Trains, Bikes and Automobiles

I woke up very tired, so I had a slow day today. I left the hotel to have lunch and take a quick walk down to what I thought was a park at the tip of the Sultanahmet peninsula. Unfortunately the park was closed, but instead I was able to have a walk along picturesque Kennedy Drive... a motorway that skirts the peninsula, dominating the waterfront Manhattan-style. The name dates this road perfectly. Early sixties, when freeways were going up everywhere, and even sunny Brissie was in the early stages of planning the freeways that would destroy our best riverfront aspects and slice up so many communities.

What? You didn't come here for a rant? Okay, then here are some photos of how Istanbul lives with its 20 million motor vehicles.

Oh, and I cleaned the camera... so mostly these shots were a bit of a test run. I think the dust bunnies are gone.

Kennedy Drive

Boys dodging speeding cars.

Impromptu scooter conversation between strangers. This never happens in Brisbane.

The new trams just fit in

They fit in... just.

What have the Romans ever done for us...

Another very quick post. This time because I am simply buggered after a rather long walk today.

This morning I caught ferry up the Golden Horn to where the Constantine's Wall meets the water near Ayvansaray with the intention of seeing the walls of old Constantinople. I was not disappointed. So many people advised that the walls were in bad repair and in a bad part of town, that my expectations were pretty low.

How wrong was I?

Yep, that end of town is poor, possibly even dangerous after dark... but not during a sunny Saturday afternoon. In fact, I had my lunch in a little cafe that used the nooks on the inside of the wall for seating, and everyone was very friendly.

But the walls! Against all expectation it is actually very possible to climb to the top and literally walk along them. With a bit of patience and observation, I actually found a point where I was able to scale the wall up to an almost entirely intact parapet. I mean... how well preserved is a few kilometers of obsolete millenia-old military wall supposed to be? Compared to Rome's walls or Hadrian's Wall, these were in sterling shape.

I'll let the photos (poorly) tell the rest of the story, but honestly, this has been the highlight of the Istanbul leg of this trip, and right up there with everything Rome had to offer.

Anyway, buoyed by this little surprise, I thought it would be a grand idea to walk back into town following the road from the first gatehouse I came to. Well... that proved a longer walk that I thought after I tried and failed to find the entire neighborhood of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy, and then proceeded back via Valen's Aqueduct (which DID seem sadly neglected), the Suleymaniye Mosque and another pass at the Grand Bazaar.

Finally back at the hotel, I rounded out the afternoon with a couple of beers and a dinner of grilled chicken wings on the terrace.

I'm really enjoying Istanbul. It has its ups and downs, but then it is a complex place. I'm finding that its best to forget the reviews and the "must see" items, and just go see the things I've read about.

Just outside the walls. Okay, that park has evidence of some pretty interesting night life, but honestly not more so than many parks in sunny Brissie. But anyway, even along this stretch the condition of the walls exceeded my expectations.

The parapet I ended up climbing. There was a police station at the foot where I found my entrance point, which no doubt accounted for the generally good condition and the national flag flying from the top. Also, possibly for the rather graphic spray painted signs on the paving warning of robberies and worse. But I saw no-one except for a small tour group that climbed the wall a bit further down from me.

The view from the parapet back to Sultanahmet. I think that mosque you can see is the Suleymaniye mosque that features in some photos later on. 

Another fine image of the dust that is still on my sensor, with a length of wall in the background. This is looking north a long the wall toward the Golden Horn. In the next couple of days, I'm going to take a trip up to that highrise business district.

That's the stone ladder one climbs to get to the rampart. The current level is already a storey above ground level.

The cafe where I had lunch and a Turkish tea. Again, this was a poor neighborhood, bu not the poor and nasty kind. At least not on a Saturday afternoon. There was plenty of foot traffic, plenty of greetings and the proprietor taught me how to say please and thank you in Turkish, which I have already forgotten. I'm such a wretched monolinguist. 

And the wall from street level.

Valen's Aqueduct. this was about half way back to the hotel, not counting the Fener detour, and I was a bit weary. I probably wasn't alive to the magnificence of this aqueduct just standing in someone's front yard.

Looking north from the terrace of the Suleymaniye mosque.

Courtyard of the Suleymaniye mosque. Again, the shear perfection of these buildings actually belies the scale and complexity of them when you are actually experiencing them. They are monuments to magnificent austerity... but having seen a few now, I just can't connect with them. I guess I'm more of an incense, textures and shadow type of guy.

An Inverted Medusa and a Fishing Boat

Just a very quick one today as I have to organize some ferries for tomorrow.

Today saw what were likely to be the very last museum/attraction bits I will be visiting. Started with the basilica cistern to see the upside down medusa at the far end, the sultan's palace, then took a tram trip over the Golden Horn to Taksim, then walked down through Galata to the Karakoy fish markets.

I shot on the little LX100 today.

