Turkey

All Roads Lead to Rome

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My recollection of western civilization was dim at best before this trip and I certainly have had a refresher course here at the end of the silk route in Nova Roma. The Hagia Sophia, the home of the Eastern Roman Empire from 400 AD until the Byzantium fell to the Ottomans a thousand years later, was our first stop of the day.  As we stood on the road outside, I understood for the first time the expression, “All roads lead to Rome.”

Until the building of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, this was the largest church in the world.  For 900 years from 537 to 1453 it was the center of Orthodox Christianity. 

Marble walls of the Hagia

This magnificent building then became the Grand Mosque of the Sultans.  The frescoes and mosaics of the saints were covered in plaster to comply with Islamic tradition forbidding the visual representation of gods.  This saved many of these works of art.  In 1935 when the building was converted into a museum, the plaster was pulled away to show images that had not seen the light for 400 years.

The Blue Mosque

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 The Blue Mosque is massive and was built in 1609.  Inside is decorated with the famous blue Iznik tiles. All of the great mosques that grace the seven hills of Istanbul are alike in their gray stone construction and simple exteriors.  In contrast, the interiors are covered with beautiful tiles and gold calligraphy and carpets.  Our guide explained that the design difference in decoration is a reflection of the belief that it is what is inside that is important, the beauty and spirit of one’s soul is where the emphasis belongs.

Hippodrome Horses

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There was much discussion of the looting of antiquities from Turkey by the Crusaders, Venetians,  English and the Germans.  An interesting tidbit for those of you who have visited Venice and been awed by the bronze horses atop St Mark’s Basilica.  They were boosted from the Hippodrome in Constantinople in 1204 by maurading crusaders who has sacked Jerusalem clean.

The Real Tulip Truth

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 While I am doing my best to keep straight all that I am learning about Byzantine and Ottoman history one story I will not forget is the Turkish tulip story. Kazakistan, the ancestral birthplace of many of todays current Turks is also where tulips came from originally.  In the 1600’s when the Dutch East India Company was looking for new products to bring to Europe they were struck by these beautiful flowers that grew in the gardens of Topkapi Palace. The Dutch asked the Suleman’s permission to try bring some to the the Netherlands to see if they would grown in their climate.  He granted permission and you know how the rest of the story goes….

Reproduction of tulip design similar to that found in Topkapi  Palace tiles -

 

Tulip logo on our bus in Cappadocia.

 

Obelisks

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Turkish coffee is quite addicting, and a powerful fuel for a busy day of sightseeing, history lessons and lots of eating…. On our way to the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace, we walked through the Hippodrome where chariot races were held 1500 hundred years ago for 40,000 spectators.  Today it is a sprawling plaza punctuated with several monoliths, including at 3500 year old Egyptian obelisk.  It was moved to Istanbul on three barges and then sat at the shore for five years until they engineers of the day figured out how to get the massive piece of granite up the hill.  What they devised was the world’s first conveyor belt to raise it. 

The defeat of Persian soldiers who were defeated by the Spartan soldiers near Troy in 480 BC is memorialized in Serpentine that was constructed  in the Temple in Delphi, Greece.  It’s blue green patina comes from the metal of the weapons of the loosing side, which were melted down and used to construct this ancient monument.  


Calligraphy

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The Grand Bazaar – is massive with serpentine corridors going in all directions. It is clean, well lit, and feels like a mall that was not designed by a cookie cutter real estate developers.  

We visited the shop of an Armenian calligrapher, Nick Mendenyan who has developed a magnificent body of work, all on diffenbachia and caladium leaves that he imports from a greenhouse in Florida.  He dries the leaves in and then spends two months creating intricate designs in gold leaf and ink applied with brushes made of cat’s hair.  Striking, unique and wonderful…

 

The Bosporus

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The Bosporus Strait, a natural body of water 35 kilometers long connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Mamara.  One of the busiest shipping channels in the world it is flanked on both sides by thousands of years of history, castles, mosques, several universities, and homes both small and grand. Two long suspension bridge cross the straits joining Asia and Europe.

We took a ferry boat ride on the Bosporus this morning – a day surprisingly cool and dance of rain and clouds to making the water an ever changing shade of blue.  What the tourist literature doesn’t mention is the beautiful wooden sail boats still plying these waters.  My sailing friends would have loved them.

Off to the Continental Divide

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Tomorrow evening I fly into the wild blue yonder, across the Greenwich mean, to the other Continental Divide - the Bosporus Straits that separate Europe and Asia.  On Saturday night hopefully I will be sitting outdoors having dinner on one continent with a dramatic view of the continent across the way.  Ruth, my Parking Goddess, has put in a good word for me with the internet gods over there, so if it all goes according to plan, there will soon be pictures and stories from Istanbul and Cappodocia.