So it’s been almost two weeks from the last post and believe it or not, I’ve somehow managed to keep busy in Istanbul. The arrival of my first visitor, a friend from Austin, has also managed to occupy a bit of my usual blogging time—with funness of course! Instead of relaying a chronology of my shenanigans, I’ll just give you a breakdown of some of the tourist sites I visited and a briefing of other fun things I’ve encountered these last two weeks. And of course, a slew of pictures. Enjoy!
I live here, but I’m still a tourist.
Basilica Cisterns: The largest cistern in Istanbul lies underneath the city in the vicinity of the Hagia Sophia. It was originally constructed in the 6th century by the Emperor Justinian. The cistern was capable of holding 80,000 cubic meters of water in a room filled with 336 columns (each 9 meters tall), most of which appear to have been recycled from other buildings and monuments. In fact two column bases are spoliated Medusa heads from an unknown monument. A series of platforms winds the visitor through the columns and over water, filled with hungry fish. It’s an easy site to see, aesthetically pleasing, artistically lit, and they have custom photographers there!
Hippodrome: I love the Hippodrome in the evening. As the sun sets, it casts long shadows of the people walking. With the obelisks as a backdrop, there is this incredible scene of lines stretching across the grey cobblestones. More thrilling than the view though, is the knowledge of the history that you are standing amidst. The Hippodrome once served as the site of horse and chariot racing in Byzantium, built by Septimius Severus in the 3rd century CE. As part of his new capital (ca. 330 CE), the emperor Constantine renovated the site and added statues, sculpture, and monuments taken from around the empire. In the central spina of the racecourse, Constantine placed the serpent column from Delphi (a dedication made by the united Greek forces after their defeat of the Persians at Plataea in 479 BCE). In 390 CE, Theodosius erected an Obelisk from Egypt honoring the Pharaoh, Thutmoses III (ca. 1450 BCE) alongside the serpent column and in the 10th century CE, a Byzantine emperor built a second obelisk, originally faced with bronze plates that were stolen in the 4th crusade. At the far end of the hippodrome, sits the German fountain, built in 1900 to commemorate the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Istanbul. Today, the Hippodrome sits alongside the Blue Mosque (1616); the original course of the track is now a cobblestoned-road and is busy with cafes and souvenir stands. So if you stand in the spina of hippodrome you can see a piece of history from 1450 BCE (obelisk), 479 BCE (serpent column), 203 CE (Severus’ construction), 324-330 (Constantine’s renovation), 390 (Theodosius’ addition), 10th century (second obelisk’s construction), 1600s (Blue mosque), 1900 (Fountain), now (cars and cafes), not to mention the countless other historical events that took place in this square and the other historical monuments visible from this vantage point. It is an incredible conglomeration of history. It’s like: "the history of Hippodrome in Istanbul is best described by this regular category on Jeopardy. What is Potpourri?"
Süleymaniye Mosque: The second largest Mosque in Istanbul rises high on a mountain overlooking the Golden Horn. It is a postcard from every angle and in every corner. An architectural masterpiece indeed in its proportions, in its simplistic and elegant decoration, in its curves and edges. It was built by Sinan Pasha, the great architect of Sultan Süleyman, in the 1550s. Sinan drew inspiration from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the local Hagia Sophia, and Islamic arts. To me, the interior seems to be this endless play on texture and color, layer upon layer of integrated materials and lines—carved wood, painted plaster, colored marble, brocaded carpets, wrought iron chandeliers, glass candle-holders—stacked vertically to the central dome. Every corner of this mosque was a photograph in its simplicity of design and the success of its intricacy (yeah, I know that doesn’t quite make sense). The Mosque sits in a complex that includes a hamam (bathhouse) and a cemetery, among other ancillary buildings. This has been my first mosque to visit during this trip (I visited the Blue Mosque two years ago). I really enjoy mosques—historic religious structures in general are incredibly moving to me, despite my own personal non-religious persuasions. Sometimes when I walk into a religious space, it’s almost as though I can feel the ritual that takes place there or has taken place there for centuries. I look around at towering spires, expansive domes, gold mosaics, staring icons, elaborate scripts, all lit by stained glass and candles, all in an echoing quiet, and I am moved; I get it (I suppose I can say). There is something about these spaces, places of worship from the past—whether they are the lofty mosques of a sultan or the local church of a village—there does seem to be something about these sites that makes me understand, a little better, religion and faith and belief. I greatly enjoy these experiences.
