Thirty Minutes

Montségur - 11 June, Morning

After another good breakfast (with boiled eggs!) we packed our bags and said goodbye to Foix.

As Janet's shoes had flapping soles, Julien decided to leave via an outdoor outlet store - the largest I have ever seen in my life!! We bought coats, shoes, knives, hats - the shop was fabulous and everything seemed so cheap but good and a huge range!!

Equipped, we went on to Montségur castle.  This was the only truly Cathar castle, as it was actually held by Cathars and from here they launched their attack on Avignonet, which caused the Pope to send the first of the Inquisition to take depositions from the villagers in the town below the castle.

We parked in the car park below the castle and walked up, about 30 minute steep climb up a dirt track through scrub.

The entrance to the castle

Looking back to the snowy peaks

The long courtyard interior

The ruined interior

From 1232 Montsegur became the headquarters of the Cathar community in the Languedoc, and a refugee centre for "faidits" - outlaws who had been stripped of their lands and goods by the Roman Church. These faidits continued to wage a guerilla war against the invaders.

The Council of Beziers decided to destroy the last vestiges of Catharism in 1243. The Cathar sympathisers responsible for killing the Inquisitors at Avignonet were known to have come from Montségur. The Council therefore decided to take the château there, the last remaining major centre of Cathar belief. The château, perched on top of a majestic hill (called a pog), had already been reinforced.

The castle was besieged later in 1243 by the Archbishop of Narbonne, another bishop and Hughes des Arcis. For months the siege was unsuccessful but shortly before Christmas a group of Basque mercenaries scaled a seemingly impossible sheer cliff face, and overran a forward position. From here, under the direction of a Catholic bishop specialising in war machines, the French were able to construct catapults.

This spelled the end of all hope. The garrison surrendered on 2 March 1244 having negotiated a truce of two weeks, after which the Parfaits would have to abjure their faith or burn alive.

There is a legend that a horde of jewels and gold was smuggled out of the castle before it fell, carried through the siege lines where sympathisers turned a blind eye, and it is this that may have been the supposed treasure trove of the priest of Rennes-le-Chateau, which is close by Montségur.

225 Parfaits were burnt at the stake for refusing to renounce their faith.  The fall of Montségur heralded the complete end to the Cathar heresy in Southern France.

After taking the castle the village at the slope of the castle was completely destroyed and the stones of the buildings thrown down the mountainside.

This monument marks the spot where it is thought the burning of the Parfaits took place.

Spectacular views from the walls with the town of Montségur below

Last look..

We left Montsegur and had a picnic nearby in a field of flowers

Where is Montsegur?

From the castle walls you can just see Roquefixade and Puivert, which is our next castle to visit. 

Next post!

 

Roquefixade - 10 June, Afternoon

Where is Roquefixade?

Julien is a wealth of knowledge of wildflowers and local plants, birds and fauna.  So we stopped often to admire the tiny orchids whcin grow in such profusion here, nestled amongst the grasses and shrubs.  I won't be able to remember the names of them all, but will add photos of them as I go.

This is where we are heading. The village of Roquefixade is below what looks like a rocky outcrop but is in fact the ruined castle.

We have parked about 3km to the east of the village and are approaching the castle along a cattle path through wildflower meadows. We can hear the sound of cow bells somewhere. As you can see, the weather is dry but overcast.

This is the magnificent view over our shoulders, snow capped mountains and rolling hills. The countryside is absolutely spectacular!

The climb gets pretty steep, and we can look down from our high slope and see the castle, in another fold of the hill.

It's actually rather sad, romantically tragic.  Roquefixade was abandoned once taken, as it was deemed of no strategic importance.  The castle was a place of refuge for Cathars during the Albigensian crusade.  From Wikipedia:

"A natural cleft in the cliff face has been filled in by an arch supported by ramparts. This cleft is the origin of the name of the village, and later the castle: roca fisada (fissured rock) in Catalan. The remains of the castle walls cling to the rock, originally circling an impressive keep built at the highest point of the site.

