today was intense! the preceeding pages have notes on each place that we visited and i will do my best to describe them more here.
our first task of the day was to meet the turkish students with whom we will be working. gulen met us girls at 9 or so and walked us up to the interior design student and then went to get gavin and matt. they had decided to go find her when they hadn’t seen her by 9, so it took some time for her to find them and get them back to us. there are 10 of us and 7 turkish students.
we discussed the project and look at some images of the sites as well as the map showing us where they are locate. tomorrow we will go look at the sites and surrounding area.
from there, we met our driver and went into istanbul. we crossed into the european side and went first to the istanbul modern museum. on the way we passed gulen’s university and dolmebahce palace (“dolmabachi”), which was modeled after and is more extravagant than versailles. the museum is in an old factory building on the water. we met our guide, galip, there and had a tour of the museum by another girl. the works in there and the way they have laid it out are very interesting. i made a list of the artists i liked and their works, but my all-time favourite was french photographer francois banier. he focused on people – some candid, others looking at the camera or posing – and caught some people in a fabulous and enchanting moment. i envy his style and the way he used his lens to interact with people and captured them interacting with others.
we had a light lunch in the cafe overlooking the dock below and the water. we had a great view of across the golden horn to the blue mosque, topkapi palace and hagia irene. i had the gunun corbasi – soup of the day – for lunch and it turned out to be there yogurt corbasi that i read about. it was very good – a rice and spice base – and i am glad i had a traditional turkish dish.
after lunch we went back to the bus and drove to the hippodrome. our afternoon was spent in this area – basilica cistern, museum of islamic and turkish arts, and the blue mosque – as well as a short trip down to a medresi to see artist studios and have a break.
we started with the basilica cistern. this is an underground cistern – obviously – which has hundreds of 9m columns and domed squares between each column. part of the cistern has since collapsed and been walled up. the columns are all found objects from greek or roman pagan temples – ionic, corinthian and doric and are as mismatched as possible. if a column wasn’t tall enough no big deal – just throw a slab of marble on top! eerie being down there – it’s dark and the lights are very dim.
one of the main attractions in the cistern are the medusa column. the heads of medusa – greek mythology of woman with snakes for hair – are at the bases of two columns. one is upside down and the other is sideways. no one knows why or how they are there but they are interesting to look at.
back outside, we walked into the hippodrome on our way to the islamic and turkish arts museum. galip pointed out the two obelisks [apparently there are 3] that still stand. one is egyptian – from karnak – and is 7000 years old – the oldest structure in istanbul. the other is greek – from delphi – and is called the serpentine column, although i didn’t see any serpents – according to my guidebook, they were hacked off by a drunken soldier in the 17th/18th century. the road around the hippodrome is the same path that the horse races/chariot races were held along and when we walked down to the medresi we could see the ancient walls of the hippodrome.
the museum of islamic and turkish arts is in an old pasa (“pasha”) palace – the palace of the general in ottoman times.
a lot of things inside the museum are old pottery pieces, teapots, scrolls, etc… basic islamic artworks. it also traces the history of the ottoman empire which has several different lands throughout its reign. one of the most prominent collections was its carpet collection. some are symmetrical, but others have one side pointing in one direction – these are the prayer carpets and the pointed side must be placed facing mecca. on the lower floor of the museum is an ethnographic department, which had images of nomadic turkish women and mock ups of an anatolian black tent, a village house and a city house. the contrast of the way of living is striking, but to me, each scenario has something appealing and familiar.
the views of the blue mosque from the museum courtyard are postcard-worthy so we took photos and sat in the shade before leaving. the original plan was to go to the mosque, but it was time for their afternoon prayers so we went downhill to the medresi.
a medresi is originally a higher-education school – this one has been converted into artisan studios, a cafe and possibly some learning centres. it is a low building that surrounds a courtyard. not a manicured garden, but more like one that has been allowed to grow on it’s own – i found it to be very relaxing and inviting. we saw several artists working on miniatures – small paintings of other, larger and more famous paintings, or possibly just many little paintings of which there is no predecessor. then we sat outside a studio – gulen knew the girl – and had drinks: cola light, cay, su (tea, water) (“chai”) and looked through her shops work. gulen told us folklore of a turkish man – wise man possibly – and we also heard the call to prayer from the neighbouring mosque.
