Istanbul – The Old City

Today, I was escorted around Istanbul by Dilek (you can call me D!) a professional tour guide. I had suggested to the hotel clerk that I would appreciate it if the tour guide they found me could be a young and beautiful woman. He’d done a pretty good job. Mind you, D was only 149cm tall, so it was Little and Large do Istanbul today!

Appropriated from Delphi

Appropriated from Luxor

Dilek led me from the hotel and up to the Hippodrome where she explained why it was called a hippodrome (Latin for horse race course) and then pointed out the other interesting sights. She explained that the obelisks that I’d seen the night before were from Egypt, specifically the Karnak Temple at Luxor (which I’d visited, of course). The twisted bronze statue that had previously had three snake heads and a golden ball on top was from Delphi (which I’d visited, of course).

We then went on to the Blue Mosque, the first of the ‘must see’ sights of Istanbul. When I’d visited the mosque at the Citadel in Cairo, the Blue Mosque was described as the inspiration for that wonderful building. The Blue Mosque is a very impressive place. It has the same structure as the other large mosque (a huge central dome standing on four other domes) although with four main ‘elephantine’ pillars that are apparently quite architecturally controversial. The mosque draws its name from the tiling on all surfaces, which are dominantly blue and white. They also reflect the tulip motif, as does the carpet, which is apparently a traditional Muslim motif. The tiles are from Iznik, which is famed for its ceramic tiles.

Palace Gate, City Side

Model of Palace, for overview

The other thing to notice was that there were a lot of tourists. This was a little surprising to me as all my previous touring had been with few other tourists and regular commentary from tourism-related professionals complaining about the slow period and downturn in tourism recently. Still, Dilek told me that this was really very few people compared to the high season. She had previously mentioned that there are 15million people who live in Istanbul, so perhaps it’s just that I’m a hick from a country town that’s really the problem here!

The scenic first courtyard

We then went on to the old palace. This is a huge area (I recall that Dilek said 700,000sq m) which was initially a defensive location, then the sultan’s palace, and lately a historical site. The place is huge (as its land area clearly suggests) and it has a commanding position overlooking the continent of Asia. Inside the palace is a series of courtyards; seven in all. We visited the first three as they are open to the public. Other areas are given over to the Army (clearly because of the strategic importance of the site) and other government functions.

Church -> Arsenal -> Concert Hall

The first courtyard is a large area bounded by an army base, old bakeries from when 5,000 people lived in the palace, and includes an old church which has also seen duty as an arsenal and latterly as a concert hall.

Through the gates into the second courtyard and here there is a model that shows the whole palace (photo above). This courtyard also houses the various display museums: one of formal gowns worn by Sultans through history, one with an extraordinary collection of jewellery and ornate, jewelled items, and one with a collection of holy relics. No photos are allowed in the museums. The sultans’ formal clothing was impressive, with ornately embroidered kaftans and some examples of Turkish battledress from the 19^th century. The jewellery display was impressive for its obvious monetary value. One example in particular was an 86 carat diamond surrounded by 36 carats of princess-cut diamonds. The famous topaki dagger with three huge emeralds in its handle was also breath-taking. But much of the material (jugs, vases, baskets, boxes, and the like) were clearly valuable, but only because they were made of gold and had precious stones stuck into them. There were few pieces that I thought were actually beautiful.

Second Courtyard (Dilek in foreground)

Unlike some of the valuable jewellery that I’d seen elsewhere, these pieces were not crafted to be intrinsically beautiful (in my eyes) nor did they attempt to tell a story or pay tribute to a god or person particularly. They were just made to have very high levels of extrinsic worth. The holy relics were, well, underwhelming to me. An stick claimed to be used as a staff by Moses, or the footprint of Mohammed, or even the beard of Mohammed, were barely credible and even if their provenance could be shown, what of it? Clearly, my agnosticism overwhelmed me in the presence of these items of faith.

The third courtyard included an open area where Dilek said that the palace used to hold moonlight dinners. It was a beautiful area and had sweeping views over the European element of Istanbul. A short walk across the courtyard led to an area with sweeping views over the old city wall and across the water to the Asian element of Istanbul. Few cities span two continents!

Istanbul - Europe

Istanbul - Asia

Classical Turkish Style Housing

We left the palace and headed towards Ayasho Museum, however the line there was long and I’d already had enough of dealing with large crowds of schoolkids on excursion in the palace museums. I’ve been spoiled through this trip with not having to contend with large numbers of other tourists at the various places I’ve visited, so perhaps my threshold of tolerance has gone down a bit too much. Nevertheless, we went on to visit the Basilica Cistern.

The cistern is named Basilica Cistern not because it once belonged to a basilica or because it was built under or on the site of one, but because it was built using the columns and blocks of a variety of basilicas. The cistern was built in the 6^th Century to hold the fresh water for the city. It no longer serves that purpose, but is now an interesting archaeological visit. Of special interest, the columns are not ordered and, being drawn from many different basilica, are consequently in different numbers of pieces and have different capitals (Doric and Corinthian styles). The builders also included two pedestal stones made from blocks that had the head of Medusa carved on them. There are fish in the water that’s still in the cistern. I liked the place and I think that’s because I like the colonnade thing; odd, I know.

Medusa Head, upside down in place	Not a Medusa Head; really!

After the cistern, it was lunchtime and so I offered to buy Dilek lunch. She took me to a place she normally visits and that is ‘off the tourist track’. It was a takeaway café not unlike the ones at home, but with more options for hot food. We ended up getting falafel, which is prepared and served in the same was as it is in takeaways in Australia. The falafel was fresh (rolled into balls in front of our eyes) and had a nuttier taste than I used to in Australia. I was really nice. I asked Dilek about her plans for the tour website that she was establishing with a friend. It is interesting hearing about an industry that we mostly don’t have in Australia. Lunch for the two of us (two falafels and two small cans of coke) cost 15 Turkish Lira. That’s about, um, $8AUD. For two of us.

Constantine's Column,
near the venue for lunch

By the time we had finished lunch it was approximately the end of the half-day of time that I’d booked with Dilek. She insisted that she take me to a handicraft store to hear about Turkish rug making. It is apparently a store to which the guides take all their clients. Well, I had a very professional presentation from one of the guys there, but he knew he was on a loser when I explained that I’d seen a similar presentation in Cairo and even bought a small silk rug. That lead in made it easier to tell him that in spite of me finding these to be wonderful examples of rug making, I just don’t have anywhere that I can use rugs.

Dilek walked me back to the Hippodrome and we parted company after asking a passer-by to photograph us together. As I walked back to my hotel, it started to rain. Dilek had warned me about the possibility of rain as we left the hotel. I’d said, “it’s only water.” She had told me that the Turks have a saying, “We are not sugar; we will not melt.” I thought that was gold and will be keeping that for my use.

The Million Stone, formerly part of an arch, from which all distances were measured at one time

A 'random' tomb; a private crypt on the side of the tramway in central Old Istanbul

Dilek and Tim at parting (she's standing on a step!)

The rest of the day was spent updating the blog and having an early dinner to be ready for my early start for the Gallipoli tour. It was just as well I did get to sleep early as the reception managed to confuse my requests for arrangements in the morning and called me at 3am with a wake-up call! 3. A. M! FFS. It goes without saying that I didn’t really get back to sleep after that.