Ode to the Octopus

Today was our last day in Athens, and the street market and Plaka felt a little bit like a ghost town.  True, it was mid-morning on a Tuesday, but it just drove home that this is the off season.  Clearly, the numbers on the weekends are driven by domestic tourists on weekend trips and the locals who venture down to these bustling restaurants and markets.  

We walked all the way to the Archaeological Museum, about 45 minutes away, savoring the sunshine.  Josh was also looking for his next donut, as he was delighted to discover that they are sold on street corners here.  We had high hopes for the Archaeological Museum, which gets rave reviews, and it did not disappoint.  The first room was utterly magnificent and was worth the price of admission by itself.  Gorgeous gold leaf decorated statues as headdresses, hair, inlay on daggers, everything.  

A single one of the cases was noted to hold over 30 lbs of gold foil - and there were over a hundred cases in the room (though not all filled with gold).  The detail of these pieces was also incredible.

The rest of the museum was mostly filled with statues and pottery, some dating back to 7000 BC.  The oldest pieces include tiny, primitive sculptures of women with either stout or violin-shaped bodies.  The contrast between these early pieces and the later sculptures is striking.  Things have come a long way. My favorite statue was this one, a korai (female figure).  The drape of her chiton (tunic-like robe) is perfect, and I loved the detail on the robe (there are shapes etched in and painted, if you look closely), the belt, her necklace - everything.  She also retained some of the paint used to decorate the statue, which I hadn't seen before.

A few other notes on the museum:

(1) There were pictures of octopuses* everywhere, and I loved them all.

(2) The first traces of olive oil were found in a lamp on the Cycladic Islands and are over 3000 years old, and that lamp is in the museum.

(3) Large chunks of the museum were unfortunately roped off, which was unfortunate, and one of the large rooms was under renovation.  Still, there was plenty to appreciate, especially in combination with all the other sites and museums that we have seen.  The collections in Greece have complimented each other nicely, often referring to one another as displaying a particular piece.

(4) The museum has a beautiful courtyard downstairs.  Especially in the summer, I could imagine relaxing there for a few hours.

On the way to our afternoon museum plans, we crossed a few other foods off our Athens bucket list.  First, we stopped at a Caffe Vergnano to buy calzones, which were utterly delicious (try the veggie one!).  As soon as we had purchased these, we realized that one of the restaurants we had been eager to try, Falafellas, was just a few doors down.  So... we got lunch immediately after our calzone snack.  The line was quite long, but the wait was worth it.  

I got a pocket and Josh got the giant size, and we oohed and aahed over all the things that they stuffed into our meals.  The falafel not only included falafel balls and tahini, but lettuce, tomato, cubes of grilled eggplant, cucumber slices... it was glorious.  Every bite was incredible.  And cheap!  If they had one of these in Baltimore, I would probably eat there every day.

Our second museum of the day was the Acropolis Museum.  

This museum is only about a decade old, and a lot of the final touches were added around 2010.  The Museum isn't huge, but it does a good job of guiding you through the remaining statues and carvings from the Acropolis.  As mentioned in a previous post, those that remained intact were suffering mightily from the smog, so they have been moved into the museum and (in some cases) replaced with casts.  We saw a cool video on how they have restored a lot of these pieces using a specially-designed laser technique to zap soot without harming the marble.  Anyway, the museum starts with a ramp up to the first main floor.  Along the ramp on both sides are four rows of objects.  On the right side are pieces of pottery and small statues from the area.  Below your feet are glass panels showing the excavation site beneath; the museum sits atop the excavation of the town at the foot of the Acropolis.