At the end of the 13th century, Roquefixade became a stronghold at the end of a line of royal fortresses built along the Corbières hills, to keep watch on the territory of the Count of Foix. The keep was remodelled in the 14th century, and other alterations were made in the 15th and 16th centuries. The castle survived until 1632 when the French king Louis XIII rested in the area on his way to Tolouse. Louis took the opportunity to order the destruction of Roquefixade, it now serving no purpose and being costly to maintain."

We stopped and had our picnic lunch looking down on the castle.  Then we climbed down to it (I slipped over as the hillside was so steep).  We were walking sideways with the help of poles, but it was muddy and slippery with past rain.

Here's a lovely photo as we approached - the clouds looming very moodily

But the sun came out and we left our bags in the outer keep

then went inside.

It is pretty ruined

At the highest point is an old flagpole, with the Occitan flag proudly flying, so we all took turns at hugging the pole and having our photos taken!

I'm putting this photo in because, after we left the castle, we were walking UP the hill to the granite outcrop you can see here!!

You can see how steep the hill is

Here's the view of the town below our feet, from that granite outcrop

and a last dramatic view of the castle with the hills and snowy mountains as a backdrop

We then began our descent towards the village. 

Our way took us through a beautiful deep beech forest.  I fell over her again, quite spectacularly, attempting to take a photo and use my pole to navigate a steep bank at the same time hahah!  This was the last fall, you'll be pleased to hear!

Spanish moss on the trees..

lovely beech trees and quiet greenery

after an hour or so we came out onto a path and eventually came to a monument to a group of French resistance fighters killed by the Germans in 1944.  This marks the spot where they were shot, I think it was about 23 of them.

We continued on to the village, the weather still lovely and sunny, and very lazily declared we had had enough walking for that day, and Julien had to walk back to the van alone whilst we stayed for a Kir Classique!!

A last photo of this sad castle

And back to the hotel at Foix for a hot shower, dinner and bed!

We'd probably walked about 17kms today, and that was the tone of the rest of the walk.  It had been rather steep, so we hoped we wouldn't have too many mountains like this!  The Pays du Cathars is in the Corbières Mountains, which are limestone outcrops, so they appear to jump out of the landscape rather suddenly.  A great place to build a castle!! ;-)

 

Foix - 10 June, Morning

This morning the rain was still pelting down, not a good start to a walk!!

We went down to breakfast, and met Janet, another Aussie and the last of our team, who had arrived late last night.  After breakfast, Julien said he would go into the town to buy our lunch provisions, and as it was so wet he would change the program for the day.  We could go up and look at Foix castle and we would meet back at the hotel at 11 in the hope that the rain would ease by then.  We were happy to hear this as the Aussies were keen to look over our first 'Cathar' castle.  Julien later explained that the Cathars didn't have castles, except for Montsègur, as they just stayed with the local lords to hide and escape persecution.

Angela the Brit had been here before, as she loves this walk and this was the third time she had done it!! (Though luckily it was slightly different each time.)  She knew the castle also.  So off we went, and the rain stopped immediately!! A good omen for the whole walk!!

On the way we passed a few trees like this

and it turns out to be Elderflower, from which the cordial is made.  Very pretty flowers and tree, but little or no smell.

The way up to the castle is a zig zag.  The castle was built in 987 and bequeathed to the Count of Foix by the Count of Carcasonne - in these times France was not as large as it is today, and the south was made up of independent Counties, under the rule of many separate counts.  The Chateau de Foix was a centre of Occitan resistance and a bolt hole during the Albigensian Crusade and the persecution of the Cathars.  It was never taken, despite being attacked by that notable mercenary, Simon de Montfort.  In 1470 the Count of Foix became King of Navarre, then eventually Henry IV of France, at which time he annexed his county to the kingdom of France.  The Chateau then served as a political and civil prison until 1862.  Since 1930 it has housed the Ariège Department Museum.

It's thus in pretty good nick, as it has been inhabited for such a long time. It has 2 square towers from the 11thC and a round one from the 15thC.

We went up the round tower, which has a roof terrace and thus affords stunning views of the town.

