hagia Sofia and the

nearby Cistern --that's right, even the cisterns in Istanbul are

tourist attractions. But this one is truly unique. The Basillica

Cistern was apparently used by the byzantines to store water they

brought into the city with their aqueducts. At some point, it fell

into disrepair and was only rediscovered after tales of local Istanbul

residents "miraculously" drawing water through holes in their floors

spread. It has been fully restored now and is an eery place to spend a

few minutes, with its creepy underground mood lighting and shadowy

fish flighting about the shallow water around the dozens of columns

that support the massive cavern --it is longer than a football field.

Before going there, however, we visited the Aya Sofia (spelling

varies) --the former "Church of the Holy Wisdom" which, for a time,

was the largest church in Christendom. Built by Justinian in the sixth

century, it was transformed into a mosque after Constantinople fell to

the Turks in 1453, and then nationalized and made a museum in the

early part of the 20th century. While certainly grand and

awe-inspiring, it seems to have had a peculiar effect on Nesrine and

I. We realized that our vague sense of disappointment came from our

view that in restoring portions of the church-cum-mosque they tried to

show it both ways, and it ended up showing neither. The original paint

and mosaics had been plastered over by the muslims, due to their

prohibition on the display of images of human or animal in their

religious art. In some sections therefore-like the nave-little remains

of the original church. If you choose to approach your visit in

sections, however, there are some definite highlights: The restored

mosaics of Christ Pantocrator in the second floor gallery and the

donation depiction with emperors Constantine and Justinian in the

south entrance are worth the price of admission alone. It is

incredible to think that this is a 1600-year old church. That alone

makes it awe inspiring.

On day 4, our last one in the city, we tackled the Grand Bazaar a

second time, and did alot better this time, making headway against the

implacable merchants who assaulted us from every direction. We managed

to walk away with a few items and our dignity intact. While Nesrine

caught up on some booking, I visited the Istanbul Archaeological

Museum, which was a real treat for anyone who is interested in laying

eyes on the stuff you read about in ancient history books. It ain't

every day you can see a 6000-year old inscription of some God-King

bragging about butchering his enemies and ruling the universe.

Finally, perhaps fittingly, our visit ended at the Blue Mosque,

perhaps Istanbul's most famous site. We both agreed that it was a bit

anti-climactic after the splendour of the Suleymaiye Camii, but the

far more touristy Sultanhamet Mosque ("blue mosque" is just a

nickname) was impressive nonetheless, with its splendid tilework and

amazing proportions. I was a bit put off by the number of people who

sauntered in with their legs uncovered or, in the case of women,

without wearing the requisite head covering, provided on site by the

mosque staff. I thought it showed a great deal of disrespect. After

dining in Sultanhamet instead of Beyoglu for the first time during our

trip--all of our dining experiences having been great so far-- we

turned in early.

The reason for that was that the next day, we had to catch a ferry to

Bandirma on the Asian side, in order to catch a train to Izmir in the

south. It was a welcome respite from our hectic days of walking all

over Istanbul, and we met a nice retired couple from Australia who

chatted about their trip to Canada. After a quick bus ride to Sel�uk,

we got settled into our Pension, and slept like the dead.

Early this morning, we got up and visited the ruins of Ephesus. They

are massive, putting anything else I have seen from the classical

period of Rome or Greece so far to shame. I was particularly impressed

by the library of Celsus and the Odeon, not to mention the 24 thousand

seat theatre. The only trouble is the oppresive heat, which is taking

its toll on both Nesrine and I. We took a bit of a nap this afternoon

to recover, and I think we are about ready to transition to a bit of a

slower pace-- that means we'll probably be headed for Samos in Greece,

beastie boys perform in istanbul

Beastie Boys perform in Istanbul

Photo by gotozgitogo

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to locate much information or

media from the Beastie Boys performance at One Love Festival in

Istanbul, Turkey. Hopefully, we'll hear from some fans soon.