The left side was where things got interesting, because it was material that we hadn't seen or heard before.  It discussed all the wedding rituals in ancient Athens.  Weddings were three-day affairs, including not only the day before the wedding but the day after.  The day before (proaulia), a sacrifice was made to the gods.  The bride also offered her childhood toys the Artemis as a sign of passage into adulthood as a married woman, which I thought was pretty interesting.  The next day - the day of the wedding - the ladies bedazzled the bridge.  The groom had a best man (I wonder if they laughed at childhood shenanigans during his speech?), and together with the groom's whole family they went to the house of the bride.  There was a huge feast and afterwards, the bride was unveiled.  This unveiling marked her passage into the custody of her husband, and at dusk she was led to the home of her groom.  They occasionally went by carriage (probably not dragging cans, but possibly bearing a "Just Married" sign?) and were surrounded by singing and dancing relatives.  When the bridge got to the groom's house, the groom's parens rained walnuts, figs, and coins down on the bridge, and they devoured their first sweets as man and wife (sort of like we eat cake?).  The next day (epaulia), the bridge received visitors in her new home, and everyone brougth a gift.  The same day, her dowry was given to the groom, often including money, furniture, clothing, precious objects, and slaves.  What was so striking to me about all of this was how little things have changed.  Sure, it would be really awkward if my dad showed up the day after my wedding and gave someone slaves (something I absolutely cannot imagine him doing), but the bedazzling, the feast, the unveiling, the carriage?  The order may have changed a little bit, but a lot of the elements are still there.

Anyway, back to the main point of the museum: the Acropolis.  At the end of the ramp is the first main floor, which houses sculptures from around the Acropolis.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures after this point, so I'll try to paint a picture.  The museum uses a very modern, open floor plan.  The walls are stark white or sheer plates of glass, letting in a lot of natural light and providing views of the Acropolis, theater of Dionysus, and surrounding city.  Statues are arranged around the floor, so you sort of squeeze your way between them as you explore the exhibit.  There are statues of young men (kouroi), Zeus, Hercules, and obviously a ton of Athena.  The descriptions of each peice are short, but the historical context provided at various points throughout the exhibit was invaluable.  Up two floors (the middle floor is a restaurant), the third floor is basically the Parthenon away from the Parthenon.  The entire floor is built to be a large rectangle the size and shape of the inner columns of the Parthenon, with a outer rectangle to represent the outermost columns.  Along these two rectangles are placed all of the carvings that would have sat atop the rows of columns.  Most of the metopes - rectangular slabs of marble depicting scenes of battle or other stories - have been preserved, and they were placed in order, showing that each side of the Parthenon had a different theme (i.e. the birth of Athena out of Zeus' head, or Greeks vs. Amazons - strangely the Amazons always seemed to be winning).  It was a really amazing way to experience the Parthenon.  We were slightly skeptical of some of their recreations, wondering how they could know so much about scenes that were defaced by the Christians, fragmented by the Venetians-attacking-Turks explosion, or which were simply missing.  It turns out that detailed drawings were made in 1674, just a few years before the Venetian Explosion Incident.  This and ancient texts describing the Pathenon have allowed them to piece things back together.

While all of this was impressive, I think that Josh's favorite part of the museum was what we stumbled upon on our way out:

Lego Acropolis!  It was made by a group in Australia, and it includes all of the different parts of the Acropolis, from the theaters to the Porch of the Caryatids.  It also melds ancient and modern characters, so you see Roman soldiers hanging out as well as Elton John performing in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.  I'll admit, it was a pretty amazing reconstruction.  As one little kid pointed out, though, they didn't include enough stray cats.

Spotted: Money scanners.  A lot of businesses - from the grocery store to Falafellas - scan every bill that they are given before accepting it.  Perhaps counterfeit money is a big problem?

Spotted #2: According to the Acropolis Museum, in Greek statues, blonde hair indicated a god or goddess, while white skin represented grace and purity.  I guess I would have been a graceful goddess!

*From the internet: There are three plural forms of octopus: octopuses [ˈɒktəpəsɪz], octopi [ˈɒktəpaɪ], and octopodes [ˌɒkˈtəʊpədiːz]. Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the UK as well as the US; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable.

Selfie in Delphi

Now, I have never really taken a selfie before, but I thought that it was appropriate:

Surprise!  We're in Delphi!

