Boring the kids to death

Daphne and I decided that we should really expose the kids to the history of the city.

We hired a tour guide through the hotel to give us a three hour architecture tour of the city. It promised a view of three important mosques that show the history and importance of the city.

Here's poor Max - a PhD in Byzantine Art and Architecture - showing us the first mosque built in honor of the prince Mahmet. Sehzade Camii was impressive. Not only a place for worship but also a school, soup kitchen, community center, and general garden for the neighborhood. 

Don't let the photos fool you. Brian was tired and cold. The 9am start was too early for his vacation schedule. Here we are in the court yard.

Think we were cold?

We moved on to Suleymaniye Mosque which is the most important mosque in the entire city. Built in 1550, it also was a charitable foundation more than a place of worship. It includes a hospital, soup kitchen, schools, and bath house.

It fed over 1000 of the poor every day - Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Incredible limestone building on a huge complex that was built in seven years. We couldn't do a kitchen in 6 months.

The interior is soaring with the height of the dome exactly double the diameter. Bright colors and artistic frescos.

The architect was unusual in that most were just government employees. But Sinan, who designed the three we saw on our tour was Christian, educated in elite palace school and died at age 97 having built 131 mosques and 200 other buildings.

We learned that some of the glass came from Venice. The boys were not sure they remember visiting Venice. (Happy we made that trip - but ask them the lyrics to a lady gaga song - no problem).

We went outside to the courtyard and could see the Bosphorus and the Bazaar below. The kids were more impressed with the feral dogs and cats. The dogs are captured and neutered. The cats are left to run free. This works well because it is custom that it is bad luck to throw away food. Hence - the animals get fed.

Here is Daph viewing the harbor from the palace entrance to the most important mosque in Istanbul.

Blue Mosque

One of the most important sites in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque. 

It is not only beautiful but it is rich in history.

We started outside of the mosque where there used to be a huge stadium called the Hippodrome.

 

We are standing next to the Egyptian Obelisk and the Serpentine Column outside of the Blue Mosque. Little is left from the gigantic stadium which once stood at the heart of Constantinople. Built in the 3rd century, it held 100,000 people for chariot racing. Four horses controlled by each rider.

The columns outside of this spot are missing the four golden horses which were pillaged during the Fourth Crusades and taken to St. Marks in Venice.  

The Blue Mosque is directly across the street and above the Haghia Sophia and was designed to show the superiority of Islam over Christianity. To build the Mosque, they took the Hippodrome down and re used the materials to build an unbelievable Mosque.

The name comes from the blue tile work on the inside and was finished in 1616. Unfortunately, the building was constructed during a period of decline in the Ottoman empire.

It wasn't cold inside - rather as a sign of respect, women are asked to wear a head scarf. They loved the domes and half domes.

The main piers supporting the dome are massive. The kids really were most impressed with the washing stations outside the mosque where people wash their feet. Given the cold, the boys were shocked at the cleaning process out in the cold.

One issue with the design was that the Mosque had six minarets which was considered a sacrilegious attempt to rival Mecca. We learned later that one minaret allowed the caller to announce the call to prayer. Two indicated the mosque was associated with the sultan or royal family. Four was a bold statement of importance and six was just too much.

Managing water...

You see the aqueducts throughout the city. The water was brought to the city in the late 4th century from as far away as the Belgrade Forest over 200km away.  The system was used until the late 19th century.

The highway now runs through it and cars crash into it every now and then.

Once the water was in the city, they stored it in underground cisterns. Here the kids visted the Basilica Cistern built by Justinian in 532.

There are 336 columns that are 26 ft high. It holds millions of gallons of water and ensured a safe water supply for the palaces.

One interesting part was that two Roman sculptures of Medusa are reused in the cistern to hold up two columns. One is sideways and one is upside down. Reusing building materials was common.

Bazaar

One of the 'must do's' of Turkey is the Grand Bazaar. The really do sell everything and nothing has a price on it. Begun in the 1400's by Mehmet II, the labyrinth of streets houses thousands of shops. They sell rugs, gold, antiques, and household goods.

