We decided to go to the Museum of Archaeology on the grounds of Topkapi Palace. To get there we walked behind the Aya Sofya and discovered there are mausoleums back there that you can see for free, so we did.
There were four mausoleums, each holding a sultan and his family. The architecture is the same as for the mosques here - a center dome and half domes and arches around. And decorated with lots of tile. As you can see, a lot of the people were male children (the turbans). Before coming to Turkey I read a lot of history. Sultans could have up to 4 wives. Each wife had children, and each wife wanted her son to be the next in line. The mother of the Sultan (the Valadi Sultan) wielded a lot of power - even more if her son became sultan when he was still a child. So there was much murder and mayham to eliminate possible rivals to the throne. So it made me wonder if all these children died of natural causes or of something else.
Also while back there we could see the massive buttresses which were added to the Aya Sofya when it was seen to be sagging due to the massive weight.
Then just inside the first gate of the Topkapi Palace is Aya Irene, a church dating from Justinian and the 6th century. This was the patriarchal church of Constantinople until Aya Sofya was built. Under the Ottomans, it was used as an arsenal and for storage. It's usually closed, but there was a special exhibit so we got to walk in and see it.
The Archaeology Museum was quite interesting. There are 3 parts - the Museum of the Ancient Orient which is mostly Mesopotamia and Anatolia from before the 6th century BC. Then the Archaeology Museum and then a Tile museum.
Our greeter:
There were several unicorns, lions and dragons which were from the palace in Babylon.
The highlight of the museum is the Alexander sarcophagus from the 4th century BC which is incredibly well preserved. It depicts scenes of Alexander the Great in battle but was actually carved for King Abdalonymos of Sidon.
Here are some neat floor mosaics. We quilters cut up fabric and paste it back together, but these guys cut itsy bitsy pieces of stone and marble to do this stuff. Makes what we do with scissors and thread sound pretty easy!
After lunch and a little shopping we returned to the hotel. Armando's back started to bother him some, and it was kind of rainy today, so we decided to take it easy. And it's not hard to sit here in the room when you can look out the window at our dynamite view!
This and that:
Whenever we've traveled before, when people ask where we are from and we say Memphis, Tennessee, they usually say "Elvis Presley". Here when we say Tennessee they say "Jack Daniels".
I don't know if I mentioned it, but all through our trip we've seen where one civilization recycled stuff from the previous one. In all the Greek and Roman ruins, most of the marble panels which used to cover the walls are gone, used in later construction since it was there and already cut into handy panels. Columns were recycled into homes, other buildings, even the cistern (remember day 1). At one of the ruins on our tour, Jon pointed out where they had recycled a sarcophogus, made some holes in the sides and used it to hold grapes while they stomped on them, and the juice came out the holes. It must drive the archaeologists crazy, trying to figure out what things went with what civilization, and then of course they also built one city on top of the next. Troy for example has 9 levels.
Yesterday I posted a photo of a boat and horse cart for deliveries. Someone asked if I'd seen a FedEx delivery vehicle. No I have actually not seen one FedEx truck, plane, boat, horsecart or anything else here. I did see a store for another company with brown uniforms.
Also, I said that there were no vehicles on the islands, only horses and bikes. Someone with sharp eyes noticed a vehicle in one of the photos. There are a few golf cart type electric carts and we saw a few electric powered bicycles, but no gasoline engines except government vehicles.
When we told people we were going to Turkey, several of our friends seemed worried that we might be going someplace unsafe. And they reminded us that most of the people here are Muslims, which is true. But Turkey is secular, and Turks consider religion and how one chooses to practice it to be a private matter, and they are tolerant of other beliefs. And we have to remember that Muslim does not equal terrorist. And here's a scary thought - more than once when we've said we are from the United States, the waiter, shopkeeper, whoever, says he hopes to visit the US some day since he has seen all about it on TV. Jon said when he was a teenager, he thought all Americans were not religious at all, were greedy and just wanted big cars and fancy houses. Imagine the impression you would have if all you saw was American TV!!!! Yikes!
Here's a picture of our hotel - our window is the middle one on the right. See the rooftop restaurant where we eat breakfast every day? We are right at the end of the Hippodrome, right in the heart of the tourist area, right on the main drag. I thought it would be noisy, but after about 9:00 most people are gone home, the tram still runs and dingdings but we're used to that and tune it out. And the hotel is quieter than our other Istanbul hotel - there the walls were made of cardboard. The only disadvantage is that there is no elevator. But after being fed so well on our tour, running up and down two flights of stairs is not a bad thing!
Finally for your viewing pleasure, here are some more photos from yesterday's trip to Princes' Islands. Armando didn't think I posted some of the better photos, so here are some more. Also if you care to go back, I added some more captions to yesterday's post.
This is the inside of the people ferry that we took. We spent most of the time on the upper deck outside where the views and photo ops were better.
It's hard to see, but this house was completely covered in tiny white and blue mosaic tiles. If you click on the picture it will get bigger and maybe you can see the tiles better.
That is the ferry terminal at the end of the street.
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