Thursday, May 11th was our second day with our guide, who took us on a bus tour of the old City Walls that protected Istanbul when it was controlled by the Ottomans and after the conquest. While they were really just big walls, it was interesting to see them and the portals through which people used to enter the city. Our actual destination was the Kariye Museum, which was a truly phenomenal site. In actuality, the Kariye Museum is a Byzantine Church which was converted into a mosque and is now a museum which houses some of the most beautiful mosaic and fresco work that I have ever seen. The fantastically preserved mosaics and frescoes were done between the 12th and 13th centuries and include a fantastic Last Judgment and numerous scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. It was difficult to take photos, so I ended up purchasing a book with most of the images in it, because I was so impressed with the beauty of the work. This is a pretty decent website that shows a lot of photos...although the photos are not the best due to the awkward lighting inside the space.
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/Turkey71/Kariye.HTM
After the Kariye Museum, we returned to Sultan Ahmet to visit the Blue Mosque (the right-hand mosque seen off our hotel balcony) and the Byzantine Cistern. The Blue Mosque was a really splendid space. It is covered with elaborate Iznik tile work from floor to ceiling which really has an interesting effect on the space. On one hand, it takes away from the spirituality of the space (for me) due to the elaborate quality of the decoration. I'm used to the more sparse decoration of churches. At the same time, it feels like a truly animated space due to the vibrant patterns and controlled color palette. Most of the tiles are blue and white, with just a hint of red and green detailing. It was an incredible space, but did not affect me quite like Hagia Sophia or some of the mosques that I would visit later in the trip. The size of the structure was certainly impressive and the massive domes on the exterior were beautiful!
The Byzantine Cistern was a real treat! What an incredible space. Below the city is this large space which would have provided water to the city when it was under Barbarian attack. The underground space is supported by 336 columns and today, they play beautiful, coft, classical music as you wander along the suspended boardwalks and just become immersed in the space. Oddly, there are very large fish living in the cistern and swimming around the areas that pool with light, much to the awe of the people visiting the space! It was really pretty fantastic...a location that (like Hagia Sophia) I would have happily revisited, had time allowed. When we finished up at the cistern, we were again left to our own devices for dinner.
Though quite a few people wanted to head back to where we had listened to music the night before, it turned out a bit differently! Suzanne, Mary and I decided to take a separate cab over to Beyoglu, with the intention of meeting up with everyone else at the Galata Tower. When no one else showed up, we walked up the hill and found the same street that we had visited the night before. We settled on a quaint little restaurant to eat wonderful mezze and chicken kebaps! :) Happiness and joy! The others, it turned out...had a bad experience and ended up eating on the Galata Bridge (which has a pedestrian area underneath the span, full of shops and restaurants). While the food was ok, it was very expensive, and they were none to pleased! We, on the other hand, had a LOVELY dinner and a few drinks. We even headed out on a little adventure to the Para Palas hotel, which is a 19th century hotel where Agatha Christie and Ataturk stayed! We were taken up in the fantastic old elevator and shown a few of the rooms! Fantastic. We then caught a cab home without incident and made our way to bed!
One more funny dinner story. There are stray cats and dogs all over Istanbul. If you view my photos, you should see a few of them, including a black and white cat sitting on a restaurant chair. This cat eventually came over to say hello to us. He must have sensed that I was a cat person, because at one point, he simply hopped up into my lap! He didn't stay for very long, but it was a humorous event!
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