The Mosque of Selim the Grim

Selim was a Sultan of his time. Which was to say that he needed to kill his seven brothers once he became Sultan. Actually he did not have to kill them all because some died all by themselves. The tradition was that to keep the risk of civil war or disputes between rival factions for the feather (Sultans don't wear crowns, they wear elaborate feathers), a Sultan would kill his brothers and any other male claimant to the throne. It must be done elegantly, without spilling blood, because after all this was the precious blood of the Sultans. In fact they maintained an unbroken genetic chain of Sultans from Mehmet II, the Conqueror of Constantinople, to the exiled Sultan of the 1920s.

He also ruled with a harsh hand, so he was known as 'the Grim'. Nevertheless, he had a mosque built for him by his son, Suleiman the Magnificent if I remember correctly, which was quite special. It is like a parish church, for the locals not the tourists. It is not so easy to get to on public transport. We were on a private bus all day today, to get around a lot of territory. The mosque was domed, of course, and quite elegantly simple. Images to come overnight as my Apple devices sync.

Driving through Istanbul streets in a 60 seater bus is quite an experience. 

Our next stop was the Chora Mosque Museum, so no longer a working mosque and we kept our shoes on. This was an unimaginable explosion of exquisite mosaics from the 13th century, when it was a Christian church of course. Esra explained the stories behind the images which centred on Mary, the mother of Jesus. It seems that Mary's mother Anne was sent an angel to say that despite being infertile she would have a child. Mary was dedicated to the temple, which Esra described as a sort of boarding school for girls. Later in her teens she undertook a 'cane challenge', when she selects a cane, and it turned out it was Joseph's cane. So although he was a widower with several adult sons, all was well and Jesus was born in the way we known from all the carols. Many of our group were educated in Catholic schools!

I made my first 'present' purchases upon some inspiration, we'll see. The guy in the shop near the Chora Museum was not the slightest bit pushy and after our interaction, where I had to get him to check that my pin was working before he wrapped things, he asked what my job was and after hearing I was a doctor, he said ' yes, you are very direct, no, disciplined'. I took it as a compliment. The group had lunch in a garden cafe there, while I had a scrap of left-over pide because I had a bar in the bus waiting for me.

We have had too many paid meals so far. Yesterday it was another rooftop luncheon which was nice, and tonight we had dinner at a rooftop restaurant which was equally delicious. I am not having the bread roll, but am generally having the deserts - they are so small! Breakfast is pretty decent too.

After lunch we took a cruise on the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus Strait. The Golden Horn is an 11 km inlet of the sea, that created one of the best deep water harbours in the world (like Sydney). It runs east-west from the Bosphorus Strait, with the 'Old City' to the south, and the Genoese and other traders of medieval times to the north. Both of these lands are in Europe. Across the Bosphorus Strait is the Asiatic part of Instanbul. We sailed/motored about half way to the Black Sea, before turning around and back to the Old City, where all the main tourist areas are, and our hotel. Remembering that the population of Istanbul is about 18 million, we were not surprised to hear that the city extends even further than we had been on the boat.

The hour that involved the whirling dervishes is best forgotten. This was followed by the dinner, before a 2 minute walk back to our hotel.

Lauren had prepared us for the whirling dervishes. A 700-year old mystic Sufi sect of Islam, which is maintained and performed exactly the same over that time. We entered a theatre in an old haman (prayer space) in a crowded Istanbul area. Six or so men played instruments and several sang for an hour. Five men came into the circle of the room's centre, and moved around in an almost unchangingly way for about 45 minutes. There was some helpful english/turkish commentary projected onto the walls - describing the various parts in which the men remove themselves from the real world - become one with god (sort of) and then return to reality. I liked that bit best! No photography allowed. So it was a spiritual meditation which they do anyway, and sometimes do for patronage of the tourists. Apparently modern Istanbullies are not that keen on Sufi mysticism. I did not purchase a 6 inch felt 'dervish' to remind me of the performance, even though they were very colourful.

Note to readers: not all of my photos are being stored in icloud. I think this might be due to upload limitations because I had Live Photos still on. The live bit is always bigger than the static version presented. So I have now turned that off. So no images yet of Selim's mosque, but here are some of the boat journey.

A view on the Bosphorus

The well to do on the upper Bosphorus

Crowded streets on a Sunday evening

There are 18 million people in Istanbul, which stretches miles in all directions. They all seemed to come out for a Sunday evening stroll. We see some women in complete hijab, and plenty of young women (who are clearly residents) with no covers.