Istanbul interlude

Winter in Moscow has not been too bad. Since we got back in January it has not below minus 15 and three weeks ago the thaw started. Suddenly we were faced with mountains of slush, massive puddles and frozen slush as the temperature dropped each night. It was a most unpleasant time.

So last Saturday Peter and I headed to Istanbul for a few days of plus temperatures and NO SNOW!!. Peter and I have been to Turkey twice before, once for our Silver Wedding in 2002 and to Bodrum in 2008 but this was a new adventure. A history lesson at every turn. I haven't got to grips with the history or the geography properly, but enjoy the photographs I took.

We arrived at lunchtime and were met by an efficient lady who showed us to our taxi. Having booked into the hotel in a quiet location we set off for a walk. As it was so cloudy I took few photo hoping it would clear up in the next few days. This is a structure outside the Islamic museum of Science and Technology. We went back a couple of days later and it was fascinating. They were a clever lot in the Middle Ages.

We carried on through gardens which are being planted up with pansies to the water edge and around under the city walls built (I think) in the Byzantium era.

We were very tired so had a meal in an OK restaurant near the hotel and headed to bed ready for an early start.

Our first stop was the Hagia Sofia or Ayasofia as it is also known. This has been both a Christian church and a Mosque before becoming a museum. It is now a rather odd mix as it has both Christian and Islamic symbols showing at the same time which would never happen in real life.

The building is pretty impressive but has little outside decoration.

The ceiling of the Narthex - entrance lobby

A Christian symbol

Christian wall painting

All the wall paintings had been covered over while it was a Mosque but many have been uncovered.

This is one of four archangels, but the only one with its face showing. The other three had gold bosses put over them and look decidedly creepy.



The dome is beautifully painted

The balcony where the ladies would have sat.

An alabaster jar

I don't know what this pavilion is for.

The niche on the end wall shows Moslems which way is Mecca so they know which way to face when they pray. Because the orientation is  for a church the niche is slightly off centre.

These three are taken from a pavilion used for council meetings in the Topkapi Palace. Sadly we didn't allow ourselves enough time to go round it all as we had a river trip booked so I only took a few pictures as we scurried round. A place to revisit. The ceramics are amazing and I would love to have a wall of Islamic tiles somewhere in a house of the future.

The markets in Istanbul are out of this world. They are noisy, colourful and overflowing. The Egyptian or Spice market and the Grand Bazzar are the well known ones, but the very day markets are just as interesting. See what I mean.

The Spice Market was full of wonderful characters and the sights and sounds...

The Grand Bazaar has 4000 stalls and is the largest covered market in the World. It has something like 16 entrances, a couple of Mosques and several water fountains. You can buy just about anything there and you have to haggle. haggle, haggle. I could have spent a fortune in there, but where would I put it all?

Your local garden centre

Anyone for a tea or coffee set?

The regular markets for the local folk were just as interesting. We saw whole streets dedicated to DIY in the BIG sense of the word. Everything from a tiny nut and bolt to traffic cones and protective gear. You name it, it was there. And the same went for all walks of life from clothes to bathrooms.

The sellers all need a drink so this is another familiar sight. The top photo is of a Sahlep seller. That pot is steaming and sells a delicious drink called Sahlep which is made from Orchid roots. Having taken his picture the least I could do was buy a cup, and I was surprised how delicious it was. The tea carriers are everywhere as are young waiters carrying food or empty plates to and from the stalls. They don't stop for lunch, so lunch and tea comes to them!!

I will publish now and add more photographs over the weekend.

Palace of Tsar Alexei

As you will know New Year is the big winter celebration and Moscow dresses up for the occasion. Sadly I haven't had my camera with me to take photos of the decorations, but this year I have managed to catch a couple. This water fountain on a square near church is turned off but the lights make it look like water. The trees nearly have been festooned with lights. The decorations are slowly coming down but despite it being a months since new year and over three weeks since Orthodox Christmas there are still lots of decorations up which look slightly out of place now.

Peter and I finally got out for a few hours yesterday and went back to Kolonenskoye to visit the inside of the reconstructed Tsar Alexander's palace. This is a complete fake made in the last ten years in a different place from the original, but still interesting for all that. It is not unlike the Boyar's house in style but just much bigger, but not huge like castles in England.

As at Hampton Court there were different rooms for different sections of society, with only the most trusted allowed near the Tsar's private chambers. There were three sets of rooms. the Tsar's the Tsarina's and the rooms for the Tsarovich (the sons). We started at the door to the Tsar's appartments.

The servery where the food was received from the different kitchens

Where the food arrived

Coloured windows

Door to the dining room

Tiled stove for heating the room

Ceiling

The Tsar's place

Tables and benches for everyone else

On the other side of the entrance was the receiving room for members of the Duma where much business was conducted. This is the throne. Notice there are icons in every room.

Entrance to throne room

Throne

Ceiling

Copy of a treaty

The study was one of the Tsar's private rooms. Just as in the Boyar's house the walls are decorated in embossed leather.

The royal bed sat in spendid isolation in a small room.

The iconostasis for the Tsar's private prayers. As there is no altar divine worship had to be undertaken in one of the churches on the site.

Part of the Tsarovich's rooms

Bathhouse

Heating stones to heat the water

Stones in the tub

Another beautiful door

Tsarina's throne - again an icon is placed over it

More noticable in the Boyar's house, the Red or Beautiful corner with an icon and lamp. We saw similar in poor houses when we went to Yaroslavl and the museum of old houses.

Even royalty did handicrafts. It was an important part of a girl's education.

The chair from where the girls were supervised

The Tsar worshipped alone, the ladies shared a chapel

A sumptious room for the ladies

The floor

A delicate coloured light

A ceiling

Through the window to snow on the roof.

Though a complete fake, having been to the Boyar's house in the autumn it is an interesting reconstruction. After Tsar Alexei died his son, Peter 1 who became Peter the Great,  was crowned Tsar but his half sis ter Sofia was regent. Needless to say, she was reluctant to hand power to her brother and was imprisoned in the Novodevichy convent in Moscow.