This quiet little hamlet is a three-hour drive from Athens, and while it boasts the same type of  impressive ancient architecture, it is a world away from the city.  It is high up in the mountains, quiet except for the birds, and perhaps four streets big.  Since we are here in the off-season, the town is operating at half-occupancy; most of the businesses and hotels are locked up.  To me, that's a pity since the weather today was perfect, but I'm always happy to avoid the crowds.  Why Delphi, you might ask?  Well, why not?  Delphi may seem off the beaten path, but it was actually a major destination several millenia ago.  The Oracle at Delphi was consulted by the heads of every major neighboring empire before major decisions were made, especially those concerning war.  For example, the Athenians credit the oracle with their eventual victory against the Persians.  The Oracle told them that Athens would be saved by "a wooden wall", which they interpreted as a naval fleet, and eventually that tactic helped them win.  Because of these regular consultations, many states had their own "treasuries" where all of their offerings to the Oracle were stored.  These often included very lavish gifts of precious metals and objects.  One nation offered a life-sized bull made of steel plates with gold adornment (now in the museum).  

It was also the site of the Pythian games, one of the four main sporting sites (another was the Olympic games; the Pythian was the second-largest after the Olympic games) that the games rotated through - hence why the Olympic games were only every 4 years.  The Pythian games actually started as a singing competition and only had sports added later.  After becoming a mostly-sporting event, the singing became an important part of the opening and closing of the games, which is how things stand today.  But back to our day in Delphi...

Around 10 am, we hopped off our bus, got our bearings, and walked down the street to the Delphi museum and archaeological site.  Since most groups go to the site and then the museum, we decided to see things in reverse.  The museum isn't large, but it is very well done.  Most of the significant carvings left at the site have been moved to the museum for safekeeping, and they lay them out logically and with great explanations.  These artifacts start with those from the 7th century BC and run through AD 52.  A few of our favorites:

The mother of these two twins, legend has it, had to get to the Heraean games, but the oxen to pull her cart were not yet back from the fields.  The twins, both of whom had won Olympic glory at past games, harnessed themselves to the cart and pulled their moter 5 kilometers.  At the end, the mother blessed them and prayed that they might get what a man desired most.  They fell into a deep sleep and never awoke.

This sphinx of Naxos was a gift from the people of Naxos.  It stood at the top of a giant column in front of the temple of the Oracle.  The Oracle was so pleased with the statue that the people of Naxos always got to cut the line when they came.

This is part of a much larger wall panel, but I like that it depicts such a realistic interaction (except for that head turn - ouch).  Here, Gods sit on either side of a battle scene, representing the sides that they took in the Trojan war.  The Gods sort of egg each other on and discuss the battle.  I think they look sort of like gossiping children at school.

After finishing up at the museum, we went to the archaeological site.  While I can't imagine hauling building material up here, it does boast incredible views.  And, to be fair, they did use a lot of locally quarried rock and then covered it with a marble dust paste.  

The Oracle's temple was quite large and must have been magnificent.  Very little remains standing, but just the stories paint a vivid picture.

Written recollections describe how those seeking advice would bathe in the Kastalia stream, sacrifice an offering, walk up the Sacred Way, wait their turn, provide another offering, and then be led back to see the Oracle.  Priests would present the question to the Oracle, who would foam at the mouth and mutter a response.  Priests translated this into a vague, short statement, which the person could then carry back to their land.  Given how much people went through to see the Oracle, I'm grateful that I get some sound motherly advice for free whenever I call home.

Further down the road from the main site are a few others: we stopped to see the stream where pilgrims bathed, the rubble that was once the gymnasium, and finally the ancient Temple of Athena.

As you can see, the ruins of several buildings sit on this site.  They represent multiple temples as well as treasuries holding offerings.  The building shown is the most complete, the most interesting, and least understood.  But isn't it beautiful?

Since we still had some time before our bus back, we wandered Delphi's small streets, appreciating the Greek small-town feel.  We had gotten a restaurant recommendation from a friend, so we stopped for an indulgent lunch at Vakchos Taverna, savoring moussaka, rabbit with onions, local olive oil, and fresh bread.  Oh, and I was certainly savoring the view.

Spotted: Close encounter with the feline kind.  It seems that stray cats are more common than we ever imagined.  A dozen or more swarmed the tables at the archaeological museum cafe.  When they realized that we were the only tourists with food, they attacked.  Josh had a cat claw-deep in his shirt until it lept onto the table and peered into our (recently emptied) lunch bag.

