20th May

We started the day at about 9. Booked out, left our backpacks at the hotel and went on to search for the Yerebatan Sarnici (Basillica Cistern), a place we forgoed the 1st day, seeing the snaking queue waiting for entry into the place. Admission fee was 10 lira. The place was as haunting/eerie as it was splendid. The high ceiling coupled with placid water combined spectacularly as we toured the area. I can’t help but wondered in my mind, what happened millenias ago, as the Romans used the place as fishing grounds, and after that the many other dynasties and empires who were witnesses to it. Did they preserve it, neglected it or used it just as how the Romans used it?

After that, we searched for the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (admission fee was 5 lira). It was furnished with a whole load of items from the Seljuk, Ottoman, Safavid and even even much earlier Greek paraphernalia. It was really beautiful and I think the pictures speak for themselve. We then proceeded to have our dinner, again, wonderful Turkish cuisine (Tavuk doner). We hung around at the Sultanahmet area (near Aya Sofya and Blue Mosque) and waited for the the noon call to prayer, which was about 1 plus P.M. It was not as nice as the muezzins the day before, but it was stil surreal to her multiple calls booming over so large an area. Again, I wondered how it may have been like during the early Ottoman period, how traders and talents from all over the world, were greeted by these call to prayers.

Next, we decided to search for the Mehmet Pasha mosque and also the Theodosius Cistern (in its full glory before any restoration in the scale of the Basillica and Benderbia was done. And in finding Theodosius, we got magnificently but fortunately lost. Why so because, in our time at Istanbul, we walked ALL the way, at quite a breakneck pace too. We got int0 areas which we may not have even go to if we had got it right. We saw a multitude of all buildings, some in its haggard victorious glory, some churning out kids who dolled the cobbled roads playing ball or catch. It was a great experience. We detoured a lot of times though, trying to find the (as we soon found out) not so obvious Theodosius Cistern, which as it turned out was under a modern building. It was indeed, like it said in our travel book, not fully fully restored and not as expansive as the basillica cistern.

Next, we decided to walk to Beyazit Mosque, which was in the same vicinity as Istanbul University and the Calligraphy Museum (unfortunately it closes at 1600hrs) We then followed this by goin to the Sulemineye Mosque and the Yeni Cami (the New Mosque). For the former it was the mosque built for the Kanuni Sultan Suleiman, or better known in the west as Suleiman the Magnificent. At the mosque to was entombed Sulaiman and several other members of the Ottoman nobility. Actually felt overwhelmed standing in the same room as one of the great figures of pax Ottomanica and possibly the Islamic world.

All in all, the day was one of exploration, discovery and most of all, of tired legs. That night, we then took an overnight bus to Cappadocia.

21st – Cappadocia

Places visited: Goreme Open air Museum/ Uchisar Castle/ Rose Valley (to watch the sunset)

22nd – Cappadocia Tours

1) Caravansarai – This was a place where the 13th Century Seljuk Turks, predecessors of the Ottoman Empire, provided housing along the uber long Silk Road. The Seljuk Turks, with linkages from the great Salahuddin Ayub, were highly tolerant Muslims, who preached co-existence with its non-Muslim counterparts. The caravansarai was one such example, where traders/pilgrims, Muslims and non-Muslims were most welcomed

2) Selime Monastery: It was a Christian monastery but made in the name of the Muslim Seljuk Sultans, who were sort of their patrons

3) Ihlara Valley (3km trek)

– Saint Daniel’s Church: carved from within the rocks of the valley
– Belisirme: where we had our lunch

4) Derinkyulu Underground City: It was believed that the Hittites, who lived around 4000 A.D, used this tediously created cities made from within the soils and rock of the earth to escape from its enemies. The tour guide mentioned too that while 36 cities had been discovered, only 10 were restored and it was believed that around 150 more underground cities are yet to be found.

What was most interesting about this tour however was the people that we met. There was this Zoroastrian couple ( a religion which at its heyday had millions of believers to its present day number which is about 200, 000) The guys name was Eric and both of them were Indian but were from the U.S. And the lady was HOT. hahaha… Anyway, I got to know more about the couple’s religion, which had its roots in pre-Islamic Persia. He mentioned on how the numbers were quickly decimated by the arrival of Islam in Persia, where some had to renounce their religion in the face of oppression while some did it willingly. Then they were the Japanese ladies, Naiko and Akiko and our jovial tour guide Saneb. And of course 2 nice ladies from Canada, already in their retirement age, who shared their life experience with us.

23rd: Selcuk – Ephesus

1) Car ride to Meryemana temple where I saw my Christian/Catholic friends weeping inside the church where Maryam was believed to have lived at

2) Ephesus – The great ruins of ancient Greece, where after the visit, David, with his penchant for walking, convinced us to walk via the peach garden all the way until we reach Selcuk; and my it was a really great experience.

3) Grotto of the Seven Sleepers

4) Isabey Cami

24th: Selcuk-Ephesus

1) St. John’s Basillica and Chuch, which overlooked the Isabey Cami
– the thing I remember most about this place was our chance encounter with a Turkish breakfast called Meneman and how I grew to love it so much until I ate it 3 times over 2 days. Am still trying to find the right mix and ingredients to make the exact same Meneman that I tasted

2) Ayasuluk fortress, where for some time, has been closed and can only be seen from the St John’s Basillica

3) Ephesus Museum
At this museum, I was surrounded by a group of students (maybe pri 6 or Sec 1) and they talked to me in Turkish, and as I tried my darndest to decipher, I could make it the words FI and Singapore. Then one of the kids, who had firstly, early on told his friends that I wasnt Japanese, after which I followed up by saying that I was Muslim and greeting them with a salam. This same kid then talked to me in the toilet and then bringing his other male friends, said Assalamualaikum, to which I responded by slowly moving out, as we were in the toilet before replying to him. Then they asked in unison my name, before they introduced theirs. Soon, the rest crowded around me and asked my name. Their teachers tried hard to usher them out of the museum. Hurriedly, each one of them shook my hands, smiling widely before rushing off to the calls of their teachers.

Even in this place, this far away land, the feeling of being one single ummah stands. The Islam the Turkish practice, though certain parts of it differ, the idea still remains the same. It was the same with the caretaker from Isabey Mosque and the same for several other experiences.

After the museum, Liwen decided to go back to the hotel (where David and Jasmine was resting at) and I choose instead to walk around Selcuk for myself and visit the Saturday market.

It was the first for me, walking around in Turkey on my own, and I did that for a good hour plus. And it was a fine experience indeed. Walking among the throngs of shoppers amidst the rows of stalls selling foodstuffs, kitchenware and clothings. It was a nice stroll, observing the behaviour of its people and the bustling of the market. Selcuk is a quaint town with a seductive rustic charm. The chillouts at Selcuk Koftecisi (wonderful food) yesterday and afterwards at Isabey Cami at night and the wonderful Meneman breakfasts were highlights indeed and this walk is a fitting end to my experience in Selcuk-Ephesus.