(day 6) Great Palace mosaics museum

After leaving the Hippodrome, I considered going to the nearby Blue Mosque, but since it's free to enter I instead opted to go to the rest of the museums on the museum card.

The Great Palace Mosaics museum holds large Byzantine mosaics, originally part of the Great Palace (that old building that Ali showed us), discovered during excavations in Sultanahmet.

Entry to most of the sights and museums look like this, turnstile, a place to insert tickets or scan your museum card. This museum was very laxly monitored, no metal detector or scanning of bags, or even posted guards. I definitely could have chipped away a piece of mosaic to bring home, if I wanted.

There was a lot of information here about the excavation, preservation, and restoration of the mosaics, but I didn't read it all so you are all saved from a boring lecture.

A closeup picture of a mosaic, showing the intricate detail and exactly how small the pieces of tile were.

If expand the previous picture to one of this scale, you can imagine just how much work went into a mosaic of this size.

Such cute chubby little Greeks (Romans?). I guess they were still working on perspective and realism.

Now up the scale to something of this size! I guess this may have been a whole wall section. Up close you can see all of the pixel-y mosaic tiles, but from far back it looks quite smooth and polished. I really like the colors used, kind of earthy and pastel, though that is probably due to 1500 years of weathering.

Most of the scenes were of man, beast, mythical creature, as well as daily life activities like hunting.

Or you know how when in everyday life a goat-tiger-eagle swoops down and grabs a lizard half the size of a tree in its jaws? Yah, just daily life things.

The mosaic were in remarkable condition for being some old, but of course, sadly, large pieces were missing and lost.

I keep getting these inspirations when I'm traveling, like when I was in Japan and Oregon/Seattle, where I have an idea for a small project to do programmatic art. In Japan it was from cherry blossoms, in Oregon/Seattle it was from vast forests of evergreens, and here in the Great Palace Mosaics Museum, I thought, huh. I wonder how hard it would be to write a little program that mosaic-ifies a picture. It would be easy to do a simple version that is probably rather ugly. I'm really curious what a simple version would look like, and how much work it would take to get a decent looking one.

Interesting. :)

I haven't been working on my climbing project lately, perhaps I will finally get around to taking a stab at programmatic art when I go home.

I particularly liked this one, the colors are still very vivid.

Fat stubby hand for scale. I have climbers hands now. :(

In each museum/landmark there is always at least one gift shop. Usually not enclosed, usually with a lot of books and information about the history or art behind the site. I keep wanting to buy books to read (I think my dad would like them too), but have to refrain because I don't have the space or baggage weight to bring them home. Maybe next time.

I'm really finding that I enjoy these small museums way more than the bigger attractions. I prefer Hagia Irene, Basilica Cistern, and this mosaic museum much more than Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace, for instance. I think the smaller number of tourists makes browsing feel more leisurely and relaxed, the setting feels less artificial, and the close proximity to the art really lets you examine the piece. By getting up close and personal, you can really feel how old the artifacts are, and to marvel that this mosaic that I can reach out and touch was once touched by another human being 1500 years ago.

(day 6) Hippodrome obelisks

I started off my day by hopping on public transportation back to Sultanahmet. Istanbul has a museum card that costs a flat fee of ~$30 USD, and grants access to a number of museums. In addition to a discounted price, you get to skip any ticket lines, because you can just go right up to the entrance and scan your card to get in. It is valid for 5 days after the first scan, and today (Monday) was my last day, so I planned to hit the last few museums that I was interested in seeing.

As I strolled through Sultanahmet, I once again stumbled on a monument that I had been really excited to see -- the remains of the Hippodrome!

I think everyone has heard of the Hippodrome. A Hippodrome was a Greek stadium that was the sporting and social center of a city, where horse and chariot races were carried out as public entertainment. The Hippodrome here was actually built while it was still the city Byzantium, predating Constantine.

Can you imagine the spectacle of it? Thousands of citizens in the stands, cheering on their favorite team as the horses thunder around the track. Statues of Greek gods, emperors and heroes fill the stadium, rich tapestries and purple textiles are draped luxuriously throughout. I really like the idea of the Hippodrome, I suppose because I was obsessed with Greek myths when I was young, and I like to dream about a time when those gods and goddesses ruled the Earth.

