what's up, buttercup?

Apple tea, hummus, the echo of call to prayer, so many men trying to sell me carpets, silk scarves and burkas, very old things, restaurants with big kilim pillows instead of chairs, the best white beans ever, evil eyes, bialys street vendors, golden mosaics, windy ferry rides, lights reflecting on the Straits of Bosphorus, a bus ride to the beach, toes in the Aegean, bulk olives ordered in pantomime, nutella for breakfast, weird money, fish markets, afternoon backgammon and beer, tulips, ancient ruins, a little winery village, churches and mosques, salt-of-the-earth restaurant proprietors, so much history, oh so beautiful.

tell me about some place beautiful that you’ve been?

Belly Dancer and Sultan Outfits. Istanbul Spice Market, April 2009.

Blue Mosque. Archiriffic. April 2009.

largo | flickr

Food Friday, Travel Edition: Olives for Sale, Asian* Istanbul Market

I loves me some cured olives. LOVES.OLIVES! In Turkey, we got like two huge handfuls for 80 cents. That’d be, oh, 8 bucks at Whole Paycheck. I love the open air markets, the huge vats of cured olives and pickles, the fish straight from the overfished sea, the strange and yummy cheeses, the bustling little ladies and grizzled old shopkeepers.

*Asian Istanbul is the part of Istanbul on the Asian vs. European continent. If you make it Istanbul, definitely take the cheap little ferry over to Asian Istanbul and spend an evening playing backgammon and sipping an Efes.

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

I love this kind of intricate gaudiness and the nearly overwhelming density of pretty.

Crumbling Jesus Mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

View Large and On Black

I processed some more pics from Turkey and posted ‘em in my Instanbul Set on Flickr. Most of the new ones are from the Spice Market, and there’s a few Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque in there too. Travel is so very good for the soul.

From wikipedia: The Deësis (‘Δέησις’ in Greek, meaning Entreaty) mosaic probably dates from 1261. It was commissioned to mark the end of 57 years of Roman Catholic use and the return to the Orthodox faith. It is the third panel situated in the imperial enclosure of the upper galleries. It is widely considered the finest in the Hagia Sophia, because of the softness of the features, the humane expressions and the tones of the mosaic. The style is close to that of the Italian painters of the late 13th or early 14th century, such as Duccio. In this panel the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist (Ioannes Prodromos), both shown in three-quarters profile, are imploring the intercession of Christ Pantocrator for humanity on Judgment Day. The bottom part of this mosaic is badly deteriorated, probably due to rain since the mosaic is next to the windows. This mosaic is considered as the beginning of the Renaissance in Byzantine pictorial art.

This is Medusa’s head. (see the snakey hair?) It’s big. It was purposefully placed as a pillar base in the back corner of Istanbul’s Basilica Cistern. “The origin of the two heads is unknown, though it is rumoured that the heads were brought to the cistern after being removed from an antique building of the late Roman period.”

Topkapi Palace, Harem. Silly mannekins in quite nice light.