Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace was the traditional (until the 19th century) abode of the sultans and the Ottoman empire's chief administrative offices. It, like most of the historic sites, is just a ten minute walk up the hill from our campsite.
Entrance to the inner courtyard















Dirty old man at the entrance to the harem; actually, disappointingly, the harem 
was just the family quarters; and the sultan's mom kept strict control over whom 
the sultan was consorting with


















The place is loaded with beautiful tile-work




















Tiled dome in one of the ante-rooms















Cute little dioramas helped us to understand everything (actually there was ample 
English signage)
















Throne room















Other throne room















From the bedroom, a Sultan's view of the new district















Beautiful stained glass




















And--something we have not seen before-- matching tile on 
the adjacent wall





















Attempted artsy-fartsy self-portrait in a harem mirror















More Topkapi environs




















Entrance to the Treasury (no pix)















Looking across the Bosphorus to the (Byzantine) Maiden Tower
















The Bosphorus from the terrace at Topkapi; actually we found Topkapi a bit 
disaapointing in the opulence department, far less opulent than the Moorish 
sites we have seen in Spain, most of which antedate Muslim Constantinople 
by centuries



















Us, at the terrace, overlooking the Bosphorus

Instanbul's Grand Bazaar

Our project for Tuesday was to see more of Sultanahmet, which we did, and then do the Grand Bazaar, the world's oldest and still largest shopping mall. 4,000 shops; and those are just the ones under the roof.
Main entrance, Gate #1 (of 18, I think); it is an incredible 
maze inside




















But there is occasional and helpful (if you read Turkish) 
signage




















This is pretty much what it looks like, mile after mile...















On the main drag at least there are occasional interpretive
signs in English
















We occasionally strayed onto the streets surrounding the Bazaar, which are pretty 
much the same, except there are cars and trucks and no roof; here we are in the 
rivet district

















There are hundreds of rivet stores, here and in ot her parts 
of Istanbul; apparently they go through a lot of rivets in 
Istanbul





















A riveting pair of jeans




















Now we are in the police supply district, dozens of such stores

















Here we are in the textile manufacturer supply district, where you can buy, in 
bulk, whatever label and washing instructions you want to put on the garments 
you manufacture


















There are many small, specialized shops in the Bazaar; here 
in an antiques area, a shop devoted just to old gramaphones 
and parts; sales, however, were not brisk






















Of course there is enough gold for sale to rival Fort Knox; and silver, too; we 
ventured into the extant silver-smithing han and watched some of the work; 
in the good old days, manufacture and finishing were done in a han, adjoining 
the relevant retail shops



















And there is plenty of "regional" stuff for sale too, although the tourist trinket 
shoppes have by no means taken over; one sees plenty of tourists, but the 
majority of people there clearly were Turks


















My sharp business eye tells me that the guys [sic] really raking it in at the Bazaar 
are the ones selling and delivering Turkish tea to the merchants themselves

Galata Bridge

After our walk in the new town, we descended past the Galata Tower to the Galata Bridge and crossed it to Eminonu, a transportation hub and place of many sights.
The Galata Bridge is neither old nor architecturally 
interesting,  but it does carry the tram, cars and trucks and 
buses, and pedestrians, peddlers, and dozens of fisher-persons























I enjoyed the message here "building bridges between the 
cultures"




















On the Eminonu side, these three boats sells tons on fresh grilled fish sandwiches 
to adoring crowds; I ate there a couple nights later

















One interesting feature of the Galata Bridge is that dozens of restaurants lie 
immediately below it (here with their sun shades down)

















Looking across the Golden Horn to the new town, and Galata Tower
















Eminonu, where the main train station and the main tram line converge, also 
many of the commuter ferries, beginning of old town, many sights, here, the 
"new" mosque (mid-16th century)

















The pedestrian under-passes from port to tram or mosque or wherever are always 
wall-to-wall people, shops...
















But there is relative tranquility at the numerous "money-from-the-wall" sites



Saturday, October 2, 2010

"New" Istanbul

Monday we took the new town walk, riding the tram from Sultanahmet to Kabatas and then the funicular up the hill to Taksim Square, walking Istiklal St. and then Galip Dede (I think) down to Tunel and the Galata Bridge.
The Kabatos/Taksim funicular















The very famous Republic Monument and 
Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey




















Istiklal St., main drag, fashionable shoppes,
pedestrianized, crowded, even on a Monday
morning; the area burned in the later 19th
century and was rebuilt with lots of Art
Nouveau























Ceiling dome at Haci Abdullah (1888) where we had lunch;
lamb and chicken shishes, tomato and cucumber salad, tea,
coffee...

















The old-fashioned way















In a kebabery















In the mother of all pashmina shoppes; fortunately, after
Nepal, Thailand, etc., we are so over pashminas
















In the mother of all Turkish glass stores: too fragile to buy,
fortunately; not pictured is Haci Bekir, the mother of all
Turkish delight stores; fortunately, not breakable, so we
loaded up...

















Cafeterias like this are very popular















Down-sloping alley cafe




















At this point we left Istaklal and walked
down Galip Dede; in three blocks there must
have been fifty (50) musical instrument stores,
most general, some specialized, like this, the
(traditional) percussion store























Or this, the cymbal store




















A few blocks later we are into the trophy and sign district















And, finally, having passed the Galata Tower (pictured
elsewhere), down to the Galata Bridge, we are in the
hardware district