Hagia Sophia - Aya Sofya - icon of Istanbul's horizon

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore describes the Hagia Sophia, or Aya Sofya, as the greatest building in Europe.

Although looking very much the grand camii it was until the last century, with its impressive Byzantine dome, and minarets, it was consecrated as a Greek Orthodox basilica in the 6th century, and was the focal point of the Eastern Orthodox church for nearly 1000 years. It was commissioned by Emperor Justinian I, the Great, by most accounts a nasty slice of ambitious tyrant, for his empress, Theodore. It was instrumental in its own downfall, being site of the start of Christianity's Great Schism. (It's amazing what you can learn on BBC iplayer).

Ataturk clearly recognized its importance to modern, secular Turkey, and turned it into a museum.

Arnavutkoy

Arnavutkoy (meaning Albanian village; koy always means village) is a Besiktas waterfront neighbourhood, just along from Bebek, before Ortakoy (Middle village).

It has some stunning Ottoman and Ottoman-esque mansions. It is also a real example of secular harmony within Istanbul; as I was walking through the back streets this morning, past the camii (mosque), I heard the village church bells peeling.

You can run along the front, aside the Bosphorus, if you keep your eyes open for rods leaning across your path, and weights flying out to the water, from the many balikci who line the shore.

Canon picture styles

Okay so this post will be of limited interest to those of you who wanted some insight into living in Istanbul, but I've just figured out the picture styles on my DSLR and want to put them up on-screen side by side to compare, mainly for my own benefit. So:

All photographs were taken with a Canon 450D with a 50mm lens, f2.0. Recording to jpg (obvs not RAW as effects would be added in processing, rather than on the camera with these 'picture styles').

The numbers after the setting correspond to: Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation, and Color Tone. Shot indoors, under flourescent lighting, and the white balance was set accordingly.

Standard 7,-2, 1, 0

Neutral colours, slightly saturated reds.

Portrait 7, -2, -1, 0

Hue shifted to magenta.

Landscape 7, -2, -1, 0

Slight orange tone.

Neutral 7, -1, 1, 0

No overtones.

Faithful 7, -1, 1, 0

Pinkish overtone.

Monochrome 7, -2, Red filter

Filter emphasises contrast.

'Portrait-Snapshot' 7, -2, -1, 0

Well-modulated contrast.

'Autumn Hues' 7, -2, -1, 0

Colours more vivid, midtones brighter.

'Twilight' 7, -2, -1, 0

Magic!













The last three picture styles (more are available, but I can only store up to three 'User Defined' picture styles on my camera) are downloadable from Canon's website.

Thanks to this article for the advice in setup.

Traffic on the Bosphorus

 Some usual traffic on the Bosphorus (above), and some not so usual traffic (below):

KıdzMondo

There is a place in Istanbul called KidsMondo where children can 'work' and then you get money (but not real money!).

You make Coca Cola and lollipops, and you can do your own pızza, and you can be the polıce too.

The best dessert

Istanbul is a wonderful place for Turkish desserts.

For example the famous Turkish delight, baklava, is filled with nuts, such as pistachios and almonds, and syrup.

A long time ago in 1423, Lokum was made and the first person to try it was the  Sultan Fatih.

These are the most popular sweets in Istanbul. Every day thousands of people eat them.

Try it, you would love it!

Amazing food in Istanbul

    

When I first came to Istanbul, I had no idea how good the food would be. But, when I tasted it, it was great! When I tried the doner I almost ate two of them! The Turkish meatball is called kofte, you should also try that.

Also try pide, a boat-shaped bread with cheese on it.

Another delightful Turkish food is yaprak. Yaprak means leaf; they are vine leaves stuffed with meat and rice, or just rice. One of the delicious types is Dolmasi, which is lamb wrapped in vine leaves.

            

Animals all around Turkey

Dolphins are very beautiful and they love to splash in the Bosphorous.

Cats are also seen all around Istanbul. Dogs are often seen in the streets.

Unfortunately, animals in Turkey that are not adopted are very thin and very hungry because no body feeds them so they some times starve to death.

Key Spots

All of the key spots you need is right here so read on!

One of the key things is go though all the tiny roads and you’ll find loads of little, tiny interesting things you wouldn’t even know it’s there if you hadn’t explored. If you like this stuff then I definitely recommend Sishane but watch out for beggars because there are some.

Another thing I recommend , is staying in the Pera Palace hotel in Istanbul which has Turkey’s first elevator (as well as modern elevators!).

If you want to stay there then make sure you don’t go to eat there because it is expensive and not good, and you could go to DeliStan instead.

Another place is Istanbul Modern art gallery because it has a very interesting modern art collection.

Some words to know in Turkey

If you don’t know Turkish and you came to Turkey, here is a few words to start off with:

hello- merhaba

hi- selam

how are you?- nasılsın (nas-ul-sin)

please- lutfen

thanks- teşekurler ( teshekuler)

thank you very much- çok teşekurler ( chok- teshekuler)

what is this- bu ne?

how much? –ne kadar

too expensive- çok pahalı ( chok pahali]

more cheaper- daha ucuz ( daha ujuz)

right- sag ( sa)

left – sol