There is a central hall between two of the towers and King Henry's bed is there, as well as some lovely carved capitals

The prisoners have carved the stone in the window embrasures, from where they could see the unattainable world

We left through the tunnel under the square tower

We then hopped into Julien's van and drove through the countryside to the village of Roquefixade.

We put on our packs and raincoats, took poles and set off along a small path that wound around the mountainside, towards the distant ruin of Roquefixade castle.

And another new post for that!!

 

Toulouse, Foix - 9 June

This morning we woke up to heavy rain, and boy did it rain!  We had a great breakfast in the hotel, and they very kindly said they'd keep a bag for us for the week we are walking!! How nice is that!!

So we packed all the gifts and souvenirs - the 2 paintings!! and the calligraphy!! And the coat!! into the bag we bought in Istanbul and left it in their luggage room.  We packed up everything and went and sat down in their spare lounge, near the pool, and looked glumly at the rain, all the while charging our e-devices ;-)  I had a coat with a hood but its not really waterproof, and Jim doesn't have one at all, and we had no umbrella, and it was a Sunday....

We stayed in the hotel until about 12.30, then the rain seemed to ease so we ventured out looking for lunch.

This is the square where the fantastic show was the previous night

and you can see that not only is it wet - there's no people!! Everyone was indoors, and most of the shops were shut, so a sad looking town indeed!

We did lunch at a very nice bistro on the main street, and I had the fantastic french fries with a steak, and J had a vegetarian pasta.  Nice and warming!

Then we got our bags from the hotel and hot footed it to the train station to meet up with our guide and the rest of the team.

We did eventually manage to find everyone - Julien our guide and Angela, one of our walking teammates, and J and I - just a small group.  Janet, our other team member, was currently lost in France on a train, expected into Foix around 11pm. Julien had a van so we hoiked our bags into that and set off for Foix, about 2 hours away.

We drove through the rain and past the Midi Canal, scene of our glorious holiday in 2008, and though we never came to Toulouse on it, Rick Stein did!!  At that time, we had picked up the canal lower down, at Castelnaudary, so had not visited the waterside here.

We eventually came into Foix.  Here it is on google maps so you can locate the area.  Yes, that is the Mediterranean off to the right.

This is the area we walked in, and every couple of days we went closer to the Med.  Also you can see how close the Spanish border is - the Cathars and the other recidivists of the time were initially supported by the kingdom of Aragon - the border was much further into France at that time.  After the castles fell, many were re-inforced by the French king and set as border watch posts.  More on that later.

Arriving in Foix, we checked into our hotel.  Julien then suggested a walk around the town to look at it.  Foix is built along a river, L'Ariège.

and has a lovely Cathar-era castle, but Julien told us that wasn't on our itinerary so we could only gaze at it through the rain.

Foix has some pretty old buildings, including a nice church

so we walked around for a while then stopped for a drink. 

We went back to the hotel and unpacked, and had a brief rest before dinner.  Dinner was nice, not exceptional, but pleasant service.  There was a very nice vegetarian buffet as hors d'oeuvres.  After dinner we went to bed, with the river running outside our bedroom window.

 

 

Istanbul to Toulouse - 8 June

Up very early this morning, when the muezzin called, and into the taxi by 5am!! We were at the airport by 5.20 ready for our 7.30 flight to Paris!

We had a coffee whilst waiting, then hopped on the plane and flew to Paris.

Straight on to the train station at CDG.  It is pretty easy to find, once you know!! There is a little train that runs around the terminals and the car parks, and at Terminal 2 is the SNCF station where the TGV's and Rapides leave for other destinations.  The metro for Paris leaves from here too, and also from Terminal 3.

We got to Terminal 2 and found the station then found out that the train was delayed by 20 minutes!  We had an hour to make a connection at Montpellier-St-Roch so that was OK.

We got on the train and had a nice comfortable trip to Montpellier, J eating from the buffet car on the way.  At Montpellier I had a lovely quiche from the Brioche D'Or chain that is in most stations and airports, the quality of which most cafes in Sydney can only dream about!

