Istanbul, January 2011: Day 3

Our third day in Istanbul took us again down from Cihangir to the tram-line on Meclis-i-Mebusan Caddesi. We took the tram to Gülhane in search of the Hodja Pasa Cultural Center where we planned to buy tickets for the evening show of Dervish dance. The map on their web-site was not much help but eventually after asking a few people we found the place - and bought tickets for that evenings folk and belly dance show (next posting). The dervishes will have to wait till next time. Then we strolled around Sirkeci and Sultanahmet, had late lunch and were back to Hodja Pasa for the show.

However the first three photos were taken without going anywhere - from the apartment window in Cigangir. The balcony of the neighboring house, the laughing dove in front of the kitchen window and the view of the Marmara Sea at 10 am.

Again the Istanbul dogs. This is the same ruins and the same young dog I showed on Day 1 just down the hill. The dog was with three men apparently living in the ruins. I thought it made a great composition in the window.

The "Pudding Shop Lale Restaurant" at Sultanahmet. We ordered Mackerel, I ordered also some fried slices of patlican (eggplant) and bulgur. Delicious.

This photo of the Istanbul PTT Museum was taken by my daughter Pinja. Sometimes she is amazing - just taking the camera from me and showing with one shot how it should be composed.

Istanbul dog sitting on the roof at Hodja Pasa. It's a good place to watch what is going on...

Istanbul Day 1
Istanbul Day 2

I'll still be posting more: pictures from the dance show, Day 4 and Istanbul in monochrome.

I am not posting all photos in the blog. You'll find more in my Smugmug.

Istanbul, January 2011: Day 1

The last visit to Istanbul was for my 50 y birthday in April/May 2010. Now I am there again with my daughter - visiting my mother who is living there this winter. The first photo is from the Cihangir street taken from the window of the apartment my mother is renting. We visited the same district several times in May because the Bugday office is nearby.

Istanbul is full of cats and dogs. My daughter always had a bag of cat food with her and she said hello to each cat and dog we met (and that was a lot of stops). These two beautiful shy young dogs lived below Sanatkarlar Park in ruins that seemed to be inhabited by Roma people. The Istanbulites love their cats and in more affluent parts - like Cihangir - they were not particularly hungry as it seemed that each house caretaker would feed the cats on his street. While Turks are not so keen on dogs they seem to be respected and have always been part of Istanbul since Ottoman times. Googling the issue shows that the situation is not without its problems. The Turkish law on stray animals is even revolutionary in completely outlawing euthanasia of unwanted animals. The dogs are caught, vaccinated, sterilized, given medical care to and released to the original place where they were caught and they are also fed. But according to several articles you can find through googling the issue the implementation isn't quite so pretty and there is a lot of work for animal welfare activists. The internet tells a lot about the negative side of the issue while on the streets the situation seemed to be remarkably good. The main problem seemed to be that some of the dogs were very fat, probably because of eating too much bread and too little protein.

We didn't do too much tourist stuff this time. Here we are on our way to the Istanbul Archeological Museum passing the Hagia Sofia Museum. Istanbul Police has some advanced electrical vehicules that you can see here or on the Istiklal Caddesi.

This cat was not strolling the Istanbul streets. She is Sekhmet, wife of Ptah - Lion headed goddess of power.

The courtyard of the Istanbul Archeological Museum has a collection of ancient statues and "old stones". Very interestingly there was now also a exhibition of Turkish ceramic artist Ms Ayfer Karamani which made a very interesting combination of ancient and modern sculpture.


Lugal Dalu, King of Adab.

More from istanbul in my Smugmug Gallery.

Our Istanbul trip in April/ May 2010.

Uri vauhdissa

Uri viimeistä viikonloppua kylässä meillä.

Talvi tuli Porkkalanniemelle

Lauantaina Espoo oli vielä lähes lumeton - lumi tuli vasta sunnuntaina - mutta yllättäen Porkkalassa lunta ja kauniit talvimaisemat olivat jo tulleet.

Koirien vauhtia

Kilpisjärvellä

Mökin ohi koivupöpelikössä kulki puro.

Pipsa tuli uuteen kotiin

Pipsaa katsomassa

Pipsa on Seiskarin koiran pentu - tulossa n 2 viikon kuluttua Pinjalle.