Topkapi tiling

Iznik tiling has been famous for centuries, and supposedly, the Topkapi palace has some prime historic examples of it.

Palace floors

Seeing Istanbul, dominated by centuries of Ottoman remains, I am sometimes confused as to how the city's Byzantine time may have looked. It is much more difficult to find and discern those traces, even if the Hagia Sofia and the Hippodrome dominate the central parts of old Istanbul. I have seen a Byzantine palace and some old churches also, in what was then the outskirts of the city. However, finding the museum showing remains of the mosaic floors of the Great Palace of Byzantine Konstantinople helped me lot in shedding more light on this portion of history.

Turning a corner

Everywhere you turn in the old quarters of Istanbul, there are remains of history to meet you. Fountains, inscriptions, ruins, buildings, you name it! I always wonder what their accessibility does to people's sense of history, culture and belonging - but I am afraid you grow used to them and don't see them at all - all too soon.

Hagia Sofia

Unfortunately the size and darkness inside the Hagia Sofia makes photos difficult. But one of the magnificent mosaics I can show you here.

Classic ports of the Orient

Speaking of travelling (at least a continuous underlying theme here) I MUST show you the train stations of Istanbul!

First is the inside of Sirkeci, by the Golden Horn on the European shore. I still haven't figured out if this was actually where the Orient Express from Paris came in, because it's location does not make sense to me with the supposed carrying of passengers in litters to Pera Palas.



And this is Haydarpasha on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus. I frequently from a distance confuse the barracks and military hospital of the same name with the station, though. Close up there is no question.

Book recommendations

You may have seen that I have added book recommendation links from Amazon in the lower righthand margin.

I can assure you that I will only recommend books that I have personally read and truly enjoyed. In fact, I intend to give recommendations to books that have really been an experience to read and enhanced my knowledge and understanding - often reflecting countries and areas where I travel and show photos from.

This does not mean that I will avoid fiction, though, quite the contrary - few things are as developing as gaining insights into societies through the lives and thoughts fictional characters.

Congratulations to Orhan Pamuk!

Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk ( in English) was today awarded the Nobel prize in literature by the Swedish Academy of literature. Pamuk is the first Turkish Nobel laureate in literature and will receive his prize in Stockholm on December 10.

His latest novel (if not his latest book) Snow takes place in Kars, from where you could earlier see pictures here on my blog! (see september archives)

Churches again

The churches and monuments of Ani were endless - here are some details of the less preserved smaller ones - first St Gregory.





And as usual - some interior details:

Shopping arcade

Around the mosque was actually the only area of Ani that felt like a ruined city, where there were traces of proper buildings and streets, apart from the monumental religious ruins. Here, there was also, reportedly, an archaeological team at work - even if I didn't see them at it. It was said to be a street of shops, anyways, and I guess the foundations to be seen could indicate as much even to my untrained eyes.

Decorations

Many of these picture reveal the harsh lighting conditions with sharp contrasts between outside bright sunlight and dark insides of ruins... more than anything else... but I still hope you can find some of the feeling.







I especially want to give attention to the geometrical ceiling decorations, in cassettes.

Manuchihr mosque

This again reveals some of the extent of which this area was at the crossroads of Russian/Turkish/Persian influence, with a very Persian-style name. This is supposed to be the oldest mosque on the territory of the Turkish republic, and is from the 11th century. It is claimed as Selcuk in style, but if that means more than being simply pre-Ottoman is not clear to me. The minaret was in bad shape and could not be climbed - but the squarish (? more like 6 sides) shape of it intrigued me.





It towers over the ravine with the border river.



The fortress further out was not accessible to visitors unfortunately...

Cathedral interior

Some of the shots are dark, but maybe some of the elegant roomy feeling of the enormous inside is still conveyed. It almost had a proto-Gothic feeling, with high vaults and very high ceiling.

Ani cathedral

This was the great cathedral of Ani, still dominating the horizon by sheer size.

Carpet gallery - revisited

Well, I did think my next buy would be a Bakhtiari camel bag - and I was almost right. It's rather more Luri in style though - and it makes fascinating speculation to think of how that came about. Also, it has the unusual feature of a date woven in - 1372 - if that correctly reflects it's weaving date, it should be about 55 years old. I am very happy with it!