Day 31: Boats, and Trams, and Funiculars, oh my!

Istanbul, Turkey

(July 23, 2019)

Today was our last day in the Eastern Hemisphere.  After breakfast, we took a tram to the harbor to check on ferries.  Randy had taken a ferry cruise when he was here before that was very enjoyable.  It is five hours long and travels along the Bosphorus Straight, stopping at towns along the way.  It stops just before reaching the Black Sea at a small fishing village.  It stays there for an hour and a half (long enough for a meal), then returns the same way.  Most tourists take the shorter ferry cruises of two hours on faster boats.  The two-hour cruises cost about $40 per person, while the five-hour costs about $4 because the longer one acts as transport for locals and is a slower boat.  We chose the longer one, but we had to wait until right before the boat left at 1:00 to purchase tickets.  

Süleymaniye Mosque from the harbor

Walking to the mosque

 Next we walked to Süleymaniye Mosque.  It was all uphill from the harbor (!).  Randy wanted Joshua and I to see a Mosque whose ceiling was not covered up due to renovations.  It was nice and we enjoyed seeing it.  It is built on one of the seven hills of Istanbul and a plaque at the site says that it is considered the greatest mosque of Istanbul.  It is noted for it’s stained glass windows, acoustics, granite columns, and several other amenities.  The complex of the mosque covers 63,000 square meters.  A fund was set up to fund the mosque that had 271 properties, which 2 islands and 217 villages.  The fund paid for the wages of the 275 personnel of the mosque and the 311 personnel of the other buildings in the complex.  The mosque was damaged by fire in 1660 and all of the columns were covered up by plaster and oil paint.  In 1956, the pain was scraped off and the minarets, domes, and vaults were restored.

mosaic arabic writing (probably from the Quran)

All of the chandeliers in Turkish mosques hang very low to where
the people are.

Next we took the very crowded tram to see the old city walls.  They were built around 400 CE.  Constantinople was built on a tip of land along the Bosphorus Strait.  The city wall went across to protect that tip of land (from the Sea of Marmare to Golden Horn) from invaders.  Much of it still exists but we were only able to spend a little bit of time there so that we could be back in time for the ferry cruise.  A major road goes through the wall, but it is built up on each side of the road so I am guessing that an older road once went through there and there were gates there. 

The road goes through this section of the wall.  It continues in the background

The space between the inner and outer walls is being used as an events space

Then back on the tram to the harbor.  The tram was absolutely packed.  We were squished together.  When it stopped, people would usually look and proceed to a different door.  A few times they didn’t, and they just pushed through, squishing everyone even tighter.  It was a nice day, but the temperature in the tram from all of those people was quite warm.  It was such a relief to get out at our stop!    

We arrived at the harbor at 1:00 to buy our tickets for the 1:30 trip, then waited around with everyone else for the ferry.  Once on the boat, we found seats next to the railing on the back deck.  We were surprised by how large and nice the houses along the strait were.  Some were mansions and government buildings.  There was a nice breeze.  Joshua found a cat and laid down with it in a corner and fell asleep for part of the journey.  When we arrived at the furthest stop, every one disembarked.  The wharf area was stuffed with cafés.  We went to the nearest one and ordered.  The food was fabulous!  Definitely a step up from where we had been eating before!  Then we had a little time, so we wandered around the little village, looking into the shops until it was time to get back on the ferry.  On the way back, the breeze was not as strong and the later afternoon sun was making the deck hot.  I was exhausted, so I went inside, found a bench, laid down, and fell asleep.  I wasn’t the only one sleeping on a bench in there!  Several other people had the idea before me. 

Top Kapi Palace

An old fort

The Turkish flag

Joshua sleeping with the kitten

A lot of gray boats--maybe a military installation?

The new bridge.  Just beyond that is the Black Sea

We all tried the balaklava

I awoke shortly before we arrived back in Istanbul.  When we landed, we set off on foot across the bridge to see the Galata Tower.  We wanted to check out sunset from the top of the tower.  The tower is on a hillside and one of the earliest funicular services that hill (it’s very steep).  We had trouble finding it at first because they call it a Tünel and because it was located inside a building with a small sign announcing that it was the tünel.  We figured it out and took it up using our transit pass, then had to walk down a short bit because the tower is not at the top of the hill.  It was built in the early 500s CE by the Byzantine Emporer Anastasius as a lighthouse tower.  It was mostly demolished during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, then was rebuilt using masonry stones and the Walls of Galata by the Genoese in 1348 and named “The Tower of Jesus.”  It was heightened in 1445 and 1446, then renovated and reparied in each century after it was taken by the Turks  in 1453.  In the 1500s it was used as the shelter for Christian war captives who were put to work in the shipyards.  It became an observatory for the well-known astronomer Takiyuddin from 1576 until it was closed by the religious authority in 1580.  It was given by the government which was unusual at that time.  Evidently, the work that he did there was phenomenal and very instrumental in developing the field.  It is unknown why they closed it down.  It was then used in the late 1600s by Hazerfen Ahmet Celebi who in 1638 flew from the tower across the Bosphorus Strait using wings that he designed himelf.  It has been used as a fire watchtower since 1717.  They would announce a fire by playing a big drum.  The tower was ironically damaged by fire around 1800 and 1831.  Its cone fell over in a storm in 1875 and it was repaired again in 1967.  It is 70 meters tall and its walls are 3.75 meters thick!  The walls were made of untreated rubble stones. 

We had to wait in a LONG line to get in.  You go up in an elevator to the restaurant level, then use stairs to go up the last bit.  Then it is an open air balcony to look around.  I did see a marriage proposal (she said yes) at one point.  People were squished together (one man squished a bit too much against me if you know what I mean) and all became frustrated trying to move around and take pictures. 

Galata Tower

This little girl was SO EXCITED about the kitten!  She was jumping
up and down and smiling--it was so cute to see her joy!

The area above the elevator to go up

The Hagia Sophia (most signs label it as the Ayasofia)

Looking straight down to the square

We finally left and walked to the tram which we took back to our neighborhood where we stopped for dinner before going back to our hotel to pack and sleep.  

Accommodation for the hills in Istanbul