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.

High Tea at Pera Palace Hotel

Last month, the Pera Palace Hotel reopened after the completion of a two year renovation project. The hotel was originally built in 1892 for visitors arriving in Istanbul via the Orient Express. Many famous people have stayed here, including Agatha Christie, who stayed in room 411, now called the Agatha Christie room. Her novel "Murder on the Orient Express" may have some inspiration from this hotel. I went to the hotel for a visit and to experience their afternoon high tea. A nicely restored Plymouth is parked at the front door, and a friendly doorman opens the front door for guests.

High Tea is served in a large ballroom with a beautiful ceiling, faux painted marble walls and wooden interior balconies. At one end of the ballroom, a piano was being played - Moon River, and other western tunes.

Without giving me a menu, the server asked me what kind of tea I wanted. I asked what was available. English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey Tea and Turkish Tea. These are all teas available in the food stores, so nothing special... I surpressed my laugh and requested the Earl Grey. The tea arrived as well as the sandwiches. I had a salmon sandwich and a roast beef and cheese sandwich. The pink and white plates were very pretty.

The next two courses of scones and sweets were served together via a buffet table. Yes, that is a bit of gold leaf on top of the square chocolate cake.

The atmosphere was very nice and relaxing and I was glad I had a chance to visit the hotel. Back out on the more hectic streets of Istanbul, I found myself humming Moon River, which did not seem to bother any of the Istanbulites a bit. Reservations are not required for the daily 3 - 6 pm high tea, but are for the hotel rooms. So if you are interested in a stay, here is the link http://www.perapalace,com

Emirgan Park

Emirgan Park is one of the largest parks in Istanbul. I had attempted a visit in the summer, but the walk up the hill from the Bosphorus was too intimidating. Today I attended a luncheon at a home near an exit from the park at its highest elevation. As I was on foot, rather than in a car, it was no problem to step over the metal grate that would puncture tires entering this exit. Emirgan Park is famous for its tulips in the spring, so I will be visiting again at that time. But it was beautiful today also. Within the park, there are three pavillions, named for their colors. We have the White Pavillion, ... the Yellow Pavillion, which was open today for dining, and...

the Pink Pavillion.

Throughout the park, there are many walking trails, picnic tables, park benches, ...

a water fountain, with ducks and ...

a friendly swan. Not many people were in the park, as we are now in our second week of school and this was early afternoon. I imagine weekends are another story.

The grounds were magnificantly kept. Gardeners were working in several areas. My favorites in the park were the tree with the pink flowers, and ...

the knotted up tree.

I walked downward through the park and ended up at the Bosphorus, where I took the bus to Bebek and the ferry back to the Asian side. A to be repeated visit to Emirgan Park.

Istinye

Today I was over on the European side and had a walk around the village of Istinye. Istinye harbor area is just one of many natural harbors along the Bosphorus. It has a good size harbor, which is always lined with boats. In the distance, you can easily see the Asian side of Istanbul.

After walking around the harbor, I walked down some side streets away from the water and found a very pretty flowering tree, ...

and a building supply shop with the clay roof tiles piled up outside the shop.

And if you are shopping for a wedding dress, you might want to check out this shop.

The new USA consulate is not far from here, but you must have an appointment to get in, even if you are a passport holder of the USA. I still have pages in my passport, so no need for an appointment today.

The Color Orange

I purchased a vase recently. Not only is it orange, but it is in the shape of an orange segment. It is made by Pasabahce, one of my favorite shops in Turkey. They have been making glass pieces for everyday and art since 1938. There is also a village named Pasabahce, just a few villages north of me on the Asia side. It was the location of their factory until a recent relocation out of the area. When they first established the factory, it was probably considered far out from the city, but as the city grew, it became incorporated into the densely populated part of Istanbul. I did take a walk by the factory to see if it was completely closed down, and it appeared so.

Nearby, a creative someone seems to have made a home out of containers and painted them orange. So in keeping with an orange theme, here is the container house,...

and a more traditional house in another part of town, ...

life saving equipment on board a newer ferry, ...

and a couple of flowers from my brother-in-law's garden.

I just bought the flowers for my vase today and wonder if my husband will notice them. He had not yet noticed the orange vase!

Hope all are noticing some orange in the changing seasons.

Amy

Persian Pants

Persian pants are not the latest fashion statement in Istanbul, but they are on display at the Yapi Kredi (my bank) museum. These pants were created using the sprang technique, where vertically stretched threads are interlinked or intertwined together. It is thought this technique was used prior to knitting to create an elastic type garment, plus you could create this nice zig-zag pattern. Here is a small sample of some sprang work to give you a better idea as to how it is done. The pants were known to be worn by the Persian army as well as all Scythians and they are depicted here on a re-created painting and the original, found in a wooden burial chamber. The burial chamber is thought to be the only painted wooden grave chamber ever to be found. And it was found in Afyonkarahisar in western Turkey. Recently, the chamber has been excavated and the paintings studied. The chamber was built around 470 B.C. and has painted panels on all the interior walls. As you can see, the archers look very smart on horseback with their zig-zag designed pants. A time before camouflage to blend into the landscape.

The German excavation team did some research to determine how the paint was made and retained its color. They took pigments and mized them with such things as egg, linseed oil, cherry gum and rabbit skin glue to recreate the colors and their longevity.

The pigment colors were derived from locally available minerals.

The entire chamber is currently located in the Yapi Kredi museum in Istanbul, and will subsequently be moved to a museum in the city of Afyonkarahisar.

I have not seen anyone wearing these pants in downtown Istanbul, but I have seen girls wearing denim shrugs. Not sure if that is last year's fashion or this year's, but they are a new fashion item to me.

Turkish Coffee

Turks drink 245 million glasses of tea every day - that was news in yesterday's paper. With a population of 73 million, that only allows for 3 and 1/3 glasses per person. When you work the math, the number actually sounds a little low to me. It is by far the most popular drink. But there is some coffee drinking going on also. Turkish coffee is usually made one or two cups at a time and served in an espresso size cup. The coffee itself is very finely ground - I would call it coffee powder. The coffee and water are heated together in a little pot and after the coffee has boiled and foamed, it is poured in the cup. Sip slowly and carefully, as all the coffee powder is in the bottom of the cup.

When you have finished your coffee, place the saucer over the cup, give it a little swirl
and turn it over. Now it is ready to cool before having your fortune read.

An expert is needed to read the symbolism in your coffee grounds. Birds are good, but I don't see any in this cup. The handle of the cup marks the 12 o'clock position. So, if you had a bird at 3 o'clock, that would mean good news in 3 hours or 3 days or 3 weeks. The three is specific, but not the unit of time.

Not this, but another cup of Turkish coffee I drank, yielded the good fortune that I would be receiving lots of money. My reader is very new at this, but all encourage me to buy a lottery ticket. I was not so sure about this, and the lottery ticket costs $8. So I went for the 1/2 ticket for $4. The drawing is this Sunday evening. If I win a million dollars, my husband will retire for good. In the meantime, he is going to work.