Istanbul

A short and uneventful flight from Izmir (Smyrna) gets us to Istanbul. If ever there was a city steeped in history, this is it. Its strategic location has given it a position of power and control for over 2000 years. The city sits on two continents, Asia and Europe. The Asian side contains primarily overflow; the European side is where the original city was founded. Istanbul is the terminus of the Silk Road and the Orient Express. Until the bridges were built, ferries were the only connection between the continents. Numerous invading armies (Hittite, Greek, Roman, Mongol, Arab, Crusader, Ottoman) had to stop here. It is located on the Bosporus which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The Golden Horn is a bay that separates the European side into the Old City (the original site) from the New City (not all that new, but contains most of the modern buildings). Our hotel is near Taxsim Square, considered to be the city center with lots of night life.

Istanbul is an ancient city, but it is also a modern city with all the updated modern technology. The people are generally polite and friendly. Since the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the republic in 1923, all cultures, races and religions have been welcome. Men and women are equal under the law (if not in the dominant religion). Ninety percent of the population is Muslim but many of them are not devout. All the men dress in modern western clothes and most of the women do also. Of the women who do cover up, most leave their faces exposed but all other flesh is covered. The older ones tend to be rather drab but the younger women tend to be fashionable with designer headscarves (while wearing makeup, smoking and talking on cell phones). It can be jarring to see a woman dressed all in black from head to toe (including a face veil) standing next to a young person wearing very skimpy clothes. Billboards and store displays are just as sex-driven as ours. They seem to have established a balance where everyone exists according to their own values; hopefully this will last.

Istanbul has a population of sixteen million with an infrastructure to support five million. Therefore it is overcrowded with poor services for the newer sections where immigrants live. The traffic is horrendous; on our first day there were four cruise ships in port whose shore excursions just added to the crush of traffic.

After the plane landed, our bus took us to the seafront where we boarded a boat for a cruise on the Bosporus. We went north on the European side to the bridge then south down the Asian shore. We saw lots of impressive mosques and many very expensive homes.







We then went to the Blue Mosque. The exterior is not blue; it gets its name from the predominantly blue glass used in the stained/leaded windows and blue patterned tiles that decorate the walls. It is an active mosque, so we had to show proper reverence to the site (all the women wore scarves). We removed our shoes and walked on the carpeted floor while admiring the beautiful architecture and decoration. The only mosque originally built with six minarets, it has 260 windows and a dome 73 ft. in diameter and 141 ft. high.



















Nearby we visited the Hippodrome Square which is the site of an ancient Greek/Roman chariot racing arena. very little of it remains but some obelisks ans columns.









Hagia Sophia is a must see for anyone visiting Istanbul. It is a huge Byzantine church that was converted to a Mosque by the conquering Ottomans in 1453. It is no longer an active Mosque. The architecture is Byzantine but the decor is early Ottoman and Muslim. Since the Muslim religion forbade the use of human images or likenesses, they specialized in beautiful calligraphy. Examples of this abound in the building.