Spotted #2: Remember that serpent column from Istanbul?  Well, if you have a REALLY good memory, you'll remember that it was stolen from Delphi.  You can see it in the scale model that artists built of the temple, and there are small replicas in the town square.

It's almost impossible to see in this picture, but it's the vertical gray blur about 1.5 cm to the right of the main buliding in the photo on my screen.  As a reminder, it looked sort of like this:

 (but the heads and cauldron were lost).  We have come full circle!

Put on a Pedestal

At the end of the day, Josh and I sometimes reflect with wonder on everything we managed to see and learn in such a short period of time.  Today was definitely one of those days.  We started the day at the Acropolis, which is pretty much the one site that you absolutely must visit when you come to Athens.  We're actually staying very close to the Acropolis, so we wandered over in the morning, bought our tickets (which are actually good for almost all of the ancient sites), and immersed ourselves in several thousand years of history.  It has been the heart of Athens since about 7,000 BC, though it didn't always look like this.  The Acropolis as we think of it was built around 450 BC during the Golden Age of Athenian prosperity.  The Acropolis is, in a word, HUGE.  It's at the top of the hilll (a natural fortress) and was built with marble that they quarried and hauled from a different hill.  Apparently each of the capitols (those parts at the top of columns that get a bit wider and are sometimes highly decorated) are each several tons, so I can't even imagine the total weight of the marble they hauled.

As we walked up but before we reached the top, we first passed the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.  Herodes Atticus was an Athenian mover and shaker: he was a VERY wealthy landowner, famous orator, and friend of the Emperor Hadrian.  He built this odeon, a large amphitheater, in memory of his wife.  Since its reconstruction in the 1950s, it hosts performances once more.

Continuing up the hill, we next reached the Propylaea, the official entrance to the Acropolis.  Marble steps lead to a massive gate bordered by thick columns.  

To the left is the Monument of Agrippa, which the leaders of the day used to hoist their statues of choice (Olympic champions, Marc Antony and his girlfriend, themselves), while to the right is the little (11 feet tall, so everything is relative) Temple of Athena Nike.  Nike, it turns out, means victory (some great branding right there).

Once through the Propylaea, we finally saw the full Parthenon.  This giant temple, which stands on the highest point of th Acropolis, is largely in ruins but is still magnificent.  It served the cult of "Athena the Virgin" as well as serving as the Athenian treasury.  

The coolest part about the Parthenon, though, is the little optical illusions incorporated into its structure.  Apparently, though I personally have never noticed, buildings with a flat base seem to droop in the middle, so the architects here had the center of the long floor rise a few inches.  Columns were tilted inward, bulged at the middle, and were each carved to be a slightly different shape and size so that they would all appear the same.  Many of these changes, including the columns tilting inward, are thought to have helped the Parthenon remain standing through earthquakes over 2000 years.  In fact, it was not a natural disaster but a manmade one that finally toppled it.  After surviving its conversion into a church, then a mosque, then a palace, the Parthenon did not survive its conversion into a storage place for armaments.  When the Venetians attacked the city in 1687, they fired mortal shells at the Acropolis and managed to trigger the explosion of all that amunition.  The Parthanon lay toppled, and several pieces were carted away by soldiers as trophies.  In 1801, the British ambassador Lord Elgin got permission to take sculptures from the Parthenon, exporting whatever he saw fit (the Elgin marbles remain a major point of contention).  Despite all this, though, the Acropolis is still breathtaking.  Sure, the giant columns may feel serious and imposing, but its important to remember that all this creamy marble used to be painted with vibrant scenes, and the fields of rubble used to be filled with life.

The other main building of the Acropolis is the Erechtheion.  This temple is smaller and older than the Parthenon, and it was where the Panathenaic parade ended.  An olive tree marks the spot where, according to Greek lore, Athena first planted one.  In fact, olive trees are known as "Athena's gift to Athens".  And today they are EVERYWHERE.  Walking around the outside of this beautiful building, we admired the Porch of the Caryatids, a balcony where each column has been carved into the shape of a woman.  Interestingly, these columns had to be replaced not because of thousands of years of environmental wear and tear, but because of the relatively recent problem of pollution - in particular, of smog.  These beautiful statues were almost entirely intact until the 1950s.  Due to the rapidly accelerating degradation, though, they were removed for their protection and preservation and replaced with exact copies.

