tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9243342940563470072024-03-05T09:01:20.557-08:00To the CityShane & Julia in IstanbulShane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-18164771982331052862011-01-18T01:43:00.000-08:002011-01-18T02:10:11.182-08:00Koran Exhibit<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We find ourselves continually returning to the small gallery inside the entrance of the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum to see the gorgeous special exhibit of the Koran. Our numerous visits are prompted, in part, by the free admission and the proximity to the Blue Mosque, a favorite destination amongst our visitors. This intimate exhibition has been extended from its original closing date of December 1st, and we have been repeatedly delighted to find it still open, allowing us a closer look at these beautiful works of art.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Stepping out of the crowds in Sultanahmet, we enter the dark gallery where instrumental music sets the tone of hushed solemnity. The illuminated Korans glitter like jewelry in spotlighted glass cases. The exhibition is in honor of the 1400th</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> anniversary of the revelation of the Koran, and it includes pages from some of the earliest known copies. Many of the books are quite large and the selection comes from all over the world. We are particularly taken with one from Northern Africa that uses turquoise and orange adornments throughout the text. Most of the books are written on parchment, several on antelope hide. The material itself is seductively beautiful. The translucent pages of a favorite example show the ghostly calligraphy from the opposite side behind the bold, dark ink strokes of the open page. </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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One of the oldest examples </td></tr>
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A favorite of ours from Northern Africa </td></tr>
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Detail of the above </td></tr>
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The shadow of text from the opposite side of the page makes this example a real favorite of ours.<br />
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From India<br />
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The edge design makes decorative use of the original ruler marks. </td></tr>
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</span></div>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-22056598304691771442011-01-17T01:08:00.000-08:002011-01-17T01:08:00.686-08:00Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The collections of the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum occupy the top floor of a U-shaped palace, the former residence of Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasa. Walking from the Blue Mosque across</span> the Hippodrome, we entered the museum and climbed the wide stone staircases. The long hallway at the top has numerous small rooms along its length, full of glass-cased objects. There are some beautiful pieces here, and some historically important objects, but, to our eyes, the stars of this museum are at the end of this hall: the large palace carpets and glittering illuminated books. These treasures are displayed in the high-ceilinged, pallicial South wing. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">We were expecting to be interested in these carpets, but our reaction was more of awe than curiousity. The longer we looked, the more we were drawn in. One carpet, depicting a garden, uses the strangest visual language, one that seems related to minaturist paintings. All the trees and plants are flattened down so that the viewer sees both the birds eye view of the symmetrical garden plan, and the individual foliage from the ground perspective. We originally assumed that the straight sections dividing the garden were footpaths, but, on a later visit, a student pointed out that these were waterways with fish in them. The carpet looks so symmetrical, but there are little individual animals and details scattered all through the pattern. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">The sense of movement within patterns that, at first glance, look symmetrical, is mesmerizing. It is repetition, but not machine repetition. More like a continuous knitting together of the whole, with subtle shifts of form and color. The scale of these pieces is fantastic. Even though they weren't meant to be seen on the wall, we love encountering them in this way, being overwhelmed and enveloped in color and pattern.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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A Qiblanuma: an astronomical instrument that helps find the direction of the Ka'ba' in Mecca. </td></tr>
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We often see this type of tile in mosques. It depicts the Ka'ba', the cube-shaped black building, the holiest site in Islam.<br />
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With it's missing boarder, this off-balance grand carpet is one of our favorites. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "Garden Carpet" </td></tr>
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Detail of the Garden Carpet with a smashed down tree and fish. </td></tr>
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Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts students looking at illuminated Korans.<br />
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Illuminated Koran<br />
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-91726007663046874852011-01-08T00:13:00.000-08:002011-01-08T00:30:57.918-08:00Greek Patriarchate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">At the bottom of the hill where we live, a most important site resides quietly behind an unadorned stone wall: the Greek Patriarchate, the Vatican of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Patriarch himself resides and presides here, not exactly the ultimate leader like the Roman Catholic Pope, but “the first among equals.”</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It is impossible to write about the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul without the feeling of a long-standing siege creeping into the description. Our neighborhood, Fener, used to be almost entirely Greek. Today the Greek population is nearly non-existent. The reasons for this are Middle-East-complicated. There have been official population exchanges between Greece and Turkey, as well as governmental policies aimed at driving the population out. Talk about Greek and Turkish relations to anyone of Greek descent and it isn’t long before six hundred plus years are being recounted. The bad feelings run deep, and the whole of the history seems incredibly complex and politically spun on both sides. In the midst of the land that witnessed all this conflict, the Patriarchate still calmly resides in this city, as has been the tradition since Istanbul was Constantinople. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Two days ago, we went to the Patriarchate for an Epiphany service with our friends Kate and George, and their daughter Ella. They are visiting us this week from Philadelphia. George was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church, and it was really special to go to the service together and see the Patriarchate through his eyes. While the Patriarchate is a major pilgrimage site for Greek tourists, there are long stretches of time each day when it is empty of people. The building itself isn’t considered terribly architecturally or visually important. However, the first time we stepped inside we felt awash in the warm sensation of the familiar. While we are here to study Islamic art and architecture, the pull of our own upbringing in Christianity is undeniable. Even though our backgrounds are far removed from Greek Orthodox traditions, there is a visual kinship that we understand without having to think about it. How strange, in an Orthodox church unlike any church either of us had ever seen in our youths, and on another continent altogether, that the continuity of visual imagery alone could produce this sensation of home. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Patriarchate was very crowded for Epiphany, with masses of people spilling out into the street that leads from the walled complex across a park and down to the edge of the Halic. The smell of incense and beeswax enveloped us as we followed the circulating crowds into the golden light of the sanctuary. The crowds shuffled in loops up and down the side aisles, stopping to touch icons housed in lip-printed glass cases. Two groups of cantors volleyed the song of the service back and forth, the clear winners being the group of black-curled younger men with strong, deep voices that drowned out a huddled group of older clerics. The Patriarch himself was often out of view, behind the archway in the golden screen at the front of the church. He emerged for brief moments, like Punxsutawney Phil, producing a hail of flash bulbs. We got a much better view of the man called the Green Patriarch (for his focus on the environment) when he passed just beside us in the procession to the Golden Horn. We never understood all the details of the tradition that came next: a crucifix was thrown from a boat into the icy water and a dozen men dove to retrieve it. They emerged pink and happy to an adoring crowd, the cross-bearing winner encircled by tv cameras.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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The Patriarch distributing communion<br />
