Breaking in a new Moleskine Diary, smacks of the Sacred. If there was ever a time to inaugurate one, this was it, west bound from Istanbul on the famed rails of the Orient Express toward exotic destinations. For some distance we would share these historic rails with the likes of Inspector Poirot and Agatha Christie, before skewing south towards Thessaloniki. I cracked open the smooth black cover of my pocket size journal and put pen to paper.

Leaving Istanbul

This particular journey was not on “The” Orient Express itself, but rather the Dostluk Filia, an overnighter run to Greece. We had booked two sleeping compartments and we’re looking forward to being caressed to somnolence as we journeyed across western Turkey and into Greece. We were comfortably settled in as we made our way out of Istanbul and into the setting sun.

West of Bakirkoy

This night would prove to be one of the most wretchedly enchanted evenings of my life. A journey through the midnight hours racked by jerks, stops, sways, mosquitoes, and the repeated rapping at our door for passports and inspections. Making our way across borders that are less than “Filial” (as our tickets proclaimed) was an unexpected ordeal.

The ancestral tension between these neighbor countries was the
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I am working for a Getty Institute Summer Programme that takes place in Istanbul with a special emphasis on art history and thanks to the programme, I had the pleasure to meet Robert S. Nelson who is the writer of Hagia Sophia, 1850-1950 : Holy Wisdom Modern Monument and who is a Rice gradute (hopefully like me if i finish my ph.d one day). We had a field trip to Hagia Sophia and although it was my third visit in the last three summers, with Prof. Nelson’s guidance, this has become the most informative one…

I have never visited Sogukcesme Street, just behind Hagia Sophia, whose preservation story is told by Zeynep Çelik here. Honestly, this street looks so artificial, so theme-park like that, I don’t see I will need to see it again…

According to Hurriyet, ‘One section of the lost city walls, dating back to the period when Roman emperor Constantin had first founded Istanbul (Constantinople), was discovered Archeologist Metin Gökçay in Yenikapı Istanbul old town….However, in an act that could not occur anywhere else in the world, a concrete plant was swiftly built over the ruins belonging to the first founding of the city, found during digs as part of the Marmaray Project’

The exhibition ‘Turkish Bath: The Bathing Tradition and the Art of Hairdressing during the Ottoman Period’ features 130 pieces, 80 percent of which have been taken from the palace’s warehouse and have never before been displayed
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After a few super busy weeks, Erkan returns to the blog with some links:
A cool history blog, Mavi Boncuk posts about Marginals of old Istanbul .

TavelBite focuses on Nişantaşı: “The ultra-hip area of Nisantasi has long been one of the most desirable areas to stay in Istanbul, thanks to its haute couture shopping and great art….” Robert Haru Fisher writes for Frommer’s and offers a piece for would be travellers: Istanbul Delights: A Turkey Travelogue. In the mean time, Anya von Bremzen focuses on Istanbul’s Food and Wine stuff.

direct quote from the site: “byzantium 1200 is a project aimed at creating computer reconstructions of the Byzantine monuments located in İstanbul, Turkey, as of year 1200 AD.” The project was partly inspired by Alan Sorrell’s (who is referred to as the master of reconstructional drawing) famous painting of istanbul. Background information can be found here. 54 monuments are listed for remodelling, only 9 of them were incomplete when I last checked it out (i.e. a moment ago). I find it very practical that each reconstruction is accompanied by a map (and very impractical that the map cannot be magnified for a closer look).

The notion of “quality of living” for local people of Istanbul, is strongly supported and reinforced by a so-called “solidarity within family”, even at the present times of widespread and harsh competition for marketable skills, that leads many members of unqualified work force to be fired from their jobs at first, and then reluctantly await for nothing in their parents’ homes…

Weird thing is that, fired people keep on consuming same amount of booze or “granted” money dedicated to games of chance, such as lotteries, sweepstakes or horse races…
“Survival of the fittest” by Charles Darwin, the rule of all times, occurs in a weird way in the modern life of Istanbul: Competing for sustainable job is not preferred by lazy local people, but abusing family home as a sanctuary from fighting in the arena of prerequisites for marketable skills…

The resource of this “undeserved social well-being” is surely financed by a solidarity and cooperation between family members of unemployed work force… This protection brings tranquillity, but threathens individual competitiveness…
Now it may be usefull to remember, what Leyla Erbil, one of the best writers of modern Turkish literature, says in her novella “The Dwarf”: “As soon as possible, you have wanted to get rid of your family, that was just a concrete sediment of being socially underdeveloped”…

Mothers, as “usual suspects” in most of family misdemanours, provide support for their “unlucky” sons or daughters, who were not preferred by heartless bosses that just strive for increasing the productivity and competitiveness of their enterprises!..

Everybody knows that family ties are strong, but how long and what for?…
Individual existantialism knocks on the heaven’s door on this earth… Without any family support…

(The picture above, called “Turkish Family II”, is a mixed-media work by Helnwein)…

i live on the asian part of istanbul. about a year ago, i was having breakfast when i heard a dreadfully loud noise and thought it was the sky falling down on that sunny day. about five minutes later, i heard a second one and rushed to turn on the tv, since we have had suicide bombings on two synagoguges that week. unfortunately, i was not wrong. they had bombed the british consulate and the hsbc bank, which are both on the european side of the city. imagine what it is like to hear it when you live kilometers away, on another continent.

now it has been a year since the two suicide bombings. the two synagogues were bombed on november 15th, a saturday, while a bar mitzvah was being held; the second attacks were on november 20th. 50 were killed and hundreds were injured.

the british consulate is in galatasaray, a very lively district on istiklal street and i took this photo the other day. i read somewhere that prince charles was here for the reopening of the newly constructed building. the reopening took place in october but still the building seems under heavy construction.

It’s the reflection of an old apartment into the mirror windows of a new building in Firuzaga, Cihangir.

This will be historic. Hopefully in all senses of the word.
What you see in the header of this site is -ofcourse- the infamous view of İstanbul. Here is a short guide for your trip on the pic.

The boat on the left is called Vapur and it’s probably the best public transportation option available in İstanbul. The view is great, the wind blows and if you are infected by romantic literature there are places where you can hold hands and exchange cliches.
Speaking of public transportation, if there are people out there who wants to come to İstanbul, they should know that our public transportation has one main principle: Total chaos. Most of the time it’s like a quantum universe with infinite alternatives. Reading Cosmic Banditos may help but if you are loaded i�d suggest travelling by taxi (please don�t rent a car, the traffic is bad as it is).

Now look 3 cm’s right and you’ll see a big dome with 6 minarets. What you see is the Blue Mosque, one of the land marks of Ottoman Architechture. They say that the minarets form a perfect line which means that when you face one of them head on, you can�t see the others behind it. That�s the kind of precision you get when you face the danger of being beheaded if you screw up. And no, i never tested it as i am not a tourist.
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