The Walls of Istanbul

Saturday began with another hike doen the hill from our host's home in Kuzguncuk to the port wharf to catch the passenger ferry to Eminonu (the main port of the older part of Istanbul). Once we arrived there, we hopped a bus 2.5 miles up the Golden Horn (the water inlet that separates the old town from the new town on the European side of the city). The goal was to reach the ancient city walls and adjacent cemeteries. The photo above is of the city walls where they met the water in ancient times. Now there is a boulevard and a greenbelt between this point and the water. The municipality has created a nice park-like atmosphere around this part of the wall. In other places it is more decrepit.


Pigeons rather than archers occupy the arrow slits in the walls today. The construction of these walls is magnificent. In places it is still evident how logs were used to shore up the structure of the masonry, and how different masonry techniques were used in layers for structural strenghth. In many places damage has been repaired, and it is obvious when a newer construction technique has been used to patch old sections of the walls.


While I was walking along the outer edge of the walls, I kept thinking about how many people had been there in the many ages past. Then I came across this inscription in Greek. I wish I could read it, but imagine it says something like "Tourist entrance 200 yards to the left"!


In places, the walls were shored up by buttresses. This particular buttress had a five-foot archway in the bootom, to encourage drainage I imagine!


Also along the exterior edges of the walls were many cemeteries. These are still in use for modern burials, where the tombstones are more plain and utilize the Roman alphabet to eulogize the occupant. Older tombs are identified by ornate headstones with Arabic script. The revered early 20th century Turkish leader Ataturk was responsible for instilling many Europeanisms into the Turkish culture. One of them was to convert from Arabic script to the Roman alphabet.

Faces of Istanbul

This morning I went off on my own while Robert was trying to get the car situation sewn up. Turns out we may be delayed until Monday, as he has decided to purchase a vehicle rather than 'borrow' the Yaris. The purchase will take another business day to complete, and that means waiting in Istanbul over the weekend. At least it is full of interesting sights and people! So, I went off early in search of faces, and here are a few. This first fellow was very friendly (as most Turks are). He helped me with my Turkish, made pleasant conversation (even though I understood very little), and let me photograph him. He gave me his email address so I could send him a copy of the final image!


This woman was sitting outside a little snack shop, as if she were the proprietress. She wasn't. The shopkeeper had stepped away, so I showed her the price of the item I wanted to purchase and gave her the coins. She accepted them and let me take her photo. I doubted I would be able to get an email address from her, so I just showed her the photo on the camera's LCD screen. She laughed!


This burly fisherman seemed to be very proud that my camera was pointed his way. His buddies were encouraging him to ham it up! Wish I could have snagged his email address!


Finally, tourists are discouraged from taking photographs of people worshipping in mosques. Plus, the women usually pray behind screens or in upstairs galleries - well out of sight. I lucked out with this photo. She wasn't in a mosque and she wasn't praying. A moment earlier she had been in an animated conversation with a girlfriend and had momentarily looked down. Perfect! I got the shot!

More Istanbul Sightseeing

This morning we set out for another full day of the sights. We got on a commuter boat with Jale, the wife of our host Chetin. She was on her way to her job at HP in Istanbul and we all got on the same commuter boat. She got off on the first stop on the European side. We got off on the second. Upon arrival, we hopped on the tram and took it three stops to the Sutanahmet neighborhood and the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya Mosque and the Underground Cistern. We arrived around 8:30am and nothing was open yet, so we went to a park nearby to take photos of the Blue Mosque's exterior. While doing that, a number of schoolboys asked us to take their photos. Of course we complied!



Later, we saw the Underground Cistern, the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque. It was all incredible. This photo, above, is of the dome of the Blue Mosque. We also went to the Grand Bazaar, but I wasn't so impressed. It was like a massive shopping mall. The Spice Market was much better! Below is a tripod shot of the underground cistern before I was reprimanded for using the tripod (they're not allowed in many public places). I managed to get one shot - it was about a 20 second exposure and I clicked it off just as the cistern police came to tell me that it wasn't allowed. I took about 15 seconds to clarify my transgression, then waited until the shutter closed before putting the tripod away. But I got the shot! Also below is a tiled image from above the inner doorway to the Aya Sofya Mosque.

Istanbul

We were up early this morning and went to the European side with our host Chetin. He took us to the Galatasaray University, where he teaches, showed us around and then we had tea at the university's waterfront cafe. The university is in several old (150 years?) buildings on the Bosphorus. These buildings were originally servants quarters for the Galatasaray palace, but were later converted to a humanities university. Chetin teaches English. He helped us immensely with sightseeing tips and suggestions for getting around the city. I think we ended up walking at least eight kilometers today and saw a number of sights. Above is the interior dome of the Rustem Pasa mosque, near the spice market. The tiles were wonderful and all of the tourists and photographers were very quiet and respectful of the worshippers inside. We were told that this was the only mosque on the second floor of any building in Istanbul. If we hadn't been speaking with a Turkish photographer earlier in the day, I doubt we would have found this place.


Nearby is the Spice Market. I can't describe the smell upon entering. If you can imagine a warm mix of every savory smell imaginable, that is probably pretty close! There were piles of different spices everywhere, tall mounds of lokum (or Turkish Delight candy), dried fruits and nuts in every color! The vendors were hawkers of the first order! We were 'invited' into many stalls to 'try' the wares. Everyone asked us where we were from (Canada? Germany? England?). None guessed the US. Again we replied "American - Obama?". Ahh, yes, Obama good! "I am from Ohio" one vendor told us. "I have a cousin in New York" said another. We enjoyed brief conversations with a number of these fellows, but the crush of people was nearly unbearable. Several spice merchants spoke excellent Spanish. In fact, we found it was often easier to converse in Spanish than English, at least at the spice market!


