Ecosse and Beyond: October 2013

6th post for 2013: Istanbul in May; things not covered in 4th or 5th posts

We did all the other major tourist things. We visited the Blue Mosque – huge with a lot of blue tiles. We had a trip up the Bosphorus. We went to the Spice and Grand Bazaars. We went to Topkapi Palace. One evening we had our meal on the platform at Sirkeci Station where the Orient Express terminates.

One day we went to Buyukada, one of the Prince Islands where the tourists get transported by horse and carriage. We walked.

The island is dominated by this huge structure which is a derelict “Greek” orphanage. It was built as a luxury hotel and casino in 1898 but Sultan Abdul Hamid II wouldn’t grant it a permit for its operation and bought by a Greek banker in 1903 who donated it as an orphanage which until it was closed in 1968 catered for 5,744. It is believed to be the largest wooden building in Europe and the 2nd largest in the world.

We walked up to the Greek Monastery

Another highlight was visiting the Whirling Dervish museum

Leaving aside the dancing, what about the hats?

and Dervish tombs…..

5th post for 2013: Istanbul in May; Churches, Mosques & a cistern

The Basilica Cistern: an underground reservoir (to prevent evaporation) where any old Roman pillars etc are used to support the roof . There is still a couple of feet of water in the cistern and there are fish which never see the daylight.

Heads of Medusa used as a pillar bases

and while we were there George and I dressed up

Back to daylight and reality, a pillar which has not been underwater, in the Hagia Sophia.

This was a Greek Orthodox church from 537, converted to a mosque in 1453 when all the decoration was painted over and became a museum in 1935 since when the Greek Orthodox decoration is being restored. It is HUGE.

Looking East

This is central, just below the dome and a seraphim to the left of the dome:

Looking west

An annex of the Hagia Sophia is the Sultans’ Tombs:

The Chora Church was part of Greek Orthodox monastery was completed in 1081 and became a mosque in the C16 and a museum in 1948. It has beautiful mosaics & frescoes

We then visited the Fethiye Cami in the Fener district (a downloaded photo); small but very interesting in that only part of it had been released to be a museum, the remaining part was still used as a mosque and all the walls remained whitewashed.

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and while we were in Fener we managed to find the Church of St Mary of the Mongols, the only Greek Orthodox church in Istanbul which had remained a church and was clearly under siege behind a high wall with barbed wire and CCTV. We managed to persuade the caretaker to let us in so it felt very special.

and the Blue Mosque, at night:

4th post for 2013: Istanbul in May; Shops

I went to Turkey in May with Kit, George and Andrew. I was very nervous about going off on holiday but in the end all went well and it was a very good holiday. One of the reasons to be nervous was that the exchange for the sale of my father’s house took place 30 mins before I left to go to Turkey and, after I returned from TurkeyI would only have 11 days to find somewhere else to live and move there.