Turkey, Through My Lens/Eyes

We went to Istanbul for five days, immediately upon my return from my trip to Calgary, Casa Grande and Waikiki.


Okay, not immediately, after all I did have one day at home before we left.   ๏‿◡

No time for jet-lag, only time to do laundry and repack sleep then fly.  ⊙_☉

It was rather a last minute decision to go to Turkey. Originally we planned on going to Tehran - however that was proving to be very difficult, as they didn't want to grant our visas.

Oh well, in the end I am glad it turned out the way it did; we had a wonderful time in Turkey!

This blog contains many of the photos I took during this trip, so it's a long "read"... mostly photos, and not a lot of writing.

Hope you enjoy yourself, as you see Turkey through my eyes:

The Binbirdirek Cistern, also known as Cistern of Philoxenos, is the second largest cistern in the city.


Built under a palace, in the 5th century; you know, just the other day.  ʘ,ʘ

The columns continue down into a space below the floor; their full length is 28-30 meters tall, and there are 224 of these puppies!
That's a lot of really big posts.

Each column is a superposition of two columns, as I mentioned above, joined by a marble ring. Each column, as well as the joining ring, is made of marble.

The reservoir is capable of holding 40,000 m3 of water. That's a lot of water!

A line from the ceiling to a post, into a pot, leads the water to the pot, rather than your head.
How cool is that?!
Love it.  ♥

Each column and cap is engraved with a Greek mason's mark, as you can see in this photograph.

That's totally cool: the dude that made this column left his signature on it - 

1500 years ago!   ◔o◔

I was very pleased to discover there are many kitties around.
I love kitties.  ❤

Most were not feral - in fact appeared to be well cared for.
It seems the locals fed and love on them regularly. 

Not just a few kitties - as I mentioned above:
there were
❤ many! ❤

Happiness

everywhere 

≧◉ᴥ◉≦

This pile of rubble is known as Mylion Aniti, (Milion Memorial).
It's the starting point of
The Great Roman Road.

Was used to measure distances to European cities.
You know what they say:
"all roads lead to Rome" ...

Hey wait, we're in Turkey, not Rome?
Hmmm, someone was confused. 

The walkway beside it listed distances from Mylion Aniti to many different cities:
Cape Town 12847 km,
Kuala Lumpur 11300 km,
Budapest 1295 km,
Dublin 3413 km...
just to name a few.

That's kind of cool.  °◡°

When in Istanbul, one must go see the Basilica Cistern for a wee peek at a Medusa... or two.

No one really known why the Medusa heads were used, but they were, and it's kinda funky.
I think they were just handy. Using one upside down, the other sideways, they fit so they used them.
Why not?!    シ

The Basilica is actually the largest in Istanbul, built in 476 AD!  Actually, in the 2 and 3 hundreds it was a commercial, legal, and artistic centre - which burned down, so they built the cistern.

Who built it, well 7000 slaves to the Romans, of course.

Dean, unable not to chat with everyone, was basically accosted by every Turk with something to sell - and they all had something to sell.

Very friendly, and usually not rude; nice change.
This young man recently married, so wanted to share some wedding photos.
Cool to see a Muslim, Turkish wedding dress.    ◡‿◡✿

Surprise: his family owns a carpet shop.

"You must come see the carpets; only to look and have some tea, not to buy..."

Yea, right.
Dean just happens to be a man with a carpet addiction!
Not even kidding. 

Sooooo many carpets, so little floor space left at home to cover -
aaaahh; what to do?!!!

This is not a carpet, it's a horse saddlebag!

See the notches and loops used to close the pouches?
Whoaa, that's so cool! ≧❂◡❂≦
~ Yaay, this belonged to a horse! ~

♥ I LOVE IT! ♥

Ta-da; they turned it into a carpet -
just for me!  *hehe  >‿◠
I know, shocking, right! 

It was wrapped tightly inside paper, put it in a fabric zip bag with handles, and Voilà - checked luggage for the flight home.
Yes, we also bought another carpet - came home with only two carpets; not too bad (for Dean).





Now for random photos - which is what I did while Dean went into the Aya Sofya; I didn't feel like wearing a head covering again, which we thought would be the case here. Turns out we were wrong, but that's okay, I had fun just walking around taking these random photos:

The Blue Mosque

Remember there were cats everywhere - dogs too.

Lots of them, 

everywhere.

There were plenty of kiosks, selling their food stuffs - basically pretzels and such.  

Or perhaps roasted corn.
Many many of these portable "shops".
They smelled so good. 

Never did get around to trying the corn.
◑︹◑

Here's something we did try:
the fruit was so fresh and beautiful, and the pomegranates looked sooooo good!

How could you see this type of display, and not be drawn to it? It's an absolute thing of beauty!

A beautiful pomegranate, about to become -  

JUICE!
the old fashioned way...

Oh my word, you can't even imagine how yummy it was - no, really, you can't; you have no idea! whoa, yum factor overload.   ◔◡◔

Peaceful, warm day to wander around, just me and my camera.

Catching others enjoying the sun, and the lazy day feel - contentment.

