ISTANBUL PART II: THE BOSPHORUS AND BEYOND
Before launching into more churches and museums (sorry, no more dexters), let's start with a nice trip up the Bosphorus. While the weather was not the best (it reminded us of a non-raining day on a Seattle ferry), the views were spectacular. As we've mentnioned before, travel at this time of year may not be the best for tanning, it is nice for crowd reduction. We had two options: a tour with a guide (more spendy) or the regular ferry (2 hours up, 3 hours in a fishing village, 2 hours back: and no one to give you a clue what you are looking at).
We chose the former and went with 12 other people on our own ferry. We all sat on the top deck and listened to the history of the Bosphorus. Let's start with the name. Boshporus means "cow's gate." It is told that Zeus, the king of Gods, got a bit frisky with a woman named Io. When Hera, his wife, found out she was a bit ticked off. Fearing for her safety, Zeus turned Io into a cow. Io jumped into the river and swam all the way to Egypt (one pretty buff cow)--the river was her gate to freedom (Zeus, of course, did not have to swim to Egypt but that's another story).
If you don't know, the land to the west of the Bosphorus is Europe while to the east is Asia. All along the trip from Istanbul to Anadolu Kavagi we could see castles and houses that must be pretty cool places to be. Some are hotels, some are museums, and others are the summer homes of the rich. We were told that these summer homes go for around $20 million. Anyone want to go in on a place?
Also as part of this tour we were taken to the Spice Market. If any of you know about Istanbul you know that there are outdoor markets here (the big one being the Grand Bazaar) where you can buy a lot of things BUT the prices are not set. We read about the process, got some good advice from our friends, BUT in the end I couldn't do it. I walked through the Grand Bazaar with sunglasses on and even in the Spice Market I walked as fast as I could. How does one decide on the price of a sponge, or tea, or gold, or a carpet?
I am sorry that I lost my nerve. If only I could have had someone to help me. I bet one of these locals could have helped me get a deal!!
By the way, we really enjoyed watching men here interact on the street. In Turkey and Bulgaria men seem to be the big talkers. If only we knew what they were saying!)
Now on to the museums: the first stop will be at the Kariye (Chora) Museum. “Chora” roughly means countryside and the “original” church received this name because when it was originally built (by Constantine in the 4th century) it was located outside the city walls. As most things from this era, the church was rebuilt several times and during the early part of the 14th century there were beautiful mosaics and frescos added. Of course these were covered during the centuries this church became a mosque, but have been partially restored.
The mosaics depict the lives of Christ and Mary. One of the domes has a stunning depiction of Jesus and his ancestors. No flash was allowed so the pictures just don’t do the place justice. One of the pictures I include here shows mosaics on the ceiling and wall in the second room. These show a bit in the life of Mary.
A side chapel, which was built to hold the tombs of the church’s founder and his relatives, is decorated with frescos. The themes of paintings are death and resurrection. Most striking is the paining known as the Anastasis showing Christ raising Adam and Eve out of their sarcophagi. Saints and kings surround him. Below his feet are the gates of hell.
Brent’s favorite museum is the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. There are three buildings here housing a variety of interesting artifacts. One is the Tiled Kiosk, which is beautiful outside and in. This building is considered to be the oldest surviving “nonreligious” Turkish building in Istanbul. It was used for watching sporting events. The tiles that have the best reputation are those that came from the Iznik region in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Another building here holds the Museum of the Ancient Orient. The stuff in here is really old. There are panels from ancient Babylon (600 BC) and a copy of the oldest surviving treaty (shown here).
The Kadesh Treaty was drawn up in the 13th century BC between the Egyptians and Hittites. I didn’t read its translation, but I did read the translations of some other very important stone documents. One was to break an engagement because “the woman preferred the farmer.”
The final building in this complex is the Archaeology Museum which displays Hellenic and Roman statues and sarcophagi. In one end of the museum is the “famous” Alexander sarcophagus dating from the last quarter of the 4th century BC. It is not Alexander’s sarcophagus, but that of King Abdalonymous.
It is called the Alexander sarcophagus because his figure appears on both sides. The pictures of this sarcophogus didn't turn out as clear as I'd like so I'll put another picture of Alexander here from the other side of the building. Pretty good looking guy! Several other rooms contain statues made by artisans at Anatolia’s main sculpture centers. Here’s another view through the rooms that show statues of Athena, Oceanus, and Zeus.
This is getting us really in the mood for our trip to Athens. Still, there is so much to do. We are winding down in terms of our classes, but the grading never seems to end. We are taking off for Thanksgiving, then we will head down to Athens the first part of December. Travel is getting a bit more “iffy” as winter has come to Bulgaria. It has been snowing for the last couple of days and we are hoping that it is just a brief cold snap.
We'll end here with a picture of Brent in front of our Sofia apartment (Alexander in clothes). We'll definately miss that place!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. We'll be back soon.
