Hidden amongst the confusion of tall buildings, the midday sun was nowhere in sight. Now at the Hotel Not Worth Mentioning we were finally able to recover from the long night and morning travels.
Sit down.
Collect yourself.
A shower was in order - along with a short nap.
The heat was not all that horrible and the humidity was tolerable. After the horrid weather I felt in Bulgaria, the weather-beast that Istanbul was trying to unleash was hardly anything. Still, the room was equipped with air-conditioning and I blasted it. It had been forever since I felt anything cool. I had come to learn throughout this whole trip that the coldest anything ever became in the summer was, at best, tepid. No matter, I was finally in a room that had an air-conditioner that did not amount to anything more than a false promise.
Even though the group was finally free from the oppressive chains of the tour group, I still found myself in a rigorous schedule for the rest of the day. Denise Kulp had to return to the real world tomorrow morning around 5am. This posed a challenge. She therefore had the rest of the afternoon to see as much as possible. That amounted, in total, to five hours of touring through Istanbul. To my benefit, she was not interested in anything that had to do with the Ottoman period. So we spent the previous afternoon planning ahead and devising a thorough tour of Byzantine Constantinople.
The Plan:
Our location in the Taksim district provided the perfect starting point. The plan was to walk down to the Tower of Galata, venture to the top, and enjoy the panoramic view of The Golden Horn and the peninsula. Then, winding our way across the first bridge to the Egyptian Bazaar. After tunneling our way through the covered portions, we would traverse to the nexus of old Byzantium, the Augustaion, to explore the Basilica Cisterns and gawk at the Hagia Sophia. Finally, we would take a cab up what was once the Mese and end up at the Saint Savior Church in Chora, which was perfectly located about two minutes (walking distance) the to Theodosian Walls/Blacharnae Palace’s ruins.
Perfect.
We set out from the hotel in Taksim and headed down a main thoroughfare. We had no map. Who needs a map anyways? I was going to guide Denise and I through my memory of ancient maps of Constantinople. It was a ridiculous idea, granted, but I did want to see if I could do it. All the old buildings are still in their respected spots so I figured that all I had to do was head, relatively, in the corresponding direction.
Here's a perfect example of an old map of Constantinople.
Clearly, this is a pristine 'drawn to scale' representation of the city.
This is largely drawn-up from Jonathan Phillips' research devised around the time of the Fourth Crusade (1204CE)
There is a trick to navigating places like this. Most of the time, especially in Istanbul, maps will be anything other than helpful for the traveler. The city is a Gordian knot of paths and street signs are a rare sight. The famed Roman grid system in Constantinople, the same system that made much of the Empire so neat and tidy, went completely out the window when the Ottoman’s rebuilt it. What one has to do is get to know the boulevards, the main streets of the city (the few streets that are marked), and become familiar with them. These big bones of the Istanbul body will lead to everywhere ‘Byzantine’ that you want to go. So use them first. Then branch out from there, and explore the surrounding veins and arteries of the metropolis. Eventually, the entire weave will come together and you should then be able to understand the grand pattern of the city’s layout.
In 1843, Gérard de Nerval, a French poet in Istanbul at the time, wrote in his book, Voyage en Orient, that the main avenue in Taksim, “…resembled Paris: fashionable clothes, laundries, jewelers, sparkling display windows, cafés, [and] embassies...” As Denise and I walked down this avenue I could see that it still was very similar to how Mr. Nerval described it in 1843. Aside from the obvious addition of electricity, the storefronts were basically the same, the streets were still of cobblestone, and the embassies still peered out from in between shops here and there. Not knowing it at the time, we were on Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Street), an ideal street to follow to make it to the Tower of Galata. I just wanted to make it to The Golden Horn. I figured that from there we would be able to see the tower above all the surrounding buildings and then head in that direction.
Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Street), Taksim, Istanbul
As we headed down Istiklal, we veered to the left to look at some music shops. No further than ten yards we looked to our right and there was the tower. How fortuitous!
The Tower of Galata
Built in 528AD under the reign of Justinian the Great, the tower occupies the shore directly across the tip of the old city. This region, known as Galata, was a district that was exclusive to merchants and Genoese traders (from the 13th century onward). Fastened to the walls that the tower inhabits was an actual chain that secured The Golden Horn from naval attacks during sieges. Therefore, the security of the city ultimately rested on the stability of the Theodosian Walls and reliability of Galata Tower’s chain. When Denise and I rode the elevator the two hundred feet to the top we were able to see the incredible view of Constantinople in its entirety. From the acropolis to the Theodosian Walls, one can see everything. What is more fascinating is that you can get a sense of Galata’s ancient dimensions. The walls that used to be the boundaries of the city are still there. The modern city has just built itself into them. If you look carefully, some of it still stands. Lastly, when the Ottoman’s invaded in 1453, they needed to attack via The Golden Horn to attempt to break through the weak sea walls along the peninsula. The chain was very effective. It was so effective that the Ottoman’s thought a way around it. They literally took their ships from out of the water in the Bosphorus and rolled them around Galata’s walls and launched them back into The Golden Horn, completely circumventing the chain all together. Some argue that this is what won the siege in favor of the Ottomans. Regardless, as we stood up there on top of the tower, there was plenty to think about and imagine.