There were four different teams, each associated with a different color (blue, green, red, white), each sponsored and supported by a major political faction. Over time, the reds and whites were gradually absorbed by blue and green. You typically cheered for whichever political party you belonged to, not the team whose athletes you preferred.

Aside from racing, the Hippodrome was also used for political discussions. The emperor could actually access the Hippodrome directly from the Great Palace, a passage would take him directly to a loge overseeing the racetrack.

Sadly, almost nothing remains of the Hippodrome anymore. It was widely used throughout the Byzantine period, but when the Ottomans came, they had no interest in chariot races. It fell into disuse and was eventually covered over by other structures. The only part that remains are some obelisks/columns that adorned the spina -- the middle of the Hippodrome, running through the U-shaped track. 

This one is called the Obelisk of Thutmose III, or the Obelisk of Theodosius. It was brought from Egypt to be put in the Hippodrome. Get this, it was originally erected in Luxor  in 1490 BC. It's 3.5 thousand years old! But it still looks like it's in perfect condition, perfectly sanded, hieroglyphs were perfectly legible. No wonder people think that the Egyptians had alien help.

This was my favorite obelisk, it's really beautiful. You can see that the hieroglyphs are cut off at the bottom, the obelisk actually received some damage (earthquake, perhaps?) and is only 2/3 of its original height.

It was mounted on the pedestal when it arrived in Constantinople, which you can see is clearly Greek or Roman in design, not Egyptian.

:( Poor Serpentine Column. This was once a glorious column cast by the Greeks to celebrate their victory agains the Persians in the 5th century BC. It was brought to Constantinople from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (where it once stood) to adorn the Hippodrome.

It used to be much taller (of course), and supported a bowl held up by three serpent heads, but those were destroyed and this is all that remains. One of the heads was later recovered and sits in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

The walled obelisk! Unlike the first two, this one was build specifically for the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but they were looted.

(You can see the Egyptian Obelisk in the background, and the stubby Serpentine Column is in between).

I'm sure I would have my way to them eventually, since these were some of the structures I was quite excited to see, but it was a nice surprise to stumble upon these this morning. :) I don't know if you can tell but I am clearly partial to Byzantine history/buildings, if only because it's history and concepts that I had actually learned about before, and am more familiar with. Ottoman history and culture is interesting too, but ultimately it feels a lot more foreign and difficult to understand, to me. I hope as I learn more that will change.

(day 5) Kadiköy

So as I've mentioned before, Istanbul is divided in two sides: the European side and the Asian side (that's actually how people refer to it here). The Bosphorus Strait separates the two halves, but it's very convenient to go back and forth by way of ferry. Many people make the commute every day.

Way, way back, there actually used to be two cities, one on each side. Chalcedon, on the Asian side, was founded first, as a colony of the Greek city-state Megara. Sixteen or seventeen years later, another group of settlers set out from Megara to begin their own colony, headed by a man named Byzas.

Before leaving, he consulted with the Greek oracle at Delphi as to where he should found his new colony, and was advised to raise a settlement opposite the land of the blind. Of course, that's hokey gibberish, and he didn't understand what it meant until he arrived on the European side of the Bosphorus. Seeing how defensible the peninsula was, the clearness of the water, and the potential city that could develop here, he looked across the strait at the Chalcedonians and thought they must indeed be blind to not have settled here instead, and so it came to be that Byzas founded the colony Byzantion across the land of the blind.

The two colonies eventually became one entity, probably when a foreign empire (Romans or Persians) came and took over (but don't cite me on that).

Getting to Kadiköy (a district on the Asian side) from Kabatas was straightforward, simply hop onto the Kabatas-Kadikoy ferry and you're there in 15 minutes. The journey was made even simpler for me since I had a tour guide, the night-shift hostel employee, Gokhan, lives in Kadikoy and he was headed back that direction after his shift. It's kind of funny that I made friends with both of the night shift staff at both hostels, but they're both kind of odd. I guess I get along with odd people better.

