The Center of the Universe

Found it.

In the middle of the old town of Istanbul across from Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, not far from the side entrance of Topkapi Palace, spitting distance to the stone descents to the ancient cisterns, across from the Hippodrome, where once upon a time there was a stadium that held crowds of 100,000, cheering whatever it is that was going on. In the middle of where all the action was.

This old stone rests now in a little plaza, a small park with nice trees that shade from the over noon sun. There's only a piece left now - a piece of what once was an archway. Protected and recognized.

The very heart of the Byzantine Empire. The Center from which all else is measured.

The Center of the Universe. Well, could be...

The 'Hood

In Istanbul we stayed in one of the many little hotels in the old part of town, down an alleyway very close to  the Big Daddy monument buildings - Hagia Sofia (pronounced Eye-a Sofia) and Sultanahmet Mosque (aka Blue Mosque) and all the other pieces of eye candy in that neighborhood. The roof terrace of this 5 story building is also the breakfast room and here is the view over morning coffee...

If you don't like this view, just turn your head:

Or if these views are getting too Ho Hum, how about watching the ships entering the Bosphorus...

In the alleyway we had lots of neighbors. The cat family at one end, the bird in nest with babies on the wall opposite the hotel entryway and this Momma Cat who gave birth one night to three babies. When she was in labor she apparently tried to enter the hotel next door.  They wouldn't let her, but instead created a box nest for her just outside...

There are so many cats in Istanbul and most look very well fed. The locals in this neighborhood anyway, seem to take care of them. In parks you can see handfuls of dry cat food all over the place that someone has brought to feed them. Down the lane from us there is a butcher and if you get up early enough you will see a dozen or so cats waiting patiently. For breakfast...

This little guy, later in the day, is sitting on the sidewalk looking intently into the butcher shop. Did he miss breakfast?

Across the street from our hotel is another mosque. Note the loudspeakers up on the tower. Five times a day the call for prayers rings out and the caller of that mosque and another in the neighborhood riff off each other. It is really quite charming until it's not. The early prayer call is at 4:40 a.m. and that speaker seems to be aimed right into our bedroom window!

The nearby street we nicknamed "Bar Street" (and frequented for obvious reasons). A little living room cafe set up on the sidewalk...

Evening in the 'hood. The weather was perfect and the restaurants and cafes take over the sidewalks. Dinner al fresco...

Way fun.

Exceeding Expectations

Well there is something of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, everywhere you go. So let me get that out of the way.

People arrived with me at the Istanbul airport from all over the world, and many also like me had travelled for 12 hours or more. Hundreds and hundreds of weary, spaced out travellers, faced an immigration line manned by 4 lone immigration officers.

Fatigued and irritated we waiting for hours and hours to get through. I am told  that this is a common occurrence. SO, Republic of Turkey. NO EU MEMBERSHIP FOR YOU! Forget it. Unless you put a few more clerks on the immigration line. Simple no? And then we'll see.

But, enough of this. Once I did get through, I was barely halfway to town, when I breathed a huge sigh and settled in. Look at this. All is forgiven.

Before I even reached the hotel, I knew that this town was for me. No doubt about it. The sun is shining and the sea beside us is blue and sparkling. The road in to town from the airport hugs the Sea of Marmara and all the way along the waterfront they have left it as  parkland. Miles and miles and miles of waterfront parks. I'm thinking, OK, I like a town that puts parks all along the waterfront. People, families, sunshine, water, green, blue, vistas. This suits me. And then, if that's not enough, you turn your head to look the other way, on the other side of the road away from the Sea, and there's clear evidence of ancient - really ancient - city walls. Oh boy. Here it comes...

Istanbul is FABULOUS. Whatever I thought it might be, it was more. Much more. It is now on my top 5 list of cities and I can barely remember what the other 4 are.

Let me count the ways.

Food. Some say that the cuisine is up there with the top 3. (Doesn't everybody, including me, like lists?). I will say, though, that the tastes and flavors were amazing. Different, unexpected, fresh, light. And very good wine.

Location location location. There's a very good reason why this once was the center of the universe.

Waterfront. Istanbul tucks around the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus. The people who live on the hills alongside celebrate and enjoy their daily sight of the water. Great views - wonderful sights of ships heading up to the Black Sea. Wonderful boat cruises on local ferries, across to the Asian side or a day trip up the Bosphorus.

Getting around. Easy. Walking, walking walking. Cobblestones. Alleys. Trams. Ferries.

Old stuff. Fantastic ruins that invite exploration of the history of the place and the world at that time. Tell me more.

Architecture - awesome. Mosques, palaces, old churches, walls, cisterns, towers, aqueducts, cobblestones, parks, bazaars...

Art - amazing tile, fabric, painting, carpet, brass, ceramic, wood...

Museums - great museums.

Friendly local people, enthusiastic salesmen...Amazing people sights. Travelers from everywhere. Every type of dress you can imagine.







Food. Did I mention the food?


Blue tile calligraphy by Guvenc Given.

Mapping the World

"Here, take a look at this. It's our house," he said, pushing the laptop over.

Indeed it was, clear as day. At first I didn't realize what I was looking at as it looked like one of the many pictures of the house I have on my own computer. Then it dawned. This was a picture of our house in British Columbia on Google Map Street View.

360-degree images at street level. Turn left, you see down the street. Turn right, you look the other way, down to the forest at the end of the street. There's the neighbors' houses. There's the neighbors' cars. There's the tenant's garbage bags, must be collection day. There's the tenant's grandkids' basketball net.

What's going on? Someone is wandering up and down the streets of this little town of 7000 people in the middle of Vancouver Island taking pictures of all the houses? Apparently so.

We checked out the old house in Ottawa. Yes there it was. Sort of. The new owners have ploughed under our front garden and replaced it with grass. Oh well. Chacun a son gout, to each his own. There's our neighbor's house across the street. This is becoming decidedly creepy to me. Does this mean that anyone can look at your house and your car and even at your kids playing in the front yard? Sure enough, there, at the end of the street are a couple of children on the sidewalk in front of the house. Recognizable to whoever wants to recognize them.

It gets worse.

That very night, I'm reading an article about this in the Herald Trib. Google is in hot water and the temperature seems to be rising. The German authorities are up in arms now because apparently as the company was sending all these people in their little cars and bikes down the streets of the country taking pictures, they were also picking up and recording information from people's unsecured wireless connections -  even email communications and visited websites, in violation of German laws on privacy and data collection. They've been doing this not just in Germany but apparently everywhere they've been street mapping. Google originally denied this but has now "reversed earlier denials" and admitted that they did it, saying however that the data collection was inadvertent and the result of a programming error.

Sure it was.

Aislin cartoon found through GOOGLE Image Search

Constantinople

Constantinople
Is a very big word
If you can't spell it
You're a very big fool
Spell it

I'm off to Istanbul - back end May.

Riddle courtesy of my Dad, when I was a little girl. Won't get fooled again.