We were in Istanbul for two days and visited six international schools, so there was little time (unfortunately) for sight-seeing and pure enjoyment of Istanbul. If you would like to read about and see pictures of the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace, and other tourist aspects of Istanbul (which are all awesome by the way), you can go back to my blog post from Fall 2008 and enjoy a trip down memory lane.
A little bit of context so the following information makes sense, Istanbul is a big place, home to 12 million people, and the only city in the world situated on two continents. The European and Asian sides of Istanbul are separated by a wide body of water called the Bosphorus, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean Sea. Ok, enough history...for now...because our visit coincided with a major day for the Turkish people.
There are two major suspension bridges that cross the Bosphorus in Istanbul, and on both mornings it was extremely foggy along the water, but this picture was taken on Tuesday morning as we approached the Bosphorus bridge on our way from Europe to Asia for a school visit:
The views from these two suspension bridges are amazing; many of the homes along the hillsides date from the early 1100s or even earlier, and many were built by Christian traders during the Byzantine Empire period when Istanbul was known as Constantinople:
In continuing my series of fascinating road side highway signs across the globe, when you cross the suspension bridges in Istanbul in one direction you see signs welcoming you to Asia, and in the other direction welcoming you to Europe. As far as I am aware there are very few places around the globe where you see continental welcome signs:
The European side of Istanbul is by far the more populous and the most modern and developed. As we were driving to another school visit later on Tuesday we were on freeways that passed a number of areas with significant skyscraper development:
Skyscrapers are a major controversy in Istanbul because many people want the city to have a smaller scale that fits the natural hills along the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara, but as you can see there appears to be no stopping progress in Istanbul and Turkey's attempt to be viewed as much more European. Before our mid-day visit on Tuesday we had a little bit of time so our driver took us to a new shopping center and we walked around. My favorite store in the mall was "Pupa," which is Turkish for Apple:
The final school visit of the day was at Robert College (around the world the word "college" is usually used for the final years of secondary school and then students go to "university," so Robert College is a highly selective secondary school). This is the oldest American-style school in Istanbul, having been formed in 1863 with the approval of the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Since it is extremely old, Robert College has a beautiful campus and is located on the top of one of the hills along the Bosphorus. This is the main building you see after driving up the hill:
Not a bad "school" huh? I am sure many of you are wondering what is going on with the dude on the big banner. That guy is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and the first president from 1923-1938. Atatürk is commemorated in countless ways all over Turkey - airports, bridges, roads, he is on the currency, and almost every classroom, office, and restaurant I have been in have his picture or portrait on the wall. They are really serious about Atatürk, he is the person who made Turkey the modern, progressive, yet Muslim country it is today. In 1951 the Turkish Parliament passed a law outlawing insults to his reminiscence or destruction to objects representing him. Why am I mentioning this? Well, Robert College had the banner up because on 10 November at 9:05am (the exact time of his death), the entire country of Turkey comes to a standstill - literally, all traffic comes to a stop, people stop what they are doing, and observe a two minute moment of silence. Loud air raid type sirens go off announcing when the observation is to occur, and this year it was in the middle of our info session at one school and we stopped and all turned to face the portrait of Atatürk in silence for two minutes and then the students sang the Turkish national anthem. It was quite an experience, but to say Turks appreciate and revere Atatürk would be an understatement. And Now You Know about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and why if you're ever in Turkey on 10 November at 9:05am everything will come to a complete stop.
Ok, that was a lot of text, so I will end this post with a series of photos taken as we drove through the seaside neighborhoods lining the Bosphorus in Istanbul. It was a beautiful day and these winding roads were lined with homes, cafes, outdoor seating restaurants, shops, and people out and about enjoying the day:
No comments:
Post a Comment