Day 03 Monday October 10, 2005 By Liz Dauterman
ISTANBUL: GRAND BAZAAR, CHORA CHURCH, SULEYMANIYE MOSQUE BOAT TRIP

Our Meli lady is so sweet, kind and caring.  She is an excellent guide and so knowledgeable of both past and present Turkey.  She brings a spiritual perspective to all she is giving us.  We are gaining a feeling for Turkey and its people.  Sometimes loud and boisterous sometimes so quiet, contemplative and prayerful.  We love the happy voices at mealtime and since it is Ramzdan time, and many are fasting, it is particularly happy for all to get together for an evening meal.  We hear the call to prayer five times a day and during Ramazan, the early drum sound flowing through the streets.Today our bus is parked between the Blue Mosque and Ayasofya built in the 5^th century.  These two built 1000 years apart.

We are now entering the Grand Bazaar.  Over the entrance are the words, “Kapalicarsi 1461

GRAND BAZAAR

For thousands of years the Masters of Trade have been selling their goods here in this truly very grand, covered bazaar.  This is a place to bargain and yet one feels that some (like the ladies that make some of the jewelry) are making so little that you do not want to bargain too low. 

We find every type of shopping here from things you would find in the west, to ceramics with mosaic designs, jewelry, leather goods, carpets of all kinds, beautiful pashas as, tea sets, miniatures, stringed instruments and as Meli says lots of jingle jangle and so much more.  As we walk through the sound of voices fills the air – merchants calling us to buy.  We see a man washing the beautiful mosaic floors in front of his shop.  Then Meli takes some of us down a corridor to a shop selling the beautiful Afghanistan clothing that some of the women wear.  Nancy bought a lovely evening jacket with glorious colors and beads.  Many of the women here wear the traditional “Bhurka”.  We bought a lovely miniature (Moses in the basket with his mother watching over him).  The miniatures, which are scenes from the Old Testament, are placed on paper from a book of the Ottoman period, thus making them very special. 

Back on the bus Hussain, maneuvers the bus around people and other vehicles, not so unlike the “Texas Two Step” or we could say the “Turkey Slide-By”.  We pass by the last loomotive that was used by the Orient Express.  Meli pointed out that there is a tradition of having all of one type of shop in the same area.  We passed by blocks and blocks of Bridal shops with beautiful wedding gowns in the windows.  

Our next stop is the Chora Church.  (Meaning of Chora is, “in the womb of”.  Meli explained at this point that sometimes our partial education misleads us and causes prejudice.  This is shown in the art of various periods. In the 18^th century art was for art sake and in the 19^th century art was for the people.  This is one of the reasons for art changes over the centuries.  In the early centuries when so many could not read art was a way of communicating.  The illustrations depended where you were from, your environment and your faith and these all contributed to the culture of a period.  Even during Paul’s time there would be different interpretations from one side of the mountains to the other.  Jesus is sometimes portrayed with red hair, sometimes weak and sometimes strong.  Put a cross in the art work and you know it is Jesus.

Istanbul was called Constantinople in the early centuries and the city dates back to 1000 BC and it was in 1700 that the Byzantines first accepted Christianity.   

The Chora Church, with its beautiful 900-year-old mosaics was restored by Theodore Metochites, who was the controller of the treasurery during the reign of Androniikos II (1282 – 1328).  Before this time the church endured earthquakes, destruction, and neglect.  The breath-taking mosaics that depict the events leading up to the birth of Jesus and of his life are a mind opener.  We saw the birth of Mary, Jesus Mother, and another scene of Mary taking her first steps. We learned that Mary’s mother was named Anne and her father, Joachim.  We saw mosaics depicting glorious events in their lives leading up to Jesus’ birth.  We saw Mary paying taxes along with Joseph;  the Nativity, with Joseph looking very contemplative;  the shepherds identified by the sheep (since Constantinople did not know shepherds they are identified by the presence of the sheep) and we saw the animals warming the baby Jesus with their warm breath and presence;   Dormition, which represents Mary sleeping, not dying, and her soul being received in the form of a little child into Jesus’ care, showing Jesus as Father with his own mother in his lap;  Resurrection;  and Jesus named the Creator, (Pantalasore) shown with the cross behind Jesus’ head and the book in hand closed;   the multiplication of the wine and bread  represented Creator also.  All of this and so much more to awaken your thought.  So very beautiful.  I must mention my favorite and then I will close off this section.  The mosaic on page 150 of the Museum of Chora book depicts so wonderfully Jesus rescuing Adam and Eve from hell.  Satan, shackled is under his feet – we see the strength of Jesus here.

Meli explained that kings of that time were an empirical cult – the kings acted like gods.  As we know Herod ordered all male babies killed for fear that this expected baby would take away his throne.  The people hid their babies in caves where the spiders spun webs across the mouth of the caves and the soldiers passed on by.  Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mother, hid him in this way.We saw many examples in the mosaics of Mary given equal attention with Jesus.  The Mother Goddess idea began 10,000 years ago and there are 8,000 years of mother traditions.  Our last stop was to visit the Suleymaniye Mosque, which was built in 1520 CE, during the reign of Solomon the Great.  Meli talked also about Klaphis, who was the ruler of the Muslim world at this time, similar to the Pope for the Muslims.  His secular laws for the Ottoman Empire were established at this time.  Turkish baths, laws for textiles (threads and colors were regulated, even rules for tiles to keep the quality were put in place, as well as architectural things.  The most interesting thing was the ostrich eggs hung in the mosque to keep cobwebs from forming.

We ended the day with a pretty boat trip on the Bosphours, which is a waterway leading to the Black Sea.