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In the courtyard outside the church </td></tr>
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From the balcony<br />
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Detail of hand painted interior<br />
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At the Halic with the divers</td></tr>
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Making sure there are no international incidents<br />
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The outside of the Patriarchate on a normal day<br />
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</span></div>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-46965696861567309972011-01-06T05:43:00.000-08:002011-01-06T05:43:57.254-08:00Spice Bazaar<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Egyptian Bazaar, or Spice Bazaar, is one of the oldest markets in the city. Located next to the New Mosque, it is at a major crossroads in Istanbul. Here the Bosphorus meets the Golden Horn, the Galata Bridge connects the two sides of the European part of the city, and numerous ferry terminals provide the connection between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. Nearly impossible to transverse on a Saturday, the Spice Bazaar is truly a spectacle. But it is not a mere tourist trap. It still has a corner on the spice trade here, as well as other necessities that bring out the natives: cheese, pickled vegetables, nuts, tea and coffee. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Built in the 1600s from the same stone used to erect the New Mosque, the L-shaped Spice Bazaar is the covered center of a huge mercantile area that spreads through the winding streets that lead to it. Some of our favorite places are along the outside edges of the Bazaar. We bought a gigantic and fabulous pair of scissors from an all-scissor shop near one of the Bazaar entrances. We come here to buy our Turkish coffee from the most famous vendor in the city, Mehmet Efendi. The coffee is so freshly roasted and ground that it is still warm through the paper sack. To get it, we wait in the ridiculously long line, watching the caffeine-infused workers pack the stuff at a jittery speed, only to find ourselves at the front in no time at all, without even having had time to get our money in hand and ready for the cashiers. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Crossing the flow of foot traffic from the coffee vendor into the arched side entrance of the Bazaar, just a few dozen feet away, can take a full fifteen minutes on a really busy day. Inside, vendors volley pick-up lines in English, vying for attention. The mounds of jewel-colored spices are beautifully stacked. Display is of the first importance in Istanbul. There are also vendors of Turkish delight eager to pop a piece of the stuff into your gaping, awe-struck mouth. These same vendors are selling “Turkish Viagra,” an all-natural concoction that varies from vendor to vendor, but is basically a ball of nuts and dried fruit to big to swallow. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The bazaar used to be just spices and edibles, but now textiles and tourist souvenirs have made inroads, and there are some lovely linens and carpets. The L-Shaped Bazaar building and the side of the New Mosque create an outdoor courtyard where the pet and plant market reside, as well as many tea and lunch tables set up under the trees. Sometimes we stop for some overpriced apple tea, an ubiquitous product sold in the Bazaar, made by infusing dried apple bits in hot water. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Once, we climbed the narrow blue-tiled staircase to take our tea in Pandelli, the historic restaurant above the main entrance to the Bazaar. Sitting aloof from the noise of the masses, with views of the Galata Bridge, it is worth coming here just to see the gorgeous tiled rooms of the restaurant. Encircling the room is a row of signed black and white celebrity photos. We were delighted to realize that we were sitting beneath Audrey Hepburn, who had been photographed seated at our very table. </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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Entrance to the covered Spice Bazaar<br />
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The hanging items are dried eggplant shells, dried red peppers, and (on the right) dried gut of some kind. All are for reconstituting and stuffing.<br />
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Cheese vendors around the outside walls<br />
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One of the many charming vendors.<br />
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Side streets around the Bazaar<br />
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Tea in Pandelli<br />
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-67659690068922492602011-01-05T06:32:00.000-08:002011-01-06T03:52:38.778-08:00New Mosque<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In a city that had its first settlement in the Neolithic period, a mosque dating from the 1600s <i>is</i> considered rather "new." Situated at the end of the Galata Bridge, next to the Spice Market, and in the middle of a main transportation hub, we are constantly passing the Mosque of the Valide Sultan, or the New Mosque. For various political reasons that caused major delays, the Mosque took over sixty years to complete. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px;">The Spice Bazaar was built along with the Mosque, using its left-over construction materials. Tariffs from sales at the Bazaar were used to maintain the Mosque. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">Many large mosques are in the heart of mercantile areas. While the Spice Bazaar was built to serve the New Mosque, it is often the other way around, with a mosque being built to serve the people who work and shop in the bazaars. Considering believers need to stop to pray five times a day, it does make sense that places of worship would be close to the most active areas of the city.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">Even when very grand, there is a feeling here that mosques are part of everyday life. Certainly the short, frequent visits from the faithful throughout the day account for this, but another reason seems to be in the nature of the domed-architecture itself. Cascading from the large central dome at the peak, the smaller domes multiply and diminish until they finally reach the outer walls. While this architectural form was certainly borrowed from Byzantine architecture, it seems to be exaggerated and refined with later mosques that followed the Byzantine pattern. The result is a lower-at-the-edges design that is more welcoming-looking than the austere Byzantine basilicas on which they are based. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">More approachable than most Christian cathedrals, large mosques tend to spill out into the community, with multiple entrances and stone staircases that spread out at the ground plane, rooting the building. The entrances to large-scale mosques are in stages, with stairs from the street leading to large, open courtyards. These usually house an ablution fountain for the ritual washing done before entering a mosque. Again, this architectural pattern adds an earthy, human quality to the main entrance. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">The ablution fountains are usually only for show, with the real washing happening at taps on the sidewalls of mosques. At the New Mosque, however, we often see followers washing their hands and feet at the beautiful central fountain. The courtyard itself is grand, surrounded by an arcade and smaller domes, but it feels like a city square, more a meeting place than a sacred space. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">The interior of the New Mosque is quieter than most of the historic mosques in the heart of the touristed Sultanahmet district. It isn’t high on the list of guidebook recommendations for Istanbul, mostly because the competition is so stiff. All the better. It is a welcome relief to step out of one of the busiest areas in the whole city and find a little peace under the soaring dome of the New Mosque.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
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The courtyard and the ablution fountain at the entrance of the New Mosque.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">At the bottom of the central stairs, are half a dozen red booths sell plates of birdseed. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
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Looking across the water and the Galata Bridge to the New Mosque<br />
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</span></div>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-78259568510612023332011-01-03T00:55:00.000-08:002011-01-03T00:55:43.535-08:00SoundscapeA short soundscape compilation from our recent trip to see classical sites: bells on one of the wrestling camels of Selcuk, Aegean coast waves near the Temple of Didyma, and the healing waters of Bergama's Asclepion.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/O66DGO3ed-E?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-68535078230914798112011-01-01T00:15:00.000-08:002011-01-01T00:15:19.911-08:00Happy New Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-80090235562910876392010-12-31T01:34:00.000-08:002010-12-31T01:34:11.561-08:00Friends<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Today we are posting photos of all the sweet folks that have visited us in Istanbul so far, along with some of the new friends we have made here. Looking forward to many more visitors in 2011!</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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Colleen on the peak of Buyukada, Princes' Islands </td></tr>