We arrived in Toulouse around 7.30 that night, and as it was still light we found our hotel quite quickly.  It was near the station, but set back from the street and it was fantastic!!  It was a tripadvisor recommendation and I will also be recommending it there! The hotel was the Privilege Appart-Hotel Clement Ader.  It is brand new, a lovely modern apartment-hotel with heated pool, spa, laundry, parking etc (laundry was such a welcome relief after not having one on the boat!).  The staff were beyond helpful, and even let us leave a bag there for the week we were walking, as we were returning for another night at the end of the walk.

The restaurant they recommended was The Winter Garden, at 2-4 Rue des Gestes.  It is a family owned business, father and 2 sons, and it is an absolute gem.  The food is sensational, the showmanship and passion of the family second to none.  When describing the menu one son told me that when he ate the dish for the first time, he cried (the chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms).  The room is small but overflowing with warmth and charm, and everyone is talking and no-one is drowned out because there is no music only the sound of laughter and talk, and the smells of food and wine.  Such a warm and happy place!  And the service is amazing, one only has to think of wanting a glass or another bread or dessert, and they are there to provide.  As another son told me 'Jamais deux sans trois' - never two without three - and though he was referring to a glass (or two or three) of wine, I think it covers many many things!

Our entrees were house-made ravioli stuffed with fromage frais and with a capsicum sauce, and a goats cheese toast.

My main - the house specialty chicken, a supreme stuffed with Winter stuffing (I think mushrooms, walnuts, garlic) in a mushroom cream sauce with their superb dauphinoise potatoes

and J's fish, a salmon fillet baked en papilotte with leeks and carrots and wine

and our shared dessert, a chocolate marquise with creme anglaise

and of course 3 glasses of wine!!

We were seated next to an American couple, and over dessert they told us that there was a night circus in the Capitole square, which we had passed on our way to the restaurant. So after dinner we walked back to the square.

It was full of people.  It was about 10.20pm by now, and there were several hundred peoople here

after a few minutes wait the lights dimmed and the buildings were lit

the first act was some tumblers and bouncing acrobats, then came a tightrope walker, walking on a rope suspended between the roof of the Capitole and a cherry picker (and another light show on the buildings)

then a balloon monster came out to look at the tightrope walker

they both finished and the crew threw huge balloons down to the audience who batted them back and forth until all were popped

the light show on the buildings changed again and again, until it became blue sticks, then red, then brown and back to blue and flames shot out from the flame throwers

and then another monster came out..

 

and another

then they twined around each other and changed colours and played - it was beautiful!

they were controlled by some of the crew with poles and string, so clever!

The lights on the buildings changed again, the monsters (all 3) went home, and then the fireworks began!  As a finale, the buildings were lit again with coloured lights

and then they went out.  Everyone applauded, then we left the square and walked home.

A really lovely evening, just being in the right place at the right time!

 

 

Istanbul - 7 June, Afternoon

So after returning to Sultanahmet Park, we hopped into a taxi and went to the Kariye Museum.

We'd been told about this by George, the partner of Eveline at the cooking school, and it is also mentioned in the guide books and the wonderful Strolling Through Istanbul by John Freely and Hilary Sumner-Boyd. 

It was built as the Chora Church in the 11thC, though the frescoes and mosaics were added in the 13th C.  When it was converted to a mosque in 1511 the walls were plastered over, which preserved them.  We were told that it had better mosaics than Ayasofya, so off we went!

It is set in a lovely garden miles away from anywhere, hence the taxi ride.

This is the back of the church

so we walked around it and went in.  A lot of the ceilings and walls were painted, which was also preserved under the plaster.

but there are also a lot of gold and mosaics

and lovely marble

If you look at some of the marble panels on the walls it must be that the marble was split, then flattened and placed back together, because the patterns are like drawing ink in water.

more golden mosaics

I think there has been more restoration work done here than on Ayasofya - it is much smaller, after all.

After having our fill of gold and mosaics we left and walked up the street towards the walls, which are quite close here.  We must be about 6 or 7km from the centre of the Sultanahmet, and the walls are on the lower side there, meaning that the diameter of the walls that Constantine set up would be maybe 10km, which is huge even by today's standards, let alone when the city was built in 511!!!

