Dan in Turkey

For photos from this week’s adventures, see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mountaintopdan/

OK, OK, I’m convinced! This is the most fascinating, most delightful, most voluptuous city I’ve ever visited. We’ve been touring some of its traditional wonders this week: the Hagia Sophia, the Sultanahmet (or Blue) Mosque, the Dolmabahce palace, and, of course, the Topkapi Saray, the “home” of countless generations of Ottoman Sultans, Harem Queens, plotting princes, scheming eunuchs, brilliant viziers, and thousands of slaves and servants since the 15th century. I could drone on for hours about these places, and I have included some photos of them, but for me, the test of a city is in the places not frequented by tourists: walking the back streets with no clear destination in mind, talking with locals (as best I can) at tourist-free tea shops or kabob stands, taking the tram into the inner city, walking at night along the Bosporus, just for the sake of saying “I can’t believe I’m walking at night along the Bosporus!” These are the ways I like to get to know a city.

I feel safer here than anywhere I’ve ever lived. This is a crowded city, filled with traffic, but not once have I noticed anything like road rage. Not once have I seen Turks in any kind of heated exchange. People are both patient and pleasant. Now, I’m not so naive to think that no violence occurs here. But neither am I so naive to think I’m safer in the United States. Here, although more crowded, the pace is less fervent, the anger less visible, the compassion for strangers more vivid. We have been treated very well by all whom we’ve met here: neither as tourists nor as trespassers. I’ve neither been accosted to purchase trinkets nor received any indication of animosity. The Turks are pretty clear that they are unhappy with some recent U.S. and Israeli political actions, but they are sophisticated enough to realized that it‘s the current American administration and not Americans themselves that they are unhappy with. I’ve felt genuinely welcomed in Istanbul. Perhaps this is the lasting influence of the Islamic value of hospitality, or perhaps it’s a uniquely Turkish virtue.

Let’s see… a few words about our visits to the tour sites: I found the Hagia Sophia (the church of “Holy Wisdom”) powerful in its sheer massiveness. Built by Justinian in the 6th century as a Greek Orthodox Christian Basilica, it retains much of the original Byzantine style: huge buttresses support a gigantic domed ceiling; large stained glass windows illuminate the place where an altar or iconostasis once stood. The original church was oriented so that its eastern windows faced Jerusalem. When the Muslims took control and remade it into a great Mosque in the 16th century, they removed all the icons but surprisingly left the rest of the church--its stained glass, its beautiful mosaics) relatively in tact. Their primary alterations involved adding some large emblems bearing the names of The Prophet and his early companions and relatives, carving a small niche or “mihrab” beneath the eastern windows, and erecting a large pulpit or “minbar” just off to the side. The niche and pulpit are aligned on a slightly different geographical axis, so that they are pointing not to Jerusalem, but to Mecca. I always find that fascinating. The mosaics were beautiful, and many have been at least partially restored. The Aya Sofya (as the Turks call it) is now neither church nor mosque, but a monument, a major landmark at the heart of Istanbul.

For mosques we had many choices. I think them always more beautiful from the outside, especially at night when illuminated. We learned that the number of towers or “minarets” a mosque sports indicates the status of the person to whom it was dedicated. So, for a Sultan, four minarets became the norm, whereas for a wife or mother of a Sultan two became standard, and for a leader (a pasha, a beylik, a vizier) one minaret was allowed. The only exception to this is the Sultanahmet mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque (for its special tiles). Legend has it that when the Sultan, Ahmet, asked that his minarets be “golden” (Turkish: altin) his builders heard, instead, that they be “six” (Turkish: alti), and thus, against all convention, the six minarets of the new mosque went up. I don’t know if the story is true, but after two weeks of studying Turkish I can empathize with the builders!

Another nice mosque (from the outside) is the Yeni Camii (pronounced “yen-nee jam-mee”) located right at the southern end of the Galata bridge, the first major bridge over the “Golden Horn.” I’ve included a shot of this mosque at night.

The Topkapi Saray (palace), just to the northeast of the Aya Sofya, served as the home of Ottoman Sultans from 1465 to 1863. Having read the students’ journals about this visit it was interesting to note that each found a different part of the palace to be of most interest to him or her. I personally found the entry hall to the Sultan’s chambers, the “third courtyard,” most fascinating, for it was there, I’ve read, one would wait, when summoned in olden days, to see whether or not one was in the Sultan’s favor. If one was, the inner doors would open and access to the imperial “presence” granted. If not, side doors would open and deaf eunuchs would emerge holding garrotes. They were deaf so that no one would hear your final pleas.

The Dolmabahce palace, across the Golden Horn and along the Bosporus to the north, represented the culmination of late Ottoman efforts to become “European.” Designed largely by French and Italian architects, the palace, built from 1853-56, retains none of the ancient Turkic simplicity to be found in the Topkapi. Built with moneys the government did not have (borrowed from foreign powers--sound familiar?), this palace, though dazzling in appearance and décor, did little for me save to remind me that decadence is always the last gasp of empire.

Other adventures this week: a visit to the huge Cisterns built by Justinian to store water for the city in times of siege; the Hippodrome, a former Roman arena now holding “mementos” from Ottoman conquests around the Mediterranean; the Pierre Loti restaurant atop a huge cemetery built at the western end of the “Golden Horn;” and many other places. The students enjoyed the Grand Bazaar and Spice Markets as well, places I tend to avoid like the plague because they are such tourist traps.

All in all it’s been another great week. I was privileged to spend a bit more time with my Canadian friend, Ilene, and we enjoyed some of the city’s better restaurants on a couple of evenings, and the students had numerous private excursions of their own. You will have to read their blogs for information on those.

As always, thanks for reading!

Dan