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Mark and Bruno in Topkapi Palace<br />
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Julia's brother Paul on a carriage ride in Princes' Islands <br />
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Paul on the ferry<br />
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Bob and Dick on Istiklal Caddesi. Bob is our friend from Philly, and Dick is living here for the year.<br />
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Ulku (left) and her sister Arzu in Ortakoy, a beautiful neighborhood on the Bosphorus. We met Ulku through the Istanbul Fulbright Office.<br />
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Fellow Fulbrighters Aimee and Jordan.<br />
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Kris and Sarah on Princes' Island<br />
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Students from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at Rustem Pasa Mosque:<br />
Courtney, Kara, Ewa, Julia, Connie, Gibbs, Sinead, Lucia, Morgan, Galen and Shane<br />
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Dale at the Blue Mosque<br />
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Shane, Sarah and Dale in Taxsim Square<br />
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-81267295447575982202010-12-22T20:01:00.000-08:002010-12-22T20:01:12.790-08:00Christmas Decorations in Istanbul<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We had been looking forward to a year away from the holiday music, shopping, decorations and expectations that usually mark our Decembers as Americans. While we are missing our families and friends even more this week than ever, we didn't at all miss the eight weeks of merchandizing that normally lead up to December 25th</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">. Perhaps we will feel a twinge of regret as the year closes without carols and eggnog. </span>But Istanbul, it turns out, is not totally devoid of holiday spirit. It is just done on a smaller scale and for a much shorter duration. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">In the past week, Santas, reindeers and Christmas trees have appeared. Some leave us nostalgic, and others make us laugh. But as we continued to point out decorations to each other, we realized that we weren’t such scrooges-at-heart after all.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our Christmas will be spent visiting the classical sites of Ephesus and Pergamon, on Turkey’s Agean coast. </span>We will be taking a break from the blog until we return to Istanbul next week. Until then, our warmest wishes for a very Merry Christmas.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
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Near the Egyptian Market </td></tr>
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Christmas Blend at the Starbucks<br />
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Santa selling lottery tickets on Istiklal Caddesi<br />
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This fiberglass bear, now even weirder in his Kris Kringle attire, is a permanent fixture over the entrance of an expensive hotel here.</td></tr>
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Billboards over Taxsim Square </td></tr>
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Simit vendor in Taxsim Square. The extremely popular simit is kind of like a sesame bagel. </td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-20554748724567184242010-12-22T02:52:00.000-08:002010-12-22T02:52:24.507-08:00Children's Art Biennial<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Yesterday we taught an hour-and-a-half workshop at the Children’s Art Biennial, a volunteer opportunity that came through the American Consulate. This is the first year of this impressive, well-run event. Hundreds of kids from all over the city were bused to a large exhibition building in the same complex as the Istanbul Modern Art Museum. An extensive, professionally presented exhibition of children’s art filled the galleries, and students participated in hands on workshops. While we were there, we saw a traditional paper marbling class, and a drawing inspired by music workshop. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our workshop was structured around Iznik tiles. The students saw images of Shane’s sculpture and the Islamic arabesque that inspired it. The presentation included images of the natural landscape around Iznik, and lots of images of the natural forms used in tile motifs: flowers, plants, birds, water and fruits. The students then made paper tiles that they composed into a large assemblage at the end of the class.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We began the class with fifteen students, but more students keep wandering in and joining the project, until the group had nearly doubled. These students were all around eleven years old, and extremely well behaved. They were an enthusiastic group and we had a great time with them.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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Prepping for the lecture<br />
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The arabesque in Turkish ornament<br />
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Demonstrating the tecnique<br />
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Composing the field of tiles<br />
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-46966480072741037872010-12-21T00:04:00.000-08:002010-12-21T00:04:26.734-08:00Istiklal Caddesi: Istanbul's Famous Pedestrian Thoroughfare<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">Istiklal Caddesi (ist-tick-clowl ja-des-ee) is a wide pedestrian shopping street stretching for about a mile and a half through the heart of Istanbul’s most European neighborhood, Beyolou. A top site of the city, it is always crowded with shoppers, diners, protestors and those just looking for a stroll away from the all-present automobile traffic of Istanbul. If you want to pay near-Western prices for clothes and shoes, this is the place to come. Electronics are one of the few items in Turkey that are more expensive here than at home, and Istiklal has lots to offer. There are many stores with familiar names, including an upcoming Virgin Megastore. Missing American coffee? There are several Starbucks and Gloria Jeans here.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But to judge Istikal by the number of Western shops lining the thoroughfare would be to miss the genuine personality of this historic avenue. While we are not huge shoppers, we often we find ourselves walking along its length, peering down all the little side streets that branch off of this main artery. One narrow, slopping lane has the best cup of Turkish coffee we have ever tasted. A decorative iron arch naming Balik Pazari marks the street where we eat midya dolma, the cinnamon-spiced-rice-stuffed mussels that we love. Wander past the midya dolma restaurants just a little further and come to the un-touristed and fabulous Cumhurriyet, the meyhane where we celebrated Shane’s fortieth birthday. Take another turn and come to our favorite dessert spot, where we are already old friends with the owner. Istiklal is home to the chocolate fountain, another sweet treat favorite, the strange “wet burger” (we have yet to try,) and many red pushcarts roasting chestnuts. Our favorite food guide, Istanbul Eats, concentrates a lot on the neighborhoods around Istiklal, and reading the mouth-watering descriptions in its pages has prompted several trips to the area. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Istiklal is more than food and fashion, though. It is lined with consulates, schools and galleries. The best bookstores in the city are here. We saw the Harry Potter movie in a strange little screening room off of Istiklal, and got haircuts in one of the many salons. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Over the weekend, we were delighted to see all the holiday lights of Istiklal. Christmas is (sort of) celebrated here after all. The idea that holiday decorations and carols can make an appearance for a mere week is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">fantastic</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> - all the magic without becoming tiresome. Happy holidays from Istiklal Caddesi.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A normal day on Istiklal Caddesi. Flags in the middle of the crowd mark a group of protestors.<br />
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Taxsim Square, the upper end of Istiklal Caddesi<br />
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"Happy New Year" decorations over the street, and a garlanded trolley embedded in the mass of humanity.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The historic red trolley is (almost) the only vehicular traffic on Istiklal. <br />
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The little antennaed Turkcell guys that usually light the street have company this week.<br />
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Christmas arrived this week on Istiklal Caddesi<br />
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Here is something you wouldn't see in the Grand Bazaar: posted prices. (Pashminas they have.)<br />
