Final Day in Turkey

Church of St. George

For our last day, we took the Metro and a bus to meet Claire in the Fener neighborhood for a tour of Fener and Balat. The Fener neighborhood is traditionally Greek, although must of the Greeks were forced out in 1856. Today, only about 2000 Greeks remain in Turkey. The area is home to a large and imposing Greek High School, and the area has long been known for having some of the most highly educated people in the city. The main sight to see here was the Church of St. George (and the adjacent Monastery), home to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was not a large church, but very ornate. We got to see a relic there which is supposedly the column to which Jesus was tied and whipped under Pontius Pilate. We didn't get to see the current Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew 1. We also visited the tiny Church of St. Mary of the Mongols, the oldest continuously operating church in Istanbul.

Fragment of the Pillar of the Flagellation

We next walked through the historically Jewish neighborhood of Balat. Claire pointed out a couple of synagogues that we walked past, but we weren't able to go in them. From Balat we had a steep climb to the Theodosian Walls and then actually climbed the steep steps to the top. Dating to the 5th century, these walls (built first by the Romans) protected the city and remained unbreached for 1000 years, until the Ottomans took the city in 1453. On one side, homes and apartments back up almost right to the wall, On the other side, where the outer walls and moat once provided additional protection, there is now a highway. We once again had some great views of the city, but my attempts for a decent selfie were lackluster at best.

View from the Theodosian Wall.

Just below the wall, we visited the Chora Church, currently undergoing significant restorations. Chora is home to some incredible Byzantine mosaics and frescoes. The sanctuary was actually closed for restoration, but the Outer Narthex, Inner Narthex, and side church were open for viewing. It's difficult to comprehend how the church must have looked when it was first built. Much of the original tile work is missing or destroyed, but a number of elaborate and brilliant scenes and figures are still largely intact. One set of mosaics describes the life of the Virgin Mary, which is unusual. Nearly every inch of space above the top of the doorways was at one time covered with thousands of tiny colorful tiles, many gold in color.

Chora mosaic of Christ.

Chora ceiling mosaic.

At Chora, we officially bid farewell to Claire, although we facilitators sat and had a nice chat with her over tea before she went on her way. The afternoon was more free time, so Melissa and I made excellent use of the time by visiting the "Blue Mosque" and completing our shopping. The Blue Mosque was quite crowded, and although it is prominent and famous, it isn't necessarily any more beautiful than any we had already seen. The crowd was heavy due to a national holiday, and we seemed to encounter more and more people as the afternoon went on. We stopped in the Arasta Bazaar to pick up some gifts and then went to the Spice Bazaar. We found a vendor in the street where we could buy the spices we wanted, and ended up having an experience. They made us sit and have tea while they packaged our selections, all the time having us taste various spices in hopes we would buy more. After we finished, we forged through the crowds to the Galata bridge, which we walked across to get back to Beyoğlu and our hotel. I stopped across from the hotel to load up on Turkish Delight and sample baklava, which left me just a few minutes to get ready for our final group dinner.

Blue Mosque interior. Sign said "No visitors past this point," but I honestly don't think these people were praying.

Crowd at the foot of the Galata Bridge.

That evening we took the ferry back across the Bosphorus to the Asian side for a dinner essentially in the same place we had eaten a few days before. The meal was amazing and the food came out non-stop. I've never seen so much food. While I enjoyed the food, the restaurant was loud and I was at the end of a long table, making conversation difficult. That made the evening seem longer than it actually was.

We took a 10:00 ferry back and we facilitators went out for a final drink with our faculty lead Richard. We talked about how the class had gone, and he kindly presented us with towels as gifts to thank us for our help. Once this wrapped up, we only had a few more hours in Istanbul so it was back to the hotel for packing and a shower. At 2:45 am, we met for the bus and were on our way to the airport.