I realize I kind of skimmed over and did not provide a lot of pictures of the wonderful places I visited in Istanbul and would be remiss to leave you hanging.
So here goes...
In Istanbul we visited (as I mentioned in my previous blog) the Blue Mosque and
Hagia Sofia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sofia which is one of the wonders of Turkey. It is huge and wonderful although in a bit of disrepair.
It also features one of the most famous Mosaics in our time of Mary, Jesus and John. I think they were begging forgiveness of the people with Jesus from what I remember of our guided tour. You have probably seen this one in the history books. It started as an Orthodox Basilica, converted to a Mosque and is now a museum. Thus the Christian religious art intermingled with Muslim symbols. It's nice to see two faiths in one building. Turks are very accepting of other people's beliefs. At least the people I spoke to about it.
We also visited the Sultan's Palace
Topkapi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topkapi_palace
(photo reminds me of Blue Mosque but is inside Palace) which was again on a grand scale and took a lot of walking and a long time to tour with our guide. We didn't even see the entire 15 acres of grounds as we were hot, sweaty and just worn out by our Energizer Bunny guide. I think my favorite part was seeing the 68 Carat diamond with 48 carats surrounding it in a pendant. (no photos allowed) Some pour soul found it in the rubbish yard then sold the unfinished rock for 3 spoons unaware that it was a gigantic diamond in the rough. Once the Sultan got wind of its existence he demanded it be brought to the palace. I guess it was hard to keep a secret from him.
Of course at the Palace I was wowed once again by technological feats of old world air conditioning featured in this photo where in the walls near the windows you see a running water system that poured into a trough and circulated through other troughs in the windowsills so that when the prince opened his windows with the irrigation going it cooled the room. Clever stuff for the day and age these were created.
Check out this plaque describing the princes life and also my photos of the windows and walls in his elaborate adjoining apartment. The lucky prince's apartment overlooked the Sultan's favored Harem members' courtyard, Olympic sized swimming pool and bedrooms. He got two huge rooms to himself and the Harem had to share a very small room with 8 girls each. He also got 5 Harem to himself when he reached the age of 16. Now mind you, it wasn't always flowers and perfume. There is also a down side to being a prince. #1 you are stuck in your 2 room apartment awaiting orders from the Sultan (AKA King) and you never know if it will be for something good or to have your head chopped off. #2 you can never leave the grounds because all the tax paying public and enemies of the Sultan wanted to end his reign. Thus any family member, heir or what have you would meet a bloody fate if they ventured outside the walls without heavy guard...and Heavy Guards they had. Imagine a Gladiator type dude over 6 feet tall and just about as big around coming at you with a rather large ax. And that was just the guys guarding the entrance to the Harem.
Not a pretty sight.
The men who did serve within the Harem as their escorts and shopping assistants were chosen and emasculated at a young age (in their teen years) by removing their you know what....another not so pretty sight. People were brutal back then!
The Sultan was SO paranoid that he had this elaborate bath house built just for him within the palace walls and it had a gilded gold fence around it. The basin and pedestal where he took his bath was far enough away from the fence that not even swords could touch him if they got through all his 100+ body guards.
Okay, enough about him and on to a happier note. We were treated twice (once on the street outside and once inside the palace) to a royal band of sorts dressed all in red and beating large drums with zeal whilst playing a range of horns and other instruments with singers as well. All men of course. It was quite the spectacle when they picked up their flags and started marching away.
Hope you enjoy the pictures. Now on to
Selcuk and I will post about Ephesus.
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