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One of the chestnut roasting push-carts to be found all over the city, especially along Istiklal.<br />
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Lovely display of roasted chestnuts, ready to be weighed and sold in little paper bags. </td></tr>
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<!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-38718334054391368202010-12-20T04:04:00.000-08:002010-12-20T04:04:23.833-08:00Shane's 40th Birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpom-XXodV_FkozVzVjJuLn5pulnnmc8r0peCY_W56Uuc4ixPKBgFFI3cQIybG9iKh5wdQpWXIdQRBHBtuiMiJuLN7_VIFan4-uRtMnCpilWu31bc3FlSO52M77wmPtZkhGApIp9fTLfs/s1600/a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpom-XXodV_FkozVzVjJuLn5pulnnmc8r0peCY_W56Uuc4ixPKBgFFI3cQIybG9iKh5wdQpWXIdQRBHBtuiMiJuLN7_VIFan4-uRtMnCpilWu31bc3FlSO52M77wmPtZkhGApIp9fTLfs/s320/a.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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Making birthday calls to the USA <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We met friends for dinner at Cumhuriyet, our favorite meyhane. A meyhane is a restaurant that serves meze (appetizers) with raki, an anise-flavored liquor that turns milky white when mixed half and half with water.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAjvlRwIK4twuM9oKHsBz4se1uD8Pa1CorgC0S_S0DZ_fWAzQRT9VnsRO8EXXOaqlheVQNxevSapP7lr5r0BUQED-4ui8oFfwaBaxrTMD2SvyIRc7i8H5RIi5Z0swxYxy-20H6aVUkx4/s1600/IMG_8507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAjvlRwIK4twuM9oKHsBz4se1uD8Pa1CorgC0S_S0DZ_fWAzQRT9VnsRO8EXXOaqlheVQNxevSapP7lr5r0BUQED-4ui8oFfwaBaxrTMD2SvyIRc7i8H5RIi5Z0swxYxy-20H6aVUkx4/s320/IMG_8507.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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The meze arrive. We ordered broad beans, purslane in yogurt, beet salad, fish preserved in oil, white cheese, some type of pepper paste salad that was delicious, and a double order of lamb's liver. </td></tr>
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We were sitting inside on the second floor, and still we had a little beggar-cat outside the window.<br />
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Shane opened the window to give him a prized piece of liver and got a scratch in the excitement. We poured raki over his finger to doctor the scratch. Kitty didn't get any more treats, but he did stay as our fifth guest, out on the ledge, through dinner.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZhT2ejUqg4C0FdAozZS36Ylfye3ico3jBv3mCrjKXrlJKFdrawWs2Np_uZ5fL77hcRNYg3yyWxyRiAReyPk8-LRkQee9BMvoFmqMVjQG6eG-PPJH9cUD0fF3gYrUxirKpaAaUZbGI4E/s1600/h.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZhT2ejUqg4C0FdAozZS36Ylfye3ico3jBv3mCrjKXrlJKFdrawWs2Np_uZ5fL77hcRNYg3yyWxyRiAReyPk8-LRkQee9BMvoFmqMVjQG6eG-PPJH9cUD0fF3gYrUxirKpaAaUZbGI4E/s320/h.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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Liver and onions, a favorite of the guest of honor.<br />
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Friends Aimee and Sarah </td></tr>
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Celebrating 40<br />
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Late night cake and singing at a fancy dessert place around the corner.</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-788299316274193142010-12-19T05:52:00.000-08:002010-12-19T05:52:54.039-08:00Shane's Studio<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>A posting by Julia in honor of Shane’s fortieth birthday today.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We talked about what Shane would most like to do on this momentous occasion. A cruise to the Black Sea? A night in near-by Bursa at a mineral hot springs hotel? A day revisiting all his favorite Istanbul sites, like the Hagia Sophia, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, and Rustem Pasa Mosque? But an ordinary day, working in his studio in the Balat neighborhood, trounced all other plans. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We will go out tonight to our favorite mehane/meze restaurant with friends. But today, at long last, we are posting some pictures of his studio. He has been working on a large-scale sculpture in plaster over steel since we got here. He plans to cut the finished work up and ship it home to cast in bronze. Here are photos of the work-in-progress. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When we were sorting through these photos, we could hear seagulls outside our windows. Shane told me that the gulls that ride the air currents up and down our hill are an influence for this piece, as are the arabesque motifs in the tiles of the Rustem Pasa Mosque. More on Shane’s favorite mosque, Rustem Pasa, in a future post.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Happy Birthday, Shane.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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This is how the studio looked when Shane moved in<br />
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Shane and our friend Sarah in the cleaned-up studio. He painted, got the missing windows replaced, scrubbed the stone floor, installed a wood stove for heat, put up halogen lights, and gathered tools and materials before he began sculpting. The rolling platform in the middle of the room is the base for the sculpture below. <br />
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An early photo of the sculpture. He drilled holes in the platform and inserted metal rods to create the armature for the piece.<br />
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Looking in from the street. Many of our neighbors spent a lot of time doing just that for the first couple weeks. After watching him fix up the space, it probably seemed mysterious that this American, who had real construction skills, was now engaged in such a crazy-looking activity. We know very little Turkish, but Shane answered puzzled inquires with "Sonra - in<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ş</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">allah - g</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ü</span></span></span>zel" which means "Later - hopefully (Allah willing) - beautiful"<br />
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A studio visit from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts students.<br />
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Wood stove and tool area in the back </td></tr>
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Shane set up a plank so he could get a higher view<br />
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View from the plank<br />
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Building up the form. He uses burlap, plaster, wire fencing, steel rods and aluminum wire.<br />
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Shane got himself some coveralls from the fishermen's supply area.<br />
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Translating the Islamic arabesque into three-dimensions </td></tr>
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Applying more plaster-soaked burlap. </td></tr>
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Latest photo of the work-in-progress.</td></tr>
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-83797919978874743922010-12-18T00:47:00.000-08:002010-12-18T00:47:59.615-08:00Residency Permits<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #a6a6a6; font-family: tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #a6a6a6; font-family: tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Now that it has been a few weeks, we can laugh about this. Because we are staying in Istanbul for nine months, and because the primary reason we are here is research, we needed to get a longer term visa and an ikamet, or residency permit. We have met people here trying to go through this process on their own, which, in hindsight, seems a most daunting task. Lucky for us, we had the Fulbright office holding our hands, literally, and speaking on our behalf. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">First, we needed to make the application at the large, central police station.</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our friend, Ulku, who works at the Istanbul Fulbright office, made an appointment for us. The soonest appointment was more than a month away, well past the date by which we were required to have our permit. Which means, no leaving the country in the interim without big fines and problems. But, we were assured, because it was the government's fault for having such a backlog, it would not be a problem for us. As long as everything went well at the appointment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ulku met us outside of the imposing Fatih police station on the morning of our appointments. We went through security, registration, across an empty concrete courtyard and up several flights of stairs. We were clutching precious documents: appointment slips with our numbers. We each needed to go separately, we each needed Ulku to do the talking, and our numbers were very close together.</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Which meant that she spoke quickly with the first one, listening for the next number, than literally ran to the second window to do the talking there. By chance, the two windows we happened to get were at opposite ends of the building, so Ulku ran back and forth between us until all was settled. One interesting thing about signing official documents in Turkey is that you are always required to provide your parents first names, which we suppose is the ubiquitous “secret question” for identity, but we felt strangely displaced and uneasy the first time we were asked. