Morning views

Terrible news this morning. Soothing views.

Besiktas Explosions

Last week was hectic. I decided to spend Saturday evening reading Mango's book about Ataturk. The book is interesting but tiredness won over. I fell asleep on the sofa. Somewhere around 21.30 I made a move from the sofa to the bed. I recall hearing some noise - like explosion but thought this are fireworks. Although I recall a thought that fireworks sound differently, I continued to sleep.
This morning I read 29 people died and around 126 are injured because of twin bombings close to  the Besiktas stadion two hours after the match.The first car with the bomb targeted riot police and killed 26 policemen.

  

Abdurahman

I drove to Masco today. Masco is the world largest furniture market. I need to buy a mattress for the guest room. Ikea online is too complicated. Arranging the delivery with Ikea adds an additional layer of complexity.
In one of the mattress store there was a young man with good English. I choose a mattress and amazingly it could be delivered to my flat immediately.  The young man with good English was very polite. He was  blond with green eyes and looked more German than Turkish. I was curious where he is from. He told me he is from Allepo. He came to Istanbul  three years ago. He finished pharmaceutical university but regretfully can't work in the pharmacy store here. We spoke about the war. His view is that the world war is played in his country. We talked about politics, refugees. His family had to leave Allepo. His younger brother is in Germany. Abdurahman would like to go back to Syria.Irrespective of his difficult life at all time he was positive. He spoke about life challenges with optimism.
We parted as old acquaintances.  

Istanbul 10k

Nov 10th

My view

Finally - I moved

Gocek

Nar Lokanta Meal

Pubic Phones in Tekirdag

Archeological Museum in Tekirdag

Traffic in Tekirdag

Sunset on Sep 24th

Grand Chaine Dinner

Carpet Shopping

Spice Market

Baklava Superstar

Street Food 3

Street Food 2

Dolma Mussles

Hagia Sophia

Top Kapi

Iznik

Moustage

Game

Antique Coins

Roman oil lamps

Bursa

Bursa once the capital of the Ottoman Empire is about 170 km from Istanbul. The drive there is easy as highway is brand new. Bursa's history is about 5000 old. In ancient times it was known as Bithynia.  But its current name dates to Roman times as the king of Carthage after he lost the war with the Romans took shelter under the tutelage of Prusias. To return to this favor, he builts a city with the soldiers and he names the city “Prusias”. 

Most of the historical buildings date from 14 century when Organ Gazi made Bursa the Ottoman capital. 

It was great to stroll along the city and enjoy provincial bliss. 

Osman Gazi Bridge

On a way to Bursa crossed the Sea of Marmara over Osman Gazi Bridge  (Turkish: Osman Gazi Köprüsü). This is an impressive suspension bridge. Wiki  states this is the fourth-longest suspension bridge in the world. 

Some food photos

Ağva

First outing outside Istanbul. First time over the bridge to the Asian side. Great highway in the beginning. Then got on the regional roads. Drove up and down forest hills. Quite authentic. Many wooden houses along the road.
Agva is a small town between two rivers on the Black Sea coast. I did not have desire to stay long on the beach and plunge into the sea.


Agva

Mosaic Palace

One of my favorite places in Sultanahmet. Never crowded.

Mosaic Palace

Sunset at Galata

Reconnecting with Katya

On her way to Tokyo Katya had about 10 hours layover. Last time we met in person was five years ago. We missed each other in Moscow.  It was easy to catch up and nice to hear she is doing well and still enjoying Japan. We compared notes on different cultures.
We did a small Sultanahmet tour: Mosaic Palace, Aya Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cisterna, Grand Bazar and after dinner Galata Tower.
Great time!

Flowers

Mashatan Sunset

TeamLab Exhibition

Amazing art at Borusan Contemporary. The Japanese collective Teamlab shows four real time interactive computer installations. I got mesmerized by watching choppy waves. I felt as floating on them. I enjoyed the tree - which from basic, minimalistic form in space became a blooming, rotating garden. I preferred tree to butterflies. The waterfall was impressive too. The room with flowers installation full of colors looked too busy in the beginning. But than the guard explained that I could change the painting if I touched the wall. Then the flowers disappear into zillions of petals. If one stand one minute in front of the wall - a new flower appeared. I ws so grateful the security guard explained me the installation. Later I read it in the booklet - but if it would not be for the guard I would miss the fun of co-creation. More info about the exhibition at: http://www.borusancontemporary.com/client/pdf/BC_TeamLab.pdf

Borusan Contemporary

An amazing building on Bosphorus. It is head office of major Turkish company during the week and in the weekend a museum. Amazing views on the Bosphorus. Inspiring art.