Last but not least, on our way out we admired the Aeropagus, or "Mars Hill".  Apparently, this is where St. Paul lectured when he brought Christianity to the country.  Now, it is filled with tourists admiring, photographing, and clambering over the uneven surface (this is mostly left to the youngsters).

Shockingly, that was merely our morning.  After a quick lunch, it was on to more history.  Next up was the Agora in its many manifestations.  The Ancient Agora was the center of city life, serving as a marketplace, theater, religious site, and athletic arena.  It was also the site of Athenian democratic proceedings.  Remember that Athens used a direct democracy, rather than a representative democracy, so every free male citizen had to vote on important issues.  The Panathenic Way, which led up to the Acropolis, went through the heart of the Agora.  This popular site was built up over time to fit the many needs of the Athenian people.  When the Romans arrived, they tried to shift these many activities to a new location, now known as the Roman Agora.  This was much smaller but, since the governing was done from Rome, served fewer functions.  The most interesting surviving building, the Tower of the Winds, is an octagonal building with carved reliefs personifying the main directions of the wind.  It was unfortunately covered in scaffolding for renovation, but this picture that I stole from the internet shows what it would look like:

Over time, as Athens declined in prominence and population, the Agoras fell into disuse and eventually disrepair.  Today, many of the Agora's functions have been scattered around the city; the Plaka is the marketplace, while the legislature sits over by Syntagma Square.  Luckily, the Agora Museum is a good way to peek back in history.  It has beautiful painted pottery, 

marble statues, and... this.

Apparently infant commodes were a thing back in ancient times.  Can we bring this back?

We ended our exploring with an Athens City Walk audioguide (thanks, Rick Steves!), which included many things we had discovered on our own or already explored, but also many new things.  One highlight was this Temple of Zeus (just beyond Hadrian's Gate), which was built by the Romans.  Since Romans make everything bigger, these columsn dwarf those of the Parthenon.  It was also interesting to see one toppled over, watching as the "column drum" separated into its individual rings.  The columns are almost like a kebab: cut to size and then held together by a metal rod running through the middle.

Our final adventure was not a touristy one, but one of good food and good company.  We met up with one of my mother's college friends, who has now been living in Greece for over 40 years.  While she now lives just outside Athens, she ventured into the city to meet up with us.  We ended up at Kavanitis Taverna, which is where she went on her first date with her Greek husband.  We ordered a bunch of food and shared everything, which allowed Josh and me to check quite a few foods off of our Greece bucketlist.  Saganaki: fried cheese with fresh lemon.  Greek salad: in Greece, there's no lettuce involved.  Tzatziki sauce: delicious.  We also feasted on spiced meatballs, fried zucchini (apparently a popular thing in Athens), and a delicious eggplant salad.  For dessert, we dug into halvah, a dessert made with semolina flour.  Bellies full, Josh and I practically rolled home.  But, this being Athens, we rolled past something historic: the original Olympic stadium!

Random tidbits about Greece:

(1) Apparently, the 9 stripes on the Greek flag are to represent the 9 syllables in the phrase "Freedom or Death" in Greek

(2) Josh on Greece: "I appreciate that they appreciated baths"

(3) One in three Greek residents live in Athens

Spotted: The Athens Happy Train.  This vehicular chimera takes you on a tour of major Greek sites, violating the no-cars rule (but hey, it's just a train on wheels!) of the pedestrian walkways and generally clogging up traffic wherever it goes.

Spotted #2: This is what protects democracy in Greece.

Spotted #3: Graffiti all over the city, covering almost every surface.  Content ranges from anarchy symbols to this (my favorite!):

Holding out for a Gyro

After five full days in Istanbul, we bid the city farewell.  It was strange; we had gotten so accustomed to our walks up to the main square, learning every possible route to maximize efficiency and minimize the shouts of eager restaurant and carpet shop employees.  Everything was just getting to be familiar.

