Tag: Hagia Sophia

Nonstop from Washington: Istanbul

New nonstop service isn’t the only reason to visit this ancient city.

WHY NOW
Turkish Airlines started nonstop service to Istanbul from Dulles in November, making it easier to visit one of the world’s most fascinating cities.

First-time visitors may be surprised at the size and beauty of Istanbul, a city of 13 million built on hills with sea vistas on all sides. The world’s only major city to span two continents—Europe and Asia—Istanbul is divided by the Bosphorus Strait.

Once known as Constantinople, the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, it became the center of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Today’s Istanbul blends the minarets and mosques, churches and palaces of the past with the energy of a modern metropolis.

WHAT TO DO
On the European side are the classic sights, such as the Old Town’s Sultanahmet Square and theBlue Mosque, named for the extraordinary blue tile work inside. The domes and six minaret spires, built from 1609 to 1616, are city symbols.

Hagia Sophia is nearby. An icon of Christianity, the church is a feat of design and engineering from the sixth century; its nave is topped by a 184-foot-high dome.

From there it’s a short walk to Topkapi Palace, built by Sultan Mehmet II from 1460 to 1478 and the home of Ottoman sultans for 400 years. Courtyards and pavilions offered lavish space for the sultans and their harems. Highlights include the throne room and the treasury, with its 86-carat Spoonmaker’s Diamond.

Other sights include Suleymaniye Mosque, built in the 1550s for Suleiman the Magnificent, and the colorful stalls of the Spice Bazaar, dating from the early 17th century.

Plan Tours’ City Sightseeing Tour is a hop-on, hop-off bus that offers an overview of the rest of Istanbul with English narration. From Sultanahmet Square, the open-top bus crosses fisherman-lined Galata Bridge and travels uphill to Taksim Square in the Beyoglu district, the heart of the new and fashionable. Take a walk down one of Europe’s busiest shopping streets, pedestrian-onlyIstiklal, lined with cafes and shops—from designer boutiques to an NBA shop and a fish market. You’ll see women in head scarves and others in miniskirts mingling peacefully. Ride the old-fashioned tram back up the hill to rejoin the bus and continue through old Jewish and Muslim neighborhoods and past ancient city walls.

Marble-domed Cemberlitas Baths in the Old Town is a popular place to experience the steaming and massaging of a Turkish bath. A boat ride on the Bosphorus offers a memorable view of the city skyline. TurYol boats offer 90-minute cruises from the Eminonu pier near the Old City side of the Galata Bridge.
DON’T MISS
The Grand Bazaar—one of the world’s oldest shopping malls, operating since the 1400s—is a labyrinth of thousands of shops and stalls in the Old City selling everything from tourist souvenirs to fine jewelry, ceramics, and carpets. Be alert for pickpockets, and be prepared to bargain.
WHERE TO EAT
Seafood is king in seaside Istanbul, and meals often begin with mezze, small Turkish dishes. In the Old Town, Balikci Sabahattin is an upscale place to sample both seafood and mezze.

The setting and Turkish/French cuisine also are excellent at Sarnic, a converted vaulted Byzantine cistern.

For a more modest tab, try the kebabs and other specialties at Buhara 93, and for a special lunch, visit pretty Pandeli upstairs over the Spice Bazaar.

Want to splurge? Seasons at the Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet is the place for continental fare as well as local specialities.
WHERE TO STAY
Hotels near Sultanahmet Square are convenient for sightseeing. Nine restored 19th-century houses make up the atmospheric 64-room Turing Ayasofya Konaklari (rooms from $104). Ottoman Hotel Imperial offers comfortable rooms in a restored 1800s school (from $138 with breakfast).

The modern Hotel Golden Horn Sultanahmet has many online specials (from $125 with breakfast). For celebrity followers, the city’s best-known hotel, Pera Palace in Beyoglu, is fresh off a renovation (from $368).

This article first appeared in the December 2010 issue of The Washingtonian.

Washingtonian

December 10, 2010
Hagia Sophia, the Secret Language | Istanbul through my eyes

magic lights of Hagia Sophia Museum at Sultanahmet Square, Istanbul. I ‘ve used pentax k10d and pentax 15 mm/f4 ltd lens.

