December 11, 2000

After lunch, Roshan offered to go on a walk with me. We scrapped the idea of going to the Kiz Kulesi (recently restored) because the boat tickets were 3,000,000 TL and as far as I'm concerned, it's just a tower and probably looks cooler from a distance anyway.

Instead, we hopped on a bus and went to Yenikapi. Roshan got upset because I still don't believe he knows his way around the city. He, of course, was correct and the bus did go where it was supposed to. After goin by Aksaray the bus turned onto the shore road. We got off and walked back towards Kumkapi.

Kumkapi is a meyhana area, most famous for its fish restaurants. A quaint cobblestone street leads into the "town" which is made up almost entirely of Meyhanes. We weren't to keen on eating so we walked until we saw a bell tower of a church (Kumkapi Haghia Kiryaki Church) peeking over grimy walls and locked gates. We walked around to the back hoping to find an open door but everything was locked up. The church had a large dome with stained glass. There was some rough wood scafolding around the outside. Actually, they were probably supports since the church didn't look like it was getting much use. The buildings around it were also falling into ruins.

Onward we walked past what was perhaps an old mosque or hamam. It was also just a part of a stone structure rising from weeds and rubble.

Istanbul has too many ruins and too much history to keep track of. The chosen palaces, churches and mosques shine like bright stars. The less important structures fall into ruin, ignored, even though in a less historically spectacular region, they could have been restored and opened as museums. We passed another ruined hamam and a dervish lodge with a broken minaret and roof and walls being steadily devoured by dirt and plants. It is sad to see these buildings which at one time were so beautiful fall to ruin but the fact is there is not enough money in Istanbul or even all of Turkey to care for them. There are also so many other tourist sights that they wouldn't attract enough tourism to pay for the upkeep. Roshan and I have visited museums and palaces which had one guard working there and not another visitor in sight. So a large portion of historic Istanbul is (or has already) disintigrated into ruins.

We walked onto the grounds of the Sokollu Mehmet Pasa mosque but the Imam slammed the door right as I was about to enter. Instead we went to the Kücük Aya Sofya (or Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (What kind of a name for a saint is BACCHUS!!??!)). The imam at this mosque was much more used to dealing with tourists. He politely let us in. It was a dark church/mosque containing an odd mix of the original Byzantine structure and columns mixed with Islamic painted decorations. One wall contained a huge crack which stretched up to the dome. Outside the mosque, there is a medresse which is now a series of art studios. Roshan helped me tell the Ebru teacher my ebru woes (It was so easy in class but at home my paint sinks and nothing is working right!!!). He told me that since I didn't grind my gum trabacanth,I needed to let it sit 4 days (not 2) and squeeze it twice daily. . He told me to stop by on Saturday or Sunday and I could watch. That day they were just grinding paint and I had already seen quite enough of that.

We walked on, passing ancient ruins of walls , palaces and churches.

The Bucolean Palace is a wall with gaping window holes and an odd ornate Byzantine column stuck uncanilly on the second floor. The cars race by, most not thinking that they are speeding by the walls of the Great Byzantine Palace of Constantinople. On the tops of the walls, shabby houses are visible where people have built homes taking advantage of the remains of the wall. I joked to Roshan that we should rent one of the makeshift houses so we could say, "We live in the Great Palace". (Ahirkapi Lighthouse)

The sun started to set as we rounded Sarayburnu. The glass windows on the Asian side became gold like flames. Beyond them, something burned sending black smoke up to the side. It looked like the University in Kadikoy was about to burst into flames.