The famous inverted medusa at the far end of the Basilica Cistern. I actually queued half an hour before opening to see this, so was in the first handful to get through. I had about ten minutes before quite literally over a hundred Chinese tourists turned up, each one blasting away with the flashes on their point and shoots.

Me enjoying the view from the Sultan's Harem. That's Galata and Kadakoy you can see in the distance. Also note the sun gleaming on my bald scone in the absence of my sadly misplaced hat.

The reality of the Sultan's Palace. I just tried to focus on what was in front of me while reminding myself I was also part of the crowd.

Thank the gods for St Irene. I stumbled across this by chance. St Irene's huddles in the shadow of the Hagia Sophia, and has only just been reopened to the public after many years closed up. It's a very early church and looks like it has only been given a sweep before the opened the doors. I had the place to myself. 

St Irene's... deserted except for the dozing guard.

Up in Taksim. So far, this is the closest I have seen to an uptown in Istanbul. Much younger crowd, no ruins, lots of bars and shops. It is a very three dimensional landscape, so much so that there is a dedicated funicular tram that hauls people up from Kabatas down by the ferries. 

I'm came to appreciate the textures of the other parts of Istanbul. Sultanahmet, where I am staying, is the "old town" which has unfortunately been ripped apart by modern developers and is currently quite a mess. Other parts of this vast city have a much more cohesive fabric, and there are very strong districts, here.

This guy seemed to be pushing a card collecting electronic waste. He was hollering something, which I suppose was "bring out your dead gadgets" or words to that effect, because every now and then a person would run out and dump a computer or printer in his hand cart. I followed him all the way down to the waterfront, which turned out to be a warren of mechanical and electrical repair workshops, so I suspect there is a fair bit of recycling going on here.

I finished the afternoon at another one of those fabulous open air tea houses. You just pull up a chair and someone brings you tea. They keep bringing you tea and occasionally various nibblies until you get up and leave. I haven't really figured out how the price everything, but so far its always ended up being less than 10TL, which is less than AU$5.

Just some tables on some vacant land and two blokes running a tea cart. A pop-up shop; the sort of thing that's really trendy in architecture circles, and they are making students study in our planning and architecture schools. For the small business people of Istanbul, this sort of innovation and flexibility is simply a way of life. I've learned more about how to use space in an urban environment in three days in this city than I did in three years studying architecture. That's no exaggeration.

Mosques and Bosphorus Asian Bank

Today was mostly museums and visits to particular things.

First up was the Hagia Sophia, which was the second old building I especially wanted to see on this trip. Originally built as a Christian basilica, it was converted to a mosque after the fall of Constantinople. Currently, it appears to have been decommissioned as a mosque and is more of a curiosity and badly curated museum. Unfortunately, a major restoration of the dome is underway so I couldn't fully appreciate the amazing building.

Next was the Blue Mosque, which was stunning but somewhat sterile. Even undergoing a reno, the Hagia Sophia seeped mysticism and character. The Blue Mosque, like many of its cousins, just seem a bit too perfect when experienced in the flesh.

The morning was rounded out by a flying visit to a cluster of really good museums that are within a short walk of these amazing buildings (plus the cisterns and the palace), making this precinct an absolute theme park for history nerds. Purchasing a museum pass makes all of this available for about AU$40. Incredible value.

After that, it was a quick walk back to the hotel for a post-kebab nap that turned into a major crash. I woke at around 6pm, wondering where the afternoon went. With just a few hours till dusk, it was the perfect time for a quick trip to Asia. I tumbled out the front door with camera and tripod, and jumped on the subway that is just down the street. Five minutes in a tunnel under the Marmara, and I emerged on the Asian side of the straits.

I headed down to the water and found these broad steps with cushions on them. Crowds of people were just sitting and watching the sun go down, so I joined them. Vendors quickly supplied tea, a bagel and a freshly cooked fish sandwich for dinner and I just sat back and let it all sink in. It's quite a shift in perspective, a living geography lesson. This was Asia, that was Europe. Nothing abstract about it; just a mundane subway ride in this amazing city.

I just sat there for about an hour before I realized I was watching a fabulous sunset with my camera and 15mm lens sitting in my lap. I appreciate "snow leopard" moments (that's a Walter Mitty reference), but this wasn't one, so out came the tripod.

I still struggle with landscapes, especially sunsets, and while I am happy with some of these I did not do the scene justice. I had my good camera and best landscape lens, but still couldn't quite squeeze all the subtle gradients out of those images. I'll have to wait till I get home to do a better job of editing them. But this city is so very, very photogenic, I'm going to be learning heaps. I'm hoping to have my last few days given to pure photography in a couple of places I've already picked out.

Which brings me to a point... which clown was it who persuaded me to pack my lenses for convenience rather than performance? Oh, that's right... it was me. I was originally going to bring my big ol' telephoto, but brought a walk around zoom instead... exactly what the little LX100 is good at. So, I have the wide angles covered with the 15mm, but I have no reach. A last minute change to an otherwise well thought out gear selection has left me seriously needing a long lens right now. 

