Greetings from Istanbul!
Byzantium, Constantinopolis, Istanbul , known by any name is just as wonderful. Situated on hills rising from the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, there can be few cities so magnificently placed. Our hotel lies just beneath Topkapi Palace, in the old city, with all the most famous sites within a few minutes walking distance. We breakfast on the roof, with a panoramic view over the Golden Horn and Bosphorus. These waterways teem with traffic, day and night. On the cobbled streets the sense of vibrancy is palpable, with busy merchants unloading goods in the early morning, arranging their wares outside on the pavement, and open for business till late evening. Five times a day the Muezzin calls faithful Muslims to prayer, and all day the sound of traffic drowns out the cries of wheeling seagulls, cooing pigeons and peeping swallows wheeling and diving. The city doesn't sleep till 2-3am, when all is quiet for a few hours.
We had a 6 hour walking tour of the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia and Topkapi Museum. Let me tell you, Global isn't for the faint hearted! We are fortunate to have the most wonderful guide, Muge, who, besides being charming, is a fount of knowledge.
I was here 41 years ago, and delighted to find that I did remember quite a lot, but a lot has changed. For example, at the Hippodrome, I recall obelisks, columns and some statues on bare ground, now the whole area is filled with gardens, fountains, and, in the evening, food kiosks.
It is Ramadan, so, although Turkey is nominally a secular state, all devout muslims fast from dawn to dusk. This means that after sunset, the people come out to celebrate and eat. And it is in the Hippodrome( named after the place where the Romans held Chariot races) that families gather. The students make the 5 minute walk there most evenings, to enjoy the melee. Jonathan and I have been just once, to nudge our way through at least one hundred thousand + others, promenading, listening to music, watching marching bands and EATING! Families spread out blankets and bring a feast. So many children, all happily running round. No parents seemed terrified that their child might be abducted, despite the crowds and comparative darkness! There is a level of civility and a desire to oblige. And despite the Turkish trait of melancholy, we have found them to be smiling, cheerful and helpful. We hear Turkish music all around us, mostly in the minor key, another indication of their melancholic psyche.( Orhan Pamuk expresses this melancholy in his wonderful memoir Istanbul).
I remembered visiting a wonderful small mosque with an historian when I was first here, and was delighted to find it again. Tucked behind the Spice Market, along a narrow alley, I found a doorway, and took the staircase up to the second level, to come to the courtyard of the mosque. Taking off my shoes, I entered into a jewel box. Quite small, this square building probably holds 2-3 hundred for prayers. It has more beautiful and varied designs of tiles than anywhere else, I believe, and has a unity and calmness that the huge, more famous mosques lack. I took Jonathan back later, when prayers were being recited, and we sat there taking in the peaceful atmosphere, and trying to count the number of different tile designs.
Yesterday we had a day trip to the Black Sea. To the village of Sile, pronounced Sheeley. There the students lazed on chaise lounges, under parasols, or soaking up the sun, cavorted in the surf in a warm 85F, or read texts or wrote essays that they are discussing with Jonathan as I write this email. We were lucky with wonderful blue skies and light breezes, sea ranging from turquoise to indigo, not black, as it's name implies. This comes from the fact that most of the time it is cloudy in that area, thus the sea is, more often than not, dark grey to black.
Today it is cloudy, with a chance of rain, but as I looked up just now, the sun was peeping through, so perhaps my umbrella won't be needed.
I could say so much more, but I am sure some of you have been here before, and may be thinking, yes, been there done that, so I will leave Jonathan to wax eloquently on some of his impressions later on.
We will be visiting Bogazici University tomorrow, to join in a couple of lectures with the St. O. Term in the Mid East. Then, after a free day, we will be flying to Cairo. There, I think we will encounter a much grittier and more frantic life than here. A month of intensive History of Egypt courses, with visits to famous sites will test us all in a different way.
So more from Cairo.
I send love from us both,
Barbara.
