Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia has a long history alternatively as a church and a mosque. Actually a pagan temple originally occupied the site, then a church was built there and inaugurated in 360 by Constantius II. This first church served alongside the nearby Hagia Eirene as the principal churches of the Byzantine Empire. The church was burned down/ruined in 404 during riots that ensued when John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, was exiled. 

Theodosius II ordered a second church built (with a wooden roof... did we learn nothing from the first fire?), and inaugurated it in 415. This second version of the Hagia Sophia was burnt down during the Nika Revolt (or as it said on an informational sign in the Hagia Sophia, the "Nike" Revolt.) The revolt was the biggest Constantinople had seen up to that point, nearly half the city was burned and tens of thousands killed during the week-long riot. 

(current repairs on the dome- check out that scaffolding!) 

Only a month or so after the Nika revolt, Emperor Justinian I decided to build a new and way more impressive basicila. He hired a physicist and a mathematician as architects, used over 10,000 workers had stones and marble brought from quarries in Egypt, Syria, Greece, and areas by the Bosphorous. He even sent to Ephesus for the Hellenistic columns from the Temple of Artemis. This new church was recognized as one of the great works of architecture in its day, particularly for its impressive dome. Justinian and the Eutychius (the new patriarch of Constantinople) inaugurated the new church in 537, complete with all the frills and fanciful ceremony they could muster. 

Fast forward through a lot of earthquakes, repairs, political uproars, more fires, swooning foreign visitors, etc to the year 1453, when the Ottoman Turks took Constantinople and the Hagia Sophia magically become the Ayfasofya Mosque. Sultan Mehmed II had the church cleaned up and repaired for its conversion to a mosque. A series of sultans did repairs and improvements over the next 100 years or so. Can I just pause to mention the longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire, who was called Süleyman the Magnificient. Süleyman the Magnificient? Are you serious? We need to start giving more descriptive titles to our politicians. Please enjoy this picture of Süleyman the Magnificient, attributed to the school of Titian c.1530. 

Sultan Mahmud I did more restorations in 1739, including the addition of a Koranic school, a soup kitchen, a library, a fountain (the kind you use to clean before you pray), a sultan's gallery, etc. Sultan Abdülmecid ordered the last big set of restorations from 1847-1849, doing all kinds of clean-up, replacing chandeliers, straightening columns, and redecorating to include the huge disks that still hang from the upper level of the Hagia Sophia, on which are written the names of Allah, Mohammad and the first four caliphs. Rivaling the hilarity of  Süleyman the Magnificient's headdress, there was also a timekeeper's building built in the courtyard. Thats right, a building just for the guy who reminds you what time to do the azan. 

During Emperor Barack the Fantabulous' recent visit to Turkey, he came to the Hagia Sophia and befriended one of several cats that lives there, named Gli. Gli seems to own the building and everyone in it. Notice her just sitting on some random guy. 

Sunset and Fireworks

Fireworks seen from the air-walk near Beşiktaş

Sunset over the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, seen from across the water near Kadıköy

Turkish NASCAR

Today was the Red Bull sponsored Soap Box Race in Maçka parkı.

It was pretty hilarious. Check out the video... 

The Pudding Shop

Brothers İdris and Namık Çolpan opened Lale's Restaurant in 1957, having no idea that it would soon become the hippie hotspot nicknamed "The Pudding Shop." It become a communication hub for young travelers between Europe and Asia in the 60's and 70's, before the days of the internet. 

Young travelers would leave notes for each other on bulletin boards on the walls of the restaurant for their friends to find, pass along to people at other locations, etc. It was also popular to leave apologies, love notes, notices about transportation and people's whereabouts. These crazy hippie kids would meet up at Lale's while moving east and west to socialize, share travel advice and stories. 

Check out this video from Lale's website- whoa psychadelic! 

Today there are no longer places to leave notes on the walls, but Lale's is still there and still full of travelers and tourists. Now they have large photos of their old bulletin boards and scenes from the restaurant's from the 60's and 70's covering their walls. 

This post is especially for my father, who was one of those wandering hippies eating pudding at Lale's. 

Sultanahmet Camii (The Blue Mosque)

Ahmed I built Sultanahmet Camii from 1609-1615. Due to his failures at war, particularly with Persia, he couldn't use war-winnings to pay for the mosque (as was usually done) but instead had to take money out of the treasury to afford it. Symbolic value was heavily considered in the choice of the mosque's location. Several Byzantine emperors had built palaces on the site previously. It stands across from the Hagia Sophia and is located in the hippodrome. 

Sultanahmet Camii was designed by Sedefkar Mehmet Aga, and some say it is the last great example of Ottoman architecture. It gets the name "blue mosque" for the beautiful blue tilework of the interior. 

Before you go in, you have to walk through a sort of clearance area with signs about rules and appropriate dress. There's a guy there with scarves and wraps that inappropriately dressed tourists can throw on and return at the exit. I thought I'd be in trouble because I had a head scarf but was wearing jeans, but the guy let me right through. Once I was inside I was surprised to see basically none of the dress-rules enforced, including many women bare-headed.

Museum Day in Istanbul

"Foucault Was Right"

A bunch of kids playing accordion on some steps... why not?

Victois makes a withdrawal from the... meat bank?

And the party that ended at the Kadikoy Police Station... credits to Ieva Vezbergaite

Prens Adaları (Princes' Islands)

The Princes' Islands have been used at various times as points of voluntary and involuntary retreat, particularly during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods when royals and their family members would be sent there in exile. In 1453 the islands were taken during the Ottoman siege of Constantinople. 

The crowded ferry ride over (it was a Saturday and a beautiful day, peak tourist flow).

More crowds on the 2nd level, where you can also buy tea, coffee and snacks. Note the backgammon players on the floor...

Heybeliada is the second largest island in the chain of 9, only 4 of which are accessible by the main ferries. Here are some of the beautiful homes on Heybeliada (and some not quite as beautiful as they used to be.) Heybeliada houses wooden homes in various states of repair and disrepair, shops and cafes, small beaches and a second port on the backside of the island. 

There are no motor vehicles allowed on the Princes' Islands except service vehicles, so you'll find pedestrians, bike-riders and horse and carriages used for transportation. There is no airport, so you can only get to and from the islands by boat.  

We avoided the beaches where you pay 5TL to swim, and found this beautiful area where the rocks jutted out into the water. KiteGirl (Dutch) and L swam in the icy Marmara Sea while V (French, oh so French) and I sat on the shaded hill watching the water.

Taksim at Night

Crowds, a tattoo bar/Cafe X/Crab Bar? A fruit stand, a trashed mannequin...