The boys were not impressed while Daphne and Julia looked at handbags and gold. It was funny to see how they approached us. 80% of the time I got, "How are you my friend? Can I help you find something, my friend?" 20% of the time, they noticed my German ski jacket and approached in perfect German with the same questions. It felt like they could read more into me than a data mining service from the internet.

Daphne and Julia settled on a purse and Daphne tried to give Julia some pointers on negotiations. 

I just looked at him and said, "Please be gentle, my friend."

He said, "My friend, for you I will only give the best price..." 

Work hard...

It was a vacation. After a hard day looking at mosques the kids watched a movie.

Boys

Inside the Topkapi Palace, they had a special room for one purpose. Here we are in the circumcision room.  Seemed a bit ornate for the function but nice.

Compound

We visited the Topkapi Palace which was where Mehmet II built his main residence after his conquest of Constantinople in the mid 1400's.  I have seen many buildings and palaces meant to show power and wealth but this was truly unbelievable. Here is a model of the grounds.

We could have spent days exploring the place. There are museums showing the kitchens, throne rooms, treasury, wardrobes, harems, etc. etc. etc. We probably saw 5% of the place. We went to see the jewelry and emerald encrusted swords.

Here we are at the inner gate or Gate of Salutation that leads to the palace proper. The boys loved the guide books description: In 1524, visitors were greeted and high officials who had upset the sultan were arrested and strangled at the gate. The boys recreated the action for some Chinese tourists.

Here's Brian in front of the Chamber where the Imperial Council ruled the empire. Gold everywhere.

The whole place sat on the peninsula jutting out into the Bosporus River. Here's the gang with Europe on the left and Asia on the right.

I didn't think we looked this cold but we can't hide it. Nice job with the camera by Dave.

Here's Julia in front on one of dozens of pools and fountains. It must be beautiful in the summer. Julia seemed to enjoy it the most. She could connect it with some of her history lessons.

Asia

Istanbul is the crossroads between Asia and Europe so we did the tourist thing and visited both continents in one day. Here Dave is looking back to Europe.

Lunch was a traditional little restaurant. Coke is everywhere in the world.

And finally to the ferry back to Europe.

Travel

Getting around Istanbul was fun. We packed into cabs - four across the back. When I put my seat belt on in the front seat, the driver looked like he had never seen anyone ever do this. Like I had invented a whole new thing in his cab.

We also took a public ferry over to Asia with Claire. It was warm - which was needed.

We also took these buses/vans that get their name from the word meaning "packed together". Look at how friendly the driver was with Brian. Everyone was super friendly.

The main form of transport was on foot. Here we are going through one of the neighborhoods in Asia.

First sites

Day one in Istanbul was a tour of some of the city arranged by Daphne. We started at the Spice Bazaar next to the New Mosque. Daphne's expression shows that it was one of the coldest weekends in Istanbul in years.

We toured the Haghia Sophia or church of holy wisdom. At more than 1400 years old, it is considered one of the world's greatest architectural achievements. It's huge and quite comparable to St. Peter's in Rome.

Our tour guide Claire showed us the marble that was collected from the corners of the empire to display their power. I love Brian's interest.

In the 15th century the church was converted into a mosque.

The art on the inside is Byzantine from the 9th century. It has brilliant mosaics that often were covered up in the conversion to a mosque.

The inside is huge and the dome is held up by four columns.

The kids each took a turn placing their fingers in a piece of marble that is believed to bring good luck.

It has a full second level where the royal family would take in the services/prayers.

David is standing in front of an incredibly detailed mosaic of judgement day with Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist. When you walk around the room, Jesus' eyes seem to follow you. Brian walked back and forth several times baffled by this trick.

Here you see the place that was originally where the alter was placed but now holds the qiblah wall marking the direction to Mecca. Prayers are directed to Mecca. The implication is that the prayer wall is not centered in the apse. That's the Virgin Mary with Jesus in the apse inside the mosque.

Here you can see how impressed Brian is learning about the Sultan's loge where he sat above the congregation.

Incredible that this is still standing not only through fire, war, and changing rulers but also because it is in an earthquake zone.