Modern Dancing Through Istanbul

Since my last post Annem has come and gone. Of course we did our share of touring, but more importantly Annem did what she does- she modern danced her way around Istanbul. 

Topkapı Sarayı, Basilica Cistern

Aya Sofia, Rahmi M Koç Museum

Topkapı Sarayı, Dolmabahçe Sarayı

Miniatürk

My Mother is in Istanbul

Dear Followers (come on, there might be someone reading this!), 

Something has happened. Something sensational. Something no one could have predicted. And I don't think its inappropriate to go ahead and give all credit for this spectacular happening to this very blog. After 1.5 months of somewhat-dutiful reporting on the glories of Istanbul, I had the honor of going to the airport. Why you ask? Because after 1.5 months of reading about my educational adventures, my mother decided to come see Istanbul for herself. 

My mother is here. In Istanbul. Here's the proof.

 

Annem (my mother), with Galata bridge and Sultanahmet in the background

Workin' on our Fitness

In Istanbul you'll find, in parks and outdoor recreation areas, special areas of fitness equipment for adults. The machines are a blend- the functionality of what you find at the YMCA and the construction of what you find on an elementary school playground.  

So of course Y and I were up in Maçka parkı, just workin' on our fitness.

Note: Improper equipment usage. 

Note: Usage instructions were in Turkish

Shine!

Latino Dance Night (by Shine Dance Studio) in Ankara

We also celebrated a friend's birthday

A million video clips to come...

Anıtkabir

Anıtkabir, the Atatürk Mausoleum, was completed in 1953 and is exemplary of Turkey's second national architecture movement. Characteristics of the mausoleum (and the movement) include the choice of materials (often cut-stone), and the prominence of grand, symmetrical structures with intricate detailing. 

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, as well as an important leader in their war of independence. He is incredibly revered in Turkey, his image is absolutely everwhere, and it is a serious offense to insult him in any way. YouTube is banned in Turkey, and one oft-cited reason is that there were videos on the website which insulted Atatürk. A few years ago Veysel Dalci, an official from the Turkish town of Fatsa, was brought up on court charges after chewing gum during a wreath-laying ceremony at Anıtkabir. 

Atatürk is interred at Anıtkabir. Inside the on-sight museum, where photography is not allowed, many of Atatürk's personal items are displayed- everything from his shaving kit to swords given to him by foreign diplomats. 

And a video of the changing of the guards...

Girls' Day in Ankara

The ladies of Bilkent Univ. and their sidekick CouchSurfer hit Ulus, a more conservative area in the north of Ankara, for a day of excitement. Sorry I couldn't give you pictures from inside the actual bath, but here are the ladies afterward, drinking chai and getting their eyebrows threaded.

  

Shopping in Ulus. Locals don't actually like Ulus that much, apparently its seen as old-fashioned, but Westerners love it for that same reason. Our group consisted of one French woman, an Asian-Canadian woman, and 3 Americans from Kansas, Montana, and North Carolina. 

View of the city from the restaurant where we ate lunch.

Getting a trim and a blowout at the salon

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.