Three views of Istanbul

Friday, in lieu of classes, my language school took us on a tour of some non-traditional tourist destinations in Istanbul.

Our first stop was Eyup Mosque, located outside the old city walls toward the tail end of the golden horn.  This mosque is named after said to contain the tomb of one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, Eyup Ensari.  He died during the first Arab siege of Istanbul in the 7th century.  The presence of a Muslim saint has motivated many other people over the years to choose the region around the mosque as their final resting place.  The steep hills to the north of the mosque are covered with terraces of graves.

We walked up the hill to the Pierre Loti cafe, named after the French novelist who is said to have frequented it during his stay in Istanbul.  The cafe has a commanding view of the Golden Horn and, in the distance, the old city.

In the mosque courtyards, there were several families with little boys dressed in white outfits with crowns and scepters.  A fellow student was kind enough to inform me that these costumes indicated that the boys would be circumcised today.  Unlike Jewish tradition, male Muslims do not necessarily undergo circumcision at birth.  The ages of the boys I saw seemed to be somewhere between 6 and 8.  The families of the boys passed out lokum, Turkish delights, to all those passing through the mosque.  The circumcision marks a boys passage into manhood and a lavish party is thrown in his honor.

Next we went to the tiny town of Andalou Kavagi on the Asian side to the straight.  This town is the last stop-off before the Bosphorus merges into the Black Sea.  On the hill above the town there is a ruined Byzantine fortress which offers views of the northern end of the Bosphorus.  This was the setting for one of the trials of Jason and the Argonauts.  Two stones, called the Symplegades, guarded the end of the straight by continuously clashing together.  The area is still of strategic importance.  The town of Adalou Kavagi and the surrounding hills contain multiple military bases.

On our way down the hill I spotted something amazing in the yard of a local poultry farmer.  The two large birds on the left are Turkeys... in Turkey.

Our last stop was the Hill of Pines, the highest point in Istanbul.  Consequently, its sweeping views of the city were spectacular.