Secret Language

Every part of you has a secret language

your hands and your feet

say what you’ve done

and every need brings in what’s needed

pain bears its cure like a child

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi

from Secret Language: Rumi A Celebration in Song (Music CD), by Ramananda

via Hagia Sophia, the Secret Language | Istanbul through my eyes.

November 22, 2010
Turkey lingers at the gates of Europe

By Ding Gang

The car was crawling slowly across Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge. “They are heading for Asia,” the tour guide said, first pointing at the crawling traffic on the other side and then tapping his own chest and laughing, “We go to Europe. After crossing the bridge, we set foot on land in Europe.”

It immediately reminds me of the sentence in Turkish writer Zulfu Livaneli’s novel Bliss: Little Ivan rejoices that he feels himself a Westerner in the East and an Easterner in the West.

An hour later, I finally walked into a European hotel room that might be the closest in Istanbul to Asia. Standing in front of the window, I could see the world famous Bosphorus Strait. Was this the strategic place that different civilizations have been fiercely fighting for over a thousand years?

The next morning, when I stood in the spacious hall in Hagia Sophia, I looked up at the dome 55 meters above the ground and could see the traces of past conflicts.

A cathedral dedicated to Hagia Sophia, the Holy Wisdom of God, was first erected on this spot in 360, when the city was still Constantinople. Since then, the church has experienced many periods of war, like the city around it. The first two churches were destroyed by rioters, then in 535, the current building was erected, and endured as Constantinople’s chief church for nine centuries.

In 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, where among his first acts was to pay his respects at this magnificent cathedral, before converting it into a mosque. The Christian church became a mosque, and over the following centuries renovations, including the addition of a minaret and the inscribed names of God and the caliphs on great disks, were made to the building, until eventually it was converted into a museum in 1935. Therefore, the Hagia Sophia of today has the characteristics of two different places of worship.

Hagia Sophia is often referred to as the product of two great civilizations. But this fusion is not yet naturally completed; instead, one religion overtook the other.

Today, Turkey has become one of the most secular Muslim countries in the world. When walking in the downtown business district, you feel as if you are walking on the streets of a European city. Fusion is becoming the main theme of Istanbul, as two civilizations intersect here.

Although Turkey spans Europe and Asia, ever since the “population exchange” between Greece and Turkey in the 1920s, 99 percent of its population has been Muslim, just as 97 percent of its territory is in Asia. In recent years, Turkey has been striving to join the Western world. From the economic point of view, Turkey’s efforts are fruitful and the gap between it and the West is closing.

Turkey is now a member of the G20, and occupies a leading position among Muslim nations. According to the IMF forecasts, the GDP per capita in Turkey will exceed $10,000 in 2010. It is commonly believed that this is a sign of leaving the trap of middle income and becoming a developed country.

As a Muslim country that stands in the intersection of two great civilizations, its direction has global significance.

The American scholar Samuel Huntington called Turkey a “confused country,” which means that it neither belongs to the Islamic world, nor to the West.

The explanation of Turkish writer Mustafa Kurt is that “We rode to Anatoglia, but our soul still remains in the distant East. We always want to be Westerners, but actually are still Asians.”

The above two statements have the same meaning. In a century of globalization, Turkey faced the choice of identity. Similarly, on the issue whether the EU will accept a Muslim nation, the EU also faces a choice of identity.

This is a hard choice. If it accepts Turkey, the EU’s character will change, but if Turkey cannot be a Muslim member of the EU, it will surely become a power in the Muslim world.

Outside the window, I saw two huge cargo ships passing through the Bosphorus Strait and greeting each other with whistles. Although the speed of two ships was slow, they had established routes and will not collide.

However, for people living in two major religious civilizations separated by the narrow strait, looking for the fusion of two different religions, there is no clear route to follow.

The author is a senior editor with the People’s Daily. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn

via Turkey lingers at the gates of Europe – GlobalTimes.

November 19, 2010
Policemen banned nationalists’ namaz at Hagia Cathedral

Members of Alperen Ocaklari organization having close ties with the Turkish Great Union party tried to conduct namaz at Hagia Sophia Cathedral during Qurban Bayram, Islamic feast.