Update: Here's the setlist:

Gratitude [video]

Tough Guy [video]

B for My Name

Live at PJ's

Root Down

Super Disco Breakin' [video]

Sure Shot

Remote Control [video]

Egg Raid on Mojo

The Gala Event

Flute Loop

Pass the Mic

Brass Monkey

Triple Trouble

Shambala

Lighten Up

14th Street Break

Heart Attack Man

The Maestro

Body Movin' [video]

Check It Out

No Sleep Til Brooklyn

3 MC's and 1 DJ [video]

So What'cha Want [video]

MMM Interlude

Intergalactic

Time for Livin'

2005_07_01_archive

shopping for yarn in istanbul

Shopping for yarn in Istanbul

lori l. , who will visit Istanbul soon, asked my recommendation for

yarn shops in Istanbul. Well lori, there are 2-3 good brands: Feza

(the best yarn), YarnArt and Anchor (in this order). You will see

Bravo (which looks so nice, a true eye-catcher), but I don't recommend

unless you never wash your knits. One brand is very popular here:

Nako. It is quite cheap, they have mostly acrylics. From Nako I

suggest only yarns with minimum 50 % wool.

Yarn shops are everywhere here, as 90% of Turkish women are knitting.

But, the magic yarn land, a street only with (cheap) yarn shops is in

Emino"nu" district and the place's name is Ku"rk�u" Han. Actually,

this district of Istanbul, Emino"nu", is the shopping paradise. Words

are not enough to describe the experience of shopping here. One day is

not enough. Here you can find everything (gold jewelry, yarn,

clothing, kitchenware, spices, beading accessories, fabrics, etc) at

any price. As a foreigner, YOU MUST BARGAIN. The rule is: you say you

like the goods (never offend a Turkish seller by telling him his goods

are not nice just to get a discount) but you can't afford this price.

You pretend you leave his shop, he calls you back to "talk again", you

still say you don't agree and leave again, he calls you again.

Patience. This "game" might be tiring for you but is usual here.

It seems lori l. will have a great time in Istanbul.

ecumenical patriarch bartholomew

Contact: Rev. Dositheos Anagnostopoulos

Patriarchal Press Officer

Tel. +90 212 5210430

dositheos@superonline.net

Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos

Press Officer

Tel. +90 538 2777495 (cell)

istanbul birthday weekend

Istanbul Birthday Weekend

Its been a bit quiet around here because I've been busy celebrating my

birthday week. Last weekend Steve took me to the cool city of Istanbul

for my birthday. We stayed in the old city around the corner from the

Hagha Sophia and the Blue Mosque (above).

We took Friday off work and caught the three hour flight early Friday

morning. On Friday night we went to Rami - a restaurant with a roof

terrace overlooking the Blue Mosque. There was the sound of turkish

music floating up from the coffee shops in the markets below and later

in the evening the eerie sound of the call to prayer sounded out from

it and other neibouring mosques in answer.

We set out on Saturday morning to visit Haghia Sophia but the Armenian

Arch Bishop was visiting so about 1000 police were out in force

keeping tourist away. We made our way down to Topkapi Palance instead.

The highlight was a tour through the Harem, although our militaristic

tour guide (necessary for this part of the palace) kept us going

through it at a trot. "Ladiiiiies and Gentlemen we have only 20

minutes. Follow me please. NOW!" was her mantra throughout. I managed

to take a whole lot of photos still and am very grateful for the

invention of digital camerals yet again. There are apparently over 300

room in the harem but we only ran through about 20 of them - but all

spectalularly tiled and decorated with stained glass windows and inlay

wood cabinets.

We also went underground to the cool, dark Cisterns where I

moronically asked Steve why there was water everywhere. huh?!! Well

the Cistene Chappel doesn't have water all over the place! This was a

massive underground building with 336 columns supporting the roof. It

was built by the Romans at the same time as the Haghia Sophia and

forgotten, only resdisovered in 1545. The purpose is obviously to

store the city's supply of water and it is mind blowing that it still

works 1400 years later.

In the afternoon we went to the Grand Bazaar after being waylaid by a

hopeful carpet seller on the way who was disappointed when we didn't

snap one up. We did enjoy the apple tea though. It was good

preparation for bargaining in the market though. After saying "no" a

few times the prices came down dramatically. I used this technique to

snap up a couple of leather handbags at great prices.

We made it back to the Haghia Sophia on Sunday morning. I don't think

I've been to another building as old - built in the 6th century which

makes it over 1,400 years old and its spectacular. Originally a

Byzantine christian church, converted into a mosque in the 15th

century and then deconsecrated and turned into a museum when the

Greeks and Italians were trying to turn it back into a Christian

church at the fall of the Ottoman empire in 1934.