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After we had stood smiling and nodding in our dress clothes, and Ulku had settled everything, we had to go downstairs to pay, a total well over a thousand liras for the both of us. We went back to our windows with the receipts, signed forms, and several passport-sized headshots. We were given appointments for the end of the week to pick up our residency permits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The first appointment was over and successful. Other Fulbrighters we know weren’t so lucky, needing to go back multiple times, sometimes waiting many hours for a chance to make their case. Our second round of appointments turned out to be much more trying. We went on our own this time on a Friday afternoon to the side waiting room Ulku had pointed out to us. It was packed with people from all over the world, all crowding toward a little open doorway. There was no discernable line. Again we held appointment slips, but this time there were no numbers. Figuring this mass of people was forming some sort of queue, we stood at the back of it and began trying to shuffle forward with everyone else. You can imagine that this practice quickly makes for an extremely compact group of humans. A policewoman pushed her way into the middle and began handing </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">back</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> appointment slips to people who needed to come back another day. Their ikamets weren’t ready yet. But at least now we had a clue: we needed to hand our appointment slips in. We pushed our way to the little door at the end of the room and were fortunate to hand in our slips to the right person, which is not always the case. Observation over the course of the day never unlocked the secret to when appointment slips could be received. Sometimes people in our mass would all start to hand their slips forward to the person closest to the door, only to have the whole pile be rejected back out into our room. Redistributing the slips without a common language was a nightmare, and the slips are precious, the only link to the ikamet. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We did eventually understand the system though, such as it was. Through the little door sat one police officer with a pile of ikamets clipped to paperwork and appointment slips. When appointment slips were handed in, another police officer would go to the archives and try to find the matching ikamet. If the search was successful, the ikamet was clipped to the slip. If not, the slip went into the pile of disappointed hopes. The officer-behind-the-doorway would call out his best guess at each name. The Turkish pronunciation of all these foreign names was often a great source of confusion. There is no loud speaker, so that is why everyone is so tightly packed toward the doorway: they are trying to hear what they think might be their name. It is actually hard to keep your balance in the crush, and it goes on for </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">hours.</span></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">One of us was called after a mere hour-and-a-half (it felt as if it </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">had </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">to have been longer,) almost crying tears of joy when the officer relinquished the newly minted ikamet. The other waited over three-and-a-half hours, only receiving the ikamet when going through the doorway to check if that last strange sounding name may have been correct, and seeing the photo on the paperwork sticking out in the middle of the tall pile. “Lutfen?” (Please?) and a little helpless pointing resulted in success at last, just before the office was closed for the day. We emerged into the evening exhausted. It had been a real cultural experience, one that is probably similar for many people living and working in any foreign country.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our friend and fellow Fulbrighter, Aimee Genell, had it much worse than us. She needed two initial appointments. Then, over the course of several weeks, she stood in that crazy, packed-out room for hours before being repeatedly sent away without a permit. We think she may have gone four times before she was successful. We decided to throw her an ikamet party. We went to the Wednesday Market to supply the feast, and built a tower of food to our ikamets - Aimee’s on top, with our friend Jordan’s and our own at the base. We cooked a big feast together and then, as often happens with this crowd, we found ourselves doing hours of karaoke off of youtube. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We weren’t permitted to bring cameras into the police station, so the few pictures below are from the ikamet celebration, and of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">precious documents themselves.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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Aimee receiving her ikamet from heaven<br />
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The the guest of honor with the tower of food and ikamets.<br />
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The dinner featured many pickled vegetable appetizers, Sarah's famous spinach risotto, our spicy pan-fried chicken thighs, and the best solution to bad Turkish wine: sangria. </td></tr>
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Our Residency Permits </td></tr>
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</span></div></span></span>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-32028482103626152942010-12-17T02:40:00.000-08:002010-12-18T00:49:08.669-08:00The Alexander Sarcophogus<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Alexander Sarcophagus is the star of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Situated in a pool of light in a hushed room, this early Hellenistic artifact is absolutely remarkable in its preservation, which includes remnants of the original paint colors that covered the entire sarcophagus. It was carved in the early 300s BC from Pentelic marble (the same stone used in the Athenian Parthanon,) a very pure, warm-toned marble. Osman Hamdi Bey, an Ottoman artist, excavated the sarcophagus in Sidon, Lebanon and brought it to Istanbul in 1887. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The relief sculpture on one side depicts Alexander the Great fighting the Persians in the battle of Issus. It is a truly beautiful frieze, complex in design, gorgeously rendered and poignant. The other long side of the sarcophagus depicts Alexander and the King of Sidon in hunting scenes. Originally thought to have been made for Alexander the Great, it is now believed that the sarcophagus was created for the king of Sidon, Abdalonymus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We love this piece, and have spent several hours with it already. Touring Istanbul with friends and family will repeatedly bring us to the Istanbul Archeological Museum, and we plan to spend much of our time there studying the marvel that is the Alexander Sarcophagus.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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Looking at the Alexander Sarcophagus with PAFA student Lucia Thome<br />
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PAFA students Morgan and Galen studying the Sarcophagus</td></tr>
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Details, here and below, of the battle frieze.<br />
This detail includes a depiction of Alexander the Great on the left.</td></tr>
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The hunting frieze<br />
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Details, here and below, of the hunting frieze.</td></tr>
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Looking at the Sarcophagus with students from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts<br />
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</span></div>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-35590541988628443682010-12-16T01:41:00.000-08:002010-12-16T01:41:54.299-08:00Istanbul Archeological Museum<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Most of the great sculptural treasures of classical art that were found in Anatolia have left the region. Present day Turkey was the site of the Pergamon Alter (now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin,) the Ephesus site sculptures (now in the Ephesus Museum in Vienna,) the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world </span>(artifacts now in the British Museum in London, ) and the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (now in the British Museum.) Of course, all of the pieces from these sites were created when the land was part of ancient Greece. The land changed hands several times, becoming part of the Roman Empire, then the Ottoman Empire, and now the Republic of Turkey. Regardless of the nations that have come and gone, it is still rather disappointing to see, in a land that was home to so many significant pieces of classical sculpture, that the current day archeological museum collections in Turkey’s biggest cities, Ankara and Istanbul, are largely empty of great works. But, there are still a few notable exceptions, some beautiful smaller scale pieces and fragments, and a huge and fascinating number of b-sides that would normally occupy the vaults of other archeological museums.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We walked through a courtyard that contains many large sculptural and architectural stone fragments. The museum café is fitted into this landscape of rejected objects. Entering the museum, we lingered over the first few rooms, containing a lovely collection of smaller classical sculpture, friezes and fragments. We were particularly taken with a high-relief fragment that escaped the Berlin collection of the Pergamon Alter. After the first two rooms, though, the collection took a turn, and we found ourselves in a sea of awkward oddities. We have never seen so many strange sculptures together, and that fact in itself was really visually interesting. There is a great line of weird portraits, and a room full of ill-proportioned draped figures.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The other wing of the building contains a substantial collection of Sarcophagi, and the museum’s real gem, a piece certainly worth a trip: the Alexander Sarcophagus. We will leave that beautiful piece for our next posting.</span><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment--> </span><br />
