was constantinople
sometimes i can't believe not only the places i've been, but the way i used to write- this piece reads like a conversation at certain points:
(written Sunday, March 11, 2001)
hello, all! well, we got back from turkey yesterday and school started today. i must say i'm not that happy to be back ;) i think it's funny that whenever we get back from a break all of the teachers start counting the weeks until the next one. (the countdown begins- seven weeks.)
istanbul was awesome- it wasn't quite what i was expecting as far as the scenery went, actually. i thought there would be more rolling-green nature, but what i found instead was just as good. istanbul has such a sense of history- everywhere we went we saw architecture with roman influence and greek influence- it's a muslim country and totally festooned with masjids, but the architecture even on the masjids is a little bit of this, a little bit of that. there's a monument called hagia sophia which was a church during constantine's rule and was then converted into a masjid. now it's not used as anything but a monument for tourists to visit, but it was actually one of the most intriguing places we visited in istanbul. traces of its life as a church as still totally visible, as well as the islamic touches put on later. for example, high up, right under the dome, there is a mosaic of the virgin mary. on either side of this mosaic are two huge round discs, one bearing the name "mohammed" and the other "Allah". how strange this was! the entire building is dichotomous that way.
speaking of the masjids, i've gotten used to seeing one around ever corner, living in cairo. however the style of the masjids in istanbul was so different- the main focus is the enormous dome, and they're all built grandly with the minarets looking like huge spikes guarding the building. much heavier-looking and darker than the light-colored, cleaner lines that i'm used to, but no less awe-inspiring. the famous masjid in istanbul is the sultanahmet, or blue mosque. it was definitely grand. and blue.
our first morning in istanbul we were sitting in a restaurant which had a panoramic view of the sea and literally right above our heads was one of the darkest, clearest rainbows i've ever seen! we felt like it was welcoming us to the city- it was wonderful. the whole morning felt surreal since it was raining and hailing, and there were storm clouds that came and went as we ate breakfast. it was such a change, and a nice one at that.
one of the days we were there we visited the oriental museum (i don't know why they've named it the oriental museum, really. it's all pre-islamic art and craft from all over the arabian peninsula.)- this museum was great. they had the tiled lion procession that used to lead to the gates of babylon. they had strange trolls that used to guard the entrance to a hittite palace. my favorite was the actual agreement drawn up between the egyptians and the hittites after the battle of kadesh- i just taught this battle to my third graders and now i was looking at the actual treaty, all yellowed and crinkly and eaten.
another museum, one in the topkapi palace, featured the sword, bow and arrow, footprint, tooth, and even beard hairs of mohammed. this was really really incredible. and a little disconcerting. i just kept wondering if it was all real but based on ottoman history it makes sense that they were able to obtain all of that. so they have mohammed's DNA? what a frightening thought. the covered bazaar in istanbul was great- a lot of the goods are similar to the ones in egypt, but i've never seen entire stores devoted to evil-eye protection. these dark blue and aqua colored circles with a white spot in the middle are called "nazar bongok" and are meant to ward off the evil eye as well as bring good luck.
oh, and we saw some belly dancing ;) this was pretty interesting, but what i liked best were the two men with their arms over their heads, with a huge "hat" pulled over their heads and arms down to their shoulders. then their chests (covered by skin-colored cloth) were decorated like faces and they wore normal pants. the pants had fake arms attached at the hip, so that the men basically looked like huge walking rag dolls. this was one of the weirdest things i've ever seen- and i've never laughed harder. oh, what a riot.ah, and yes, we ate some turkish delight. my favorite food was actually the manti- turkish food is all about yogurt and this manti stuff is incredible. i also saw he-man dubbed in turkish! this nearly ruined my vacation since from that point on i was preoccupied with trying to remember the little red wizard guy's name. starts with an O.
we met some fun people but the best was the waiter at one of the restaurants- he spoke every imaginable language and used this talent to harass ever passerby ;) it was amusing. we convinced him we were italian and then had to change our story when he started speaking to us in italian. so then i told him i was persian (ha! he didn't speak that ;)
our last day in istanbul we took a ferry ride on the bosphorus. and shopped like maniacs ;) ahh, the luxury of going to a mall and buying shoes.