My grand water steed.

There are two levels to sit on, this is the upper level. There was tons of space available.

This guy came by selling tea, juice, and sandwiches.

Hot tea and a sandwich! There is a little bit of cheese inside.

Sitting on the open water, sunny day, breeze on your face, hot tea and delicious sandwich, it really was the best feeling. It feels like a real voyage.

I suck at taking pictures so I couldn't properly capture it, but the views of the city were really nice. Istanbul doesn't seem to have a lot of skyscrapers, so it's not a very domineering skyline. More like sleepy little houses and apartments.

Oh, and one of the best parts is that it's super cheap, just about a dollar one-way.

On arriving, we decided to grab a coffee/tea.

We went to this cafe, which is his favorite cafe, he knew the owner and everyone working there.

There was an open-air covered patio, which was nice.

I had been curious about the various degrees of concealment I had seen for women. In the Fatih district, near Chora Museum and Mihrimah Mosque, I could clearly see that it was more conservative. Most women were completely covered head to toe in burkas. In Taksim, where my second hostel is, it's not shocking to see someone in a burka, but decidedly less common. And here at this table, you can see a girl eating with her friend, one with a head scarf and one not covered. I asked Gokhan, what determines what a girl wears? and he said it's basically up to personal preference, which is largely dependent on how you were raised. I thought it was nice though, that even though a girl might choose to be more conservative, that she's open minded to those who aren't.

I got a Turkish coffee. I still think I prefer espresso or brewed coffee. I like Turkish coffee but it's a little too gritty for my taste.

Grounds and undrinkable dregs at the bottom of the cup.

Next we walked to a street called Artists Bazaar. This sculpture marked one of the entrances to the bazaar, I don't know what it is though.

The left side of the street is all lined with little kiosks filled with handmade art. It was really cute! Unfortunately most kiosks weren't open (it was afternoon).

The other side of the street had lots of little restaurants, cafes and eateries. Here is a couple sharing a meal while some stray cats wait patiently for food.

We kept walking after the end of the street, we ended up walking quite a bit, and here's a random collection of things I saw.

No trumpets allowed!

Tons of little cafes in the area, most with open-air or outdoor seating.

There are fresh produce stands everywhere, Turkish cuisine seems to be really fresh.
And look! LOOK HOW MANY TOMATOES THERE ARE! Literally every meal here comes with tomato. I'm pretty sure if you went to McDonalds and ordered a Coke it would come with a tomato.

A tiny sidewalk garden.

Vintage records and items.

Here's what the street and apartments look like.

I really like these little sidewalk guards, they've been painted bright colors.

Interesting graffiti.

Same wall, a little demonic looking.

Huge figs for $3.50 a tray.

Despite being a largely Muslim nation, they do celebrate Halloween and Christmas here. Halloween costume store.

More brightly-colored sidewalk guards in front of an old church. Here, you'll see churches and mosques standing right next to each other, a testament to the Ottoman's open-mindedness towards its conquered peoples. Of course there are way more mosques than churches, but Christians and Jews were allowed to practice their own religions without fear of persecution.

I liked this juxtaposition of this old crumbling wall (1800s) to the new and modern Mango clothing store.

This is Gokhan, my tour guide for the day. Little bit of a weirdo, but a good person. I went to the front desk the first night and asked "is there anyplace still open that has food?" and he said "yes" and gave some directions. Then he said, "after you eat, come back here and we will have tea". I was like "are you...asking me? or telling me." O_o Pretty sure I was just commanded to have tea that I didn't want. What the hell.

They have McDonalds, Burger King, even Carl's Jr! Look, you can learn how to say burger in Turkish, it's "BURGERLER"

Speaking of good ol' home comforts...they have Pumpkin Spice Latte here!!!!!!! Never seen an international Starbucks that carried it.

After walking a ways, stopped for some Turkish ice cream. Apparently this place is really popular. Ali is a name, Usta means "master", so the place is called Master Ali.

Mmmmmmmmm. Ice creams.

The trees outside were all decorated with these cute lanterns.

