Continuing my little series of "lost" photos from Istanbul (previous installments:
Chora Church,
Hagia Sophia photos and the
original trip report), here are some views of the city, part from when we took a ferry from one side of the city to the other, part from our misguided attempt to try to just walk blindly in the direction of the bridge across the Bosphorus and stand in two continents at once (I found out much later that people haven't been allowed to walk on the bridge for a very long time, however this was a moot point since we were able to find the bridge, but we were down below and couldn't find how to get up on to the bridge - a quest hampered by "military do not enter" zones).
First though, pictures of the Basilica Cistern, built in the 6th century under Emperor Justinian. As the name suggests, a grand basilica dating from the 3rd-4th centuries originally stood on the site, before being destroyed and rebuilt several times and then turned into an underground cistern which provided water to part of the city until modern times.
It's huge - as big as a cathedral, and capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres of water (yes I did my
Wikipedia homework). There's not that much to see down there, but there is a nice, reflective atmosphere, in more ways than one ho ho ho.
It also has fishies!
One of the "Medusa head" statues
I took this out of the window of my bus going back to the airport, came out pretty well considering!
The Blue Mosque
Bridge over the Bosphorus
Me, looking very pale and wild of hair, with the Bosphorus Bridge barely visible in the background
Shots from the ferry. The seagulls were loving it - I suppose the chop brings fish to the surface or something
Like the new look. Glad you've given up being an itinerant preacher, too, ha ha. Lovely to find the pretty photos at the very end, too. M x
ReplyDeleteThanks. What do you mean the very end? x
DeleteIf I scroll down past the post, to the bottom of the screen I can see beautiful photos of sea and coast - maybe Nice?
ReplyDeleteOh right that's behind the whole thing, maybe it looks different on your computer? Yep, it's the Côte d'Azur near Monaco
DeleteWell I think the pictures are lovely! Looks cold though. Glad you dug out the old pictures.
DeleteLove Denise.
Thank you. It was January, but not that bad as I recall. Cold enough to wear a coat and scarf, obviously, but I think not so cold that I felt cold with my coat on.
Delete"Glad you've given up being an itinerant preacher" Ha! I had to laugh about this comment because as I've already told you, I was convinced for the longest time that you actually were a preacher!
DeleteLove the new blog design! It looks fresh and "clean", as my son would say.
I'm not sure if I took any photos of the Basilica Cistern when we were in Istanbul a couple of years ago. But you're right, it's a very reflective place! I could have easily stayed down there for a couple of hours. Those are some beautiful shots from the ferry.
Thank you, I've been meaning to change things up for a while, but I'm lazy... I don't particularly like the black strip on the right, but again, lazy. Yeah, they kicked me off the preachin' circuit, dommage!
DeleteWhoa! Blog face lift! Loving it! It's so clean and profesh. : )
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying these lost photo posts. Your hair looks so lovely full and curly!
Okay, I just read the comments and I too thought you really were a preacher. I have been meaning to mention it in an email but I thought you'd get all "preachery" on me and talk about the Lord, which is fine. I just wouldn't know how to respond....
Wow, okay...this changes everything, because things were adding up and I just assumed it was me missing something.
Haha I feel kind of dumb right now. : / !
Thanks! Actually, I feel dumb, it was sort of a joke from back when mostly people I knew in real life read the blog and it didn't occur to me that people would take that seriously until Mary Kay told me she really thought that! Plus my mum will say she told me so, because she did tell me so and I was all "nah, no-one would think heathen Gwan was a preacher". D'oh! I promise not to talk to you about the Lord!
DeleteI told you so.
ReplyDeleteOrrr manus :(
Delete