Istanbul

We wanted to visit Istanbul, which we did from Marmaris. This was challenging, however, because the nearest airport was 100 miles away and trains don't make it to Marmaris, so the only transport was a 19-hour bus ride. We hadn't done such a trip in 40 years but were game. It's one thing to be a naive and flexible youth and quite another tale to be an oldster with a bad back, sitting in a narrow bus seat for that long a stretch. It was tough. We are done with bus rides!

As usual, the admiral found a good hotel at a reasonable price, nicely located near Topkapi Palace. The Tria was bang smack in the middle of all the sights. Walking distance is a must when choosing the right hotel. The only problem was the cab driver couldn't find it. What we didn't realize at the time was that Istanbul cab drivers are all really just conmen driving cars.

A view from the roof, with the mosquified former Byzantine Church of Hagia Sofia (Holy Wisdom). The current Turkish PM, Erdogan, said that minarets are like the missiles of Islam. He has a point, so to speak.

Women are especially fond of these kind of shots as the reader will find in later pics of waterfront homes. This was the lovely area our boutique hotel occupied.

No, this isn't Disneyland East, it's one of the inner gates to Topkapi, the Gate of Salutation.

This picture didn't quite turn out as desired. The woman behind the tree is wearing a niqab, i.e. full face veil. However, it's kind of dumb to take a picture of your sweetie in full disguise, so she hid behind the tree and dropped the veil for a more "candid" photo. These are obviously Arabs, of which we saw many here, including Saudis in full regalia. Why is this such an attraction for devout Muslim tourists? We're pretty sure it's because this was the seat of the Caliphate during the glory days of Islam and they can't wait to restore the office and the splendor, Any Day Now...

Here our lovely admiral stands on a balcony overlooking the Golden Horn on the left and Bosphorus behind her and to the right. The original city of Constantinople was on a long peninsula and protected by massive walls. The admiral is standing at the tip of that peninsula, where the former Byzantine Royal Palace was located and where Topkapi was built as the abode of the Sultan, his harem and Janissaries.

Topkapi Palace is a sprawling series of courtyards and special buildings, which make it hard to share in pictures. However, as always we'll try.

Speaking of sprawling, what appear to be factory smoke stacks were the stoves and ovens of the imperial kitchens. We'd like to share pics inside but it was closed for renovation.

The entrance to the imperial Council Hall, where the Vizier would meet with the sultan's councilors or foreign ambassadors.

Like the emperor of Japan, the Sultan would preside behind a screen. Bad advice was literally a capital offence. Reminds one of going to confession as a kid with nothing to say to the priest, though in this case the priest could have you killed.

Part of the courtyard of the concubines in the Inner Court of the Palace, which was guarded by eunuchs (they didn't say how they became eunuchs, but we expect they didn't have much choice).

The courtyard of the Harem Eunuchs.

Islam allows "only" 4 wives, but you could have as many slave girls as you could afford, and if you were sultan, that could be in the hundreds. A female Kuwaiti politician recently opined that it would be good if jihadis could bring back Russian women from Chechnya for purchase by local men as it would reduce the temptation toward infidelity (so to speak). She didn't seem interested in whether the Russian women were in favor of becoming chattel, but infidels are still considered fair game.

This bedchamber either belongs to the crown prince or Sultan Murad III. Nice digs in any event.

When the sultan died, the crown prince was obliged to strangle all his brothers in order to prevent any rivalry to the throne (they were strangled so as not to shed royal blood). His mother would then become the Valide Sultana, or Queen Mother, who presided over the Harem. One can only wonder how she felt about her other sons being murdered...

Stained glass, Ottoman style. Both crew members of Amante had stained glass workshops in former lives.!

Most rooms have built-in cabinetry finished with tortoise shell and mother of pearl, surrounded by exquisite glazed tile.

The next day we went to visit what was once the mightiest church in all of Christendom, The Church of Hagia Sofia. The third such church, it was built in 532-537 by Justinian and converted into a mosque by Mehmet II after his conquest of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. All of the fine religious mosaics were destroyed or plastered over. Ataturk had it converted into a museum and some of the art has been uncovered and restored.