Byzantium, Constantinopolis, Istanbul , known by any name is just as wonderful. Situated on hills rising from the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, there can be few cities so magnificently placed. Our hotel lies just beneath Topkapi Palace, in the old city, with all the most famous sites within a few minutes walking distance. We breakfast on the roof, with a panoramic view over the Golden Horn and Bosphorus. These waterways teem with traffic, day and night. On the cobbled streets the sense of vibrancy is palpable, with busy merchants unloading goods in the early morning, arranging their wares outside on the pavement, and open for business till late evening. Five times a day the Muezzin calls faithful Muslims to prayer, and all day the sound of traffic drowns out the cries of wheeling seagulls, cooing pigeons and peeping swallows wheeling and diving. The city doesn't sleep till 2-3am, when all is quiet for a few hours.
We had a 6 hour walking tour of the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia and Topkapi Museum. Let me tell you, Global isn't for the faint hearted! We are fortunate to have the most wonderful guide, Muge, who, besides being charming, is a fount of knowledge.
I was here 41 years ago, and delighted to find that I did remember quite a lot, but a lot has changed. For example, at the Hippodrome, I recall obelisks, columns and some statues on bare ground, now the whole area is filled with gardens, fountains, and, in the evening, food kiosks.
It is Ramadan, so, although Turkey is nominally a secular state, all devout muslims fast from dawn to dusk. This means that after sunset, the people come out to celebrate and eat. And it is in the Hippodrome( named after the place where the Romans held Chariot races) that families gather. The students make the 5 minute walk there most evenings, to enjoy the melee. Jonathan and I have been just once, to nudge our way through at least one hundred thousand + others, promenading, listening to music, watching marching bands and EATING! Families spread out blankets and bring a feast. So many children, all happily running round. No parents seemed terrified that their child might be abducted, despite the crowds and comparative darkness! There is a level of civility and a desire to oblige. And despite the Turkish trait of melancholy, we have found them to be smiling, cheerful and helpful. We hear Turkish music all around us, mostly in the minor key, another indication of their melancholic psyche.( Orhan Pamuk expresses this melancholy in his wonderful memoir Istanbul).
I remembered visiting a wonderful small mosque with an historian when I was first here, and was delighted to find it again. Tucked behind the Spice Market, along a narrow alley, I found a doorway, and took the staircase up to the second level, to come to the courtyard of the mosque. Taking off my shoes, I entered into a jewel box. Quite small, this square building probably holds 2-3 hundred for prayers. It has more beautiful and varied designs of tiles than anywhere else, I believe, and has a unity and calmness that the huge, more famous mosques lack. I took Jonathan back later, when prayers were being recited, and we sat there taking in the peaceful atmosphere, and trying to count the number of different tile designs.
Yesterday we had a day trip to the Black Sea. To the village of Sile, pronounced Sheeley. There the students lazed on chaise lounges, under parasols, or soaking up the sun, cavorted in the surf in a warm 85F, or read texts or wrote essays that they are discussing with Jonathan as I write this email. We were lucky with wonderful blue skies and light breezes, sea ranging from turquoise to indigo, not black, as it's name implies. This comes from the fact that most of the time it is cloudy in that area, thus the sea is, more often than not, dark grey to black.
Today it is cloudy, with a chance of rain, but as I looked up just now, the sun was peeping through, so perhaps my umbrella won't be needed.
I could say so much more, but I am sure some of you have been here before, and may be thinking, yes, been there done that, so I will leave Jonathan to wax eloquently on some of his impressions later on.
We will be visiting Bogazici University tomorrow, to join in a couple of lectures with the St. O. Term in the Mid East. Then, after a free day, we will be flying to Cairo. There, I think we will encounter a much grittier and more frantic life than here. A month of intensive History of Egypt courses, with visits to famous sites will test us all in a different way.
So more from Cairo.
I send love from us both,
Barbara.