BRIDE OF HEAVEN

 (Before I start this blog, I would like you to know that I am having a very difficult time trying to get the photos in the order I want them, so that this all makes sense!  This blog programme & I are not on good terms at the moment, so you will just have to guess which photo goes with whatever I am saying!!!)

We are staying in Sultanahmet, which is the old town of Istanbul.  The roads are cobbled, with occasional pit holes in them, few sidewalks/footpaths and frequent people, table & chairs lining & spilling from the sides.  This is not a place designed for the automobile! However, the taxis & cars that scoot around here are amazing in that we are yet to see a prang, when every intersection is a disaster waiting to happen.

We needed to get a taxi to Chora, our destination for the morning was the Church of St Saviour in Chora, home of the finest Byzantine mosaics & frescoes. Would we get there in one piece..of course we would, although there was extensive stop start motion, the foot of the driver permanently attached to a hover just above the brake, and frequent use of the horn! Not one swear word though! Never the less, I was very relieved to arrive.  (We chose to take a long walk back afterwards!!!


In Byzantine times, Chora was a rural area, just inside the city walls.  Now of course it has been swallowed up into the sprawling city itself, but there are still remaining sections of wall, & there is still Chora!.  The building is from the 11th century, with wonderful brick work, perfect domes and the intimacy of a small, country church.  The frescoes & mosaics were added in the 13oo's by a theologian & philosopher, Theodore Metochites, who wanted to show how Christ became a mortal on our behalf.  He achieved this by focussing on the genealogy of Christ.  There was also a series of mosaics about the life of Mary, which, with neither of us coming from a Marian background, we found particularly fascinating! (Did you know that Mary was betrothed to Joseph when she was a child, & that he already had a son?????)

 Upon entering the church we went from one section to another, straining our necks to see the exquisite workmanship, that these mosaics represent.  It was terrific seeing exposed brick work peeping through the places where no mosaic remains.   The frescoes were still so rich in colour & like the mosaics, there was NOTHING primitive or naive about the their form. We wandered through it all first, but not really understanding what we were seeing, we then made a brilliant decision &...bought a book! (I should point out that we are bibliophiles & have a tendancy to weigh our return luggage down with books purchased on our adventures.  THIS time we thought we WOULDNT buy books, we would hunt them down on Book Depository & buy later! We now have 6 books to pack somewhere in our luggage. I did check for 2 of them on book depository & they didnt have them, so those purchases are justified!!!!!!) This purchase was a very smart move, because at last, we could actually work out what we were seeing & more importantly, WHO was who!

I was particularly interested in a rather damaged mosaic where a woman named Priestess Melane was kneeling before the Christ. I was interested because I have never heard of her & we seldom see women other than the "mary's ' kneeling with Christ.  I am going to have to do some research about this woman.  I was also attracted to the beauty of her face & the varying textures that surround her face, created by lost mosaic pieces & plaster. It was like the faded & motheaten parts of tapestries...adding to the story!

I also had another delight in store. Some American prat was using flash photography when there were signs up everywhere saying not to. A woman security guard was on to him in a flash (!) & confiscated his camera!  It took a GREAT deal of effort not to shout "GO GIRL"& whoop with satisfaction! Oh there is a God!

We had a long & pleasant...if hot...walk back to our part of town.  It was fascinating to see where the 'real' people lived. Mainly in blocks of flats, crammed together. Everyone living on top of each other.  At one point we could clearly see Byzantine wall, where buildings had literally been built onto, providing a startling cross section of the evolving city.

 As we progressed further, we came upon more shops & a huge cluster of Bridal shops! I have never seen so many wedding dresses in my life! MILLIONS of them.  This was wedding dress grand central!  What we learned from this insight, is that Turks are really into BLING in a BIG way!  Honestly, we thought that Barbie knew how to dress...her wardrobe is NOTHING compared to what was on show here. Ruffles, and as much sparkle as a girl could wish for!  Unfortunately, I wasnt able to take a photo from inside the shops (I did ask, but got a very strong NO), but I hope that you get a snippet of what we saw, from these 'through the window shots'! It would have been an ideal place to buy my daughter a dress for school Formals...but she really needs to have some say in the choosing, so I resisted the temptation!