Istanbul: Part 2

Istanbul is a huge city. Many of the things tourists would like to see exists in or around the same area. So needless to say, there is a lot we didn't see there. We talked to a man who had lived there for 10 years and he said he had only seen maybe 40% of the entire city. The part we did see was pretty spectacular though. We stayed in a hotel near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. I put a ton of pics on, in no particular order.

Above is a pillar that was made during the time of Constantine. The pillar was made when the city name Byzantium was changed to Constantinople sometime in the 300's AD. The pillar commemorated the beginning of the new capital of the Roman Empire.

This is a picture of an underground cistern. This ancient place was built to store water. What amazes me is that above it is just a normal street filled with shops, restaurants, and tourists. You would never guess something like this is right under your feet.

There are fish that live in these waters as well as plenty of coins that tourists throw in to make wishes. One of the James Bond movies had a scene filmed in this place, though I'm not sure which one. It would make a pretty cool place for a movie. I think they said there were something like over 100 pillars that hold this place up.

For an unknown reason, the base of two of the pillars have Medusa heads. They are pretty unique compared to the rest, which are completely normal.

One popular site is the Topkapi Palace. This is the place where the rulers of the Ottoman Empire lived with his family and servants. Today it is a museum. It is quite large. You could be here for a long time if you want to see absolutely everything.

This is the harem where the many many wives and concubines of the king lived. This place sees the most tourists in the palace area. The women lived here with their eunuch guards to protect their virtue I guess. If you were one of the concubines and the king really liked you, then you would move up in rank among the different wives....yay?

One of the rooms of the Ottoman concubines/wives.

This was a sitting room for the royal wives. This place was very big for a house....however, since the women didn't leave very much, it was probably pretty small for them.

Here I am at the palace. This place also had many museums with various things. Some of the stuff was pretty amazing like crowns and jewels and other things that are probbaly worth millions upon millions. Other things were kind of funny. One museum had Abraham's sauce pan, Moses' staff, Joseph of Egypt's turban, King David's sword (all of which seemed to be in remarkably good condition!....you'd almost think they were brand new.)

You might need to click the next few pics to see them well enough. I made them black and white because it was kind of hazy this day, and it was the only way I could get the picture to show up clearly. This is a view of Istanbul from the Palace. You see the minarets of the mosques all over the city.

Another view of Istanbul with a huge cruise ship. Many cruises come through here.

At periodic times of the day they had many different kinds of shows that spectators could come up and watch. This one was a traditional dance competition for children. You can see the Blue Mosque off the left. This is one thing I really like about Istanbul. I never really cared about dancing or music that much in the US, but now, living in a place where both dancing and music (I might as well add color and normal human interaction to that list) are seen as evil, it really makes me appreciate a country like Turkey which will celebrate their culture and history.

Turkish boys and girls performing a traditional dance. It was a lot of fun.

Just a scene of one of the many streets. Chris says Turkey is very European (which makes sense since this is Europe). I wouldn't know as this was my first time in Europe at all.

One night we went to Istakal Street, which is kind of the like Time Square of Istanbul. This is a very popular street. So much so that cars don't really drive on it too much because there are too many people. The people with the flags above are here supporting their candidate for Prime Minister I believe. The election was only a few weeks a way when I took this. Their man won I thiink.

More Istakal Street. We came to see the movie Pirates of the Carribean 4, which I thought was pretty good. One annoying thing about movies in Turkey is that the previews last 15 minutes sometimes and they have an intermission, which makes no sense to me.

Here is the popular Istakal Street. It has a ton of cool shops, restaurants, and cinemas. There is a lot of life here as well as some folks who try to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists.

This ice cream guy was pretty funny and devious. He lures you in by doing all these tricks with his cones. It is pretty funny to watch, but before you know it, you've bought a pretty expensive ice cream cone....and the ice cream wasn't that great. But the show made it worth it for a one time thing.

Istanbul Mosques. We only saw a few churches while we were here and they were walled and gated. I never got a feel of how Muslim / Christian relations work in this country. However, I thought it kind of odd that at every Christian tourist site you could never find a Bible at the shops, but always plenty of Qu'rans, which perhaps answers my question.

One day we spent quite a bit of time at the museum in Istanbul. I have to say, that after 6 or 7 days or seeing a million ancient things, my head was too full to take in too much new information. It was starting to get pretty overwhelming. But I was pleasantly surprised by two things in particular at this museum.

