Monday, August 28, 2006
A Weekend of Touring
Wow, what a busy weekend out here. Saturday we had a relatively relaxing day on Büyükada (Greek Prinkipo, English literally "Big Island"). After and hour on a ferry we made it to this slice of paradise that really seemed like a step back in time. There are hardly any automobiles on the island, most people walk or go by horseback. We took an hour long carriage tour of the island that used to house exiled Byzantine princes and is home to a couple of well known monasteries. The small town is famous for its donduroma (turkish word for ice cream), and its elite British yacht club which is a popular place for ministers of parliament to summer. We got a friend of our tour guide to take us around the club, which was incredibly lavish. It is also known that many heads of state including Ataturk himself has spent time there.
Sunday was packed, beginning with the Koriye (Chora) Tile Museum. This relatively small Byzantine church is jam packed with beautiful mosaics that are remarkably well preserved. The church was converted to a minor mosque with the belltower taken down and replaced with a minaret. The mosaics mostly depict the lives of Mary and Jesus, with some very interesting scenes from the Gnostic gospels, one in particular showing the courting of Mary. As the story goes (Gospel of Philip) Mary was courted by one man from each of the tweleve tribes of Israel, each man brought along a staff. Whichever man's staff blossomed first, she would marry, as it turns out Joseph was the lucky guy. While this seems a little silly, one thing it does do is heighten the divinity of Mary and Joseph, as not only was their conception immaculate, their courtship even had divine elements.
After the museum I led a small group up to Edirne Kapı, the main gate of the Theodosian Walls. This is the point at which Fatih Mehmet first entered the city as conqueror in 1453 and the gate through which each Ottoman Sultan would pass after he was crowned at Eyüp. This was possibly the most adventurous site so far on the trip. In order to climb to the main tower we had to scale a set of steps that had a rather treacherous incline and were in some state of disrepair. Nonetheless we made it up and down safely, and it was certainly worth it for the breathtaking view of the city.
Next we visited the Suleymaniye Camii, the second largest Ottoman mosque in Istanbul. It was built in th 16th century by the most prolific architecht of the Islamic (and arguably the entire) world, Mimar Sinan. Sinan built nearly a hundred mosques throughout the empire and Suleymaniye is his masterpeice. It was built as an Ottoman response to Ayasofya, with a vast open space uncrowded by large columns similar to Sultanahmet. It also was a lot more peaceful than Sultanahmet in that fewer tourists visit it. The mosque also has a prolific cemetary which includes the tombs of three Sultans, including Suleyman the Magnificent and his wife Roxelana, the most famous of all the Sultans wives for having an extraordinary command of the Harem and being a political powerhouse.
In all, it was an incredibly busy weekend which began with the Beşıktaş game on Friday (if you are traveling in Europe, a football game is an absolute must, being in an American sports stadium doesn't come close), and ended with a wonderful all expenses paid dinner cruise up the Bosphorus.
I may post again before the trip down the Aegean, or I may not. In the meantime, more pictures are going up on my snapfish account, email me if you want to see them (or just post a comment with your email in the text). Also I will add to my facebook album for those of you with facebook accounts.
Sunday was packed, beginning with the Koriye (Chora) Tile Museum. This relatively small Byzantine church is jam packed with beautiful mosaics that are remarkably well preserved. The church was converted to a minor mosque with the belltower taken down and replaced with a minaret. The mosaics mostly depict the lives of Mary and Jesus, with some very interesting scenes from the Gnostic gospels, one in particular showing the courting of Mary. As the story goes (Gospel of Philip) Mary was courted by one man from each of the tweleve tribes of Israel, each man brought along a staff. Whichever man's staff blossomed first, she would marry, as it turns out Joseph was the lucky guy. While this seems a little silly, one thing it does do is heighten the divinity of Mary and Joseph, as not only was their conception immaculate, their courtship even had divine elements.
After the museum I led a small group up to Edirne Kapı, the main gate of the Theodosian Walls. This is the point at which Fatih Mehmet first entered the city as conqueror in 1453 and the gate through which each Ottoman Sultan would pass after he was crowned at Eyüp. This was possibly the most adventurous site so far on the trip. In order to climb to the main tower we had to scale a set of steps that had a rather treacherous incline and were in some state of disrepair. Nonetheless we made it up and down safely, and it was certainly worth it for the breathtaking view of the city.
Next we visited the Suleymaniye Camii, the second largest Ottoman mosque in Istanbul. It was built in th 16th century by the most prolific architecht of the Islamic (and arguably the entire) world, Mimar Sinan. Sinan built nearly a hundred mosques throughout the empire and Suleymaniye is his masterpeice. It was built as an Ottoman response to Ayasofya, with a vast open space uncrowded by large columns similar to Sultanahmet. It also was a lot more peaceful than Sultanahmet in that fewer tourists visit it. The mosque also has a prolific cemetary which includes the tombs of three Sultans, including Suleyman the Magnificent and his wife Roxelana, the most famous of all the Sultans wives for having an extraordinary command of the Harem and being a political powerhouse.
In all, it was an incredibly busy weekend which began with the Beşıktaş game on Friday (if you are traveling in Europe, a football game is an absolute must, being in an American sports stadium doesn't come close), and ended with a wonderful all expenses paid dinner cruise up the Bosphorus.
I may post again before the trip down the Aegean, or I may not. In the meantime, more pictures are going up on my snapfish account, email me if you want to see them (or just post a comment with your email in the text). Also I will add to my facebook album for those of you with facebook accounts.
