istanbul: the fatih quarter

 

a look some sights around a bit of this historically conservative, but steadily gentrifying area of istanbul's old city, including: 

kariye museum, land walls, sehzade mosque, beyazit square & cemberlitas

 

 

on the way --

america’s own malcolm x right up there among celebrated modern muslims

 

 

kariye muzesi (chora church museum)

is in the edernikape neighborhood of the fatih quarter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fatih park

 

 

 

 

stuff in front of the museum

 

 

 

 

kariye muzesi  aka chora church, kariye camii or kariye kilesi (400AD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chora_Church

one of the most beautiful examples of a byzantine era church

much of the decoration is from the 1300s

restored by the byzantine institute of america in the 1940s

 

 

the chora interior is…well, hold your breadth…!  :cool2:

 

 

 

 

perhaps the most famous image in chora church --

the anastasis or resurrection

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the byzantine era land walls of theodosius (b. 413-14AD) - seen here at topkapi gate

 

 

this is edernikape gate - near kariye muzesi

 

 

 

treacherous to climb on! 

 

 

views  8-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dolmus van on left (aka dollar vans in nyc, except legal here)  :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi

 

 

*** before the mosque pics below,

try this on -- you have to download it,

but its worth it --

it’s an audio clip link

to an iphone memo we made of the

call to prayer (adnans) from multiple

mosques echoing around cemberlitas --

highly recommended listening! ****

https://www.box.com/s/6285b5f8e8a357996794

 

 

sehzade camii (mosque)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Eehzade_Mosque

^wiki sez:

The Şehzade Mosque was commissioned by Sultan Suleiman I in memory of his eldest son by Hürrem, Prince Mehmet, who died of smallpox at the age of 21 in 1543, though the cause for his death is disputed. It was the first major commission by the Imperial Architect Mimar Sinan, and was completed in 1548. It is considered by architectural historians as Sinan's first masterpiece of classical Ottoman architecture.

 

 

 

the mosque courtyard (aylu)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

womens prayer area in back

 

 

 

meanwhile, they were filming a movie in the backyard!  :laugh:

 

 

 

a sehzade mosque masoleum (turbe), i think of one the grand viziers, not sure

 

 

 

 

 

^  a note on mosques and mosque etiquette  :speech:  --

the historic mosques are always a kulliye or complex that include one or more medrese or koran schools, an imaret or public kitchen for the poor and a caravansari to house pilgrims. There are also are or were related turbe or masoleums, a cemetery and a hamam or turkish style bathouse nearby. also of note there are no images in mosques. muslims do a ritual wash called wudu in the aylu or courtyard before they go in. women cover their head with a scarf and you take you shoes off before you enter - needless to say there is plenty of fantastic and soft turkish carpet to walk on inside, a nice benefit for weary touristas!

 

 

beyazit meydani or square

(fka forum tauri & forum Theodosius in Constantinople)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_Tauri

 

 

istanbul university (goes back to 425AD)

main campus gate  (1866-70)  -- pick one

 

 

 

beyazit serasker firewatch tower (1828) on campus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyaz%C4%B1t_Tower

 

 

 

beyazit camii mosque (b.1501-1506)

2nd oldest mosque built after the ottoman conquest,

but the oldest original

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cemberlitas square (fka forum constantine)

the column of constantine (330AD) is quite a survivor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column_of_Constantine

 

 

 

around cemberlitas sq

 

 

 

 

 

 

hookah café rooftop views

 

 

got aircon?  :laugh:

 

 

 

so many ships on the sea of mamara!  :-o

 

 

 

narghile or hookah gear

 

 

 

keeping the hookah coals hot on the right

 

 

below is sultanahmet  pocket park, so that brings us to

the end of fatih area and this thread

 

 

 

*** hope you enjoyed some sights from a morning in fatih - more istanbul to come  ***

Great photo series!  The wooden rowhouses remind me of something from Pennsylvania.

I liked all these shots of non-tourist areas.  Did you feel that this city was generally safe (were you looked at suspiciously when taking photos)?  It has to be one of the more endlessly interesting places to photograph.  Also, Turkey has one of the world's great flags.  It really cuts through in the images where it appears. 

Talk about a mega-city and a crossroads-of-the-world...I think we just looked at one! Thanks for the many photos of Istanbul not usually seen in tourist brochures.

thanks --  i still want to make threads for the more well know neighborhoods too such as sultanahmet, which is below fatih and has the aya sofia, blue mosque, grand bazaar, etc. and for beyoglu, which has the inner city life and nightlife. these are wonderful and lively places -- coming asap.

 

jmeck good questions -- i felt totally safe alone, at night, for us as a couple, etc. -- no suspcious looks in the untouristed areas either. what i read about and heard from usa and local turks backed that up. once i was alone on some backstreets and a few little kids came up to me, so we talked about soccer, im a big boca juniors fan and they liked the istanbul teams like fenerbache, galatasary, or whatever of course. so just normal stuff, no begging or pestering. the only harassment we got was to be expected when walking along a row of carpet sellers -- ha.

 

re photography -- it was funny the turks generally had no visible reaction at all to photography. not puzzlement or annoyance or anything i could tell. the only thing was istanbul was one of those places where they all to a person always stopped walking in front of you while you took a photo on the sidewalk or something, rathering than rushing by, even on the extremely busy istiklal caddesi promanade street. this i found very nice and a little embarassing -- i had to adjust to it a bit so as to not put people out like that.

 

and the turkish flag? man that is one strong image. i was walking up broadway last sunday with my istanbul/ny tee shirt on and i saw a yunnie guy, kid on his shoulders pushing a stroller type, approaching from far away in the bright red turk flag tee shirt. when he got close he pointed and was like ayyy! and i pointed and was ayyy turkey! back at him. so ha yeah really eye-catching flag they got.

 

Thanks!  I've never been there, but have always been interested in Istanbul.

Historic city.

Awesome.

...and don't tell anyone--but you could take all "3-C" MSA's, add them together, and still have room for those of Dayton, Toledo, and Akron in making up the huge population of Istanbul.  I would definitely say that, on the world's stage of megacities, Istanbul is "a contender..."

...and don't tell anyone--but you could take all "3-C" MSA's, add them together, and still have room for those of Dayton, Toledo, and Akron in making up the huge population of Istanbul.  I would definitely say that, on the world's stage of megacities, Istanbul is "a contender..."

 

The population of the city is greater than that of Ohio. If Istanbul were a state, it would be the 5th largest, ahead of Illinois. In terms of density, however, it's on par with Buffalo.

 

Thanks for the tour. Looking forward to moar!

What are you supposed to do with the evil eyes?  :-o

 

Great photos. Thanks for posting.

You keep them like rabbit feet but to ward of envy, jealousy, coveting, and more generally the "evil eye."