Yeni Kapi: The site of the Yeni Kapi excavations is not a typical stop on the tourist trek through Istanbul, but my collective is anything, but typical. Our program director arranged for us to have a behind-the-scenes tour led by the excavation director of this incredible and massive dig. In the near future, Yeni Kapi is going to be the site of a major metro station, connecting the Light Rail to the airport with Istanbul Metro and a soon-to-be tunnel under the Bosphorus linking the European and Asian sides of the city. Needless to say, it is ___________ (supply adjective, synonym for exponentially large), ca. 60,000 sq. meters. But before it was decided that this spot serve as such an integral connecting piece to the city’s transportation, it was the site of equal, yet different importance—this was the Late Roman and Byzantine harbor for Istanbul. Thus, in order to build the new metro interchange, rescue excavations of this harbor are being conducted, overseen by the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. It was drizzling and raining the day we went to the site (apparently it does that in places that aren’t Texas), so the massive excavation was also a massive mud pit—I loved it. Walking around on mud platforms 5 inches high at times, but it was a pain to clean my running shoes afterwards. Highlights of the remains are a 9th century stone wharf, a number of earlier wooden wharfs/pier posts, the remains of 36 ships from the 4th century and later, and a Neolithic settlement (ca. 6500 BCE). Despite the fact that it’s a rescue excavation, the work must be applauded for its excellent recording (they preserved Neolithic footprints!). My highlights include, (and I’ll be brief both because my audience is varied and the material has not been fully published, but if you are interested in more information, I’d be happy to discuss what I can in personal correspondences):
1) the Wharf posts—over one thousand year old wooden posts sticking out of the sand, and in between the posts, the area is covered with broken pottery and other debris that would have fallen off ships and piers. The director also said that it is from these areas that they discovered a number of coins and trinkets, the kinds of things that one would lose from their pocket as they walked across a pier, a perhaps comical reminder of how some things stay the same :)
2) The Neolithic settlement. This was a completely unexpected find for the excavators and quite a pleasant one at that because in addition to evidence for architecture, they also uncovered footprints—a find, which led all the archaeologists on my tour to baffle, “how do you excavate footprints?” Let’s just say, ‘very carefully’. It was incredible to see 8500 year old footprints—there’s a sense of individuality and intimacy in a footprint that you don’t get when you look at a piece of sculpture or architecture (at least from my perspective). I mean, you see these footprints and all of sudden you can say, ‘hey, I know that this guy walked in this pattern 8500 years ago.’ If he had killed somebody, CSI could have totally arrested him with that evidence! (ok now, that’s definitely just me [and Shawn and my mom])
3) The ships. 36 ships have been recovered total, but we got to see one up close and personal. One of the largest and I think one of the oldest—a 15 meter long cargo ship from the late 4th/early 5th century. It was loaded with amphorae (120 were still in situ and in relatively good condition) when it appears to have capsized. And we got to stand 6 inches from it—to see every wooden beam and each different type of amphorae. The state of preservation at this site is remarkable. Just in case the Neolithic footprints didn’t prove it to you or the wooden wharf posts, they’ve also recovered the remains of pickled fish from the amphorae, peach pits, seeds, and sour cherry pits (one of which I touched, with permission of course! I touched a 1500 year old cherry pit!). Remarkable. Unbelievable. A site that offers almost infinite insight—particularly into the early history of the city and shipbuilding in the Byzantine period. I was so happy that day! J
Seriously, I do live here. I do more regular things to.
1) I have some minor responsibilities as a fellow. One of these responsibilities was giving a five minute presentation on my research to the faculty and graduate students at Koç University’s main campus. Besides some fellows understanding 5 minutes to be 15-20 minutes (and there’s 20 of us, so it sort of does make a difference), it was very enjoyable and interesting to learn about what my colleagues are working on (data sets, research questions, methodology, theoretical frameworks, etc.)—at least a little more in depth than dinner table small talk.
2) I go out for food and drinks. Highlights these past couple of weeks in clued a group venture to our director’s favorite Meyhanes, Balat. Meyhanes (let’s translate as taverns) are a standard type of Turkish restaurant. Historically a male establishment, meyhanes specialize in a series of small plates (mezes) passed around amongst friends sipping (or downing) glasses of raki. Main courses are also available, and of course dessert and chai. The guide book describes them as Turkish tapas bars and I’m sort of ok with that. Balat’s specialties included a hot spinach dish served with egg that you sop up with bread, and pan seared liver with onions. Our director is a big fan of these establishments in general, so I imagine there will be a number of similar excursions. Other outings included the fabulous rooftop views from Bar 360 (a super swank restaurant/night club off Istiklal; we were lucky enough to grab a corner table outside!) and Leb-i-derya another roof top bar with fantastic views. Most awesome thing about roof top bars in Istanbul, besides the views, they have blankets!!! It gets a little chilly at night, especially if it’s windy, so all the bars have blankets they just pass around—hilarious and genius!