We stopped at one last site, a modest stone that served a very important purpose in ancient times.  It was the part from which all distances were measured, helping travelers understand the incredible distances they must journey.  While we were disappointed that the United States didn't make the cut, I guess that was a little beyond the imaginings of the Romans.

At the airport, we were in for another surprise.  What had seemed so quiet on the Sunday afternoon we arrived was now its own bustling marketplace, with overflowing shops, a very active Duty Free section, and people lounging and sleeping on every horizonal surface.  As proof that I'm rubbing off on Josh, we arrived at the airport several hours before our flight and made it to our gate while they were still boarding the previous flight.  That said, people here cut it CLOSE.  We had people running to catch the previous flight up to 10 minutes before we were scheduled to board.  There were even a few people who missed that flight.  

Another interesting sighting was the "Please use masjid facilities for ablution" sign in the women's bathroom, written beneath a crossed-out picture of a foot.  I wonder how architects learn about all the different things that they need to add to buildings to accommodate different cultures.  There are so many things that I would never think of adding to add to a building simply because they are not necessary in my personal life.  I guess this is why architects and businessmen have so much trouble designing functional hospitals.

A few hours later, as we descended into Athens, I was surprised to see neatly squared-off plots of farm land so close to the airport.  I got to enjoy the scenic countryside yet again as we took the metro into the city.  Josh and I both found the ride incredibly beautiful and relaxing, although I was very glad that we got on at the first stop and had seats.

Oh, and the gyros here are mind-bogglingly good.  I'm not sure what they put in the sauce here, but I think I could eat it with a spoon.

Though, like our first evening in Istanbul, we had but a few hours to form a first impression of the city, here goes:

(1) People park everywhere and anywhere.  It is not uncommon to see cars parked both directions on both sides of the street, including tiny one-way streets, or cars forming their own parking median when the road is a bit wider.

(2) The Plaka, a square that is the modern-day equivalent of the old Agora marketplace, is an interesting mix of overwhelming tourism (including people handing out single flowers for sale or bracelets) and local commuter comforts (like a fresh fruit stand just outside the metro).  Several of the streets leading to the Plaka are (officially or unofficially) flea markets, and the entire walk there feels like wading through a hoarder's estate sale.  

(3) It is very difficult to exchange cash on a Saturday night in Athens, which was shocking because there were exchange shops every 20 feet on the main streets in Istanbul.

(4) In many ways, Athens is Itanbul's cousin; so much history, aggressive restaurant employees, stray dogs passed out everywhere, and a surprisingly new and useful metro system.

Spotted: Happy Pi Day!  Since it is 3/14/15, we took this picture as close to 9:26 as we possibly could.

Where No Tourist Has Gone Before

Today was a day that I made my mother proud and failed.  

Josh and I had an extra, free day in Istanbul and had planned to head out of the city to Rumeli Castle.  Rumeli Castle is a fortress on the European side of the Bosphorus.  It was built by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II between 1451 and 1452 just before he conquered Constantinople.  Along with the fortress just across the water on the Asian side, it allowed him to conquer Constantinople.  The fortification used to be called the "Straight Cutter" (in reference to the Bosphorus Strait, which was "cut off" to prevent reinforcements or supplies from aiding the city), but its name in Turkish can also mean the "Throat Cutter", a reference to the imminent pillaging of Constantinople.  How Sultan Mehmed II managed to build a giant fortification with obvious malicious intent without causing severe panic among and preemptive action by the Byzantines is beyond me.  But it provides beautiful ruins to explore.  Or it would if we could ever get there.

We had searched online for the best way to get there and found three possibilities: (1) hire a taxi, (2) take a tram and then a bus along the coast, or (3) take a ferry most of the way and then hope to catch it back at exactly the right moment.  We decided to take the tram and then bus, because they run quite often and we were less likely to get stranded.  Everything worked perfectly: we got off the tram and right onto the correct bus.  We chatted with our bus driver and he said he would show us when to get off.  Forty-five minutes into what should have been a 30-minute ride, we realized that our bus driver had either forgotten or had no idea which stop was correct.  We asked again and he said to get off at the next stop... but when we disembarked and started talking to locals, we realized that Rumeli Castle was certainly not within walking distances.  Though we eventually figured out how to get to the castle, we also realized that most of the day was already gone and we would rather just wander the city.  Plus, the bus ride out along the coastline had been so incredibly beautiful that it was worth all the trouble.  We passed that "Versailles of Turkey" again, as well as wonderful historical pictures displayed along gates, seafront parks, quiet harbors filled with boats, and promenades filled with hundreds of strolling school children on fieldtrips.  