Before launching into more churches and museums (sorry, no more dexters), let's start with a nice trip up the Bosphorus. While the weather was not the best (it reminded us of a non-raining day on a Seattle ferry), the views were spectacular. As we've mentnioned before, travel at this time of year may not be the best for tanning, it is nice for crowd reduction. We had two options: a tour with a guide (more spendy) or the regular ferry (2 hours up, 3 hours in a fishing village, 2 hours back: and no one to give you a clue what you are looking at).
We chose the former and went with 12 other people on our own ferry. We all sat on the top deck and listened to the history of the Bosphorus. Let's start with the name. Boshporus means "cow's gate." It is told that Zeus, the king of Gods, got a bit frisky with a woman named Io. When Hera, his wife, found out she was a bit ticked off. Fearing for her safety, Zeus turned Io into a cow. Io jumped into the river and swam all the way to Egypt (one pretty buff cow)--the river was her gate to freedom (Zeus, of course, did not have to swim to Egypt but that's another story).
If you don't know, the land to the west of the Bosphorus is Europe while to the east is Asia. All along the trip from Istanbul to Anadolu Kavagi we could see castles and houses that must be pretty cool places to be. Some are hotels, some are museums, and others are the summer homes of the rich. We were told that these summer homes go for around $20 million. Anyone want to go in on a place?
Also as part of this tour we were taken to the Spice Market. If any of you know about Istanbul you know that there are outdoor markets here (the big one being the Grand Bazaar) where you can buy a lot of things BUT the prices are not set. We read about the process, got some good advice from our friends, BUT in the end I couldn't do it. I walked through the Grand Bazaar with sunglasses on and even in the Spice Market I walked as fast as I could. How does one decide on the price of a sponge, or tea, or gold, or a carpet?
I am sorry that I lost my nerve. If only I could have had someone to help me. I bet one of these locals could have helped me get a deal!!
By the way, we really enjoyed watching men here interact on the street. In Turkey and Bulgaria men seem to be the big talkers. If only we knew what they were saying!)
Now on to the museums: the first stop will be at the Kariye (Chora) Museum. “Chora” roughly means countryside and the “original” church received this name because when it was originally built (by Constantine in the 4th century) it was located outside the city walls. As most things from this era, the church was rebuilt several times and during the early part of the 14th century there were beautiful mosaics and frescos added. Of course these were covered during the centuries this church became a mosque, but have been partially restored.
The mosaics depict the lives of Christ and Mary. One of the domes has a stunning depiction of Jesus and his ancestors. No flash was allowed so the pictures just don’t do the place justice. One of the pictures I include here shows mosaics on the ceiling and wall in the second room. These show a bit in the life of Mary.
A side chapel, which was built to hold the tombs of the church’s founder and his relatives, is decorated with frescos. The themes of paintings are death and resurrection. Most striking is the paining known as the Anastasis showing Christ raising Adam and Eve out of their sarcophagi. Saints and kings surround him. Below his feet are the gates of hell.
Brent’s favorite museum is the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. There are three buildings here housing a variety of interesting artifacts. One is the Tiled Kiosk, which is beautiful outside and in. This building is considered to be the oldest surviving “nonreligious” Turkish building in Istanbul. It was used for watching sporting events. The tiles that have the best reputation are those that came from the Iznik region in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Another building here holds the Museum of the Ancient Orient. The stuff in here is really old. There are panels from ancient Babylon (600 BC) and a copy of the oldest surviving treaty (shown here).
The Kadesh Treaty was drawn up in the 13th century BC between the Egyptians and Hittites. I didn’t read its translation, but I did read the translations of some other very important stone documents. One was to break an engagement because “the woman preferred the farmer.”
The final building in this complex is the Archaeology Museum which displays Hellenic and Roman statues and sarcophagi. In one end of the museum is the “famous” Alexander sarcophagus dating from the last quarter of the 4th century BC. It is not Alexander’s sarcophagus, but that of King Abdalonymous.
It is called the Alexander sarcophagus because his figure appears on both sides. The pictures of this sarcophogus didn't turn out as clear as I'd like so I'll put another picture of Alexander here from the other side of the building. Pretty good looking guy! Several other rooms contain statues made by artisans at Anatolia’s main sculpture centers. Here’s another view through the rooms that show statues of Athena, Oceanus, and Zeus.
This is getting us really in the mood for our trip to Athens. Still, there is so much to do. We are winding down in terms of our classes, but the grading never seems to end. We are taking off for Thanksgiving, then we will head down to Athens the first part of December. Travel is getting a bit more “iffy” as winter has come to Bulgaria. It has been snowing for the last couple of days and we are hoping that it is just a brief cold snap.
We'll end here with a picture of Brent in front of our Sofia apartment (Alexander in clothes). We'll definately miss that place!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. We'll be back soon.
posted by WarnerSteel at 7:40 AM
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