After a quiet first night at the Yasmak Sultan Hotel and a good night's sleep after three nights without any, I awakened eager and prepared for explorations of this majestic and ancient city. Ascending to the rooftop restaurant, I managed a few snapshots towards the Bosphorus and Hagia Sofia over neighborhood rooftops before breakfast. I was joined at breakfast by my fellow adventurer, Hosein and his cousin Nechirvan, a Turkish medical student (pediatric surgery) and our guide in Istanbul. Turkish breakfasts always include a wide variety of choices - yoghurt, a variety of cheeses, fruits, breads, coffee and tea, cherry and fresh sqeezed orange juice. I never opted for eggs, fried potatoes or odd looking sausages. Energized by the hearty food and the splendid views, we ventured into the city along a two-lane street that shares traffic with Istanbul's trolley. I have seen such a crush of riders only on the Moscow subway. It is an inexpensive way to gain access to many principal areas of the city and operates with gret frequency. The walk uphill on this first and sultry summer morning in Istanbul towards Sultanahmet Park introduced us in a small way to the commercial life of this neighborhood. Once in the park, the lush and colorful landscaping dropped temperatures significantly. The images captured on my new Canon G-10 speak more eloquently than I of the park's tranquility and beauty. The park is not crowded but families and couples enjoy quiet moments on benches or in arbors lining the flowered hillside. We amble along the lower path looking up occasionally towards the yet unexplored ancient monuments to both western and eastern civilizations. Along the way we met and spoke with folks from many cultures in a variety of languages. I am at a loss here since I am linguistically challenged and depend on my Fellow sojourners to handle communications in Arabic, Kurdish, Persian and Turkish while I translate French and Russian conversations. The walk reminds me of earlier and lusher days when Route 163 in San Diego had less automotive traffic and more flowers along the hillsides. Imagine Route 163 as a cool, lush and flowered garden path on a hot summer day without cars, but with a stream, and pedestrians from many nations.
Reluctantly we left the park to explore the upper hillside sites. Our first stop was the Hagia Sophia, once a Christian Church, late an Islamic Mosque and now an historical monument whose restoration has only begun. The process will be costly and if the Turks are able to accomplish the seemingly impossible will be completed in a year. Inside one wonders at the skill of the architects who constructed, without modern equipment, what remained for centuries, until the construction of Saint Mark's Cathedral, the largest unsupported dome in the entire world. How majestic the now largely faded decorations must have been! How appropriate that it preserves imagery from the two religions that shaped modern Turkey. Unfortunately, I had left the tripod at the hotel, so interior photographs are of poor quality. Explore this great building on the Internet. It was here that I received some Arabic materials that I have shared with faculty and staff at the Language Acquisition Resource Center. I had hoped to conduct a viedo interview of the donor, but he declined.
Our next stop was a park facing the Blue Mosque, another great edifice among many in the neighborhood. We sat by a fountain to cool off from the afternoon sun before approaching this mosque. My friends entered and photographed the interior, but I remained outside since I was unable to remove my shoes, a custom in almost all eastern religions. This was truly a disappointment for me, a fan of Islamic art and architecture. On another occasion, I will visit with booties at hand to cover my shoes. The exterior is decorated with fine stone work in a courtyard surrounded by minarets.
When Hosein and Nechirvan rejoined me, we walked towards other ornated pavilions and obelisks plundered from Egypt by the Ottoman Empire. The absence of representational art might seem odd to westerners, but the skilled artistry of mosaics and calligraphy attest to the living art in this culture. The influence of Persia architecturally and artistically is obvious at every turn.
Still exhausted from the long, sleepless days, we opted for tea and quiet time in the hotel lobby. Dinner would be in one of the local sidewalk cafés before I retired for the evening to dream of tomorrow's adventures.
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