Galata tower and further into Istanbul

After the meeting finished we set off to walk to the Old Town. We meandered our way through the main shopping street, and found ourselves at the Galata Tower, just in time to go up it before it got dark. The one downside to Europe at this time of year is that it gets dark so early!
To the left is the Tower. This was originally built in 1348, although the plaque says 1453. It is the high point of the Genoese fortifications of Galata and provides great views over the city.
The photo on the right shows the view down over the Golden Horn, over the Galata Bridge. You can see that the bridge is deserted - there were police blocks on either end as this was the Pope's route through to Taksim Square. To the right on the opposite bank is Sulimaniye Mosque, just over the bridge on the left is Yeni Mosque and the spice bazaar.

The second photo here shows the Sulimaniye Mosque just as night is falling. This is the mosque of Suliman the Magnificent, the greatest, richest and most powerful of the Ottoman sultans.

We walked down from the tower to Galata bridge, down a narrow cobbled street lined with shops selling musical instruments of all descriptions. Crossing the bridge was easy thanks to the police blockades, and we were able to walk along the middle of the road. Usually it's congested with cars and buses. Just as we got to the Yeni camii or mosque, pictured right, the pope's entourage went through. The Yeni mosque is classed as a new mosque, as it's only about 400 years old!
We wandered on to the Spice market again, where we were hailed with now familiar greetings such as "how may I hassle you today?"... "How can I help you spend your money".. and of course "hey lady, where are you from?". The 'Turkish Viagra" sellers seem to ave upped their ante today - we saw one shop advertising that this conconction would enable "5 times a night", only to be outpipped by the one across the way who proudly and loudly proclaim that theirs would enable my husband to perform "7 times a night"!! When I said that I didn't have a husband, the shopkeeper volunteered to prove it would work! hah! I wanted to ask if it had a money back guarantee! Anyway, by the time we made it to the grand bazaar things were closing up for the night, so we found a cafe that had segafredo coffee instead of the usual nescafe, had dinner in a restaurant under the Galata bridge and then went back to Taksim for the night.

Turkey - Night of the whirling dervishes

Well we had an exciting night tonight - a group of us wanted to go and see the whirling dervishes down at the Orient Express train station. We had taxis booked for 6pm but when we came down found out that the Pope was going to be going through Taxim Square tonight, so all roads were shut down - no traffic in or out and about a million police + helicopters everywhere. It was pretty weird when the roads around the square are usually packed with mad traffic to see it deserted and to be able to cross the street without feeling like you were taking your life in your hands.

That meant to get there we had to take the funicular and then a tram. The funicular part was pretty crowded, but not too bad, but the tram! my god - we let two go because we just couldn't fit on, then got onto the next one and I have never been so squashed in all of my life!! There were fights breaking out after two stops because people kept trying to get on and no one was getting off.... we got off at the fifth stop and it was really starting to get nasty.

Anyway the dervishes were pretty amazing then we had dinner at the Orient Express cafe. Traffic in Taxim Square is back to its normal insanity so I guess he's been and gone. I know tomorrow he s going to the Blue mosque and Haga Sophia, so we aren't going anywhere near there after the meeting!

The pics in this post are of the whirling dervishes....

Merhaba from Istanbul!

Greetings one and all - Merhaba from Istanbul!
There are noisy riots continuing today - I can hear chanting from the hotel even though it's not that close. All against the Pope's imminent visit to Turkey. However we are staying well away from it all, and tomorrow start work on PISA again.So for tonight, just a few snippets of first views of Istanbul.

Firstly, they love their baklava.. in all its forms.This stupendous baklava tree was in a shop window down the road from us..... mmmmmm...!


The next images are various views over and around Istanbul...


The last one in this set above is part of the 18km long walls built to protet the city.. about 2000 years old from what I can read, and still standing for the most part.

This is the Blue Mosque, one of the most famous in Istanbul. Unlike any other mosque outside of Mecca it has 6 minarets. It was built in the 16th century.










I'm not sure why this building below keeps catching my eye! There are some beautiful carvings around the windows, but despite it being on a main road and having the most magnificent views over all of Istanbul, it is a total wreck..



Other things in Istanbul have stood the test of time. This is the Aqueduct of Valens, constructed by the Emporer Valens in the 4th century.











We walked down to the Golden Horn area today, through the Spice market - also built in the 1600s and still going strong. The market smells heavenly - saffron and mint and hundreds of other smells all mingling in the warmth.