We climbed the walls

and could look back to the Chora Church (Kariye Museii) and out to the Golden Horn

So instead of taking a friendly taxi, we decided to walk down to the water and get a ferry back to the Sultanahmet.  You won't be surprised to hear we got lost!

The maps don't really mark the tiny streets here, and we ended up in several dead end streets, and had to retrace our steps a few times.  We'd walked so far and it was getting on to 5 and I was afraid we were going to have to walk all the way back to the Museum to get a taxi.  Then a little girl tried to tell us how to get to the ferry, so we thanked her and walked on, then her mother accosted us and said that you have to pay to talk to children!! So J gave her 10TL and off we scampered!!  We ended up walking through tiny laneways past people's lounges, but finally found a steep street and a flight of steps and stumbled out on the harbour!

We did find the 'ferry' stop, but it looks like one of those that stop only when there are passengers and certainly isn't on a regular run, so in the end we caught a taxi back to the Sultanahmet, glad to be off our feet!

We stopped for a refreshing turkish tea in the garden of this lovely hotel, the Yesil Ev, which used to be a palace

Beside this hotel, and in a small courtyard leading off it, is the Turkish Handcraft Guild. 

This was an amazing find - there are 7 or 8 artisans working here and they each have their own rooms where they display their work.  In addition there are 3 shops that sell traditional Turkish handicrafts, and all are sponsored by the the Turkish Touring and Automobile Association!!  If you go to Istanbul you should make a point of looking up this place, as the quality and uniqueness of the offerings is superb.

The artisans are:

• a worker in marbled paper
• a calligrapher
• a doll maker
• a porcelain artist
• a gold leaf artist and miniaturist
• a weaver and embroiderer
• a maker of musical instruments
• a goldsmith

plus the shops where scarves, pottery, carpets and kilims, jewellery and paintings are sold.  Very very high quality goods.  I had a friend's name written in turkish calligraphy, and bought a lovely miniature painting and a fine embroidered scarf, at reasonable prices.  The Istanbul Crafts Centre is at

Kabasakal Caddesi, 5
Sultanahmet Meydani
Istanbul

Our last dinner was on the roof terrace of a rather indifferent restaurant, but with a lovely view over the Sultanahmet, so that was a nice end to our time in Istanbul.

The obligatory photo of the Blue Mosque, taken tonight from our hotel terrace,

Istanbul is an exotic, exciting and beautiful city.  I can't wait to go back, not only to see what I've missed here and re-visit some favourites, but to explore the countryside we never had time to see.  I am counting the days!

 

 

Istanbul - 7 June Morning

This is our last day in Istanbul, we fly out at 7.30 tomorrow morning, so we will be up very early - let the morning muezzin wake us (4.30am!).

Last breakfast on the roof terrace of this lovely hotel

plus scrambled eggs and tiny frankfurts in the bain marie behind the juice, for those westerners who can't live without a cooked breakfast (like me!).  The fresh apricots (left, behind the kiwifruit) are small and don't look ripe but are so sweet and juicy!

Here's a few shots of the terrace and the view

and the blue mosque right over one's left shoulder!

So we left the hotel and went to Sultanahmet Park, where we usually start every day with the obligatory photo of the Blue Mosque

and Ayasofya also

The building on the lower right of the photo is a bathhouse, segregated though, but looked fabulous and only sorry I never got a chance to try it.

We had often passed the Yerebatan Cistern, and scoffed at visiting it.  It's in a small and rather unprepossessing builidng, and there's always lots of queues, cos the guidebooks say 'not to be missed'.  But this morning we were early enough to beat all the queues so we jumped straight in. Well!! Probably one of the loveliest things we ever saw in Istanbul - and that's saying a lot!

I really felt, deeply, the sense of age and history right here under the ground, amidst this engineering marvel.

It's a deep large cistern, built in the 6thC, to hold all the water for the city - remember this is a huge walled city in Constantine's time, at least 12km across, enormous for its time. It is regarded as a feat of Byzantine engineering.  (There are lots iof cisterns under the city of Istanbul!)