"The modern city has just built itself into them"
Done with the tower, we headed in the general direction of the first bridge across the mouth of The Golden Horn. Twisting the winding our way down the hill we dodged traffic and hiked across the Galata Köprü (bridge). Moving swiftly through an underground tunnel, packed with merchant’s stalls, we surfaced at the entrance of the covered Egyptian Bazaar. The bazaar is an absolutely fascinating place. At one point in history, Constantinople was a trader’s paradise. This area of the world was the threshold between Asia and Europe. Both the Silk Road and the Spice Route had enterprising feelers here, which made the Byzantines and Ottomans ridiculously wealthy when they instituted policies and treaties that favored trade. The natural harbor in Constantinople acquired its name because so much wealth had passed through those waters that it incidentally became known as The Golden Horn. But, the most genuine thing about the Egyptian Bazaar is the selection of spices. Authentic or not, the packaging and display of them throughout the mass of merchant stalls makes it incredibly easy to imagine the place a thousand years ago, or more. This was a far cry from the Safeway at home. And the ability to bargain! Oh! It’s another game in itself. Unfortunately, I cannot reveal to you my personal methods of negotiation.
Denise Purchases Spices
Spices Hang to Dry
Admiring the apple tea, cardamom and disgusting Turkish Delights, we purchased and haggled what we desired and exited the market. Keeping in mind that we had no map, we headed towards the general direction of the Hippodrome. The only problem was that you could start off in that direction, but 70% of the time the street would end up curving into a completely new and opposite direction. Not before long, you have no idea where you are. No matter though, just keep taking left-hand turns and progress southeast. As long as it is still light out, there should be no reason to worry. Right turn. Right turn. Straight. Left turn, turns into right. Right turn brings you back down, so take the next left. Back to left, up, then right. Dead end ahead so take the next left. Hike up a steeeeeeeeeeep hill. Right turn. Straight. There is no end... but do not give up hope!
Wait! I see something!
What?!
Is that… an El Torito? Well, yes it is. I could see a Planet Hollywood restaurant here. But, let us be honest, an El Torito has no business here. It is completely out of place.
Alas, the little bull has made its way across the drink and landed in Istanbul. Fair enough. We needed a break. The temptation to go back to our hotel and sleep was starting to speak to us. This temptation is what I like to call, “The Darkness”. It is always important to stay active, especially when lacking sleep; otherwise you will succumb to The Darkness. And The Darkness always wins. Once someone has succumbed to The Darkness, there is no telling when it will leave you, but it is a good chance it will be sometime around 3am. It’s ruthless and leaves you as ruined as the places you wish to visit around you.
Now refreshed, we headed towards the notion that what we wanted was still further south. It worked. We stumbled upon the Hippodrome just minutes later and the Basilica Cistern was just minutes after that.
Ever since there has been a town on this peninsula, the water situation has been sparse. In order to remedy the water problem, an aqueduct that ran through the city was installed sometime early on in the Roman Empire. The aqueduct emptied into the Basilica Cistern, which, as with most Byzantine public works that still stand, is accredited to Justinian the Great. As far as Byzantine structures are concerned, the cistern is one of the greatest secrets to be explored by tourists.
In the 16th century a Dutch traveler, P. Gyllius, studying the Byzantine buildings still left in the city, caught on to a peculiar local phenomenon. The locals were descending buckets into holes in some basements to acquire fresh water. Some locals were even catching fish. Wanting to look into this, he found a secluded courtyard completely surrounded by walls and carefully went down a staircase that led into one of these watery holes. With only torchlight, he was able to determine, and later explore via boat, that this was the manmade cistern that fed water to the imperial palaces, residences, and churches of the old town. The underground structure is massive. Composed of around 336 columns, they are each about 30 feet tall and are of both Corinthian and Doric design. The cistern is about 32,152 square feet and can hold an estimated 100,000 tons of water. Under the right lighting conditions, it looks as though it’s an endless field of columns. There is only about 2 feet of water in it currently. There have been numerous renovations throughout the century to keep it in a solid and stable state. Presently there is a catwalk that leads you through the maze of columns. Hidden at the back left of the cistern there are a pair of columns that are worth mentioning. On the base of these particular columns are heads of Medusa. For reasons of superstition or for no reason at all, they rest ‘upside-down’ and ‘to the side’ facing the same direction.
One of Two Medusa Columns
There is also one particular column along the catwalk that has tears formed within the body of the column. If one wants good luck, they can place their thumb in the nucleus of the tear and trace their fingers around the form of the entire tear.
A Cistern "Tear Column"
Personally, the Basilica Cistern is one of my favorite sites to see in Istanbul. The fact that it was so haphazardly found, and the fact there are probably more undiscovered cisterns out there in old Constantinople, gives me the rejuvenating feeling of the potential for more discovery out there.
The Endless Field of Columns
Thus, you never know what kind of historically altering evidence still may be brought forth to the table.
Complete the entire puzzle before starting work on the next one.
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