This one made me extremely happy! I have wanted to see this for years, and maybe even touch it if I got the chance. These three brick panels with the lion designs are apart of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon! (present day Iraq). I don't know exactly when these date back to but I know they existed in 587BC when the Jews were taken captive by Babylon. These might have been the very designs they saw when taken through the gates of the city. The entire gate was made of colored bricks with lions, and other animals like this. I didn't know I could see this in Istanbul. I know that Germany has a more complete collection of the gate.

Another one of the brick panels from the Ishtar Gate. They say that ancient Babylon was one beautiful city. Their hanging gardens were one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Only the colored bricks were a part of the Ishtar Gate. The museum wall is only colored to look like it. Aren't these awesome!? Of course the color is somewhat faded. I wish I could see what it would have looked like back then.

There were a million things at the museum. I'm only posting a few pics of what I saw. Above is a depiction of the Greek Titanomachy, a story where the Titans had a war with the gods. The gods won and cast the Titans out.

This was also a surprise to me. Above is the Hezekiah Inscription. Hezeakiah was the king of Judah and Jerusalem. The Assyrians were trying to take over Jerusalem and so Hezekiah built an extremely cool tunnel leading from an outside spring of water and into the city itself - it leads to the pool of Siloam for those of you familiar with the New Testament. This tunnel allowed the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stay inside the city for long periods of time without having to leave the city (necessary if you are besieged by a foreign army). You can also read about this in the Old Testament. This particular panel which inscribes the work done by Hezekiah was removed from Jerusalem and taken to a museum. That I knew, but I didn't know it was this museum! Very cool.

Talking to the Turkish kids. They all knew a small amount of English. Almost every single place we went to in Turkey we saw groups of school children. They must love their history (there is a lot of it). I guess I'm a pretty big nerd. Everyone always says, "how was Turkey? does it have good beaches?" and I just say, I think so, I was in the museums for most of the trip.

One of the rulers of Constantinople had a pillar from Egypt brought back to his city. It still remains in the city today. It must have taken quite a bit of work to get it there.

This is the gate to the Grand Bazaar. I don't know why I go to these things anymore. I always see a million things but I never buy anything. I guess they are just kind of cool to see.

Inside the Grand Bazaar. It always attracts a million tourists.

Again, the bazaar. I did end up buying a t-shirt and some Turkish Delight for my students while I was here though.

And finally, as we took the tram back to the airport on our last day, I got a picture of the ancient walls of the city. The tore some of it down naturally for the tram and the roads to pass through.

Goodbye Istanbul! What was nice about this trip is how slow it went. I really felt like I was there for a long time even though it was only 8 days. It was one of my funnest trips yet. I'm running out of time so I will end this here.

Istanbul: The Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque

It was in the winter of 2008 when I first learned about the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Ever since then Turkey was in my number 1 spot of places I wanted to go in the world. I finally was able to go, but I must admit, I never thought I would. Below is Chris and I in front of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. AWESOME!
Our flight from Kayseri to Istanbul was short. It took us some time at the Istanbul airport to figure out where we were going to stay and what we would do. It took an hour on the metro and then the tram to get to Sultanhammet Park which is in the center of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque - two of the most popular sites in the city.Here is the Hagia Sophia up close. Hagia Sophia means "Holy Wisdom" by the way. It may seem weird to do a whole post about 2 buildings, but they were pretty breathtaking. So what is this building? It was originally a basillica (church basically) built by the Roman Empire after Constantine made Christianity the official religion and made Constantinople (Istanbul today) the capital.The church you have seen the in the pictures is not the first church that began in the year 360 (it burned down in a fire), nor is it the second church made to replace it in or around 415 (also burned down in a fire). The building that exists today was built by Emperor Justinian. A few days after the second church burned down, on February 23, 532, Justinian announced they would build a bigger and more grand church. The stones you see above and below (stones with lambs on them) were part of the 2nd church that still remain on the grounds today.

Some pretty old stuff we're looking at! I love the lamb design representing "the lamb of God"

From 360-1453 this place was used as a place of worship by Christians, but when the area came under Muslim rule this site was converted into a mosque (the city name was also changed from Constantinople to Istanbul by the Muslims). From 1453-1931 Muslims prayed in this mosque until it was finally made into a museum by the new Turkish Republic in 1935. For over a thousand years this place was sacred to both Muslims and Christians. The history in this place, in the entire city is immense!