One goes down a set of stairs with constant admonishing signs not to stop but go straight to the bottom - and we could understand why.  One just wants to stop and stare from about halfway down the stairs.

The cistern has 336 9m high columns, sourced from around the empire, so they're not all the same.  It used to hold 100,000 tons of water but now is traversed by walkway and the water is about a metre deep.  The water came via the Valens viaduct (which we saw in the distance and photographed, but never got to actually see it up close and personal) from the Belgrade forest 12miles away.

Columns

At the furthest end of the cistern are 2 medusa heads - one upside down and one at a 45^o angle.  No one knows why...

there are fish living here and people throw coins to make a wish - I did!

It really is most amazing and worth a visit.  I didn't want to leave.

But we did, and came out to the beginning of the day's queues.

We were off to the Spice Market, which we'd missed somehow, and decided to go via the Grand Bazaar but this time to try and walk straight down to the water! Hah!! Again we got lost and spent almost an hour trawling through tiny streets selling everything known to man and then some.

But finally we reached the Spice Market.  We'd been told that there were amazing kitchenware shops around the Spice Market and I was on a mission to buy a rocking knife, of the type we had used in the cooking school but smaller.  And maybe a meat pounder.  And definitely some of that chilli powder that doesn't have seeds in it.  And absolutely some of that red pepper paste that the Turks use for everything.  And maybe some saffron...

The Spice Market is like a tiny version of the Grand Bazaar.  It's down by Galata harbour behind the New Mosque and the bus depot. One sort of falls into it from the kitchenware shops...

 

It has a main alley and then one running off at right angles near the top.  Spices and sweets are sold inside, with fruit, fish, cheese, coffee and deli items sold on the outer wall and in the long street that runs behind the market, the one where the kitchenware shops are.

I could live here, right inside the market ;-))

We were hunting for the red chilli powder and the red pepper paste.  Found the powder - this fella has about 5 different types of powder, all different strengths.  At the cooking school we'd used the one that has no seeds, which gives a pleasant kick without damaging your taste buds.  It's so mild you can eat it from a spoon.

We found the *bestbestbest* deli.  So good I'm posting the name and the front of the shop before the aggregate photo

Here is some of what they sold.  Note the red pepper paste in the bottom centre of the above photo!

They told us they had a cafe upstairs, so we marked it down for later!

After a few more photos of cheese and fish mongers, more chillis, and buying some saffron, we went looking for the Rustem Pasa Mosque, which is around here somewhere and is reported to be a tiny architectural delight, built by that great and very busy architect, Sinan.  It is tucked away above the shops and was reputedly funded by the local tradespeople, in 1560.

We finally found it by being brave enough to go up an open stairwell in the general vicinity and coming up on the open terrace.  I think there is another entrance but (like sooooooooo much in Istanbul) it's undergoing work.

After the heaving bustle of the street below, it's a relief to come out on this lovely spacious terrace. One of the reasons this mosque is so famous is that it is lined entirely with Iznik tiles.  Rustem Pasa was a Grand Vizier to Suleiman the Magnificent, and was married to one of his daughters.  Although he had immense wealth, mainly through bribes, a common currency in those times, he used his wealth to build mosques, hospitals and schools and do charitable works.  The mosque was built after his death.

Here is the mihrab and the minber

and walls and part of the dome

and a montage of the Iznik tiles

Here's a fireplace on the outside terrace covered in the tiles

They are so beautiful, and the patterns so varied. I could make a few montages and not repeat myself, from this mosque alone!

We went back out into the street of the Strawmatmakers, the main street behind the Rustem Pasa Mosque

and back to Namli Pastirmaci for lunch.  We were hoping to get some of the lovely antipasti for lunch, but when we went upstairs there was a self-serve buffet.  All the menu was in Turkish, and we were the only non-Turks there.  We had to eat what we could see, but the staff were very helpful.  If only we'd known there was a hot dish heated to order - looked like a lamb stew with fat chips and vegies.  We ate

 a cold salad of pickeld vegetables, cold cooked carrots and potatoes and feta and the turkish cheese Kaskavar, rather like Kefolagravia, cheddar like but much softer, and tomatoes and cucumbers and walnuts; a dish that was an artichoke heart with warm vegetables - potatoes, carrots and dill - in a flavourful stock; and a really tasty spinach and rice dish served with yoghurt.  If only we'd discovered this earlier we could have come every day!!  It was the most different and un-touristy food we ate in Istanbul!