3) Film Festival. There was a documentary film festival in town (and in the neighborhood) last weekend. I, unfortunately, was only able to go to two movies. One was a short on vendors in Istanbul and their ‘callings’. Amongst the range of noises one hears on the streets of this city is the music of the vendor, whether it’s the ice cream guy ringing his bell, the toy seller with his bird calls, the corn vendor clanging his tongs, or any number of street sellers calling out phrases (in Turkish) such as “buns are here, don’t make the children cry”, “Lower your baskets”, “I’ve come and I am gone”. I love the street food here. I loved the film; I wish it was longer. The second film was a full length splicing of footage from 1930s and 1940s Germany, which, in a provocative and innovative way, narrated Hitler’s rise to power, the Nazi party and Germany at war, and the plight of the Jewish people in the cities and at concentration camps. Political and military footage, propaganda videos, and videos from the concentration camp were spliced with scenes from German movies and stage shows in the period, all while German singers from the decades supplied the soundtrack. It was an odd, but effective (and at times affective) way of telling the story, and certainly provided a different perspective than the historical narratives from textbooks.
4) Movie Night: We continued our movie series at the RCAC with a viewing of James Bond, From Russia With Love, much of which is filmed in Istanbul. To make the night complete, I made vodka martinis for everyone! An excellent time. I had never seen this James Bond, or any of the early ones for that matter, and so was amazed at how cheesy it was. Still totally enjoyable (if not politically-correct at times)
5) Bienali: The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition held every two years (do you get the name now?) I went for my first visit just yesterday. The exhibit is massive—2 huge warehouses filled with exhibitions by international artists in multimedia displays. This year’s theme is Untitled and the art, at least the one warehouse I visited, was primarily concerned with history, violence, and politics and their impact on the daily lives of people. Installations ranged from cartoon drawings to photography to video to the trash and debris taken from demolished Palestinian house in Israel, most were multi-media pieces. Personal favorites included a masterfully constructed and directed film of the first crusade, re-enacted by puppets!, a series of posters that combined pictures from 1960s Good Housekeeping with images of war, titled ‘Bringing the War Home’, a room of record covers—albums of historical events from the 1950s to 80s (such as the soundtrack from Princess Anne’s wedding, speeches of John F. Kennedy, and biographies of other famous figures). I’ll be going back soon for the second warehouse (the first took me three hours!). In that blog entry, I will try to provide more information on the amazing art scene, particularly modern art, architecture and design, that is in this city.
6) Football: or soccer as you Americans call it. I went! It was incredible! It was amazing! We lost. So sad. Eurocup qualifier—Germany vs. Turkey. Not sure if you know this, but Germany is kind of awesome at football. Turkey had its moments—including an almost goal in the early minutes of the game. In fact, during the first half we definitely had more shots on goal (although the Germans were still controlling the game). Germany scored at 35m and again around 65m. Things were looking bleak and some of the crowd even started leaving and then we had an amazing goal at 78m and everything got triple-energized immediately—the players were hustling, the crowd was on fire, and the ref was an a**hole. At 83m he called a foul on our defender, which resulted in a pk and another goal for Germany. Alas. But the whole experience was amazing. We took the metro to the game and it was packed (quite literally) with fans going to the game, chanting on and off the whole ride. We push through one gate after another to get out of the subway and into the stadium area. Wait in line to pick up tickets and then run to the other side of the stadium for our seats. Got in just in time for the National Anthems—everyone booed and whistled during the German one and sang along during the Turkish one.
The stadium shook with noise. The whole game there was chanting, clapping, yelling. We booed every time Germany had the ball. I got popcorn (prepackaged, but still, popcorn at a football match!). I mean, sure with the thousands of people all taking the same subway line home it took about an hour and a half to get back, but still, absolutely and totally worth—I have never been in a crowd with so much energy (until the last 15 minutes or so) and excitement [I should qualify this with the fact that I have been to only one UT game and no NFL games, so I’m probably not the best judge on comparative sports fanaticism]. I had such a great time.
Ok—this is verging on too long, so I will cut myself off here. Soon to come is an entertaining story about customs in Turkey and my friend’s ridiculous adventures at a Turkish hospital. Also to come…I’m going to Italy next week!!! Wed- Sunday, I will be in Rome attending a Roman Memory conference and hanging with my great buddy Doug! I cannot wait. So until next time, keep rockin’, come visit, send me things, think of me when you listen to Journey or eat bacon, and all that other stuff…
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