Here is the Emperors' door leading into the main part of the Hagia Sophia. Pretty massive doors leading into an incredibly massive room. For nearly a thousand years this building was the largest Cathedral in the world, and both Chris and I remember hearing that for a large portion of time it was also the largest building in the world, though we're having a hard time finding a source for that.

Inside the Hagia Sophia. This place is truly amazing. Unfortunately, pictures just don't do it justice. Here is Chris standing in the halls. Its sooooooo old!!

The opposite hall.

This building is so huge and so open! From the huge dome at the top down the floor the building is 56 meters.

It is hard to get it all in one picture. Throughout the building you can see signs of both Islam and Christianity that filled the building thoughout its long history. There are many Christian mosaics which were plastered over by the Muslims when they took over, but because this building is now a museum people have begun to restore the building and remove the plaster.

Here is a better view of the building from the second floor. The place was filled with people due to its popular nature.

Behind me you can see green medalions hanging with Arabic writing on them. Each medallion has a different name written on it. One has the name Allah, then Mohammad, then the 4 caliphs (the men who ruled after Mohammad), and also Husain, one of the son's of Ali, Mohammad's son in law.

I'm just trying to show every angle I can. This is probably one of the most incredible buildings I have ever entered in my life.

This stairway is what the Imam (Muslim religious leader) would climb to teach his people during Mosque on Fridays. In the back you can see the Mihrab which points the way to Mecca. It is the direction Muslims pray towards.

Again, the Mihrab, with some incredible stain glass above it.

For some reason these two cats were just hanging out. They would let the tourists come and pet them. They weren't afraid or anything. There is a pretty calm feeling inside, even though there is a lot of activity going on.

Here is one of the mosaics uncovered in the restoration. It is the virgin Mary and Jesus. This mosaic is directly above the Mihrab.

This angel is directly to the right of the virgin Mary above.

This mosaic (an angel?) was only recently uncovered a few years ago, which goes to show that the Hagia Sophia is still a work in progress.

This is the very spot in the building where the throne of the emperor was.

This is the wishing pillar. You put your thumb inside, turn your hand, and make a wish. Tourists probably do this a thousand times a day. Its because of a legend that dates back pretty far about an angel touching this pillar or something like that. There are a few legends about it.

Anothe view of this amazing place. I wish I could describe how great this place is! Words and pictures just aren't enough.

Here is a mosaic. Its supposed to be either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Chris thinks its Luke, and Matthew.

A panoramic trying to show the full scope of this place.

Here is a mosaic of Jesus, Mary, and John.

The intricate designs at the top of the pillars are carved into stone. Pretty cool huh?

Another view of the inside from the second floors. On one of the stones of the second floor, a viking who had visited hundreds of years earlier had carved his name. A viking! Not kosher by today's standards, but I think its pretty awesome.

Here is the baptistry. Who knows how many people must have been baptized in this font?

The font of the baptistry.

This is the ablution area outside the Hagia Sophia. This is the place where Muslims would come and ritually wash themselves for prayer before entering the mosque.

Me in front of the Hagia Sophia on a different day. I have to say that this place was much more incredible than I imagined when Dr. Seely taught us about it. It definitely exceeded my expectations.

Here it is at night behind the colored fountain. The minarets were obviously added after the Muslims took control of the city. This building influenced the architecture of many buildings throughout much of the world. It was revolutionary for its time.

Now on to the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque just sits across Sultanhamet Park from the Hagia Sophia. When Mehmet the Conqueror took over and turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, he wanted to design a more spectacular and bigger building than the Hagia Sophia. He failed, although it is still beautiful.

A view of the Blue Mosque from Sultanhamet park. This was my first view of the mosque.

Here I am in front of the mosque. Muslims still worship here today although many tourists are allowed inside during non-prayer times.

Here is Chris relaxing inside the court area where Muslims do their ablutions.

Inside the mosque are probably the biggest pillars I have ever seen in my life.

Here is the prayer area that faces Mecca. Of course we had to take our shoes off inside the mosque which is customary for all mosques around the world.

Me inside the mosque. There is a guy behind me about to pray. We're not supposed to take pics of people praying. It was an accident!

Outside the Blue Mosque. I don't have much to say about it other than it is a beautiful building.

And finally, the Blue Mosque at night with a green flowing fountain. Istanbul is an amazing city I have to say. We weren't going to visit these sites until we had been in Istanbul for awhile but due to some things being closed we came here first, and I am glad we did. Our hotel was only 5-10 minutes away from these two buildings so why not? They were in the middle of so much of what we did in Istanbul. I'll post more later!