The Ghost of Hercule Poirot

I took a quick 5 minute detour to the Sirkeci Station on the Istanbul waterfront. This was the view when I nipped in and I was disappointed to find nothing - not a train, nor anyone resembling Hercule Poirot. This station is famous for being the terminal of the Orient Express, which ran from Paris to Istanbul. And this is where it arrived with the occasional corpse on board. Alas, I couldn't even see the ghost of Hercule Poirot!

AS

Egyptian Market

One of the most famous markets in Istanbul is the Egyptian Market (aka Spice Market). Presumably this is where the spices from India and China finally washed up before being packaged up for transmission on to Europe or local consumption. It still is a spice market as the pictures show, but it has added other merchandise over recent years. On our last day in Istanbul, we took the tram ... like this one ... to the spice bazaar, and as you can see, the building dates back quite a bit!

Here are pictures of the spices and edible nuts on display and enticing they look:

Now for the less enticing bit - the other merchandise. Do you fancy a leech, presumably as a medical treatment and not to eat!? Argh! Or what about a puppy, cage birds, or ducks (presumably for fattening).

AS

Asia and Back

And our last excursion on the 18th August was a quick ferry ride to Asia and back. This was easy to do. We simply went to the ferry terminal close to the Galata Bridge and paid a small amount of Turkish Lira for the trip. Here's a boat like ours, the view ... of Europe (!), and Max enjoying himself!

AS

Galata Tower and Bridge

At the western end of Istiklal Cadessi is the superb Galata Tower, which is expensive to go up, but offers wonderful views across this city of 13.5 million people. The tower is the latest in a stream of buildings on the site going back back to 528AD. The first structure was a lighthouse, followed by fortifications and prison. Now it's a tourist mecca. The following pictures show the tower and its views.

This is the inlet called the Golden Horn.

Here we look up the Bosphorus between Europe on the left and Asia on the far shore. The pylons of the Bosphorus Bridge are seen in the distance.

Here's Max receiving a photography lesson from Bec after we replaced the batteries.

Now we look over the Golden Horn to the Topkapi Palace on the other side ...

... and to the Hagia Sophia west of it ...

... and the Galata Bridge.

One picture I tried to take unsuccessfully was Max working as a shoe shine boy. A guy taught him how to do it, but I don't know if Max had any customers! After the tower, we descended a steep little street to the Galata Bridge. The previous pictures shows an ordinary bridge, but it turned out to be two-tiered, with shops and cafes on the lower deck.

Both levels of the bridge were used for fishing - but I only saw small fish being caught.

At the western end were several floating vessels serving as floating Indian restaurants.

And these, it seems, were the cause of a severe case of garbage pollution on the Golden Horn!

Here are the restaurants on the under-deck of the Galata Bridge.

AS

Beyoglu

The main street of Beyoglu, Istiklal Caddesi,  is a bit like Oxford Street in London - a place of up-market stores. All the same we decided to head there, partly because of the interesting journey and other interesting things to see. It's also across the Golden Horn, but still on the European side of the Bosphorus. To get there we caught one of Istanbul's very modern and ultra cheap trams like the one shown here. The line passes across the Golden Horn via the Galata Bridge shown in the second slide (more about this in a later post.

Then we took the funicular train up to Taksim Square - Max is shown here waiting for the ultra modern train behind the closed platform doors like one sees in Singapore.

At the top, in Taksim Square is the monument to Kemal Attaturk, founder of the modern nation.

From there, Istiklal Caddesi runs down to the Galata Tower (see next post). There's also a quaint old tram ferrying shoppers and tourists alike the length of the street.

There are also many quaint old side streets ...

... some impressive gates (I wonder who lives behind this one!) ...

... shops selling nice things like Turkish Delight (we bought some) ...

... some religious buildings like this Catholic Church ...

... and the odd sleeping cat - Istanbul has heaps of stray cats.

Add this as a destination to head to.

AS

Grand Bazaar

The last of your our visits on the crowded first day in Istanbul was to the Grand Bazaar. I've seen Bazaars all over Iran and in Morocco, but this one rivals the great Bazaar in Tabriz in size and complexity.

I won't go into the structure or design of bazaars here. Just take a walk through these pictures and you'll get a feel for the atmosphere!

AS

Topkapi Palace

I'm way behind with my Blog postings and this is the start of the catch-up in the order the events I present actually occurred. I'm starting with the Topkapi Palace, home of the Sultans who long ruled the Turkish Empire. It's strategically located in the European part of Istanbul on the peninsula where the sea of Marmara meets the famous Golden Horn and the Bosphorus where the latter two meet. The Bosphorus separates Europe from Asia. The walled fortress of the Topkapi sits high up on the promontory - a strategic site. We start with the general location and here are the Bosphorus (looking east towards the Black sea), the sea of Marmara, and across to Asia.

I also add a picture of Max enjoying his meal at a restaurant with a gorgeous view ... looking across to Asia.

Now I present a scattering of views of the Palace compound, both inside and out, starting with the latter, including part of the wall.

Now let's take a peek inside:

This slide shows the post from which distances in Turkey were measured.

 Finally, I have a quiz. What do you tell an 8 year old about what went on in a Harem and how you went about manufacturing Eunuchs?

AS