According to the Turkish Milliyet newspaper, being aware of this initiative Istanbul police surrounded the cathedral at 5:00 a.m. Members of the Islamist nationalist organization gathered at the cathedral not being able to enter it. Namaz was conducted outside of the church.

via Policemen banned nationalists’ namaz at Hagia Cathedral | Armenia News – NEWS.am.

November 17, 2010
Turkish Delight—Now is the time to visit Istanbul

Istanbul is actually an extremely interesting city.(Source: Global Times/IC)

By Harvey Dzodin

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) — Istanbul is by far the most exotic megacity I have ever experienced. Every time I visit this metropolis, which uniquely straddles Asia and Europe, I am always, without fail, blown away by the sounds, sights and smells of this gem mounted in its unique setting on the Bosporus strait. And as luck would have it, the best time to visit this tourist Mecca is the next few months.

Istanbul has about the same number of people as Beijing, but it is completely different. Both cities are full of history and grand archeological monuments, but they feel worlds apart.

The city’s character stems from its rich history. Once part of the Roman Empire, the Emperor Constantine made it his capital, Constantinople, in 324. That Byzantine Empire lasted a thousand years. In 1453 it became the Ottoman Empire, which for several centuries encompassed much of the Middle East, North Africa and southeastern Europe. In the 20th century, Constantinople became Istanbul and the Turkish Republic was established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on October 29, 1923.

I remember when I first visited in 1997, what struck me was the special nature of the city. At the same time neither completely European nor Asian, Istanbul is an exotic mixture not to be found anywhere else on earth.

Istanbul’s majestic mosques are some of the grandest places of worship on earth. The 17th-century Blue Mosque is renowned for the beautiful blue tile work adorning its walls. The Suleymaniye mosque, built a century earlier, dominates the skyline with its four minarets (or towers).

Now a museum and before that a mosque, the Hagia Sophia started off as a Christian house of worship and was the world’s largest cathedral for nearly a millennium. It is thought by many to be the epitome of Byzantine architecture.

And then there were the sounds. According to tradition, worshippers are called to prayer five times a day from dawn until two hours after sunset. The call is distinctive and from the heart. Because there are so many mosques, it seems like a thousand calls punctuate the air.

The smells too have been firmly wedged somewhere between my nose and brain. The strongest ones are to be found in the Spice Ba

Another thing that Istanbul has that Beijing doesn’t is an abundance of water. Water separates Europe from Asia. The Bosporus connects to the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. You can take a ferry or tour boat up the Bosporus to the Black Sea, passing many fine homes, restaurants and such monuments as the Fortress of Europe, which dates from 1452. Another leisurely trip goes to the four Princes’ Islands, once a place of exile but now a traffic-free paradise of horse-drawn carriages a short boat ride from Istanbul on the Sea of Marmara.

Another must-see spot is the world-famous Topkapi Palace, the home of the sultans for much of the Ottoman Empire. My favorite part is the beautifully decorated harem. Men can go there in safety now, but in former times only eunuchs were permitted. The famous Iznik ceramics there are a memorable highlight. Close by is the sultans’ collection of 2,000 exceptional pieces of Chinese porcelain, which survived the hazardous journey by ship from Chinese ports to Europe.

Istanbul is a city for shoppers. Some of the most modern and elegant shopping centers to be found anywhere are there. Call me old-fashioned, but my favorite place to shop is the Grand Bazaar opened in 1461. It has 58 covered streets and hundreds of shops. Fine carpets, antiques and jewelry are specialties. Bargaining is a must so all of us here in Beijing will feel right at home. Most merchants will offer you a Turkish coffee, tea or my favorite, apple tea, while you sit comfortably in their shop.

Living in Beijing, I appreciate the fact that Istanbul is safe. In fact, its overall crime rate is lower than that of other cities of a comparable size. Not only that but I am always made to feel welcome by the Istanbullus, who go out of their way to be hospitable and welcoming.

It is little wonder then that this year Istanbul was designated by the European Union as the European Capital of Culture. I hope you can go and experience this special place for yourself. It will certainly be a trip that you will never forget.

(Source: Global Times)

, 30.08.2010

September 1, 2010