Well kids. Now that finals are over I am back to writing blog entries and as you may have noticed, I am several entries behind. I wanted to write a general entry about the touring around Istanbul.
After the misery of my first reading quiz for POLS 309 (Contemporary Political Economy), in which I spent three days doing nothing but reading, I decided that continuous academic study should not be the only thing my abroad experience was about. Therefore, I decided that every weekend, I would do at least one new thing in Istanbul (armed with my guidebook thanks to Eric and Stanton) if I did not leave to travel somewhere else. This way, I could get a lot of sightseeing in Istanbul finished in a gradual fashion and not feel like going abroad was pointless.
Istanbul has a myriad of sights to see from mosques to city walls to old fortresses to many other major sites. The picture album on the left titled “Along the City Walls” is the first installment of such adventures. Sometimes I would just go by myself in order to wander and kind of do my own thing. In this album, I decided to explore the area around the city walls of Istanbul, which is a two page entry in my guidebook. I first took the subway to Merter, a subway stop in Istanbul that puts you right at the city walls. The walls themselves in this area extend from the Marmara Sea all the way to the Golden Horn, totaling about 2 miles in length. I had already seen a small section near the Golden Horn with Jess, so I decided it would be best to turn left towards the Marmara Sea. This way I could also see the Yediküle Fortress and Peges Zoodochus before they closed.
While walking along the city walls, it is really neat in my opinion to notice how Istanbul is a mixture of old and new. There are holes in the walls where cute one way roads are built. Also, in the area owned by the state, Turkish agriculturalists have used the land that was once the moat around the wall for a field to grow various crops. These crops are then sold along the very row of the wall which they are grown. I guess the old moat makes for good fertilizer.
After a small detour, which proved both my inability to read and my wonderful sense of direction in Istanbul, I finally reached the church. This church, in the style of an old Greek Orthodox, was especially interesting because it was built around a natural spring. What’s more, the spring had fish swimming inside it. My guidebook describes the legend that explains why there are fish there. It says that before Istanbul was invaded by the Turks, a monk remarked that Constantinople was as likely to be conquered as it was for the dead fish on his frying pan to jump up and swim in the spring alive. After he said it, that is precisely what happened. Not long after the incident, Constantinople was conquered by the Turks and the name was changed to Istanbul. I am not sure if it was true, but it was an interesting story and gave the place a certain meaning to me. The church itself was also magnificently decorated with all kinds of Christian paraphernalia (see pictures). The church itself was a bit off the beaten path and not one of the main Istanbul tourist attractions, but I was really glad I had the opportunity to see it.
Following my church excursion, I continued to walk along the city walls down the hill until they ended into the Yediküle fortress. For anyone who likes fortresses or pretty views, I highly recommend this place. All that is left of it is the walls, the remnants of a minaret inside, and the Theodosian Gate used by Theodosius himself to enter the city of Istanbul. Under Ottoman times, the fortress also kept prisoners. One of the sultans was actually hanged there! The real treat though is when you climb the walls. From all of the sides, you get a unique picture of the city and of the Sea of Marmara. It was absolutely beautiful! At the top of the fortress I also met a couple who had been living in Istanbul for 30 years and was still seeing different sites. They told me that after 30 years it was still impossible to see everything! After seeing the fortress, the walls, and the church, I was very tired and ended up returning home. I only spent a few hours sightseeing, but it really helped me see the value of getting more out of Istanbul than just the academic stuff from Boğaziçi University.
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