Miniature Adventures

As you can imagine, the impulse to see as much of Istanbul as possible in my little time remaining here is irresistible. It is also exhausting.

Admittedly, Sunday was a slow day. After Saturday's boat trip, few of us were up for much beyond some grammar homework. Nevertheless, I checked out historic Yıldız Park, once home of Sultan Abdülhamit II. Today, it's a beautiful city park, full of picnicking Turks and their pets.

I managed to miss the ducks in this shot... big fat ducks. Note the beauty of this city park.

Strange mannequin planter overlooking the Bosporus.

After class today I joined Karie for a trip to the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum and the Basilica Cistern. The museum was small, but full of old rugs, ceramics, calligraphy, and best of all, a model yurt (complete with Anatolian models). We made it through the museum in about an hour and headed for the Cistern. Who knew an underground water supply built during the 6th century reign of Justinian sat beneath downtown Istanbul? Plenty of people apparently, especially since several scenes from the Bond movie From Russia with Love were filmed down there... 336 marble columns are arranged in 12 rows, each consisting of 28 columns. The space is expansive, dark, wet and a little eerie. Unfortunately, being underground and all it was hard to take pictures that both came out clear and managed to accurately catch the creepy, watery orange of the place.

The pictures makes the Cistern look deceptively bright... in fact, it's really dark down there.
Two Medusa heads, one upside down (pictured), one turned on its side, side beneath columns in the Cistern's northwest corner. No one is really sure why, but they certainly contribute to the place's atmosphere.

The view of the Blue Mosque and Hippodrome from the art museum. Once upon a time there were chariot races here.