Long walks in the hot sun...

There's no point complaining that the weather is too sunny and hot in mid-August, and there's really no point staying in the apartment, especially when there are noisy renovations going on downstairs. So, out I went! This time I walked north from Dolmabahçe Palace up to Ortaköy along the coast road. I stopped along the way for tea, but the main attraction was to have kumpir at Ortaköy. My kumpir included green olives, pickles, pickled cabbage, peas, bulgur salad, corn, cheese, and yogurt. Needless to say, this counts as both lunch and dinner. After that extravaganza, I walked around the open air market (crafts, jewelry, bags, and other souvenirs), but I didn't buy anything. The heat was finally getting to me, so I took a bus most of the way back, but walked about a third of the way because it was too crowded on the bus!
Here are today's photos:

Views of the entrance to Dolmabahçe Palace

A detail from the Naval Museum

Statue of Piri Reis

 Views from the Beşiktaş Pier

See the Bosphorus Bridge in the distance?

 Ornate gate and walls of the former Cırağan Palace (now a hotel)

 Brave cyclist!

Ortaköy waterfront

 See the Bosphorus Bridge now?

 Swimmers

 Atatürk monument

 Another view of Dolmabahçe Palace on the walk back

Quiet Days

Because of the holiday at the end of Ramazan, known as Şeker Bayramı in Turkish and Eid al-Fitr in Arabic, I have had a couple of quiet days. Most people spend time with their families during the three day holiday, so museums, galleries, and other destinations are closed. Yesterday I really took it easy--my big accomplishment was doing laundry. Today I decided to get out and about. Aside from meeting a friend I knew from the Turkish conversation group at the UA for lunch, which was quite enjoyable, nothing I planned to do really worked out. The galleries were closed and the ticket line for the Bosphorus tour was insane. I was not prepared to elbow my way through that crowd, so I found a cafe and got some Turkish coffee. Then I took my usual ferry to Kadıköy to walk along the waterfront. From there I chatted with Alex for a while and then went to a bakery I like to get some good bread. (It's soooooooooo cheap! One lira is about 50 cents... You can't get a loaf of decent bread for 50 cents anywhere in the U.S. nohow, never!) I took the return ferry to Kabataş, climbed back up the hill to the apartment, and soon I'm going to have a simple dinner of cacık and bread, with plums for dessert.
Here are a few photos from the last couple of days:

Hanging out with the cats, Safran and Kimyon (Saffron and Cumin)

 Street musician and child

 Relaxing on the waterfront 

 Going back to Kabataş, past the former train station, Haydarpaşa 

Today's outing: Karaköy and Sultanahmet

I made my way back to the SALT Galata building to look more closely at an exhibit on Soviet architecture and spend some time in the art library, but the library was closed for the holiday. Still, I enjoyed a little more time there. Here's the view looking across the Golden Horn (Haliç) from the third floor:

Then I went across the Golden Horn to the historic (and severely touristic) Sultanahmet area. I spent some time in Gülhane Park first, which was quite calm, before I ventured out into the TOURIST ZONE. In the past, I think I must have been so awestruck by the architecture that I could mostly block out the mess of tourists and touts. This time it was harder. Today's best quotes: "Hello! I know you! We met in the states. My name is Antonio!!" and "Why aren't you smiling?" Yes, I put on my best 'resting bitch-face' for a reason. I did manage to get a few photos despite all this.

Sultanahmet Mosque

Obelisk in the Istanbul Hippodrome

Art!

Rumeysa, my host, is a journalist who writes about art and cultural events in Istanbul. Today she showed me some important venues for art in Istanbul. One is ARTER, where we saw an extensive exhibit of Matt Collishaw's work and another exhibit by Volkan Aslan.

Matt Collishaw, The Venal Muse

 Children of a Lesser God

Volkan Aslan, Friday: Miscalculation 

Sunday: Fragile 

After ARTER, we went to a spectacular cultural center, SALT Galata, which offers an art library, exhibitions, comfortable and luxurious space to work or rest that is free and open to the public. I'm going to be spending some quality time there, no doubt! The building was formerly owned by the Ottoman Bank and in the basement vaults of the building there is a fantastic museum about the bank.

Women who worked at the Ottoman Bank

  The sink in the women's room is over-the-top

Nice view!

Rumeysa went on her way to interview a couple of artists, and I decided to try again to see the Museum of Innocence (a collection of memorabilia related to Orhan Pamuk's book by that name). This time it was open, but taking photos was not allowed. That can't stop me from photographing the postcards I bought, though!

İstiklal Caddesi and Nearby

Today was a walking around day--full of street scenes and art exhibitions. İstiklal Caddesi is a long semi-pedestrian street that links Taksim Square to Tünel. It's important historically, politically, economically, culturally, gastronomically, etc. On my way to the ARTER gallery on İstiklal Caddesi, I took these photos:

On my way back from the Museum of Innocence

A Curiosity Shop

In Cihangir, where we stayed in 2008