Istanbul...Constantinople...Istanbul...and Canakkale

Istanbul

Monday July 31st, Em and I said goodbye to Cairo and boarded a plane to Istanbul, Turkey. There was something quite nice about being able to leave this developing country through a modern means of transportation and to emerge, a few hours later in a completely different environment. It was sort of like traveling from the archaic into the semi-distant past. Stepping from the smog drenched city of Cairo into the clean, Mediterranean air of Istanbul was just what we needed after starting to lose focus in Egypt. Turkey, like the rest of Europe, has a quaintness about it that you just don't find in the US. The street are small and cobblestones, the citizens have a more sophisticated air to them, and the feel to the place is more laid back and reserved. Even though Turkey is a Muslim country, like Egypt and Jordan, it is secular and therefore more progressive and western than religious neighbors.

At the airport, Em and I met a fellow American, Matt, that currently lives in France. He was kind enough to loan us his Lonely Planet so that we could find a place to stay upon arrival, but as it turns out we didn't really need it. We all got along great and we ended up grabbing the last available room at the hotel where he was staying. It is major tourist season here and therefore places are full most of the time. It's such a change from before where it was low season and people were practically begging you to stay at their places instead of turning you away at the door.

So our home for the next three days became the Paris Hotel and Hostel. This was located off of the main thoroughfare in the Sultanahmet Ghetto, which is anything but ghetto. It's actually a very chic tourist area that houses the majority of sites worth visiting and thus is inhabited mainly by foreigners and those that pray off of their business. It's a very nice area and after being in Cairo we were talking about how lovely it would be to get an apartment and stay for months.

Over the next few days the three of us (we kidnapped Matt's Istanbul book and he subsequently came along with it) toured most of the well known sites. The first day we visited Hagia Sofia (Aya Sofya), which is thought to be the most treasured of Istanbul's sites and considered by some to be the Eight Wonder of the World. It was originally built as an Eastern Orthodox church, which was converted into a mosque in 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, and then into a museum in 1935. The architecture is amazing and the inside is decorated with marble walls, gold inlaid designs, Christian reliefs painted over with Muslim symbols that create a unique juxtaposition, switchback ramps that lead to higher levels, and just a very nice atmosphere.

From the Eight Wonder of the World to the Blue Mosque we trotted. The Blue Mosque was built by the Ottomans in part to prove that they could create something as grand as Hagia Sofia. Sultan Ahmet I ordered its construction in 1609 and ten years later this eye-catching building was completed. The mosque gets its name from the blue color that is prolific on the inside walls, but has faded some with time so that although blue, it is not as vivid as it once was. The mosque is also unusual because it only has 6 minarets, when it was traditional to build with seven. I don't know the story behind this change though, but I believe it has to do with the architect deciding to be different.

The Blue Mosque is situated next to the Hippodrome, which is where the Byzantines used to hold chariot and horse races. Now this area is a long, skinny park surrounded by a road. The park contains two obelisks and the remains of the Tripod of Plataea. One of the obelisks is Egyptian from the reign of Tuthmosis III and was originally erected at the Temple of Karnak. Emperor Theodosius stole the artifact in 390 BC and had it cut into three pieces, shipped to Constantinople, and re-erected at the Hippodrome. Only the top section survives today, but it is still impressive.

In the 10th century the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but these were stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The stone core of this monument also survives, known as the Walled Obelisk. This obelisk now looks like little more than a group of rocks that have been piled high.

The Tripod of Plataea, cast to celebrate the victory of the Greeks over the Persians during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BC, was moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and set in middle of the Hippodrome. Most of it was destroyed or stolen when the city was sacked during the Fourth Crusade. All that remains today is part of the base, known as the "Serpentine Column." One of the serpent heads is on display at the Istanbul Archaeological museum.

After viewing these sites, we decided to take a completely different track and went to visited the World's Largest Covered Bazaar. This is really a giant type of mall where there are streets that direct you to the items that you seek. It's an experience, there were streets and streets of peddlers selling every kind of knock off that you can think of and the occasional rare gem. Em went looking for a motorcycle jacket and almost walked away with a Harley Davidson "Biker Bitch" model, but we convinced her to think about it for a bit. I picked up a small travel chess set.

Day one was long and quite filling and led to an even more full day two. We woke early and ventured to the Archaeological Museums (you all knew that I'd eventually make it here, right?). This complex houses three very different museums, the Museum of Oriental Antiquities, the Archaeological Museum and the Tiled Pavilion. The Museum of Oriental Antiquities contains many treasures from various different cultures, but one of its gems is the Treaty of Kadesh. This is the the world's oldest surviving peace treaty, made between the Egyptians and the Hittites in 1269 BC. It's written in cuneiform and in such small handwriting that it is amazing that anyone could tell that it was a language, let alone be able to read it.