Another focus of the day was to photograph as many people as possible. We are working out a "schtick" where Robert engages someone in conversation and then I photograph them, or the other way around. We also got photos of people while sitting in parks and cafes. This gentleman was one of a group of four or five men who 'volunteered' to assist us with our Turkish! While Robert was fumbling with his cheat-sheet and his language, I was busy snapping photos. We did this all day long!

I really exhausted myself today. I got a couple of blisters, and my knees and legs are stiff and sore from all of the exercise. Hopefully some sleep will help and we can hit it again tomorrow!

Arrived!

Monday I departed Seattle on an Air France Airbus 330 at about 2pm and arrived in Paris around 11pm Seattle time. About 90 minutes later I caught a Boeing 737 (much more comfortable) to Istanbul and finally arrived at Atatürk Airport around 4pm local time on Tuesday. The time difference is ten hours, so 4pm is 6am in Seattle.

Catching a shuttle into town, Robert and I were confronted with massive rush-hour traffic, and finally discovered - once we arrived at our destination - that the traffic was due to major security and roadblocks for Obama's last day of his visit to Istanbul. The shuttle and taxi drivers didn't initially recognize us as Americans, so we said "American - Obama?), and the universal response was vigorous nodding! On the local news, though, most folks being interviewed were more than a little put out that the American president was causing them to miss appointments, flights and other commitments! FYI, the photo above is from the 4/6 English edition of TimeTurk and features Obama with the Turkish president, Abdullah Gül.

To get to the home we are staying in, we had to get off the shuttle at the Bosphorus and take a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul, and then a taxi to the home. So now I can say I have been to Asia! The people we are staying with are very nice. Chetin is a professor of English at the Galatasaray University in Istanbul, and his wife works for HP and is a wonderful amateur photographer. They have a charming young son and they all speak fine English!

Tomorrow we'll hitch a ride into town with Chetin and begin looking for our first photographic subjects. Should be good!

Take-off For Turkey!

Oh my gosh, I have been so excited today! Tomorrow morning I leave for Turkey! From Seattle, I take Air France to Paris, and then immediately catch an AF connection to Istanbul. It's a three-hour flight from Paris to Istanbul and there is a one-hour time zone difference. The time difference from Seattle to Turkey is ten hours. So 10pm Sunday night in Seattle is 8am in Istanbul. Now you know! In case you want to see the time or weather, check out this link: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=107

How Big is Turkey?

Yesterday Carol asked me about the size of Turkey. I didn't really know, so I looked it up: Turkey is 1565 km (970 miles) east to west and 550 km (400 miles) north to south at its widest points. In area, it's a bit larger than Texas. My trip begins in the northwest part of the country - Istanbul - and then I work around the west toward the southern coast. Robert, my travel partner, will be visiting parts of central Turkey, but I will probably only barely make it to the Mediterranean coast.

Beautiful Country, Beautiful People

In case I haven't spoken with you in a while, you may not know that I'm headed out for three weeks in Turkey! Departure date is April 6, and I will be back in the states on April 24. I have loved traveling since I was very young, My grandma Olga used to take me on day trips to San Francisco, flying space-available from Southern California. You see, my dad was a commercial pilot, and that made it very easy to go just about anywhere.

When I was 8 years old I went to Europe for the first time, also with Olga. She was a great travel companion. Easy-going, relaxed and had a great sense of humor. She also encouraged me to connect with people in the places we visited. I remember one time in Amsterdam, we were in one of the main town squares, and there was a Dutch boy, a bit older than me, feeding the pigeons. We didn't have any language in common, but Olga encouraged me to ask him if I could help him feed the birds anyway. Somehow he figured out what I was asking and shared his bird food with me. What a great memory!

I never got to travel with Olga again after that trip, but everywhere I go I remember the things she taught me about being away from home. Basically, that I am home no matter where I am!

I now have many more trips under my belt: I have lived in New York City, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, San Juan Island, and now Whidbey Island - both near Seattle. I have seen much of North America, the north part of Argentina and part of the Andes, and I have been to Europe three times. This trip to Turkey will be the first time I have been to the Asian continent. In case you didn't know - Turkey spans both Europe and Asia, with the city of Istanbul occupying peninsulas on both continents. For thousands of years it has literally been a cultural crossroads, and I am thrilled to be able to visit!

I will be traveling with a new friend - another photographer that I met two summers ago in a photography workshop. I read his account of his trip to the Balkans in 2008, and it sounded like he travels the way I like to - close to the ground! Robert is a retired police officer and trainer, and he really does his homework. Usually I am the one who over-plans an excursion, but I am really getting to relax on this one. Robert has beat me to everything - from planning the route and researching the sites to visit, to preparing a Turkish language cheat-sheet. He even has a plan for how we can work together to get good candid people shots - we work together, almost double-team the Turks. One of us engages and distracts while the other one shoots. I think it will work!

Here is a map of my route. I will post a live map later so you can see how the route and dates change as we go along.



And finally, here is a video made by the friend who will be 'renting' us his car (a 2007 Toyota Yaris) for our journey. He videotaped himself crossing one of the Istanbul bridges in the very car we will be driving. Enjoy!

Intercontinental Ride - Click here for the funniest movie of the week