Day 3 Ankara- Antikabir Mausoleum and Bayram Camii Mosque

Up early for a 6 hour bus ride to Ankara.  Our main destination today was the Antikabir Mausoleum commemorating the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.  A very famous, historical person I have never heard of! 

Briefly, Atatürk was a military officer during World War I. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, he led the Turkish national movement in the Turkish War of Independence. Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies.  His military campaigns gained Turkey independence. Atatürk then embarked upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms, seeking to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, westernized and secular Muslim nation-state.

The principles of Atatürk's reforms, upon which modern Turkey was established, has affected Islam as we see it today.  Primarily I am speaking of his rejection of the “Caliphate”.  The Caliphate would have been the Muslim Pope.  An individual, not the Koran would dictate belief, or as we hear it today, Sharia Law.  The conservative, militant Muslim countries were pushing hard for the Caliphate, but due to Ataturk’s rejection of it in 1925 it has never been multi-nationally approached again.  High five Ataturk!

This is Ataturk’s “symbolic sarcophagus” which is above the     inaccessible “tomb room”.  You can buy a video of it.

The late afternoon was ours so Gloria and I set out with map in hand to head across Ankara.  Well, we miscalculated losing daylight savings time, and before we got to the part of the city we wanted to explore, it was dark.

So….what’s for dinner in a part of the city with only locals and no English?  We found a small restaurant with pictures on the menu and asked if they had an English version.  If restaurants do, it is usually a go.  They didn’t have an English menu, but they pulled out of a drawer a piece of paper in a sheet protector that would have to do.  It is below.

That, “SPECIAL TURKISH KEBAB _________?” coupled with the regular menu:

After some hand jestering and pointing on our part, we ordered, and hoped.   Food was excellent, service was excellent, a great adventure. Oh, we always check to make sure we never order “efendy” shish kabobs. Lamb kabobs are fine, sheep testicles kabobs are not!

Finally, after dinner we got to our destination, Bayram Camii Mosque.  One of the oldest Mosques in Ankara dating to the 1400’s.

Apparently it is very popular with the locals.  There were three sets of escalators in the plaza surrounding the Mosque?!  Gloria and I started down one and quickly were told first by an older man, then by a security officer that escalators are only for men.  Gloria had to reverse and go down some old stairs, I was encouraged to go down the escalator, but I demurred and went down the stairs with my wife.  When in Turkey……….

Day 2 Istanbul–The Basilica Cistern and The Blue Mosque

The cistern was built between 527 and 565 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Justinianus.  It contained 25,000,000 gallons of water to meet the needs of his palace.  It was used off and on for almost a 1000 years until the Ottomans captured Istanbul in 1453 when it was abandoned.  The Ottomans preferred “moving water” not “dead water” from the cistern.  It was subsequently restored and turned into a museum in the 1980’s.  This complex was huge, an amazing bit of architecture almost 1500 years old.

We also visited the “Blue Mosque”. The cascading domes and six slender minarets of the Sultanahmet Mosque (better known as the "Blue Mosque") dominate the skyline of Istanbul. In the 17th century, Sultan Ahmet I wished to build an Islamic place of worship that would be even better than the Hagia Sophia, and the mosque named for him is the result.

The two great architectural achievements now stand next to each other in Istanbul's main square, and it is up to visitors to decide which is more impressive. Since people continue to pray here, upon entering we were given a plastic sack for our shoes.  We removed our shoes and carried them in the sacks as we went about.

One of the most notable features of the Blue Mosque is visible from far away: its six minarets. This is very unique, as most mosques have four, two, or just one minaret. According to one account, the Sultan directed his architect to make gold (altin) minarets, which was misunderstood as six (alti) minarets.

Look carefully, toward the bottom of the picture, someone is       vacuuming the prayer carpet.  We watched him go back and              forth for what like seemed forever.  A very big Mosque.

After the mosque was completed, the Sultan realized that Mecca’s Mosque (the holiest of all Mosques) also had six minarets.  This, of course, would not do, so he paid to have a seventh minaret built in Mecca.  History tells us that the Sultan was so anxious to have his Mosque completed that he assisted in its construction.  Sadly, he died a year after it was completed at the age of 27!

Surrounding the Mosque are the washing stations where people ritually wash before they go in to prayer, The marble is well worn in their use over the centuries.

Day 2 Istanbul - Hagia Sophia Museum

A good night’s rest.  Our internal clocks set more easily travelling east for some reason. We are starting to meet some interesting people already.  Actually, about 40 of us in our tour. The gentlemen we ate breakfast with is travelling alone.  He lives in Santa Rosa and is a sculpture/painter.  His last travel adventure was when Egypt collapsed earlier this year.  His tour group “battled” their way to the hotel, where they were surrounded by tanks until the military could escort them back to the airport a few days later to fly out again.  We hope for less excitement on this adventure.

This picture below is of the Hagia Sophia Museum.  Interesting history.  This was first build as a Roman basilica in 537 AD, and is today still the 4th largest domed building in the world.  However, in 1453 is was “converted” into a Mosque!  It remained a mosque until Turkey become a Republic in 1935 when it was restored and became a museum.

Part of the restoration that will continue for decades to come is removal of the plaster placed 550 years ago covering all of the Christian mosaics placed when the church was built 1500 years ago! 

Because the country just finished celebrating their 80th anniversary of the Republic, there were no scaffolding in the museum. Very rare indeed. Scaffolding is ALWAYS in the domed portion as they continue to removed plaster.

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Finally, an interesting piece of trivia:  When Muslins pray, they always bow in a southeasterly direction toward Mecca, Prophet Mohammed’ birthplace.  Indeed, this Christian church “faces” Mecca.  But, you note that the church was built 33 years prior to Mohammed’s birth in 570 AD, and it was built as a Christian church!  How could this be?

A simple answer:  Looking at a map, one sees that the church faces Mecca, AND Jerusalem.  Yes, a line scribed from Istanbul to Mecca passes through Jerusalem.  Hmm.

Day 1 Istanbul

After a typical, long flight (16 hours) from SFO to Istanbul, via JFK, our group assembled to take the bus to our hotel.  Nice hotel, we are on the sixth floor; good exercise.  After dinner at the hotel, Gloria and I went exploring.  We are next to a town square with a long walking street close by with hundreds of restaurants, vendors and shops and thousands of people strolling on a Saturday night.

Lots of these guys around selling giant roasted hazelnuts.

We wanted to walk around not just to see people, but also to check out a place to eat tomorrow night; we are on our own for dinner.  We think we found it.  This diner was packed with locals for the gyros or doner.  On the right is a huge stack of lamp they bar-b-q, slicing off bits then combining the meat with vegies in a tortilla like wrapping.  These are famous all over the world under different names.  We have probably eaten them in four different countries; we can never pass them up!

Preparing for another adventure

Welcome family and friends to another McKelvey adventure.  This one is to Turkey!  We, like you have been watching the news lately with all the turmoil going on in the Middle East.  Well, we will be north of all of that!  We leave SFO Friday, October 28 for two weeks.

As connected as the world is nowadays, we anticipate frequent posts as we tour this ancient and historically rich country.  I have tried to set the blog up so that you can either follow it with an email alert, or on Facebook.  We hope you enjoy our adventure.