Istanbul, Turkey
Late April
2002
Absolutely loved Istanbul.
It had a really magical feel about it at sunset from the top of my cheap
hotel. Lots of rocket shaped mosque towers doting the skyline in the
fading light, beautiful colours of sunset over the water and the calls to
prayer. A truly exotic feeling which I'll never forget. And so
different from anything in Europe. Welcome to the East.
Hagia
Sofia or Aya Sofrya
Have always been a big fan
of Byzantine architecture from afar and now I get to see it up close.
The amazing Hagia Sofia. Built by the Emperor Justinian, it was
Christendom's largest church for a 1000 years. After the muslim
takeover, it was converted into a Mosque. Now it is a museum.
Archaeologists have scraped away paint to reveal amazing early
Christian frescos.
Another view of Hagia Sofia.
Blue
Mosque
The Blue Mosque was built
between 1609 and 1619 and is light and delicate compared to Hagia Sofia
just behind my camera. Truly amazing Byzantine influence
architecture. After Turkey, it's very rare to see anything quite
like this - mosques in the rest of the middle east follow a very different
architectural style.
View from the inner courtyard.
Cats and her kittens near the entrance to the mosque.
Topkapi
Palace
Topkapi Palace was the home
of the Ottoman Empire's sultans up to about the 19th century when they
preferred to live in more western styled palaces. The place is huge
and is at least a mornings work going around all the gardens, the palace
buildings and the Harem.
View from Topkapi Palace of Istanbul.
Library
A pool in the Harem complex. The Sultan could look down from his
study and see all his lovelies frolicking in the pools and gardens below.
Behind the camera is the Sultan's bedroom. The notable feature of
that room was the constantly running water fountain. The purpose of
this was to deaden some of the noise when the sultan was at work with one
of his wives or concubine.
According to the guide, nearly all the girls in the harem were western
or from other places outside the ottoman empire. The reason for this
was to have no ties with any Turks that could later lead to treachery.
Courtyard
Other Bits Around Town
Entrance to a palace or former government building near the Bosporus.
It was closed the day we walked past.
Turkish Communist Party advertisement on a wall.
View of the old part of IStanbul from the other side of the Galata
Bridge.
Out
On The Town
Me with some folks from the
Bosporus cruise and my room mates at the hotel. The two girls
against the window are Vicki (left) and Flick (right). The guy on
the left was also in out room and ended up having sex with an English girl
in his bed whilst the three of us were in the room. It made it very
hard to sleep as the English girl was quite 'noisy' in the sack.
Even earplugs couldn't drown out the noise. Vicki, Flick and I were
too shocked to say something until next morning.
Australian girl I met on the Bosporus cruise who kept throwing her self
into or onto bushes. Completely insane.
Next:
Turkey,
1. Istanbul,
2. Gallipoli, 3.
Troy, 4.
Selcuk, 5.
Ephesus,
6. Pamukkale,
7. Cappadocia,
8. Somewhere Photos
|