Okay, that's enough gear talk. Tomorrow is an early morning walk to be first in line at the cisterns, then a day exploring the opulence of the old sultan's palace round the corner.

Hagia Sophia... converted to a mosque.

Scaffolding. Sometimes you've just got to take what fate dishes up.

This is what makes this old building so charming... its state of mystery and decay. Though I have to admit I'm a bit concerned about its future; it's not being well maintained.

The main vault. Even with the scaffolding the light was simply sublime. A place of shadows and light.

I'm pretty sure there weren't any viking guards named Mustafa. The Viking ruins are unfortunately under some badly scratched protective acrylic which makes them impossible to photograph. For some reason, Mustafa's effort wasn't similarly protected.

I was naughty and pushed open a window of the Hagia Sophia and stood on a box to get this shot of the blue mosque...

One-upmanship on a colossal scale. The Blue Mosque faces the Hagia Sophiaa directly, from less than a kilometer away.

Ah, the original...

Inside the Blue Mosque. This has been the reality of most major sites in both these cities when you don't get in the first five meters of queue first thing in the morning. Still, complaining about tourists while on tour is like complaining about traffic while you're sitting in it.

The Blue Mosque. Perfection but somehow bland. And what's going on with those reinforcing beams?

Fishermen on the Asian shore of the Marmara Straight. I have expected them to be King and his boys.

A very nice way to watch the sun go down.

Near sunset, looking across at Beyoglu. I just can't get the detail out of those shadows. I think I have to start using a gradient filter as I should be...

That old lighthouse has been converted into a rather swish restaurant. That boat was shuttling couples out to it. 

A rather large dust bunny from my sensor, with a sunset in the background...

Lost in Istanbul Then Found at the Fishmarkets

This city has minarets in abundance. Turn any given corner and there is a minaret. But you never get tired of them.

The Grand Bazaar, on the other hand... there is only one and you get tired of it pretty quickly.

Some gratuitous stair porn. I've always liked stairs and this place is a stair fetishists Valhala. Some of the built landscape here is like an Escher drawing come to life. 

Highlight of the morning was a Turkish coffee sitting on the stool in the archway of this courtyard. I had no-idea where I was, Nor do I now, except that it was just outside the bazaar someplace. The guys making the coffee were doing so from a tiny shop the size of a large closet. they were running the coffee and tea off on little silver trays. I approached them ans asked for a cup. The halting sign dialogue that followed went something like... "Really, you want Turkish coffee, not Americano?... okay, but you take sugar?... no? Really, you should take sugar, very strong..." Well, its probably a great tribute to Brisbane's baristas that the coffee I've had on this trip so far, including this one, has only been okay. Charming spot, though.  

The Golden Horn from the Galata Bridge. The dance these ferries were conducting was mesmerizing. looking forward to riding a few.

Seagulls over the fish market.

More seagulls...

... and what must be a very jaded cat. "Fish? Nah, seen a hundred thousand and you've seen 'em all."

Um... I'm honestly not sure which mosque this is. I'll find out...

I know this one is called the New Mosque... by shuttle driver said so.

The Grand Bazaar was the first place on my list today, not least because I needed a pair of swimming trunks, and I needed a new hat. The first was because I overlooked the fact that this place is a hotel AND spa… with full use of saunas, pools and everything else included in the stay. The second was because I left my hat on the plane.

Yup. I lost another hat in another foreign city. I’m going to have to stop bringing my hats overseas.

Anyway, the Grand Bazaar was not much use for either of those, since the only men’s attire they seemed to sell were leather jackets, counterfeit jeans and cheap shirts from China. In fact, the Grand Bazaar was a bit of a let down. I can’t really say why. The highlight was a coffee had sitting in a tiny leafy courtyard out the back. Again, I love this city’s convoluted use of space. It is truly three dimensional.

After that, I exited the bazaar from another exit and had no idea where I was, so I took a guess and wandered off…

<oh, must be ten o’clock… there’s the eardrum-busting call to prayer>

… and became completely lost. I did my best to use the map, but honestly have the streets just aren’t named, or are misspelled, so I eventually resorted to Google maps and the GPS in my phone. That is the first time I have used GPS to navigate anywhere. Just as well, because I was literally kilometres away from where I thought I was and heading in the wrong direction.

So I headed back to the hotel, feeling a little flat as Istanbul has proved to be a difficult place to just walk through. I found some department shops that sold board shorts and a hat, so picked those up, then sat and had a beer for an hour. Then it was down to the docks and the Galata Bridge to catch the fish markets and mosques at sunset.

That changed everything!

The evening was cool and the breeze off the Golden Horn was brisk and filled with spray. Watching the ferries was fascinating. I’m not familiar with navigating ferries, but the manoeuvres these boats were doing seemed like white knuckle stuff. I’m looking forward to riding on a few.

So, my first full day in Istanbul taught me that this is not a city to walk around. I’ll have to be a bit more focussed than I usually like to be and catch public transport around the different districts.

But tomorrow it’s the two mosques and the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.