My Goztepe

Within Istanbul, there are many districts, which are subdivided into towns and villages, which are in turn subdivided into the smallest governing body, each with it own responsibilities.  My local area is called Goztepe, literally eye hill, probably meaning nice view from a hill.  With all the hills in Istanbul, there are many Goztepe's.  The border of mine starts at the Goksu stream, which feeds into the Bosphorus.

Our town hall is not large, but does have the office of our token elected official.  I have met him and am registered in his office as someone who lives in the area.

Behind the town hall, we have a park.  This is where I will meet my husband in the event of an earthquake.  Recently, there was an earthquake in the eastern part of Turkey.  We are in western part of the country, so safe. But Turkey has fault lines throughout, so all should have a meeting place planned.

We also have an archaeology park, that is not open to the public.  The earliest finds of the Istanbul area are from a paleolithic settlement here.

We have a nice shop that sells pottery...

And behind the shop is where they make it.

A fenced in piece of property was recently the home of oversized marketing campaign props, but it is being dismantled for who knows what.  There had been a security booth at the entrance to the property, but that is now gone, and the dummy that was inside has been tossed to the side.  I hope he is able to find another job as good as his last.

We're Moving!

We are not moving too far away, just down the same street of the same housing complex in Istanbul.  This new apartment will have the additional features of non-rusty water,  no neighbors upstairs and a terrace above the main floor.  The only downside is the 42 steps down to get to the building's entrance, but its location eliminates the need to walk up and down a steep hill when arriving on foot.

The layout on the inside has just a few differences, including a small pink room off the master bedroom, which will be my study.

We have a large room upstairs, with a terrace,

looking out to the Bosphorus view.

Looking straight down from our hill, is a very quiet factory, which I went down to investigate.

 The entrance was very well maintained, but locked to keep out unwanted visitors.  The company is called Valley Farms, founded by Huseyin Kalealti.  They process spices and  soap root used to produce the Turkish helva candy.  Their website is located at kalealti.com  and it features a picture of the founder's birthplace - a home at the base of the Anadolu Hisari fortress.  The founder's family name, Kalealti, means, "under the fortress".

The location of the founder's birthplace would be among these homes which today sit under the fortress.

We'll move in the beginning of February, probably without our new neighbors down the hill ever finding out.

Anadolu Hisari Happenings

It's been a while since I last posted... I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family in NJ and returned to Istanbul after a short two weeks in the USA. The weather was still warm here (up to 70 degrees F) and I was happy to walk around outside. It takes me 45 minutes to walk to my local ferry landing and here are some of the sights along the way. On this walk, I noticed sheep grazing on the adjacent hill for the first time. I don't know if they are new neighbors, or old neighbors that I can now see with fallen leaves. I stopped by an enclosed gravesite of Hasan Efendi and family, evidently people of importance to this area. Another walker asked me if I spoke German, and then told me that the dates on the marker were of the Arabic system, and were about 300 years old. Ottoman grave markers for men have carved turbans or hats, which depict their status or position in life. Markers for women have carved flowers and designs.

When I got to the Anadolu Hisari fortress, I saw a black pickup truck, which may be a common sight in the USA, but not here, and ...

upon closer look, was sporting a sticker from Cabela's in PA. Hunting is not legal in Turkey, nor ownership of guns, so this may be a one man political statement.

A new restaurant rolled into town, and it looks like it could just as easily roll out of town if we do not give it enough patronage.

By the ferry landing, a new home is being built. Homes along the Bosphorus can only be rebuilt to look like the traditional home that was there. Traditional homes are wooden, although I see vinyl siding in recent rebuilds. For this home, a wooden frame was started and is now being reinforced with steel. I would guess the steel is insurance for earthquakes. Homes along the Bosphorus are called yali and they go for many millions of dollars a piece.

The warm weather was not to last forever, and a storm blew in, initially with snow. There was no accumulation, and I don't believe a flake of snow actually touched the ground. It was whirling around sideways, which I tried to capture in this picture of our adjacent hill of pine trees.

The snow was short lived, followed by torrential rains, high winds and flooding. It will be a different winter, for sure.

Anadolu Hisari

Anadolu Hisari is one of the villages along the Bosphorus, on the Asian side and the one that I live in. It is named after the fortress built here in 1395 by Sultan Yildirim Bayezid, Istanbul's first fortress, or so the sign says. The fortress was enlarged in 1453 by Sultan Mehmet the Conquerer to manage traffic control on the Bosphorus. A larger fortress (Rumeli Hisari) was also built at this time on the other side of the Bosphorus and the two could be connected via a heavy linked chain. The fortress is located on the Bosphorus at the point where the Goksu stream feeds into it.


Today, Anadolu Hisari is an open air museum, with the remnants of the towers and walls on either side of our main street downtown.

The fortress is primarily comprised of stone, but there is also some brickwork designed into the towers.

Goksu stream is a major parking lot for boats on either side.

Downtown Anadolu Hisari is about a block long and has at least three bakeries in this space - a little carbohydrate heaven.

Just past the fortress is our ferry landing and often the port of embarkation for my excursions to the Europe side. Rumeli Hisari, on the other side will be featured in another post.