While wandering around, me with my camera, I squatted to shoot, and the next thing I knew:

My knee was occupied! 

No joke! 

I didn't mind!

Dean said not to touch the kitties, and I explained this to my sweet new friend, but she didn't care; she sat there, for a long time. When she hopped down, I sat on the bench; she jumped back into my lap.

A lap kitty - I love them! ≧^◡^≦

She was a beautiful, sweet little lady - 

I would own her if I lived there!

❤❤❤

She remained, content, until a gull flew down to eat some food left out for kitties and puppies - she was now in attack mode, and she meant business!

This was for felions and hounds - not feathered critters!

*rauwwwwr

That's okay, don't worry, others were making sure the birds ate too.

No one was going without.

My photos are not all kitties.

How about a pot that holds... air?

Probably has a climbing plant utilising it in the summer.

Maybe?

A nun - wait, what?

Hmm, a bit out of place: a nun wandering around outside a mosque. 

Cool.

❤

I love this photo; awesome face.

Just doin' a days work.

Others were busy talking;
solving all the worlds problems,
over a cup of Turkish tea.

Still others sitting, contemplating life, hoping someone would come buy something!

Rough day at the office.

What else can you buy in Turkey?

Oh my word:

everything!

scarves, 

lamps,

chandeliers, 

tabaco, 

(I thought someone said it was tea... looks like straw to me  - or tabaco I guess)

fireplace?

interesting unit

backpacks,

luggage,
(almost bought a backpack from this guy)

❤❤❤   Or a kitty in a box - I'll take that one please!!     ≧❂◡❂≦       ❤❤❤

Okay;
Wanna see some really old things?


I thought of Sharon when I saw these - she loves graveyards for some unknown reason.


This one looked pretty impressive.

So I went in to check-a-look, and take a couple of photos for her.

(1318 AD)

These were REALLY old:
1314 AD
1300 AD
1289 AD!

This guy
(1312 AD) wanted to live in a gated community - even on the other side... 

 *hehe
Keep out the rif-raff.

Of course, what's a graveyard sans black cat?
He's pretty scary, don't you think?
I love him.  ❤

We took the Turyol Ferry to see a bit of Turkey from the Bosporus Straight - both the european side as well as the asian side; 

that's cool?

First we found the ferry ofis... *hehe

Then we finally found the ferry, just in time to jump onboard and cast off.

Oh look - a mosque.

Hmm, who put that there? I was wondering if I'd get to see one on this trip...

How do you fit 17,000,000 people in Istanbul? 

You stack them of course.

That's a lot of stacking!

We went under the really looooooong suspension bridge. Everyone got excited about it... not sure why? Didn't do anything for me; yup, it's a bridge.

Could hear loud cheering, and the setting off of torches or fireworks -
turned around and saw the ferry beside us loading with very loud, happy "football" (soccer) enthusiasts...

A VERY full, boat!
Now there's safety for you:
an over full ferry, containing drunk, rowdy people setting off fire containing articles.
Hmm, and they wonder why ferry's sink all the time?!
Stupid people category.

As we were floating along - ta-da, a castle!
How cool's that?!

And all around the castle?
Well homes of course!
One on top of the other, naturally...

We came around a corner, the wall was built up around us, really old, with houses sitting on top of this wall/ground stone!

Actually it wasn't built up - it was dug out, in 1930!

The area was "developed", and a well dug in 542 AD to provide water for a restaurant and the other near by buildings.

In the 60's and 70's a vehicle repair shop was here, and around this time the well became no longer functional.

So this wall, and the well you are looking at in the photo, are about 1500 years old.

No-no, 

think about it:

FIFTEEN. HUNDRED. Years!

Whoa.

We did go into a museum. The gate entrance was very cool, and very old.

The actual museum is inside a former church, Hagia Eirene, (Saint Irene) whose construction began in the early 4th century. It was dedicated by Constantine - so Dean felt quite at home in it >‿o
It did get damaged a couple of times, so what you see today is basically only from its rebuilding stages in the 8th century; no big deal...

I knew it was going to be a cool place when we went through the gate, and there was a little kitty house, with kitties! ❤

❤❤❤ Happy heart ❤❤❤

◐.̃◐
And of course Medusa;
mustn't forget her! ❛‿❛

She kept popping up all over the place throughout our adventures in Turkey.

There were a few really cool things inside the museum:

Like this skeleton of a mama and her baby.   ಥ_ಥ

This chain was used to close the entrance to the Golden Horn, as shown in the painting, in the mid 1400s.  

<--  These are pages from a really old... book?

When I say really old, I mean really really really old:
19th century BC!  

If you think that's old, check-a-look at some of these (perfect) pots, bowls, and jars from 2100 BC!
Whoa;
that's old.  ◑.◑

As we were leaving the museum, I spotted this beautiful little guy enjoying one of the antique "water bowls" just outside the door. 

Plus these two, standing guard.

They don't look very menacing to me... just sayin'.

And of course the guard dog, doing what dogs do - enjoying the sun, grass, and afternoon.  He was actually laying like this, not moving at all; maybe he was...   sleeping.     '◡'

Do you have a favourite photo?  Which one?