Finally we went into the Blue Mosque for a brief gawk after removing

shoes and covering hair and shoulders. Most of it is roped off for men

istanbul noir

Istanbul Noir

I know, I haven't posted in a week. I'm saving these stories for the

screenplay.

This town does not stop. I just checked out of the hotel, but don't

leave until 5am this morning. I was hoping to go to Hagia Sophia - I

have been trying for days, but I keep getting distracted en route.

This town does not stop, and it's been one strange and exciting

adventure after the other.

Now I hear Hagia Sophia is closed for Bayram, the holiday that marks

the end of Ramazan. I can't believe I've been here a week and missed

this. I've barely even explored Sultanahmet, the historic district

with all the mosques and markets and ruins. On the other hand, I got

to know Taksim and Beyoglu quite well. Sultanahmet and Nisintasi (the

high end yuppie district) are the places most tourists see. They are

missing out - Beyoglu is the beating heart of the new Istanbul. There

are miles of pedestrian walkways winding their way around the cafes

and embassies and clubs and stores. I've seen so much, and have met a

novel's worth of characters. I really do think I can get a killer

story out of this for the Advocate. Istanbul is better than hip - it's

pre-hip. One day Beyoglu will be known and the beautiful people will

all flock here again.

So I missed the Hagia Sophia and the museums. The only other regret is

that I lost Duwane's number - the American I met earlier. I clicked

with him in that rare way that sometimes happens. We hung out a lot,

and I got to see the city through an ex-pat's eyes. It was all good,

until I went to call him yesterday ... and couldn't find his number.

And he doesn't have mine. I knew his address, and went out to his

neighborhood yesterday to leave a mesage on his apartment's front

door, but got chased off by the apartment manager. And now I'm stuck -

taking over istanbul

taking over istanbul

yay got fabo email from my fave Turk and apart from giving me four

pics of four guys and asking me to select his new BF....(how cool is

that?) he asks if i dont mind having one of my posts printed in

Turkish Bear Magazine.

Now...how could I possibly ever say no to that?

its at www.ayilar.net its a Turkish bear site...so dont expect teddies

lol

in return i get: " if u ever come to istanbul (which u should) ull be

taken and showed around like the king u are! And at nights ill take u

wandering in istanbul

Wandering in Istanbul

As the weather was lovely we decided to walk back to the city - which

made for a lovely adventure - we walked through a sculpture

exhibition, I finally got to buy a bread ring from a street seller -

it was delicious, be paused for some tea and a game of tavla, and a

snooze at a tea house along the way.

We also stopped by the fish markets where the fish is so fresh it's

swimming, and it was here that Lorin and I got some lunch from one of

the many food stalls we passed - pialf - rice with chick peas it was

delicious.

From the fish markets we walked over the bridge - well sort of

underneath it actually - passed lots of bars and cafes and then across

the top past all the fishermen. Once we reached the other side we

wandered around the stalls that were on the outside of the Spice

Market - there were stalls selling, spices, nuts, clothes house hold

items - pretty much you name it you could buy it here and finally we

succeeded in our mission to buy spoons to go with our teasets!!!! The

stall holder had very little English and we had next to no Turkish so

it was one of our more unsuccessful bargining sessions but at a mere 4

lira we didn't feel much need to kibble.

Feeling rather foot weary we headed back to the hotel and farewelled

Frostie who is leaving late on Monday.

Lorin and I headed upstairs to our rooms and got our bags packed -

with a bit of squishing and rearranging we managed to fit everything.

Just!

Once we had finished packing it was still early so we decided to take

one last wander down by the harbour. It was very different to the

first night - which was due to a number of things - Ramadan was over,

it was Republic day and we were there much earlier than Phillipa and I

had gone out on our first night.

There were far more people around, and not just men - there were women

as well - and lots more stalls selling, shoes, bags, toys belts

clothes etc - there were also more of the delicious smelling portable

food stands - I looked at having a fish kebab - they smelt divine but

the fish were put in whole and my fear of bones wouldn't let me have

one. I did however get a sweet donut like thing from another stall -

it's not actually anything like a donut - it was a larger round

version of the light and crunchy syrup soaked dumplings we had

enjoyed.

istanbul day 1 ooooh so much of pretty

Istanbul, Day 1: Ooooh So Much of the Pretty

In the morning we had breakfast (bread, butter, jam, cheese, boiled

eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and tea) on the terrace at 8:30,

and headed out to see Constantinople.