Seeing another part of Istanbul (if this suburban, hour-outside-the-downtown part can be called Istanbul) was also a great experience.  The same sort of alleyway markets were everywhere, the doner pitas were even cheaper, and there was a steady hum of everyday life.  It was nice to see which parts of our Istanbul experience had been colored by tourism and which were somewhat authentic.  

We boarded our bus home, sitting by the window for the best views, and ended up chatting with an older American gentleman who, in his semi-retirement, is returning to his liberal arts roots and teaching a course comparing Turkish and American historical themes.  He thought we were local students because he couldn't believe any tourists would have made it that far out of the main city.  He had originally lived in Turkey to write his PhD dissertation, had wandered through Europe as an academic, had a life as a Wall Street businessman, returned to Turkey to start its first investment bank, lived in various countries raising children and helping manage businesses, and eventually returned to the US to live on a small farm in Charlottesville, VA.  What a life, right?  His children have definitely been influenced by their international upbringing, marrying expats from around the globe (and having Romanian dance troupes at their weddings).  Plus, he has a group of friends that is tight-knit despite being scattered far and wide, providing him homes-away-from-home wherever he goes.  In his long emails to his family, he calls himself the Bard of Byzantium, though I think Bard of the Bosphorus has a better ring.  Anyway, fascinating guy.  The bus ride flew by and we learned a lot about his experiences living abroad in various countries.  Perhaps my retirement will be that exciting?  I guess I better actually get a job first.

After we made our way back, we wandered the streets of the "new city" once more.  This time, given the 60-degree heat and sparkling sunlight, the city had come alive.  Istiklal Avenue was overflowing not only with tourists but from the strangest variety of street musicians I had ever seen in one place.  Clarinetists played just down the block from a man on bongo drums.  The two biggest draws were a group with dreadlocks (we think the dreadlocks were more of a hit than their music) and pairs of men dressed in stereotypical Native American dress.  

We have no idea if these men were actually Native Americans (seems unlikely), but there were an awful lot of them on the street. It was a great day just to walk around and see what caught our eye.

Reflections on the trip and questions for the universe:

(1) Why does the stack of meat at the doner stands always taper at the bottom?

(2) All cities should use scaffolding covers that show what the renovated building will look like.

(3) How does Istanbul have Popeyes delivery men and Baltimore does not?

(4) Definitely get an Istanbulkart (Istanbul Card).  You can share it among up to 5 people and it pays for itself within about 3 trips.  Plus, sometimes the token machines hate you and reject a random sampling of your coins the first 5 times, making you miss the tram.

Bye bye, Istanbul.  It's been real.

Spotted: These little minibuses fill the gaps in public transportation, taking passengers to a variety of destinations.  They actually predate public transportation and used to be one of the few options (besides taking your own car) if you wanted to get around.  After the government invested in public transportation infrastructure, they were pushed out of the cities, but they still seem to thrive on the outskirts of the city in the residential areas.

The Sinan Qua Non of Architecture

It seems a bit silly to come all the way to Istanbul and not see the most-visited site, so that's how we started our penultimate day in Istanbul.  We walked over to the Hagia Sofia just as it opened, to appreciate the building that we have admired so many times on our daily strolls.  

The outside of the building is an interesting mix of colors and construction materials, which was quickly explained as we started to read about its history.  This massive structure is actually the third building to sit on this site.  The original was built by Constatitius, but it kept getting burned down in riots.  It seems that the bigger the building, the bigger the riots that it attracted.  After two riots, they apparently learned their lesson and built it entirely out of stone.  About a thousand years later, when the Ottoman empire took over, the Hagia Sofia was converted to a mosque and some repairs were made by the one and only Sinan the architect (of Suleiman Mosque fame) that have enabled it to stand to this day.  The Hagia Sofia remained a mosque until the 1920s, when the one and only Ataturk declared it a museum. Given that there is a major mosque atop each of the seven hills in the city and many others nestled within the side streets, I think that the local residents had sufficient other options.