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PAFA students outside of the Archeological Museum<br />
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One of our favorites - a fragment from the Pergamon Alter relief sculptures.<br />
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Looking through the first few rooms </td></tr>
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Lovely and strange relief fragment </td></tr>
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Roman portrait busts<br />
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Taking studio reference photos of drapery<br />
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Our friend Dale imitating her favorite heroic size head<br />
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One of the many mosaic fragments<br />
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In the halls of sarcophagi </td></tr>
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A section of a sarcophagus relief<br />
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A crazily designed, huge sarcophagus<br />
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The museum cafe<br />
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This monumental head in the courtyard looks very like the Medusa heads in the Basilica Cistern<br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-21793066785154941062010-12-15T02:17:00.000-08:002010-12-15T02:17:47.622-08:00Wednesday Market<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We live between two really great farmers’ markets. The one on Wednesdays, the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ç</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">arşamba Pazar (Wednesday Bazaar,) we call the Fatih (fa –tee) market, because it is next to the Fatih Mosque. We climb up to the top of our hill, passing many laden-down market shoppers, and come into the heart of Fatih, the district in which we live, and the most conservative area of Istanbul. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Istanbul natives repeatedly tell us that this wave of conservativism is new; that this huge community of black-cloaked woman and bearded men are a surprise to them; that this population is not native to Istanbul. After reading so much about the secular nature of Turkey, we were a little surprised ourselves to see such a large number of completely veiled women. There are so many styles of headscarves and dress for religious women in this city, and we haven’t the first clue as to what each style represents. But it is hard to misunderstand the nature of the head to toe black cloak that often covers everything except the wearer’s eyes and nose: <i>separation</i>. Even still, we rarely encounter any real hostility, and we don’t usually feel uncomfortable walking up our hill into the sea of black dresses. Especially with an enticement like the Fatih market.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Part farmers' market, part sidewalk sale, the pazar completely fills the wide street running up to the Fatih mosque, spilling over into the little side streets and the many permanent shops around the mosque walls. All manners of seasonal produce abound. Last week the market was dominated by huge wedges of pumpkin, piles of chestnuts and root vegetables, including fist-sized radishes. The displays are beautiful: geometrically stacked spinach, a four-foot tower of lemons, samples of pomegranates cracked open to show off their glossy seeds, the longest and cleanest leeks we have ever seen. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, there are also cheese vendors with pickled herb-spiked cheeses, soft squeaky cheeses and really good string cheeses. Fish vendors carefully light their silvery offerings. Sacks full of rich colored spices and teas are arranged to compliment each other. Bins with numerous varieties of olives give off a briny smell.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">One of our favorite market discoveries is the pickle vendor. Pickled everything is a serious business here, and we love the mixed pickled veggies with cabbage, carrots, cucumbers and hot peppers we find in various forms at most markets. Pickled beets are fresh and succulent here, without any cloying sugar sauce. On our most recent visit to the Fatih market, we tried some beautiful pickled baby eggplants stuffed with shredded cabbage, carrots and herbs. But our hands down favorite are the crunchy, addictive pickled green plums. These little snacks have the ability to make you lose your train of thought in a daydream about them. It’s morning here, and just writing this makes us want to go to the refrigerator and see if there are any left.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Aside from all the edibles, there is a big selection of new clothing and household goods for sale at the market. There is a scarf stall, and a raincoat stall. Long, form-fitting raincoats are the dress of choice for some Muslim women. All types of glassware and cooking ware are available. Recently, our friend Jordan bought an extraordinary set of leopard print pots and pans.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As the evening falls, earlier and earlier these days, the strings of electric bulbs lighting the colorful wares illuminate the patchwork of canvas tarps and ropes tenting the market, making the whole street seem more like a festival than a weekly grocery run. Wandering along, we come right against the arched stone gateways of the mosque, its minarets already gold with lights for the night. It is an extremely visual place, and one we plan to visit with cameras and grocery lists in hand today and every Wednesday. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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The sign by the tower of lemons advertises a bag for one lira (70 cents.) </td></tr>
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Turkish Pumpkin<br />
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At the pickle vendor<br />
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Fatih Mosque in the background<br />
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Looking through the gates at the Fatih Mosque on market day<br />
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Jordan buying her leopard-print pots and pans set<br />
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Making friends with the pots and pans man<br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-59170480634311542912010-12-14T00:59:00.000-08:002010-12-14T00:59:25.546-08:00The Cats of Istanbul<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We have been joking about making a calendar with this title ever since we got here. Cats are the unofficial mascots of this city. They are </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">everywhere. </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We have never seen so many well cared for strays. People put out cat food all over the city. But more than that, it is the kindness that Istanbul residents bestow on the feline population that truly impresses us. Some cats probably have regular homes, but there must be many times more living on the streets in this fairly temperate city. People seem to adopt street cats near where they work, feeding them, playing with them, even brushing them. We once saw a security guard, in the midst of the busy square where he was stationed, retrieve a cat brush from his booth in order to brush a cat, who was obviously familiar with the practice. Doormen at hotels sneak to planters to pet their cat neighbors. There is a cat wandering the Hagia Sophia that visitors know by name. People are so consistently tender that the strays here are nearly all tame. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Islamic tradition holds cats in high esteem. Muhammad was a cat lover, and there are stories passed down about Muhammad and the regard he had for his cat, Muezza. Muhammad purportedly said that cats should be treated as members of the family, and mistreating a cat was punishable by torture in hell. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">One of the strangest things we have seen in Istanbul was the mass gathering of cats under a park gazebo. Someone had placed a large piece of carpet there, and a couple dozen cats were all napping together. We have also seen a heap of cats in the corner of the Fatih cemetery, an area with a large and well-loved population of felines. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It seems mysterious that the cats often look so clean, especially all the white-furred varieties. There is a special breed here called the Turkish Van cat that is mostly white and has a supposed love for water and swimming. We have seen some white cats for sale in cages in the pet market, and perhaps these are the special water-loving Vans. Even if they could swim the width of the Bosphorus, charging money for a cat in this city seems hilarious to us. Maybe it is the ultimate test of the Turkish salesman: if you can sell a cat in Istanbul, you can sell anything.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>(Special thanks for the photography contributions of Kris Pelletier, Dale Castelucci and Colleen O'Donnell)</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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In a linen shop at the Grand bazaar </td></tr>