The structure was an engineering marvel for the 6th C AD. The rotunda is made from special hollow bricks of low-density clay. It would look much better if they would lose the quranic shields arrayed around the balcony. We suspect the faithful already know the shahada.

A close-up of the angel seen on the left-hand side below the dome. It is the only one where the face is seen, we suspect because of Islamic prohibitions regarding human likenesses.

A view of the dome, which probably has some wonderful frescoes under the Arabic.

Frescoes like this.

Or this

No one can hold a candle to the Byzantines when it comes to mosaics.

In the 1930s an Italian team laboriously uncovered and restored what was left of the fabulous art.

An 11th C mosaic of Emperor John Komemnos, wife Zoe and Modonna & Child.

What's this? It's called the Basilica Cistern, is underground, big as a football field and would normally be filled with water. It formed the water supply for the Byzantine Royal Palace, which was demolished by the Ottomans. They didn't know about the cistern, however, and it was only discovered after homeowners living over it found they had a limitless supply of water under their dwellings and could even catch fish through holes in the floor!

What's this? It's a head of Medusa, which you can tell by the serpentine locks. It was taken from some other building and installed sideways as a pedestal for one of the columns. It was believed that Medusa would protect buildings and they didn't want problems with the imperial water supply.

This is a panorama of the famous Chora Church, which like Hagia Sofia was converted into a mosque then into a museum. It's very small but it's what's inside that matters. Alternating brick and stone seems to be a Byzantine signature style.

Another beautiful masterpiece diligently restored to its rightful glory. We heard a guide telling some tourists that the Muslims covered them up to protect them.! Another unsubtle tactic to distort historical Truth. Appalling.

This is why we suspect the dome at Hagia Sofia may contain some amazing art. This is not the main dome of Chora, which as we said is a very small church.

More exquisite mosaics.

Took us some planning to get to Chora Church since it was located on the western side of Istanbul but the frescos in this small church were breathtaking. Here we saw some of the most stunning mosaics depicting the life of Jesus and Mary, in this case Mary signing up on the tax roles.

Some of the old Byzantine city walls.

The Sultan Ahmed, or "Blue" Mosque. Hub waited outside while the admiral went inside. Infidels had to use a separate entrance around the back of the attraction. The mosques architect orchestrated a visual feast of magnificent curves and an imposing exterior, obviously ripped off from Hagia Sofia. This impressive stone monument had six minarets and boasted the biggest courtyard of all the Ottoman mosques.

In order to preserve the sanctity of this sacred atmosphere, headscarf and shoulder covering were required. The blue tiles give the building its unofficial name and number in the tens of thousands. There are 260 windows and the prayer space is overwhelmingly huge.

As in some places of worship, women are segregated.

This is the new Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn. The lower level has many seafood restaurants, the upper has cars and fishermen.

This guy is throwing small fish up to the seagulls; most of the time they catch them.

The bridge was lined with guys using long poles and "trot lines", i.e. many hooks, to catch lots of small minnow-size fish. It seemed rather pointless, but then we're not locals.

On our last day in Istanbul we decided to take a ferry up the Bosphorus to where it meets the Black Sea. This is a view of Old Constantinople with a tower of Topkapi in the middle and the minarets and dome of Hagia Sofia somewhat to the right. Where you see the giant Turkish flag to the left was the location of the Byzantine Royal Palace. The Golden Horn is the water to the right and the Bosphorus to the left that goes to the Dardenelles.

The Dolmabace Palace. This 19th century imperial residence was one masterpiece we missed touring up close and personal. We actually could have done with a few more days in this gorgeous city..

Capt Hub really wanted to see this Byzantine fortress (guys love forts), but we couldn't quite figure out where it was until the last day. Sigh...

The admiral loves to share waterfront property.

Many different styles.

The old fishing village at the end of the ferry run.

Sometimes you have to take time out to scratch the kitty.

All we'll ever see of the Black Sea.

The last pic was taken from this Byzantine/Genoese fortress that guarded the entrance to the Bosphorus from the Black Sea end.

Boy, we have even more picture but fear the eyeballs of our gentle readers are falling out by now. We thank you for your patience in getting this far.

Suffice to say we survived the overnight ride back to Marmaris and managed to make it long enough to upload all this material, which is being done in Greece. We hope you look at our separate page on Ephesus.

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