Staycation in Old Constantinople

Walls...

For almost four months, I have been working at a reputable private school in central Istanbul. I have been teaching 5^th, 6^th and 7^th grade classes, plus doing an after-school book club once a week and co-leading the middle school Model United Nations activity. It’s been a long and sometimes demanding 4 months, but I’m very thankful for my great experience so far. It’s the first time I’ve ever loved a full-time job.

Fortunately, we were rewarded with a week off. As Eda had to work, I decided to make this week a staycation, an attempt to get some necessary rest and to stroll around this city. It had been years since I last wandered this maze of a metropolis while truly feeling free. During my semester here, it seems that’s all I did. It felt good to take some nice walks, absorb the local history and clear my head. We were blessed with good weather throughout the week, to boot. I wanted to use this blog post to share where I went and what I found around town.

Monday

I started with a classic: Topkapı Palace. This is the old palace of the Ottoman sultan, built on the site of the ancient Byzantine Agora. This is one of my favorite museums in all of Turkey because of its vast collection, from the Ottoman war room to the Sultan’s harem. My favorite section has to be the Arms & Armour section, where you can see an epic display of swords, rifles, chest plates, helmets and weapons of other epic proportions. The best thing to see in here has got to be the sword of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, in my humble opinion.

Right within the walls of Topkapı, there’s an old Byzantine Church called Hagia Irene. I had never been in there before, so I took a look inside. This was an Ottoman armory for several years, before it became a museum. It’s quite a unique structure both inside and out, and it feels like you’re in an epic historical fiction explorer film when you walk inside.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I took a 3 minute ferry across the Golden Horn to Balat, an area known in the past to be inhabited by religious minorities. I wrote about Balat in a previous post (see “The New View”). It’s a wonderful area with so many old, picturesque buildings. There are especially many churches, such as this new Bulgarian Orthodox church.

I also felt like poking my head in the Church of Saint George, the home of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

The more or less "Pope" of the Greek Orthodox Church lives in this complex.

Instead of taking the ferry back home, I decided to take the scenic route, as the weather in Istanbul is still warm enough to walk during twilight hours. 

After casually walking by some ancient walls (no biggie), I noticed a hospital with some attractive architecture.

Upon further inspection, I saw Hebrew letters written on the entrance. This neighborhood housed a decent sized Jewish population, so this hospital was built as a means for Jewish people in the area to be taken care of. I had no idea this existed until now.

Lastly for this day, I passed by a lovely Orthodox church and another up close view of the old city walls. I can’t get enough of them!

Wednesday

Down the street from where I live, there’s a charming old palace pavilion called the Aynalikavak Kasrı. While this area may have held a Byzantine winery many years ago, it now houses this lovely little Ottoman palace, where the Sultan would relax on the Golden Horn during the Ottoman Empire's peak. 

I have lived right next to this place for many months, but only now had the chance to go. I took a self-guided free complementary audio tour inside the building, seeing where the Sultan used to read and relax. There’s also a small musical instrument museum inside the pavilion, as Sultan Selim III, a great composer and musician, frequently lounged here and played his music here. On the inside, one can find both instruments of Turkish origin as well as imported musical instruments and machines from the USA and France.

Maalem Synagogue

More of Istanbul's hidden Hebrew

I took another nice stroll along the windy waterfront, and eventually made my way to a synagogue right down the street from me. My neighborhood was once an area filled with Jews. 

Meanwhile, I walk by an old Romanian church every day on the hill up to my home. Within a 5 minute radius, I’m able to see Greek, Hebrew and Arabic writing from three houses of worship of different faiths. I consistently say that this is one of the things that makes Istanbul so special: so many cultures and religions all coexisting in the same space.

Thursday

As the end of the week was approaching, I chose to move into some familiar territory: Taksim. I wanted to take some pictures of interesting landmarks in this center of town area. I started with an old Greek Orthodox Church, and eventually moved along in a circle. I managed to find some old architecture, an English chapel converted into a restaurant, the House of the Dervish Order, and even the British consulate.

Galatasaray High School

I find a new consulate in Istanbul almost every day.

The British Consulate

Sunday

Grave of the writer of the Istiklal March,
Turkey's National Anthem

I decided to take a break on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday, Eda and I chose to find some new places together, like we always do. After going out for breakfast, we made it to an area called Edirnekapı (this means "Edirne Gate", as Edirne (or Adrianople in ancient Greek) is a large city to the west of Istanbul, and was the Ottoman capital before conquest of Constantinople). I hadn’t been to this area yet, but it’s quite special; it’s the spot where Faith Sultan Mehmet (the Conqueror) entered the city after conquering Constantinople in 1453. It was an honor to finally make it to this spot.

From there, we moved through old Byzantine Constantinople. We passed this church and this statue of the man himself. I couldn’t waste this opportunity.

Eda and I eventually made it to a fantastic gem of the Christian faithful in this city: the Church of Saint Savior of Chora. This was an old Byzantine church with some of the most priceless and inspirational mosaics in all of Christendom. Churches throughout the Christian world were modeled after this one, but it was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest. Now, it’s a modest museum, as much of it is under restoration due to damage over the years.

There are so many churches in this area, and we also stumbled upon another old synagogue.

Further down the line, we made it to a Byzantine church called the Pammakaristos Church (Fethiye Camii). I love how it just hangs casually on the streets of this neighborhood. Things in this particular neighborhood get pretty conservative, and you’ll find shops with advertisements and signs in Arabic.

But, it’s nice how they’ve preserved this gem of Byzantine Constantinople despite the changes since its glory days. This church remains one of my favorite hidden secrets in town. It’s only 5 liras, and the inside contains so many beautiful and wondrous works of Christian art. You can see saints and Biblical episodes of Jesus, such as his Baptism. We were alone inside, so it was as if the space belonged to us for the moment.

Church of Mary of the Mongols

Overall, I had a nice little vacation from work. It felt great to walk around the city again on my own time. I found some new places, and revisited the old. This city has certainly changed a ton since I first arrived as an excited and curious student. I have changed with it, and often battle and struggle with its forces at play. But we still hold a tight bond, this city and I. It will never go away, as it has almost become a part of me. It has watched me grow up, and it continues to give me tests each and every day, seeing me at my worst and forcing me to persevere through any and all conflict. And now, as one year finishes and a new year approaches, potentially the last one we start here, Eda and I are completing it strong with a new decoration to punctuate it….