The first stop was, of course, the Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia

Sophia in Greek, now a museum called Ayasofya), built by Justinian in

537.

[47b6da01b3127cce88d1d676389200000016108BbsWjVuzbQ]

Although the building's sheer age is impressive and its dome is higher

than all the French cathedrals except possibly Beauvais, we weren't as

bowled over as we expected to be - possibly because of the scaffolding

taking up about a third of the main nave area, possibly because after

500 years of use as a mosque before it was turned into a museum by

Atat�rk, you have to really look hard to find the traces of the

spectacular interior (Hagia Sophia - Providing Employment to Byzantine

Mosaicists, 537-1453!) that remain. And we never did find the

ninth-century Viking graffiti in the gallery. However, we took a

couple pictures, aided by a convenient booth selling batteries outside

the east door, as the camera's chose that moment to die.

[47b6da01b3127cce88d1d192f9dd00000016108BbsWjVuzbQ]

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(Donor mosaic over the east door)

One minor drawback of touring Istanbul is the abundance of touts who

stand on the street trying to inveigle you into the various

attractions and sell you everything from package tours to carpets. We

felt mean and culturally insensitive ignoring them or telling them to

bug off, but it can get boring real fast to be constantly harassed

(and some, at least, have realized this; some stores advertise "No

Hassling" and one of the most popular Gallipoli tours is run by a

company called Hassle Free). The touts outside the Blue Mosque also

are rarely in agreement about when the hours of prayer during which

the mosque is closed to tourists are. So after receiving three

conflicting pieces of information on when we would be able to get in,

instead we wandered around the square where the Hippodrome used to be,

where there is an obelisk set up by Theodosius (which has aged a heck

of a lot better than Cleopatra's Needle).

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We had lunch at an unpretentious little restaurant in the courtyard of

a Byzantine church-turned-mosque that was unfortunately closed for

renovation. We went next to the Basilica Cistern, a bizarrely

intriguing place underneath the main square in Sultanahmet, which

apparently was forgotten for several centuries while the locals were

able to "magically" lower buckets through their living room floors and

get water and even fish. There are still fish there, and I threw two

euro-cents into the water. Two of the columns - set up in the 6th

century, but salvaged from earlier buildings - have huge Medusa heads

on them, and the lights flash on and off randomly and atmospherically.

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Then we finally made it into the Blue Mosque.

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Touring mosques is a weird experience. Although many women tourists

ignore the posted requirements for modest clothing and head coverings,

I dutifully tied on my tulip-pattern scarf and was wearing long

skirts; men can't wear shorts, and all tourists do have to take off

their shoes. Tourists have to stay in the rear third of the mosque -

only Muslim men can go further forward (the women pray in railed-off

areas behind the tourists). A delegation of Arab visitors was in the

Blue Mosque while we were there. And to those used the playing the

game of Guess-the-Iconography in cathedrals and churches, the abstract

decoration of mosque interiors is oddly disappointing - serene and

unified, but not exciting.

[47b6da01b3127cce88d1d677b9a300000016108BbsWjVuzbQ]

Next on the agenda was the attempt to procure a transit pass. I here

excerpt my letter to Lonely Planet Guides (of which this is the most

negative part):

Our biggest beef with the book is the - at least in our experience -

inadequate and overly optimistic coverage of the transit system.

Although the extension of the tram across the bridge is a big plus,

and the funicular from Kabatas to Taksim will be very helpful when

it's finished (we saw the construction pit), many prices have gone up;