The main Archaeological Museum is huge and contains sculpture rooms, tombs, history displays, and even a children's museum and replica Trojan horse. While we were there, there was an entire class or two (about 60 kids) of art students. They were drawing their own masterpieces of the Greek statutes and their work puts my art to shame. They were all quite good.

The Tiled Pavilion contains examples of tile and porcelain work that didn't appeal to Em or I much at all.

By the time that we left the Archaeological Museums it was too late to explore the Topkapi Palace, so we caught a cab downtown to the Dolmabahçe Palace. This Palace was built in the 19th century by Ottoman Armenian architects Karabet and Nikogos Balian for Sultan Abdulmecit. Sultan Abdulmecit felt that the Topkapi Palace was too medieval and that the royal family needed something more decadent and fitting for people of their standard. What they got was just that, with 285 rooms, 43 large salons, a 4000 kg (4-1/2-ton) Bohemian glass chandelier, and a Bosphorus-shore façade nearly a quarter mile (1/2 km) long. It's the grandest of Ottoman imperial palaces. It's beautiful and the favorite site for all three of us (at least from what we've seen of Turkey thus far).

That night we picked up another person for our little group, Elizabeth, a former Californian that is now living in Turkey. She decided to teach herself Turkish for fun and then come here for a year to make sure that she has really grasped the language. I wish that I was as good at languages that I could do that.

All of us decided to try and catch the English language sound and light show that was held at the Blue Mosque. I believe that this was created by the same company that did the shows in Egypt as it had the same type of over dramatic Brits portraying various characters from times now gone and the same useless lights flashing randomly. We arrived late and the show was only a half hour so we actually didn't catch the majority of the performance, but that's okay. We had more fun walking around and chatting. It's so nice to be in a country where you can take a midnight stroll for miles and never once being harassed.

Our last morning in Istanbul we hit up the last major attraction in the area, the Topkapi Palace. This was the original home for the royal family. The monarch lived here with his horde of wives, concubines, children, and servants. The Harem, where the women, children, and imprisoned brothers/sons lived, takes up a large portion of the complex. In the beginning times of this society, ascension to the thrown was based on which son from whichever concubine or wife, managed to kill all of his brothers first and stake a claim. This form of attainment eventually became less grievous as future sons imprisoned their brothers in the Harem, where they grew up without understanding the ways of government, warfare, and society and thus posed no threat. Then eventually, the time honored form of the oldest male child claiming ownership to the throne, was instituted.

Although the Palace is beautiful in its own right, after viewing Dolmabahçe Palace, Topkapi pales in comparison. One can easily see why a more glamorous abode was demanded.

Canakkale
We said goodbye to Matt, the Lonely Planet Guide, and Istanbul and boarded the bus for Canakkale, the way station for two important sites: Troy and Gallipoli.

We arrived at the ANZAC House and booked ourselves onto a day tour for the Gallipoli for the next day. I blame our ignorance on the poor state of the American education system and the fact that Gallipoli really has nothing to do with Americans. I like to know if any of you have ever heard of it before reading this blog. Ignorantly we boarded the bus and were taken on a four hour tour of the war memorial that is Gallipoli. Gallipoli is the site of an eight month siege by the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) forces of the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli from April 1915 to January 1916 (WWI) in hopes of capturing Istanbul and forcing Turkey to withdraw from the war. The attempt failed and over a quarter of a million soldiers from both sides were killed in what amounted to a competely useless battle. Nothing was gained by either side and the conditions were so terrible that another half a million soldiers died from wounds or diseases, or poor sanitary conditions.

Gallipoli is a huge pilgrimage site for those from Australia and New Zealand and even from Newfoundland, France, India, and Great Britain, whom all lost soldiers there. Turks also honor this place and it was interesting to see cemeteries to all the different forces side by side. In death, all of these soldiers were mourned for by both sides of the conflict and now all the parties involved are allies.

Troy, as most know is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Trojan War cycle, especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. Although I greatly wanted to go visited the site, we were put off by talking to some of the people at the hostel that had gone there. They all said that there wasn't much of value to see and that they wouldn't recommend going. So we took them at their word and didn't venture there. I guess it will have to wait for another trip, if I do decide to check it out.

So we have two cities of many under our belt and are headed this evening to Selcuk, a small town close to the famous city Ephesus. More on that in the next installment.