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Colleen and friend in Suleymaniye Mosque Cemetery.</td></tr>
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Jordan and Aimee with the pride at the Fatih cemetery.</td></tr>
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On the shoreline of Prince's Island </td></tr>
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Our friend Dale with more than thirty cats vying for a spot on the carpet in this park gazebo. </td></tr>
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Pafa student Lucia with a kitty near Chora Church. </td></tr>
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Pafa student Galen outside of the Suleymaniye Mosque<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;">.</span></td></tr>
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Near our Balat studios. </td></tr>
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Heap of cats near the Fatih mosque on a cool Fall day. </td></tr>
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At the Fener bus stop </td></tr>
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-89566661568449991062010-12-13T01:00:00.000-08:002010-12-13T01:00:28.979-08:00Military Service Send-Off Party & Our Thanksgiving Potluck<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After a long break from writing, we are back with a new catalog of pictures and stories from our time here in Istanbul. We will start in again with a night from a few weeks ago when we threw a potluck Thanksgiving party in honor of the visiting Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts students. We had invited a really large group to our home in Fener, and we were a little worried what the neighbors may think of such a loud and boisterous gathering of Americans. After a day of touring the students around the area, seeing the Fethiye Museum, Chora Church, and the old city walls, we went home to prepare for the party. Our arrival coincided with a car full of young men pulling up at our neighbor’s house across the street. While we set up a banquet of food, they tented the street with plastic sheeting, set up speakers, hooked up a laptop, and the music began. In the happiest coincidence, our neighbors were hosting a huge street party to send-off two young relatives to boot camp.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Military service is obligatory for men twenty years of age and older in Turkey. It is a right of passage here for all men. Those without a four-year university degree are conscripted as privates for fifteen months of training. Those with university degrees enter either as reserve officers for twelve months, or go through the basic training for privates in a much-shortened six months. Send-off parties are common, and this party honored two young men leaving for training camp the very next day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Thirty-five people came to our party, a combination of PAFA students, other Istanbul Fulbrighters, and folks we have met since we arrived. Our spread of food was delicious. We made chicken, chestnut stuffing, eggplant casserole, a quince compote with Turkish white cheese, arugula and pomegranate salad, and a Georgian Salad composed of mandarin sections, lots of fresh dill, scallion, tomatoes, cucumbers and lemon vinaigrette. The students picked up desserts and breads from our local bakery. Our other guests brought some really wonderful food and drinks, including homemade borek (a savory pastry,) a thanksgiving phyllo pie with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce, a large yellow plate of deviled eggs and a casserole of macaroni and cheese that made us homesick, Turkish wine and the ubiquitous Efes beer. The neighbors throwing the military party gave one of our students plates of stuffed grape leaves and pastries for our party, and, with a Turkish friend helping us choose food that the neighbors might like best, we sent plates back in return. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The party in the street had lots of music, dancing and singing. For the first few hours, only the men danced, occasionally breaking to light fireworks or pass smoking flares, the smell reminding us of Fourth-of-July smoke bombs from our youths. The men also periodically broke into a clapping and chanting song culminating in the new conscripts being tossed into the air. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We leaned out of our living room windows, or went down in turns to sit on our steps and watch. Eventually, a few of the male students from our party were invited to dance, the neighborhood kids instructing them how to move. Then a few of the women from our party were invited to join in too. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It was certainly the best party we have ever thrown. When everyone had left, and we had cleaned up and went to bed, Shane dreamed that he looked out of our window and saw our neighbors building a large wooden ship in our street. After recently seeing a movie filmed on our street, having a bull butchered outside the kitchen windows, and dancing in the Military send-off party outside our front door, it does actually seem plausible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Included below are photos and a little movie of the neighbor’s celebration. The two men with red armbands are the honorees. </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-85785237844966181212010-12-13T00:53:00.000-08:002010-12-13T00:53:23.062-08:00Military Send-Off Party<iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TeGvMufcV_I?fs=1" frameborder="0"></iframe>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-81157199930007109952010-11-25T12:53:00.000-08:002010-11-25T12:53:02.766-08:00Happy Thanksgiving<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMJLPDua-6uYgkOWwQxhxRWkI2VO-TERXUmapauHUqqgVHWhj9QqrmtHq4zNDN_y5ulBvfCBQuvLFsLDlT160uWYX4wYSPYZs2IJjcHYi1qM05VcoaBBLnhSq1LQn4S-g1KTlB0LV6UI/s1600/IMG_6683_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMJLPDua-6uYgkOWwQxhxRWkI2VO-TERXUmapauHUqqgVHWhj9QqrmtHq4zNDN_y5ulBvfCBQuvLFsLDlT160uWYX4wYSPYZs2IJjcHYi1qM05VcoaBBLnhSq1LQn4S-g1KTlB0LV6UI/s320/IMG_6683_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Thanksgiving dinner for twelve in Istanbul. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-23599703191063699912010-11-23T22:39:00.000-08:002010-11-23T22:39:18.535-08:00Turkey for Thanksgiving<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Yesterday, ten folks arrived in Istanbul for "Turkey for Thanksgiving," the art and architecture tour we are leading for the next six days. After everyone was settled in, we took a ferry across the Bosphorus to </span><span style="color: #0f1515;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kadik</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">öy, a neighborhood on the Asian side, and had a great meal at </span><span style="color: #111111;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ç</span></span><span style="color: #0f1515;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">iya</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">. Today, the tour begins in earnest, with the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, and the Basilica Cistern.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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Tea on the ferry </td></tr>
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Crossing the Bosphorus </td></tr>
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Our favorite waiter at Ciya, Ali. He loves to cook, and explains all the strange and fabulous dishes on offer in wonderful detail. Last night we had a huge variety of dishes, among them: lamb with chestnuts & apricots, cabbage & chicken with little black seeds, rice stuffed lamb intestines, and chick peas & lamb in a yogurt sauce. A true cultural experience.</td></tr>
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Waiting for the tram to go back to the hostel. </td></tr>
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<!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-28127821223723472222010-11-22T21:33:00.000-08:002010-11-22T21:33:37.207-08:00Guest Post: Mannequins of Istanbul<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Today, ten students from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts are arriving in Istanbul for a weeklong course we’re leading about the art and architecture of the city. We will be posting photos from this tour throughout the week. Since we are going to be occupied this morning with their arrival, we thought that it would be a great day to share a collection of comic relief photos from our friend Sarah. She is fascinated and delighted by the weird mannequins of the city, and their attire. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
