Well I really touristed it up today.
It rained steadily until about 5p and my punk self did not bring a poncho, so I was soaked most of the time.
I started off at Tokapi palace, the palace of the sultans...
It was alright. They make you buy a seperate ticket to get into the Harem, the Sultan's family's private quarters. I bet they only get more money for it because of the titalation of the word "harem" in the west. I think you expect to see giant beds and mirrored cielings and poles. But mostly it's a bunch of relatively nice rooms. Nothin sexy about it really (except maybe the swimming pool, not that there was anything sexy about the swimming pool, just that it was one place where you could picture all the concubines frolicking together, perhaps naked). the rest pf the palace was pretty nice, but not overwhelming (I skipped the also extra treasury which may have had the wowee zowee jewels). The coolest part was the religious relics Sultans had collect. Some of Mohammed's (SAW) red beard hairs, a tooth and a "footprint" were there (how do you get a "footprint"? Did he step in cement for someone? Also seeing the prophet's sword and the swords of his companions was pretty cool.
Then I went over to Hagia Sophia, a giant church built by Roman (Byzantine) Emporer Justinian. It's got a weird cuteness about it. Maybe it's the blush pink color. And the Muslims who took it over during the conquest had really poor taste in erecting 4 minarets - 3 in gray stone and 1 in brick. It looks real unprofessional. On the inside they did very little besides inscibing a nice banner on the dome, no doubt saying "there is no god but God and mohammed is his profit. They also hung some big disks with Arabic on them.
I checked out a Byzantine cistern, a James Bond set which they had the forsight to build 1500 years ago.
And I went over to galata and climbed the tower.
Tommorrow I say less walking, more boat ridin'
peace.
It rained steadily until about 5p and my punk self did not bring a poncho, so I was soaked most of the time.
I started off at Tokapi palace, the palace of the sultans...
It was alright. They make you buy a seperate ticket to get into the Harem, the Sultan's family's private quarters. I bet they only get more money for it because of the titalation of the word "harem" in the west. I think you expect to see giant beds and mirrored cielings and poles. But mostly it's a bunch of relatively nice rooms. Nothin sexy about it really (except maybe the swimming pool, not that there was anything sexy about the swimming pool, just that it was one place where you could picture all the concubines frolicking together, perhaps naked). the rest pf the palace was pretty nice, but not overwhelming (I skipped the also extra treasury which may have had the wowee zowee jewels). The coolest part was the religious relics Sultans had collect. Some of Mohammed's (SAW) red beard hairs, a tooth and a "footprint" were there (how do you get a "footprint"? Did he step in cement for someone? Also seeing the prophet's sword and the swords of his companions was pretty cool.
Then I went over to Hagia Sophia, a giant church built by Roman (Byzantine) Emporer Justinian. It's got a weird cuteness about it. Maybe it's the blush pink color. And the Muslims who took it over during the conquest had really poor taste in erecting 4 minarets - 3 in gray stone and 1 in brick. It looks real unprofessional. On the inside they did very little besides inscibing a nice banner on the dome, no doubt saying "there is no god but God and mohammed is his profit. They also hung some big disks with Arabic on them.
I checked out a Byzantine cistern, a James Bond set which they had the forsight to build 1500 years ago.
And I went over to galata and climbed the tower.
Tommorrow I say less walking, more boat ridin'
peace.
posted by Wes at 1:25 PM
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