And then there was the "Turkish Viagra" on sale - hopefully different the the REAL viagra that was for sale from dozens of touts outside the spice market. God only knows what the use by date on that stuff was!!!

After the spice market we meandered our way through streets selling all sorts of kitchen equipment, linen, tools etc until we got to the famous Grand Bazaar. Some very serious shopping followed, along with a proposal and a cup of coffee with a Turkish George Clooney! At least that's what he said his name was!

Washington DC, USA

I'm kind of doing this blog backwards, because I'm already home! Anyway it was an interesting time to be in DC, with Congress turning to the Democrats in a pretty big way! Weather was pretty crappy on the few spare days I had, but fine and sunny when we were indoors at the conference - of course!

Next stop off was the Einstein statue - stood in the centre of the universe and spoke to Albert.. it's prettier at night with the star map beautifully marked with reflective markers, but still gorgeous in the day time. The White House was under seige by journalists!


Next stop across the park was the Vietnam memorial.

I'd seen this before at night, and it's a very moving memorial. The wall starts low, representing the loss of life at the start of the Vietnam War, and grows chronologically as deaths increase. The names of all who died are inscribed on the wall.

Next shot is the Freedom Wall. This is located on the west side of the World War II memorial.The wall contains 4048 gold stars, one for every approximately 100 American deaths incurred in the war.
A part of the WWII memorial is next.



The memorial consists of 56 pillars, each a little more than 5 m high, arranged in a semicircle around a central plaza with two 13 m arches on opposite sides. Each pillar is inscribed with the names of the then-48 US States, the District of Colombia, and the Alaska Territory. The Territory of Hawaii, the Phillippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands. One arch is inscribed "Pacific" and the other "Atlantic".
Looking over the Rainbow and reflecting pools is the Lincoln Memorial, then looking down from the steps of the Lincoln memorial towards the Washington Monument. All very beauiful.

The site of the Martin Luther King memorial is also in this area, it'll be completed in thenext few years.

After wandering around all these monuments I headed off down the National Mall towards the Congress.

Vikings and Polar Explorers ... Bygdøy

Norway Day 3.. we went museuming today... it was cool and grey outside, threatened with rain although it never quite eventuated.

Tomorrow it's down to work, so this is probably the last post from Norway...
The first shots today are from the Viking ship museum, which has the best preserved viking ships in the world. The ships were found in three large burial mounds in Eastern Norway. The Oseberg ship, which is the first pictured, had been a sailing vessel and was reused as a burial ship for a prominent woman who died in 834 AD. The second ship pictured here on the left is the Tune ship, and is in the condition it was found in in 1867. The third is the Gokstad ship, which was built around 890 AD and was used in the burial of a powerful chieftan.
The only Viking Age wagon was found at the burial site in Oseberg. It's believed that women of high social standing travelled to their burial in such wagons, and they appear to be purely ceremonial, as the front axle is attached to the chassis, preventing the wagon from turning. The wagon is inticately carved, with scenes that are probably llustrations of legends.

After the Viking museum we headed down to the Fram museum, to see ships from a later period of Norwegian history.

The Fram museum tells the history of polar exploration, north and south pole. The polar ship Fram is the strongest vessel in the world, and the one sea-going vessel that has been the furthest north and south. Fram was designed to survive the pressure of the freezing ice in the polar oceans, because of its shape that allowed the ice to push the ship up, allowing it to 'float' on top of the ice. Fram was used by Nansen and Sverdrup to explore the North Pole, and Amundsen to reach the South Pole. It's hard to get perspective, as it's HUGE, but the picture on the left shows the reinforcing on the edge of the hull to allow it to withstand the conditions. Inside there's a display with lots and lots of seal skin clothes, polar bear rugs and other artefacts from the expeditions... like this ...Last stop for the day was the Historical Museum, part of the University of Oslo as was the Viking Ship Museum.
On display here is a collection of Norwegian antiquities from the Ice Age to the coming of Christianity and ethnographic collections showing artefacts from the indigenous people of the Arctic regions.

On the left and right are two Viking doors, each huge and most spectacularly carved. Below is the front and back of the most glorious ceremonal robe I have ever seen. I suppose it's Sami, as it was in that general area, but I could be wrong - all of the signage was in Norwegian!

It's made of animal skins and there are things hanging off t everywhere.. I just think it's beautiful, and so is the headdress pictured near it. If you can see, there is a picture of someone wearing the robe in the background of the picture taken from the front.