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One of the white and gold circumcision outfits worn here by young boys on that special day.<br />
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More circumcision outfits above and below.<br />
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In the Grand Bazaar.<br />
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-55114878824065809242010-11-22T00:25:00.000-08:002010-11-22T00:25:07.943-08:00Dessert!<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Originally we planned to cut “Bayram, the Movie” for today, but when we took another look, we decided it was just too much, and that we’d rather post about dessert.</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">To quote our friend Bruno, a Parisian native, “Turkish pastries are better than French.” We can think of no higher endorsement. The variety of sweet treats here is outrageous. Of course, there is Turkish delight, which we liked much more than we had expected, especially the rose variety and the almost truffle-like pistachio variety. Nuts figure heavily into many desserts, and bright green sprinklings of pistachios often decorate pastries. The cookies we bought for Bayram featured fillings, doughs and toppings of walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds, as well as pistachios. Cookies that look rather modest on the outside are often filled with moist and decadent nut pastes. There are seasonal delights, like the sticky-feeling ice cream from carts that were everywhere when we first arrived. The fall here brought out trays of red glistening candied quinces. We are also seeing wedges of candied pumpkin all over the city. This dessert is really fabulous. Our favorite restaurant, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ç</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">iya, sometimes tops chunks of their candied pumpkin with a drizzle of tahini. Yum. Our friend Aimee learned the trick of topping vanilla ice cream with tahini and crumbled brownies, which we highly recommend. Tahini also figures heavily into the halva here, a sesame-paste candy. Puddings of all varieties are widely available, especially individual rice puddings with broiled tops. And then there is kaymak, a real discovery for us. This clotted cream like deliciousness is, in its purest form, served as a breakfast dish with honey and white bread. But it is also used very liberally as a dessert topping, especially for the wedges of honey-soaked cake with which we have fallen in love. Like many of the shiny, wet looking dessert choices here, we had assumed it would be cloyingly sweet, but it very strangely is not so. Another of the marvelous mysteries of Istanbul. Certainly this city holds the strangest deserts we have ever tried. Kanafeh is made of vermicelli-like pasta soaked in honey syrup sandwiching cheese and served hot, kind of like a dessert lasagna. Istanbul is also famous for the very odd Tavuk göğsü, or sweet chicken pudding. We haven’t tried this. Yet. We have had several platefuls of dessert at </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ç</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">iya, where they offer candied green walnuts in their soft shells, candied green olives, candied baby eggplants stuffed with walnuts, and candied tomatoes, all surprising wonderful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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The many kinds of <i>locum, </i>or Turkish delight. </td></tr>
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Some Turkish delight flavored with rose water, our favorite.</td></tr>
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Bayram cookies. Our favorite was the little tart shell filled with chocolate ganache and topped with toffee. The plain-looking sugar cookie was filled with pistachio paste.</td></tr>
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A Bayram gift, homemade baklava from our neighbors. It was the best we have ever tasted.<br />
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Our friend Colleen with houses of halva. </td></tr>
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The chocolate fountain man on Istiklal Caddesi </td></tr>
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Our friend Sarah with her cup of melted chocolate and fresh fruit, topped with chopped nuts and coconut. </td></tr>
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Colleen and Shane with Istanbul's sticky-feeling ice cream. </td></tr>
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The red desserts are candied quinces, a seasonal favorite.</td></tr>
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Our friend Bruno with honey cake topped with kaymak.<br />
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Our friends Jordan and Aimee were very excited about their kanafeh, a cheese, noodle and honey dessert that is served hot. </td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The strange and wonderful candied desserts at </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ç</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">iya. From the left clockwise are: green walnuts, a semolina cookie, pumpkin, tomato, and, in the foreground, baby eggplant stuffed with walnuts. A dollup of kaymak sits in the bottom corner.</span></span></span></td></tr>
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-924334294056347007.post-10835950856330546962010-11-21T02:05:00.000-08:002010-11-21T02:05:29.906-08:00City Walls<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><!--StartFragment--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">When we first arrived in Istanbul, our drive from the airport took us along the old city walls. In that strange, post-flight, time-zone-less state, we stared vacantly out of the car window and watched miles of this massive, crumbling pink-stone wall slide past. The surrounds of most international airports usually provide a dismal first look at a city, and certainly Istanbul has its share of convention centers and urban sprawl. But our long look from the highway at these ancient city walls was very affecting. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">Built by Constantine, the original city walls completely encircled Constantinople, stretching in an arch from the Sea of Mamara to the Halic (Golden Horn,) and all along the coasts. Our house, in the Fener neighborhood, would have stood outside of this original boundry. By the 5th century, the city had expanded, and new walls were built further out. Emperor Theodosius II built them as a double line, the outer walls containing 185 towers and abutting a wide moat, the inner walls sectioning off more than fifty feet of no man’s land. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">The ruins left today are the outer walls and towers. An easy walk from Chora Church brought us up against them. Perilously narrow, long stone stairs lead up to the top of the ruins in many places along the walls. We ascended and got a view of the city on all sides, Istanbul proper having expanded again beyond the boundaries of the walls. Back on the ground, we walked along the walls toward the Halic. Far from being a guarded museum site, there are markets, parks and sport fields along them. Judging by the occasional graffiti, they also serve as a night time hang out. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">We came to the ruins of a Byzantine Palace that was built into the walls in the late thirteenth century. Supposedly undergoing a restoration, we wandered around the edges looking for a way in. Some teenagers lead us to a locked gate, produced a key, and we stepped inside the grassy interior. After the Ottoman conquest, the palace was reduced to a stable for the Sultan’s menagerie. It was later a brothel, then a pottery workshop, then a poorhouse. Only the barest bones of the architecture are left. We declined an offer from our over-eager guides to scramble up a plank spanning a deep gully for a loftier view, and were extorted a bit as we left. This area is extremely poor. As we walked through it, following a guide book tour to various things-that-used-to-be, we were a little surprised by just how poor. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">One interesting bit from the guidebook was that many of the houses near the old wall used stones from the now-nonexistent inner wall for their construction. Houses were often built right against the outer wall, saving time and materials, and, in the long run, helping to maintain and preserve the wall. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;">It was just a short walk downhill to reach Balat, the neighborhood adjacent to Fener, and home to our studios. It is hard to fathom, especially coming from a city (and a country) whose early history dates back only a few hundred years, that we had stood atop a piece of history dating back nearly sixteen-hundred years.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><br />
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On top of the old city walls.<br />
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Map depicting the location of the fifth-century walls. </td></tr>
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Byzantine palace ruin<br />
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Looking from the neighborhood to the ruins of the wall<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Shane and Julia Strattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11604062049468194378noreply@blogger.com0