the neighbourhood that we were in was very untouristy and city like at the same time. the streets were small and narrow, broken cobblestones and there were local artist shops as well as a cafes and markets. i took several pictures of local people, trying to be as candid as possible but people do get interested in what you are doing… not always a bad thing.
we made it back to the blue mosque and were able to go in. before that, i need to back up though – when we were here earlier there was a little boy – maybe 7 or 8 – who was dressed “like a sultan.” it turns out he was having his circumcision ceremony and gulen asked him to pose in front of the mosque for us. he was very shy but the image of him is priceless.
back to the mosque.
it was built by mehmet aga between 1609-1616 and takes its name from the blue tiles on the interior. we entered the courtyard from the hippodrome and crossed the expanse <– actually this would be the garden – there is a chain hanging from the entrance which makes it impossible for anyone to enter the grounds on anything other than their own two feet. steps lead up into an exterior mosque space – at times still used for prayer i think – where the now-ornamental ablutions fountain is. the main prayer entrance is directly on axis with the other two entrances, but the tourist entrance is around the side.
when we entered, we had to take our shoes off – they give you a bag – and if your knees are showing [anyone], they give you a wrap, as well as if your shoulders are bare. this being mainly a tourist attraction, we ladies didn’t have to cover our heads, but galip said that tomorrow we will.
the space inside is pretty staggering. i knew a little of what to expect, but not what i saw. the dome rises fairly high and is covered in blue and white tiles. 4 half domes are on either ends of the large dome and each is surrounded by 250 windows. the original stained glass is not in the windows anymore and the present glass is all one colour to be less distracting.
the weight of the dome is supported by 4 large marble columns/piers. we couldn’t pass a certain point – the front is reserved for prayers and such but we could see the minbar and other important areas. the women pray in separate areas, which tend to be in the back or behind screens. in fact, there were women napping at the back of the mosque. tourists? or pilgrims?
as we left the mosque and descended back into the gardens, we saw muslims washing their feet in the fountains to the left of us. this is ritual for them after prayer and it was cool to see that even in the midst of so many non-muslims that they follow their faith to faithfully.
our driver met us right where we dropped us off and as we were walking over, we saw a group of young turks dancing a traditional turkish dance – it looked like something like a jig maybe and there was a man in the center of their semi circle playing an instrument and one of the dancers was calling out something.
gulen’s birthday is today and she had arranged for some of her family members to meet us for dinner and so we went out to eat in taksim – its an area in beyoglu, which is known for its trendiness and bars, i guess. we got dropped off at a roundabout, which has several branches that are pedestrian only coming off of it. we walked a little ways down one and took a right to lead us to the restaurant.
this is an area in which you need to watch around you for pickpockets. gulen said to also watch for little kids – distractions maybe? it reminded me of glasgow – sauchiehall and buchanan actually, with its cobblestone streets, tall classical buildings and light strung between the buildings. they also has stores i recognised: topshop for one, which we don’t have in the us… total glasgow. i miss it…
dinner was at haci abdullah. haci means someone who has taken the pilgrimmage to mecca – therefore margot and i think the restaurant must be named after abdullah the pilgrim. we walked in and to the back. we stopped halfway to look at the dishes that we could order. gulen described each dish and we all ordered something before going to the table. they had olive oil dishes, which were cold dishes like rice-stuffed peppers or grape leaves, beans and artichokes. then they had hot dishes, predominantly meat, that were things like lamb shank and eggplant, lamb stuffed quiche and eggplant with veggies. i ordered a hot dish of lamb shank and eggplant with rice pilaf; no cold dish but i tried the stuffed grape leaves and green beans which were both good.
gulen’s mom and her father-in-law came to dinner. that made our evening very enjoyable and gulen’s mom fully enjoyed us – matt spoke to her in turkish and taught her some english. her father-in-law was very impressed when matt said “memnum oldrum” (nice to meet you) and margot and i said “merhaba” to him. gulen’s mom had bought a cake and we each had a slice. it had banana frosting and pieces of glazed fruit like pineapple, peaches, kiwi, etc it was very delicious but the meal had been so rich that i could only eat a little cake. we also got cay (tea) after the cake and sat around talking. galip helped up figure out how much we owed and we headed back to the bus.
we stopped at a fruit stand for tomorrow’s breakfast and then gulen saw us off on the bus. she is staying with her mom tonight….
words of the day: gurusuruz (gu-ru-shu-ruz) = see you later, manar = fruit stand