We slept in today getting up at 10, and leaving the house at 12. That’s more my rhythm. I’d rather start the day late and go out late… Sabine’s a bit earlier…

We caught the ferry along the golden Horn today – a full half hour ride for 1.75 TL… a bargain!

It is a nice bay, but also has still plenty of room for development, especially on the eastern side after Galata there are lots of abandoned whip yards, screaming to be transformed! Loft, anyone?

We got off at the last stop, Eyüp, and walked up to Pierre Loti, a café on top of a hill, covered mostly by a cemetery…

We chose a route through town, passing a mosque. But the closer we got, the more people were there, cars, security… People were even praying outside of the mosque in the street, and we decided to make a detour.

It turned out that Eyüp Sultan Mosque is one of the most holy places of Islam, after Mekka, Medina and Jerusalem. And it was Friday, which explained the crowds.

However, we wondered who the VIP was with all the black limos and security… turns out, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan himself attended the prayer and a funeral, as we learned in the news. Also explained the huge numbers of policemen around.

 

Anyway, for us this meant we had to head up the hill from another side, walking through the cemetery (the ‘popular’ side – the fancy graves were on the other side, facing the water…)

Up on the hill, we realized that we could have taken the cable car, basically from the ferry up to the hill. But hey, we like climbing mountains at noon in the heat. We had a drink, enjoyed the view, and then walked back to the ferry.

Two stops down the Golden Horn, we got off again to find the city’s massive defense walls, and walked along, and even a bit on them.

I have to read the history of the siege and the fall of Constantinople again. I remember that the Ottoman fleet could not get into the Golden Horn due to a massive chain between the two sides, and that Mehmed II actually ordered the fleet to be carried over the hills one night.

It must have been quite a bad surprise for Konstantin XI, the last emperor, when he awoke in the morning, to see the enemy ships in his backyard.

Another story I vaguely remember is that the conquerors came in through a small, unlocked city gate that was forgotten, and once inside, resistance quickly crumbled. The city fell.

Standing on top of these walls, maybe 10, or 20 meters high, and so ridiculously massive, it is hard to imagine how they could have been taken.

I love history, and the effects some events far, far back in time still have today. The fall of Constantinople in 1453, the reconquista of Spain in 1492, the sieges of Vienna in the 16th and 17th centuries… they all shape our relationship with the Muslim world, and especially Turkey today, as we are negotiating about EU membership.