as far as we could tell, any single ride (bus, tram) cost at least a

lira and sometimes 1.25, though the ferries to the Princes' Islands

were only 1.50. The big problem, though, was with the Akbil,

specifically the ones for set times (daily, weekly etc.). The guide

makes no mention of the fact that THE PERSON FROM WHOM YOU ARE BUYING

YOUR AKBIL WILL NOT SPEAK EVEN THE MOST BASIC ENGLISH. For a service

so relevant to tourism, this is a serious problem. We started off on

the wrong foot with some ill-advised sign language, and instead of two

haftalik Akbil were sold a single debit Akbil with 14YTL on it. A Turk

who did speak some English happened by and seemed to browbeat the

vendor on our behalf into taking a further 22YTL and converting the

device into two haftalik. We traveled on this for 3 � days before

receiving a rude awakening - it had never been a haftalik at all; he

had taken the easy way out and simply loaded all the money on the

Akbil, but left it as a debit rather than a set-period one. We spoke

to a series of officials in booths, none of whom spoke any language

other than Turkish (we tried German as well), and who, while ranging

from more to less helpful, offered some truly wacky

suggestions/explanations (one ferry official suggested that we press

the thing in a bus reader between ferry trips because "ship to bus OK,

ship to ship not OK", which of course turned out not to help at all),

and all flatly refused either to "make us whole" by converting the

Akbil into the haftalik we had paid for in the first place, or even to

sell us a g�nl�k Akbil for the current day - EVEN WHEN THE PRICE LIST

FOR SET-PERIOD AKBIL WAS POSTED RIGHT OVER THEIR HEADS (as at T�nel).

Apparently - and this is only a guess, because they were all trying to

explain the situation to us in Turkish, when they did anything beyond

just shaking their heads - to get a set-period Akbil you need a kind

of identity card, with photo and signature, that also contains the

metal button on which the money is loaded - rather than the colored

plastic debit Akbil. (There were ads for these cards around town, so

they may be a new tweak to the system.)

The upshot of this was that we ended up doing a lot more walking that

we had really wanted to, while paying almost twice as much for transit

as we had budgeted. Unlimited travel for a set period makes such a

huge difference to the sore feet of tourists, it is a severe

disappointment and worry when it has been promised and proves

unobtainable. If the researcher for the next edition of the guidebook

can't figure out how to obtain a set-period Akbil without being able

to argue in fluent Turkish, he or she should drastically modify the

description of the Istanbul transit system, and in any case it should

be made clear that the system is NOT set up to cater to tourists, that

most of the vendors speak no language other than Turkish and those who

do speak English mostly border on incomprehensible (we only

encountered one with whom we could have any kind of rational

conversation), and that, even if they're not outright cheating you,

they will (1) deny that the thing you're seeking exists, (2) refuse to

sell it to you even when they admit it does exist, and (3) take your

money and give you something other than what you asked for.

But enough about that. We then took in the Spice Bazaar, where Josh

bought some special Turkish pepper for Adam, and where there were lots

of spectacular wares laid out, from Turkish delight to tea sets to

icons with blue glass beads against the evil eye, but you couldn't

actually look at anything without the touts assuming that you wanted

to haggle for it. We took a break in the forecourt of the New Mosque

on the Golden Horn and then took the tram across the Galata Bridge to

the Beyoglu district, Istanbul's restaurant and nightlife area and

also the location of Christ Church Anglican. We sat in the square

around the Galata Tower (built by the Genoese in the 14th century)

watching a juggler and some kids playing soccer - the neighborhood

between the tower and the water, and that around the church, is pretty

rough: the "real," untouristy Istanbul, with feral cats and dogs and

broken sidewalks and the most astonishing assortment of

hole-in-the-wall stores. It then transitions very suddenly into a

swish European-style pedestrian shopping boulevard called Istiklal

Caddesi, which we strolled up and down for a while before walking down

a very steep hill and then partway back up to the courtyard where the

church is. Christ Church is the Crimean Memorial, built by

subscription from the British populace in the 19th century, and

skillfully built into the side of the hill so that its towers wouldn't

compete with those of the nearby mosques, as required by 19th-century

Ottoman edict. It's a very pretty building with what seems to be an

original eight-lobed marble font set into the floor, and has been

recently embellished with very cool murals on the rood screen by an

artist named Mungo McCosh.

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We met the chaplain, a genial Irishman named Ian Sherwood, and several

of the refugees from places like Sudan, Pakistan and Burundi who live

in the lodgings attached to the church. I was given an alb and a

bulletin and thrown into the middle of a fairly high, Old Prayer Book

service which was nevertheless conducted pretty much on the St.

John's, North Haven, fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants principle. I made

the classic visiting preacher error of preaching on all three lessons

when it turned out only two were read, and Ian and I got mixed up

about the order of sermon and footwashing, but it all went off quite

well, and the organist showed up so we could sing properly. Afterward

we ended up eating in a restaurant with Ian and two women from the

congregation, one American and one English, and the latter insisted on

paying for dinner for everyone (thank you, Rosemary!). What with