Tuesday we had another walk in the historical part of Istanbul. This time we started at the Ramazan Efendi Mosque in the center of the Kocamustafapaşa area, in Fatih. The Ramazan Efendi Mosque is attached to the complex which was used to be a Derwish Lodge. You can find several tombes with important derwishes buried there.
Another Dewish shrine and pilgrimage site is the Kocamustafapaşa Mosque. Important leaders of the Hyacinth Derwish order are buried on this complex. It is a very interesting place to go to, relax and drink some tea. You can experience how people use these shrines to ask for blessings or pray as a part of their daily life. However you would never see people pray the same way as they would do in mosques because it’s forbidden to do so. The Mosque on the complex used to be a Byzantine church. Not only the exterior shows typical features of a church, also in the interior you still can clearly see that it used to be a church. For example if you pay attention to the decoration you would find that there are still some crucifixes visible although they tried their best to take most of them out. And of course the interior architecture is focused on the north-south line with the choir as the most important part. In the mosque as it is now, there is of course a focus on the east-west line with its major focus to the east on the mihrab wall; the direction of Mecca.
Walking further to the direction of the Sea of Marmara we reached a very nice area with lots of restaurants, the famous Develi restaurant is also located there. It’s said the best kebab in town in served in the Develi restaurant. Not just the restaurants are worth to pay a visit to this area, also the small streets in the residential part are very nice to see. Here’s a photo impression:
How to get there: from Taksim you can take a dolmus to Kocamustafapaşa, but we decided to take the tramvay leaving from Kabataş to Fındıkzade. Once you leave Fındıkzade take the big street called Kızılelma Cad. on your left. Than take the Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa Cad. to the right where it is very close to the Vidin Cad. It took us about 15 min. to walk from Fındıkzade to the mosque.
woensdag 31 maart 2010
maandag 29 maart 2010
Walk in the historical part of Istanbul
The BA's students and our teacher from Leiden University came to Istanbul for a week to explore the city and learn from our experiences for their coming exchange year. From Monday till Friday we will make a tour somewhere in Istanbul. Since everybody should be able to find the touristic highlights such as the Aya Sofia and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, our teacher decided to take us to unknown places where there are a lot of historical sites and interesting neighborhoods.
Today we started in the Şehzade mosque which is across the Istanbul Municipality in Fatih. The Şehzade cami is built by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan and has some interesting facts. It was Sultan Suleyman who ordered this mosque to be built for his son Prince Mehmet. Prince Mehmet was the Sultan's favorite son and not only he built him a mosque he also made sure that someone else made the hajj in his place. Not just because was it a dangerous travel that prevented Prince Mehmet to make the hajj himself, but also he was lame and therefore he was simply not able to. This shows that the Sultan did everything in his power to make sure his son would be able to go to heaven.
From the Şehzade Cami we walked around the neighborhood to look at some very old mosques and churches that were changed into mosques over time. It is an interesting neighborhood because it used to be a place where Muslim Ottoman elite would settle and which used to be very prosperous. Unfortunately there are not so many traces left of this prosperity because Muslims would make their homes from wood and almost all of them are destroyed, burned or in ruins. However there can still be seen a couple of very old mosques which were built almost right after the conquest of Constantinople. The scattered street pattern is also very typical for this neighborhood. And of course a trip to this part of Istanbul is not complete without a visit to the oldest and most famous Boza shop which still produces traditional Boza. Boza is a kind of drink which you also can eat with a spoon. It was used to be food/drink for the poor people because it’s quite heavy on the stomach. It has a kind of sour and tingling taste to it because of the yeast. Well…just try it for yourself, it’s hard to explain.
The wooden houses I mentioned which are hard to find can still be seen in the neighborhood which is called Hacıkadın. Between the total ruins of gecekondu type houses you see beautiful old wooden houses. Most of them are in horrific state but the gentrification process has also started here, so in some parts these wooden houses are renovated and brought back to their former glory mostly by artists and architects who can appreciate the historical value. Perhaps in 10 years from now this neighborhood will look just like Cihangir.
We ended our trip on the not so popular part of the Bazar, near the Egyptian Spice Bazar, where they mostly sell tools, water taps, axes and those sort of things. Mainly a men domain I would say. I know my dad would go totally crazy there... Hidden between all those shops is the beautifully decorated Grand Vizir Mosque with it’s famous Iznik tiles, the Rüstem Paşa Cami. Here are some pictures of the trip.
How to get there: You can take the bus from Taksim, but we decided to take the tramvay from Kabataş to avoid the morning rush hour. Take the tramvay all the way to Aksaray. Than walk upwards along the big street called Atatürk Blv. When you almost reach the top of the hill cross the street (safe option: use the stairs which lead you under the road to the other side). You will find the complex on your right across the Istanbul Municipality building.
