I'm going to start with Istanbul, despite it being more or less a footnote on this trip. My time in Istanbul was one of decompressing, unwinding, processing, assimilating. I was there as a relaxed, sight-seeing tourist - a stark contrast to my reasons for visiting southern Turkey and the work I did down there. It is a bit of an irony, the most important part of my trip produced the least photography, and the least important part produced the most. So most of the imagery I have to share comes from the portion of the trip that is least important to me for sharing. But I knew that going in, my purpose as a photographer wasn't to photograph in Reyhanlı, it was to do other much more important work than to make my own images. But I will get to those few images I made eventually because there is still much more I care to say about that time. Instead, I'll start with Istanbul. I have much to say about that city too... and it is easier to talk about and explain.
And there is still much to say about Istanbul. It is an incredible city. I went in with certain expectations, some of them were met, some exceeded, others surprised me. For example, I knew I wanted to see Hagia Sophia and the Basilica Cistern. Those were probably the two top items on my list. Also on that list, but a bit lower were the two major mosques: Süleymaniye (Süleyman the Magnificent's) and Sultan Ahmad (Blue) Mosque. The surprise was that as impressive as Hagia Sophia was and as cool as the Basilica Cistern was, neither moved me anywhere close to the same amount as these two mosques, particularly the Süleymaniye Mosque. I am not a religious person, spiritual yes, religious not so much. But that certainly doesn't mean one isn't moved by such places. In fact, I think it is even more impressive when you are so moved.
The Süleymaniye Mosque dominates the Istanbul skyline. It is one of those sights you can see from most anywhere in the city (as opposed to Hagia Sophia which modestly sheltered from view from a lot of angles). The mosque is perched atop the third of Istanbul's seven hills, goodness how you are reminded of that fact over and over again walking the streets. The mosque is an impressive enough structure from the outside... and it really is quite impressive. I loitered in the courtyard for a while taking it all in. It was surprisingly uncrowded, unlike the Blue Mosque which sits across from Hagia Sophia. The view from the back courtyard, the view from the front courtyard, the rising, stacked domes, the cemetery out back with the mausoleum for Emperor Süleyman and his wife; they all combine to create a sense of place that stills you. And that is before you even enter the mosque. The Süleymaniye Mosque is an active place of worship, which meant that despite the day's heat I had worn pants to cover my knees knowing where I would be visiting. It also means you remove your shoes before entering and carry them with you. I arrived shortly before the noon prayer so had a while to sit under the domes of the mosque and just be enveloped by the feeling of the place. It was pretty incredible. And when we were finally ushered out so the prayer could commence I was able to listen to it while wandering amongst centuries-old tombstones behind the mosque. It was an experience I won't soon forget. Tomorrow we'll go into the Sultan Ahmad Mosque and I will show you how incredible the interiors of these magnificent buildings are. Til then, I have a video up on Facebook of the exterior of this mosque filmed during the noon prayer if you want to look and listen.
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203198561118612
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The ceiling of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. The interior of the mosques really stop you. They are immense on the inside, almost a Doctor Who-type effect. The Byzantine method of building domes upon domes was nearly perfected by the time this mosque was built and worked to create an immense inner space, unlike a cathedral which tends to be relatively narrow. I found myself sitting there on the carpet not only looking up, but looking around as well because the design of the mosque encouraged such behavior. But mostly I sat there and stared up, because how do you not become mesmerized and lost in a ceiling such as this?
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Istanbul - formerly known as Byzantium, or Nova Roma, or Constantinople. It was quite a city. I spent four days here on the tail end of my trip to southern Turkey. There is a certain poetic sense of completion to my having visited this city. Several, several years ago my first trip to Europe was to Rome. I was fresh out of school, with my degree in history (specifically the antiquities) so for me Rome was like putting a kid in a candy store. Now all these years later I had the opportunity to see Istanbul, which in its day was the counterpart to Rome, the capital of the other half of its empire, until the fall of Rome and the ascendancy of Constantinople that is.
I love cities. If you follow me with any regularity you probably know this already. And Istanbul is a gem of a city. It is big and loud and dirty and noisy... like many major cities are. But it is also unbelievably rich in history (it was founded around 660BC), and because of its geography it is an incredible mixing pot of people and cultures. The city literally straddles the divide between Europe and Asia, and seeing as how that divide is the Straits of Bosphorous and how important a shipping lane that is, well so many different people move through the walls of this city. It was one of the few cities I have been in where the line between local and tourist was not clearly distinguishable, at least not to me.
Oh, and the architecture. Amazing. Istanbul boasts so much to see that four days kept me moving and left me with very tired feet and several rolls of exposed film (I think I averaged about four a day through the Hasselblad). The mosques are the highlights. Istanbul has the Süleymaniye Mosque (Süleyman the Magnificent) and the Sultan Ahmad Mosque (Blue Mosque) as the headliners, not to mention the Hagia Sophia (say it like Aya Sofya) and Topkapı Palace. But these are just four jewels in a city studded with gems. There are dozens of mosques throughout Istanbul that are impressive on their own, such as the New Mosque seen in the background here. You could get lost within the stonework of this place.
Actually getting lost is a given. I got lost everyday. All you had to do was step out the door and make two turns and you would be lost. I am used to European cities with their organically laid out streets, but this took it to another level altogether. Plus Istanbul adds height to the existing curves and narrow streets and blind alleys. You are constantly going up or down in this city, and because of this it makes spotting landmarks at a distance difficult, if not impossible. So you get lost. All the time, constantly. But it is a wonderful city to get lost in as almost every side street has some neat little store, or workshop or cafe tucked down it. But take my advice, if you do find some gem of a shop, visit it right then and there, don't wait. I cannot count how many cool little stores I came across and thought to myself, "I'll come back to this tomorrow", only to never be able to find it again. For all I know, the streets shuffle around every night so that each morning Istanbul's alleys have a new layout.
The food was amazing. Turkish food really is a treat. I am not quite sure how to describe it. Lots of meat (good luck vegetarians) and lots of spices, but the food isn't spicy... it's flavorful. And so many choices too. Every corner has a little cafe or restaurant or street vendor selling everything from simit (like a Turkish bagel) to döner kebab (we call them gyros) or even kokoreç (stuffed lamb or goat instestine). I could go on and on, but I think you get the basic idea.
In fact I could easily carry on even further about Istanbul, but I think this is enough for one morning. I'll save further little stories for future posts.
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Selfies at Süleymaniye Mosque.
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A ferry sitting in the waters of the Golden Horn, the Turkish flag flying from its stern, the Galata Bridge and the Galata Tower visible in the background. Histories and legends have been written about this country, this city, even this very spot and there are few things that better represent the city of Istanbul than what is seen here.
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