And then some people started coming in with food from downstairs!! First, a roll stuffed with salad and pastirma - the shop downstairs has a whole section where there are piles and piles of freshly shaved pastirma and the whole leg is there with the knives just waiting for more to be cut!  Then, 2 people came up with plates loaded with delights from the deli section - see the photo above - all those lovely things from the lower left!! Sigh!! If only we'd known you could order anything in the shop and eat it upstairs!! But NEXT TIME!!!

Please, everyone who reads this blog - if you are going to Istanbul go here to eat and don't be afraid to ask about the food!

We left and wandered up to the Suleymaniye Mosque, but the muezzin had called and it was full of men going in, so no visitors

So we left and wandered through the University towards the Sultanahmet.

We decided to visit Kariye Museum - so that's the subject of the next post!

 

Istanbul - 6 June, Afternoon

This afternoon we went up to Taksim Square to see what the demonstrator's were doing.  Also, a lot of Istanbul is on this side of the Golden Horn, and so far we'd spent all our time in the Old City.  Time to explore the New City!

Eveline from the cooking school lives over here, and the Americans we met at the school were all staying here.  Our guide on the Bosphorus had finished the tour with an impassioned plea for us to go there to show our solidarity with the students.

So we took a taxi over the Golden Horn, via the Ataturk bridge, and got off at the street below the Galata tower.  We walked up to it

most of the streets around here are narrow and there are lots oif interesting shops!  In the old town most of the shops are tourist shops, selling carpets, porcelain, clothes, souvenirs, but here in the narrow streets one also finds fruit stores and cake shops and hardware etc, all jumbled together. In the Old Town these shops are clustered together - a street of hardware stores, 5 streets of womens underwear, etc.  So it's interesting and different being over here!

Oh - Galata Tower - it was built in 1348 during an expansion of the Genoese colony in Constantinople. It was at one time used for spotting fires in the city until it itself was burned.  It was restored many times but in the 1960's the wooden interior was replaced with concrete and it was opened to the public.  9 floors high if you want to climb to the cafe and bookshop on the top!  Great views, I'm told!

We had a quick lunch at a restaurant near the tower then walked up towards Taksim. 

The main street running down from Taksim Square is called Istiklal street, and it is a pedestrian street for most of its length.  It is lined with shops and businesses, many designer stores such as DKNY, H&M, French Connection, Desiguel, Sephora etc, as well as many Turksh designer labels, book shops, art shops, banks.

There were light fixtures above the street, so I bet it looks really good at night!

Fabulous cake shops

As we got closer to Taksim there were popup stores selling anarchist masks, Atataturk flags and scarves and hats, revolutionary banners,

and lots more people about.  We'd read and been told that the police are using excessive force against the demonstrators - for every 20 people there are 40 police with water cannons, tear gas, riot sticks, etc.  Although Turkey is a secular country, people are, in some cases, being arrested for flouting Islamic law.  The middle classes are revolting ;-)

There were *lots* of people around the park, the centre of the protest.  Signs of some earlier violence

and there wasn't a square centimetre of the park that wasn't occupied by students

tents, books, pamphlets, food, singing, haranguing - it was all happening!

We left and went to a lovely cafe nearby, for very upmarket cakes and coffee,

feeling rather indulged and removed from the protest (and superficial!), even though we support what they were doing.

We got lost trying to find our way to the tram station, wandering through the backstreets and finally going down a very steep road

and then onto the tram back to the Sultanahmet.

Trams are a gret way to get around Istanbul!  You buy a jeton at a machine and it works for one trip.  Alternatively, you buy a book (akbill) at the news kiosks and then top it up in the machines at the ferry and train stations.  The akbill lets you travel for a day on all forms of transport.

