Bosphorus Tour

To end my second long day of travels, I decided against a rather expensive tour of the other major palace built by the Ottoman in the 19th century and instead bought a ticket for a boat tour up the Bosphorus! After a summer where the most water I have seen is that which puddles outside my door after the daily thunder storms, it was nice to get out and have some cool sea air in my face for an hour or so. For the equivalent of about $8 I was able to get passage on a boat that took us up the Bosphorus from Dolmabahce palace, under the Bosphorus bridge, to the Rumeli Hisar, the castle built by Mehmed II to facilitate the conquest of Constantinople. While we didn't disembark to see any of these sights, it was a good opportunity for a quick drive-by tour of a number of places that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to see in my short stay. Next time, though, I would much rather take out one of the many sail boats out on the water that day. Maybe I can talk my friends in Boston into making this the destination for the sailing trip next year instead of Maine.

The Harem at Topkapı

Topkapı Sarayı (It's good to be the King)

The former residence of the Ottoman rulers is now set up as a museum, with pavilions full of various jewels, clothing, and other items belonging to some of the most famous Ottoman Sultans. The structure itself is also pretty amazing, with monumental gateways leading into a series of courtyards and pavilions with amazing views of the Bosphorus and modern Istanbul. Some parts of it were pretty packed with tourists, but the grounds were large enough that you could find spots to explore without too many other people in your way. I did meet one young Turkish girl with a tour group who was more than happy to practice my Turkish with me, at least until I mentioned Amanda! The conversation sort of dropped off after that. While it costs extra to visit the Harem, containing the private quarters of the women of the Ottoman household, it was definitely worth the extra fee. A series of passageways led to rooms for the Valide Sultan and the Courtyard of the Favorites and featured some pretty nicely decorated spots. I know I said earlier that I had my eyes on the house in Beypazari, but I'm now convinced that Topkapı is the place for me. I wonder what t

Eminönü Camii

While this was the mosque that I knew the least about going into the trip (it turns out it was commissioned and built by a couple of the Valide Sultans [Sultan's mother] in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), I was happy to stumble upon it on my way back from Sulemaniyye and was struck by how much larger and more impressive it was from up close. It is directly across the Galata bridge where we disembarked from our ferry the night we arrived and we walked by in a travelers' daze without remarking on it. Having toured the interior and the courtyard I am now amazed at how much they were able to do with what is a relatively small mosque in comparison to its larger companions at Sultanahmet and Suleymaniyye. It is definitely worth exploration for anyone who will be in the area.

Suleymaniyye & Suleyman's Tomb

Ayasofya's beauty and massive dome were some of the elements that supposedly inspired Sinan, Suleyman's chief architect, to fill the surrounding city and empire with mosques and other structures that he hoped would rival it. The Suleymaniyye Camii is supposed to be his major attempt to match the other monumnent. Unfortunately, since the mosque itself is still closed for renovations (according to Amanda that makes three years running) I was unable to judge for myself. I was able to make my way into a part of the courtyard with a small graveyard that featured the tombs of Suleyman and his wife Roxelana. While the tomb itself was not much different from those of the other sultans that I visited that day, the fact that it was the tomb of Suleyman was enough to make it a pretty special experience. I sat off to the side for a while enjoying both the cool spot out of the sunlight and the beautiful interior before making my way back out to continue the day. On my way back down the hill to the next mosque I found the tomb of Sinan (picture 5) tucked away in a back corner of the mosque complex. It's pretty remarkable that the man responsible for designing so many monumental structures has such a humble little tomb for himself.

Tombs

One of the sights that really surprised me in my exploration of the area were the tombs of the various Ottoman sultans that were scattered throughout the city and open to visitors. While I had heard about the palaces and monumental mosques I was unaware that the tombs were so widespread and easily accessible and I had fun touring as many as I could. The first thing that I learned after visiting a couple on the side of the Aya Sofya is that in the interior they are pretty much all the same. The coverings of the sarcophagi are almost all green textiles with a turban at its head. The sultan would almost always be the biggest and was surrounded by various family members that were buried with him. In addition to the various sultans, some tombs were also kept important Valide Sultans (Mother of the Sultan) who wielded a good deal of power from inside the harem in various periods of the empire. The interior of the tombs also featured the beautiful tile and woodworking that was on display everywhere else in the city's monuments and it was fun to see so many different types of decorative arts as I wandered from one to the next.

Blue Mosque

Easily my favorite spot in Istanbul so far is the Sultanahmet Camii, also known as the Blue Mosque, that occupies the spot directly across from the entrance to Aya Sofya. Equally beautiful inside and out, it gets its nickname from the mostly blue Iznik tiles that decorate its interior. I spent a good deal of time on the first day enjoying the shady spots in the courtyard and relaxing in the public area of the interior. After hearing the tour guides for both the English and Arabic speaking tour groups, I have to admit the Arabic groups received much better information. Any tour guide that goes into how the construction of the mosque fit into the finances of the empire in the period after the death of Suleyman gets an A. I did get some funny looks for listening in, but I still can't tell if this was because they were wondering if I understood any of the Arabic or because I was very obviously eavesdropping on a tour that I didn't pay for! I enjoyed this area so much I used my little free time Sunday morning for a return trip through interior and bought my first all Arabic Quran in the little bookstore outside its walls. That will be my next big reading project if I can find some time around my upcoming general exams. Many of the places in Sultanahmet were beautiful, but this is probably the one that I will make a point to return to every time I go back to Istanbul.