in all istanbul was a great time- i actually learned a lot from the museums, which i wasn't expecting. and i can say tesukkerler like a native ;)
(written Sunday, March 11, 2001)
hello, all! well, we got back from turkey yesterday and school started today. i must say i'm not that happy to be back ;) i think it's funny that whenever we get back from a break all of the teachers start counting the weeks until the next one. (the countdown begins- seven weeks.)
istanbul was awesome- it wasn't quite what i was expecting as far as the scenery went, actually. i thought there would be more rolling-green nature, but what i found instead was just as good. istanbul has such a sense of history- everywhere we went we saw architecture with roman influence and greek influence- it's a muslim country and totally festooned with masjids, but the architecture even on the masjids is a little bit of this, a little bit of that. there's a monument called hagia sophia which was a church during constantine's rule and was then converted into a masjid. now it's not used as anything but a monument for tourists to visit, but it was actually one of the most intriguing places we visited in istanbul. traces of its life as a church as still totally visible, as well as the islamic touches put on later. for example, high up, right under the dome, there is a mosaic of the virgin mary. on either side of this mosaic are two huge round discs, one bearing the name "mohammed" and the other "Allah". how strange this was! the entire building is dichotomous that way.
speaking of the masjids, i've gotten used to seeing one around ever corner, living in cairo. however the style of the masjids in istanbul was so different- the main focus is the enormous dome, and they're all built grandly with the minarets looking like huge spikes guarding the building. much heavier-looking and darker than the light-colored, cleaner lines that i'm used to, but no less awe-inspiring. the famous masjid in istanbul is the sultanahmet, or blue mosque. it was definitely grand. and blue.
our first morning in istanbul we were sitting in a restaurant which had a panoramic view of the sea and literally right above our heads was one of the darkest, clearest rainbows i've ever seen! we felt like it was welcoming us to the city- it was wonderful. the whole morning felt surreal since it was raining and hailing, and there were storm clouds that came and went as we ate breakfast. it was such a change, and a nice one at that.
one of the days we were there we visited the oriental museum (i don't know why they've named it the oriental museum, really. it's all pre-islamic art and craft from all over the arabian peninsula.)- this museum was great. they had the tiled lion procession that used to lead to the gates of babylon. they had strange trolls that used to guard the entrance to a hittite palace. my favorite was the actual agreement drawn up between the egyptians and the hittites after the battle of kadesh- i just taught this battle to my third graders and now i was looking at the actual treaty, all yellowed and crinkly and eaten.
another museum, one in the topkapi palace, featured the sword, bow and arrow, footprint, tooth, and even beard hairs of mohammed. this was really really incredible. and a little disconcerting. i just kept wondering if it was all real but based on ottoman history it makes sense that they were able to obtain all of that. so they have mohammed's DNA? what a frightening thought. the covered bazaar in istanbul was great- a lot of the goods are similar to the ones in egypt, but i've never seen entire stores devoted to evil-eye protection. these dark blue and aqua colored circles with a white spot in the middle are called "nazar bongok" and are meant to ward off the evil eye as well as bring good luck.
oh, and we saw some belly dancing ;) this was pretty interesting, but what i liked best were the two men with their arms over their heads, with a huge "hat" pulled over their heads and arms down to their shoulders. then their chests (covered by skin-colored cloth) were decorated like faces and they wore normal pants. the pants had fake arms attached at the hip, so that the men basically looked like huge walking rag dolls. this was one of the weirdest things i've ever seen- and i've never laughed harder. oh, what a riot.ah, and yes, we ate some turkish delight. my favorite food was actually the manti- turkish food is all about yogurt and this manti stuff is incredible. i also saw he-man dubbed in turkish! this nearly ruined my vacation since from that point on i was preoccupied with trying to remember the little red wizard guy's name. starts with an O.
we met some fun people but the best was the waiter at one of the restaurants- he spoke every imaginable language and used this talent to harass ever passerby ;) it was amusing. we convinced him we were italian and then had to change our story when he started speaking to us in italian. so then i told him i was persian (ha! he didn't speak that ;)
our last day in istanbul we took a ferry ride on the bosphorus. and shopped like maniacs ;) ahh, the luxury of going to a mall and buying shoes.
in all istanbul was a great time- i actually learned a lot from the museums, which i wasn't expecting. and i can say tesukkerler like a native ;)
...Natural is the static
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home