Here's the Blue Mosque by day as we came back to the Sultanahmet Park

and here's our roof terrace by night, with the Blue Mosque in the background

 

Istanbul - 6 June, Morning

This morning we had booked to do a tour of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus by boat.

Once again our guide was the one who spoke English and Spanish that we had had previously.

We started off on the other side of the Galata Bridge then went under it for our tour. The boat went down the Golden Horn and into the Bosphorus, hugging the left side of the waterway then crossed over at the Sulten Mehmet Bridge and came back hugging the right bank, until we turned back into the Golden Horn at Topkapi Palace and back to the mooring.

First thing is a great view of the Suleymaniye Mosque, built by Suleiman the Magnificent, and on top of one of the 7 hills of Istanbul.  It can be seen from almost anywhere, and is the largest mosque in Istanbul.

We saw the Galata tower towering above the new town, but visited that another day so no photo here.

Here's the Istanbul Modern Art Gallery beside a mosque - the juxtaposition of old and new is one aspect of this city one finds both surprising and charming, and very exotic!

The Dolmabahce Palace

The Four Seasons Istanbul at the Bosphorus, formerly an Ottoman palace

Another former palace, now privately owned

The Rumeli Fortress, which is beside the Sultan Mehmet Bridge, is situated at the narrowest part of the Bosphorus, where it is just 660m wide.

It was built between 1451 and 1452 by Mehmet II to prevent aid from reaching the city of Constantinople during the Turkish seige of that city, and also to control shipping on the Bosphorus.

Here we crossed the Bosphorus and returned along the right bank.

The Beylerbeyi Palace (the summer palace of the sultans, dates from 1860s)

The Maiden's Tower, previously a tax collection point

The Topkapi Palace from the water

and then back via the Galata Bridge to the boat mooring.

We then got on a bus and went to Pierre Loti hill, named after a French author who spent time here.  There is a cable car built amongst the tombstones ( !!! ) here, but the terrace has terrific views of the northern parts of Istanbul and where the Golden Horn ends.

after taking lots of pictures we got on the cable car and went down the hill,

(you can just see the wires heading into the buiklding with double open doors in the centre of the photo)

where the bus picked us up again and took us to a leather factory!  We had a forced fashion show and were invited to buy the goods ( !!!! ) then we were taken back to Sultanahmet Park, which is that bit between Ayasifya and the Blue Mosque.

Some of the still standing walls of Istanbul, built by Constantine the Great, which surround the Sultanahmet

Can't remember where we ate lunch, but a short rest at the hotel then out for another adventure!

 

Istanbul - 5 June, Dinner at The Four Seasons, Sultanahmet

Tonight we went to dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sultanahmet.

We'd seen this hotel and restaurant when we ate at the Seven Hills, as the terrace looks down into the refurbished prison which is now the Four Seasons.

this photo was taken from our table in the garden looking back at The Seven Hills terrace restaurant, where we'd eaten two nights previously - you can see someone standing at the balcony looking down on us this time ;-)

We started with prosecco and bourbon, then came the starters.  J had the selection of Turkish mezzes

and I had the Hengel Country Ravioli - Filled with Aegean Wild Grass, Morel Mushroom, Green Bean, Creamy Tomato Sauce

these came with a selection of home made breads

J's main was a fillet of sea bass (I think, the menu has changed since we ate there so I can't look it up) with radishes and a lemon cream sauce

Mine was a fillet of black cod with a breadcrumb topping and a puree of onions and vegetables with hummus - absolutely fantastic!

we shared a dessert

it was a raspberry and white chocolate mille feuille with cake instead of pastry, vanilla and pistachio icecream, raspberry sauce.  Absolutely delightful. 

This was a fantastic meal, as good as any I have eaten. Prices very similar to those we'd pay in Oz, so not cheap, but still good value.  A lovely venue also, and very good service.  This was a treat and we enjoyed it immensely!

Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet
Tevkifhane Sokak No. 1
34110 Sultanahmet-Eminönü, Istanbul
Tel. +90 (212) 402 30 00

http://www.fourseasons.com/istanbul/

oh - the obligatory photo of the Blue Mosque at night!