Walked to the seashore, where you can park yourself on these big comfy rocks. I would definitely love to come here on a sunny day with a coffee and just read a book.

There was a string of balloons along the seashore, I was curious what they were for. There's a guy nearby with air guns, for $3 you can take 12 shots.

Windsurfers in the background.

The guns. We bought a round, I hit 3 out of 4! There's a laser sight on the barrel though that makes it a no brainer. He has a second rack of targets you can go for, much smaller objects, all the way down to a toothpick.

Found this little baby napping on a rock, I played with him a little.

Stopped by for another snack and tea. This is a chain cafe, I think.

They had sweets...

...and savory pastries.

We got one of each,

The savory pastry was hella good! They call pastries börek, I'm not sure if it's a specific kind of pastry, but anyway, it's common to stop by and grab a börek for breakfast.

World's neatest park, very Alice in Wonderland.

After walking for hours we decided to head back, by bus, thank god, not on food. They have large double decker buses here, smaller buses, mini buses, and a thing called a dolmus that's more like a van.

I kind of wanted to head home at this point, I was socially exhausted and my feet hurt, but Gokhan knew a good place for dinner. So far on this trip, I was pretty pleased with the pace that I had been seeing things and exploring the city, the two things I felt I was lacking in were climbing and food. I meant to climb twice a week here but so far hadn't made it to the gym yet, there was just too much to see! And as far as food goes, I had barely gotten to try anything, my hours were too weird, travel companions kept picking shitty places, etc. Since Gokhan lived in this neighborhood, I trusted he would know what he was about.

I am really glad I was right.

We went to this restaurant, which was once again covered outdoor seating. Almost all restaurants/cafes seem to have outdoor seating, which is interesting because it does get quite cold here in the winter.

Mmmm kebap meat. We didn't get kebabs though. I actually had no idea what we were getting, Gokhan said he would order, but before he did he asked "Do you like butter?" and I said "who the fuck doesn't like butter" and he said "Great, I will ask for extra butter for you". I was like ummmmmmmmmmmHYAH I'M ALL IN.

It was.............amazing. There is buttered bread at the bottom, with some thin slices of meat on top (come to think of it, it was probably kebab meat), covered with some tomato sauce, then covered with actual tomatoes and a green pepper. The white stuff on the left is yogurt. As you pick up each forkful, you grab a bit of yogurt and eat the whole thing. It was SO GOOD.

Food coma, then I headed back to the ferry.

The night views were really nice too.

Today was really different from all the previous days I had spent in Istanbul, which were largely focused on sight-seeing, history, and culture. Today was a much more chill day, hanging out on a Sunday like locals do. Actually it's the sort of day I would usually prefer to spend while traveling, just that Istanbul has such a wealth of history and culture that I really want to see it too.

While the museums and mosques and structures are really, really great, so far I had been a little more wary about the people. In Sultanahmet, the old part of the city, I had definitely been having less than ideal interactions with locals, most of whom were very pushy and aggressive. Of course it should be emphasized that that is the touristy area, and not totally representative of all Turkish people. Still, from my first few days in Istanbul, I just didn't feel like I fit in, or that I could see myself staying here or coming back.

Today changed things a lot though. The Asian side of the city was totally different from Sultanahmet. It was much more of just a normal city, families going out, people living, sleepy cafes with friends chatting. I am so relieved to find out that there is another, much better side to the city. It was really confusing and mentally jarring to me that a city could be so unpleasant, but I realize now that that was just out of my own ignorance and narrow view of Istanbul so far.

I remember when I first went to Tokyo, how much I both loved and hated it there (mostly hated). I just couldn't wrap my head around the culture. Over time, I began to gain an appreciation for parts of it, and those parts that I did not like, at least an understanding of it. Knowing that, I had been trying to keep an open mind about Istanbul, that maybe there was a reasoning or mentality behind some of the behaviors I'd seen that I just didn't understand. Well, I still really really hate the sort of behavior around Sultanahmet, but coming to Kadikoy today I felt vindicated -- Istanbul is a great city, and Istanbulites are by and large great people, you just need to experience them in a natural setting.