Today we started in the Şehzade mosque which is across the Istanbul Municipality in Fatih. The Şehzade cami is built by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan and has some interesting facts. It was Sultan Suleyman who ordered this mosque to be built for his son Prince Mehmet. Prince Mehmet was the Sultan's favorite son and not only he built him a mosque he also made sure that someone else made the hajj in his place. Not just because was it a dangerous travel that prevented Prince Mehmet to make the hajj himself, but also he was lame and therefore he was simply not able to. This shows that the Sultan did everything in his power to make sure his son would be able to go to heaven.
From the Şehzade Cami we walked around the neighborhood to look at some very old mosques and churches that were changed into mosques over time. It is an interesting neighborhood because it used to be a place where Muslim Ottoman elite would settle and which used to be very prosperous. Unfortunately there are not so many traces left of this prosperity because Muslims would make their homes from wood and almost all of them are destroyed, burned or in ruins. However there can still be seen a couple of very old mosques which were built almost right after the conquest of Constantinople. The scattered street pattern is also very typical for this neighborhood. And of course a trip to this part of Istanbul is not complete without a visit to the oldest and most famous Boza shop which still produces traditional Boza. Boza is a kind of drink which you also can eat with a spoon. It was used to be food/drink for the poor people because it’s quite heavy on the stomach. It has a kind of sour and tingling taste to it because of the yeast. Well…just try it for yourself, it’s hard to explain.
The wooden houses I mentioned which are hard to find can still be seen in the neighborhood which is called Hacıkadın. Between the total ruins of gecekondu type houses you see beautiful old wooden houses. Most of them are in horrific state but the gentrification process has also started here, so in some parts these wooden houses are renovated and brought back to their former glory mostly by artists and architects who can appreciate the historical value. Perhaps in 10 years from now this neighborhood will look just like Cihangir.
We ended our trip on the not so popular part of the Bazar, near the Egyptian Spice Bazar, where they mostly sell tools, water taps, axes and those sort of things. Mainly a men domain I would say. I know my dad would go totally crazy there... Hidden between all those shops is the beautifully decorated Grand Vizir Mosque with it’s famous Iznik tiles, the Rüstem Paşa Cami. Here are some pictures of the trip.
How to get there: You can take the bus from Taksim, but we decided to take the tramvay from Kabataş to avoid the morning rush hour. Take the tramvay all the way to Aksaray. Than walk upwards along the big street called Atatürk Blv. When you almost reach the top of the hill cross the street (safe option: use the stairs which lead you under the road to the other side). You will find the complex on your right across the Istanbul Municipality building.
maandag 22 maart 2010
zaterdag 20 maart 2010
Hilton vs Ritz-Carlton
Finally the sun is shining! Everything looks so different…and with that I mean so much better. Still it’s a bit chilly but Esther and I have found a good place to stay out of the wind and enjoy the sun. Because Esther is doing her research about the Istanbul Hilton Hotel in the 1950s, it was about time she actually went to see it for herself. I joined her for this little trip. We were surprised how easy it was to enter the hotel and pretend we were actual guests of the hotel. It looked so nice and luxurious, probably a wonderful hotel to stay when you’re visiting Istanbul. We walked around in the hotel where Esther took all the pictures she needed to take. We also walked the gardens where there was a big tennis court, squash hall, running track, fitness school and……..a huge outdoor swimming pool. Of course we were almost alone there, just one other crazy man. The sun beds looked so inviting so we thought why not enjoy them. We already felt like major intruders anyway. So I think we laid there for almost an hour…enjoying the sun, the quietness and the beautiful garden. Eventually we left and took a final look at the beautiful view on the Bosphorus. Talking about everything we saw, we also came across the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It looked so ugly from outside and it ruined the view from the Hilton a bit. But than we had a wonderful idea…why not also check the Ritz-Carlton from the inside?! After lunch we walked to the Ritz-Carlton and I must say…it was even more luxurious than the Hilton Hotel. The door was opened for us by this perfect looking door keeper (like the one that you see in the movies). And inside there were these big chandeliers, beautiful furniture and even an old wooden gate/door. Because I’ve read somewhere that the Ritz-Carlton has a very good spa we actually had something to ‘do’ there. So I asked if we could maybe see a brochure about their spa offers and we were directed to the basement of the hotel. We’d better ask it at the office of the spa. As we walked down the stairs our noses will filled with the most delicious aroma therapy oils and everything looked just perfect! We were given a brochure and they offered us tea. Excuse me, Herbal Tea! The best one I’ve been offered so far! And it was served with dried fruits. Of course we felt like we totally didn’t belong there, but we thought let’s play the game and see about the things they offer. The prices were exactly what we expected…a massage for one hour was around 200 TL. Perhaps it isn’t even that high…but with our limited Erasmus scholarship budget it doesn’t work so well. Anyway we drank our tea and asked some information about the massages, they offered us a good discount and would send some extra information by mail. It was such a funny experience!
Hilton
Ritz-Carlton
Hilton
Ritz-Carlton
vrijdag 12 maart 2010
Dishwasher Fun
I’m so lucky we even have a dishwasher at the apartment. However you mustn’t forget to buy the special soap for it. We ran out and my flat mate thought it would also work out with just a bit of normal liquid detergent. Well this was the result! I strongly recommend don’t try this at home…
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)
