Travels with Kathryn

As the title of this post suggests, yesterday was Mum and Keith’s last day in Istanbul, and as they were feeling less broken (more damaged apparently) we decided to try and fit in the last must-sees of Istanbul.

Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. We knew we would have to wait in line (for security and confirmation that we were dressed appropriately), and there were any number of warnings online about how long it would take – even if you are part of a group, you cannot skip this line and therefore we decided (as we had all day) to just go and wait. However, we did get there before 10 am as this is when most tours start and thus waited all of 3 minutes!

The Blue Mosque’s official name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, and it was built between 1609 and 1617. It gets its name from the interior decoration of 21,043 of (predominantly) blue Iznik tiles featuring 50 different designs. Last time I visited (in 2022) the interior of the mosque was being rennovated with only the inner dome being visible, so I was very excited that the “comprehensive” restoration work which started in 2018 finished earlier this year so we got the full effect:

Buoyed by our success, we decided to attempt to visit the Hagia Sofia/Ayasofya Mosque and joined a very long queue. However, it moved very quickly, and we were inside within 20 minutes (we were very proud of ourselves!).

The Hagia Sofia is the last of 3 religious buildings to be built on this same site and was completed in 537AD by Emperor Justinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople for the Byzantine Empire. It therefore started as an Eastern Orthadox church, with a brief stint as a Catholic Church during the fourth crusade, and then became a mosque (after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans) from 1453 to 1935. In 1935, the secular republican government converted it into a museum, and then in 2020, the (more Islamic leaning) government annulled this decision and reclassified it as a mosque once more. This has been a highly controversial reclassification and from my personal perspective, having first come to Istanbul pre-2020, as a museum you got to really see all the buildings religious history as well as being able to access other parts of it e.g. I distinctly remember the some 9th century Viking grafitti!

The next “big” site we were hoping for today was the Basilica Cistern. This is (clue in the name) an underground cistern built in the 6th century that met the water needs of the city and is the largest of several hunsred ancient cisterns with lie beneth Istanbul. Even though the city is surrounded by water on 3 sides, it struggled to obtain sufficient drinking water, and the first water system was constructed in the 1st century.

Its an amazing thing to see, and they have done a wonderful job with the lighting to make it look so atmospheric. What is also very interesting is that it is thought that many of the columns were re-used or leftover from other building projects, which means that there is no set design to the columns. You may even recognise it from various films, including 2013 Inferno (which is where I recognised it from – see photo below!).

Finally, we popped into the Grand Bazaar, and I have to say (much as I did last year) that I find it a bit meh. It’s so over toursty, and there are far too many knock-off handbags and the like. I will come back on another day and check whether I get this same feeling throughout…

So, there we go, tourist obligations were complete, and there was just one more thing that the olds wanted to do before they left – a trip to the haman. I decided to “go fancy” and we went to Cagalogu Haman which dates back to 1741 and has been frequented by such famous people as Florence Nightingale, King Edward VIII and Oprah Winfrey (and now us). We were heated, scrubbed, washed/massaged, rinsed, and left to relax with tea and Turkish delight. It was delightful, and I believe I now look well under 40…

For our last supper, and to celebrate just how clean and shiny we were (even though it has rained all day!), we went to a rooftop restaurant and had too much meat albiet with lovely views of the mosques:

This morning a taxi came to collect the olds at 10.15am and at the time of writing, they are still in the air (their flight having taken off a little late) and I am happily ensconced in my new home/AirBnB where I will be until Monday. I am now on the otherside of the Golden Horn in the Beyoglu/Kabatas area of Istanbul (as opposed to Sultanahmet) just down (a very steep) fill from Istikal Caddesi which is the main pedestrianised shopping street in Istanbul which connects Taksim Square to the Galata Tower.

It’s a very nice apartment between the French and Italian embassies. Should anything go wrong, and I throw myself on their mercy – first apologising for Brexit! I have fully unpacked and am currently on my second load of laundry.

Tomorrow, the weather is forecasted to be dreadful which has its advantages as, much like my time in Baku, the immediate plan is laundry, bit of downtime and planning the rest of stage 3 (and potentially stage 4). It may even take me a little time to get used to being on my own as its been a while, but for now I am looking forward to a (hopefully) undisturbed night’s sleep and some planning so bring it on!