The Hagia is, like other mosques we visited, a beautiful open space with a giant dome in the middle surrounded by a series of smaller domes.  When the Ottomans seized the city, the Byzantine mosaics were covered over with paint to remove all the depictions of people, angels, and seraphim and enormous discs with Islamic verses were posted at the corners.  Since the Hagia Sofia was converted into a museum, though, quite a few of these mosaics have been uncovered.  They're beautiful, and often the design is similar to that which was painted over it (albeit without the human figures).  The mosaics also include possibly the best medieval depictions of Christian figures I have ever seen.  Take a look at Jesus.  He actually looks like a real, expressive human being.

One of the other parts of the Hagia Sofia that I appreciated was how many types of marble had been incorporated to create a beautiful pattern of colors and textures on the walls.

Marble was brought from hundreds of miles away, from all the surrounding kingdoms in the empire, to construct this enormous church.  They have records of where each color and pattern of marble originated, making this church a testament not only to 4th century architectural mastery but also the increasingly global world two millenia ago.

Other highlights included the omphalion where eastern Roman emperors were crowned, handmade sets of portable stairs that were used to reach the high spaces, the 56.6 m high and 32.6 m wide megadome, and this giant Hellenistic marble jar that was used to distribute sherbet on festival days.  I can totally get behind these quantities of sherbet.

As we walked to our next destination, we fended off eager salesmen of bosphorus cruises.  One of the funnier ones shouted, "It is very romantic!  Like the Titanic.... But without the sinking!"  The heckling definitely gets old, but at least they're funny about it.

Our next stop was the archaeology museum, which consists of three buildings on a single property.  Sadly, about half of the main building was closed for renovation, but we were still able to appreciate the dozens of sculptures arranged in their garden, the numerous sarcophagi (they apparently have an excellent collection), and the thousands of artifacts recovered from nearby archeological sites.  

While Josh and I have been very disappointed at the lack of information available on individual pieces at all of the museums (usually, just a name such as "clay bowl fragment" is offered), this museum did have a wonderful, concise history of the early epics, the depictions of the Trojan War, and how that information has been passed down written at the beginning of the first exhibit.  I was blown away by the influence of Homer.  His history of the Trojan War has been used as justification for the Crusades, a rationale for making Troy a tax-free province, an impetus for rulers to trace their lineage back to Trojan leadership... apparently when the Byzantines were casting about for a capital, they considered Troy before settling on what became Constantinople.  Pretty incredible.  The other striking thing about that exhibit, as we were wandering around looking at Paleolithic art, was how early on people tried to make things beautiful.  They were hunter-gatherers in a period of subsistance living, yet they painted beautiful designs on their pots and bowls.  I guess functionality fails to please without a little bit of beauty.

Our final stop for the day was the Blue Mosque.  We had heard from several friends that this mosque was "overrated" and "overdecorated", but we both loved it.  True, every inch of it is decorated with patterns, colors, and tiles, but it is gorgeous.  The blues are so calming and the interwoven colors and textures of the decorations are seamless.  And look at those windows.

And thus ended another great day.

Spotted #1: We had spotted quite a few dogs with tags in their ears and were curious what that meant.  We learned that dogs are tagged after being vaccinated.  This is how the city of Istanbul is dealing with its enormous stray cat/dog problem.

Spotted #2: It has been interesting to note that at almost all major sites and museums, two dating systems are used: the Christian and Islamic calendars.  I realized how much I take the Christian calendar (i.e. BC and AD) for granted.  Occasionally, only the Christian calendar date is used, but the majority of the sites provide both.

Spotted #3: You can buy a Topkapi Dagger replica at the Hagia Sofia.  It's 10,000TL (about $4,000).  Palace not included.

(Also, how great is Josh's expression in that photo?)