All Along the Golden Horn

The election came and went, and AK Parti won 49.9 percent of the vote, incredibly close to being just the third time in history a Turkish party had won more than 50 percent of the vote. More importantly, the AK Parti secured 326 seats in Parliament, just barely short of the 330 they needed to circumvent a popular vote in order to push through a constitutional referendum. It's possible they can pick up those 4 extra seats of support from independent candidates, but I doubt it because of how terribly the party had been treating minority parties leading up to the vote. It looks like we barely avoided disaster, but everyone in the teacher's room today is a little more solemn than you'd expect a group headed for summer vacation soon.

Also worth noting, a Christian politician, backed by the Kurdish party, won a seat in Parliament, the first time this has happened since Ottoman times according to the local paper.



Yesterday I went on a long and gratifying walk which turned my arms red in the annual remember-sunscreen-exists first day of real summer. I started in Topkapı and walked along the city walls to the Golden Horn, then to the Pierre Lotti Café near the end of the Golden Horn, then back down to Eminönü and the Spice Bazaar, then up through Sultanahmet and finishing at Aksaray where I could meet the bus again. All in all the walk was about 10 kilometers.


The back of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, whatever that is. It had a nice park and a gatekeeper who'll let you in if you pay, which I didn't.


This the Eyüp Sultan Mosque, famous as a place of pilgrimage for Muslims because it houses the tomb of Eyüp Sultan, the standard bearer for the Prophet Mohammed. I wasn't able to go inside the tomb itself because the line was too long and I figured it wasn't as important for a tourist to see as it was for a pilgrim.


Women have their own entrance that leads to the cramped upstairs of the mosque. They aren't allowed to pray at the same level as men.


Eyüp Sultan Mosque


When I was looking at this view from the Pierre Lotti Café, I realized that I'm really going to miss Istanbul. I've been waiting for so long to come home because my job has kept me very frustrated, and it's been hard to notice the immense beauty of where I live. Turkey the country and Istanbul the city really are feeling like home now as I'm less than a week away from leaving. I could see myself coming back and living here for another extended period of time. It's so magnificent, open, and welcoming, and maybe if I weren't stuck in Bahçeşehir teaching spoiled rich kids every day then I wouldn't be homesick. I know already that I have to come back and I'm already planning the rough outline of when that will be. I wonder how I'll feel about all this once I'm back home.


Eyüp Sultan mosque below and the Mihrimah Mosque at the top and the Zal Mahmut Paşa Mosque on the left


The tram you ride to get to the Pierre Lotti Café


A flower garden shop outside the Zal Mahmut Paşa Mosque


Boats in the Golden Horn with children playing in the water at a distance. I think this water's unhealthy, but they're still swimming.


View from the Pierre Lotti Café. The man is wearing Fenerbahçe colors, the football team that won the Turkish league championship.


Watching a pair of boys swimming in the Golden Horn


Those boys really wanted me to take a picture of them jumping into the Golden Horn, so I did. Turks seem really eager to be photographed. They really liked this one, and I like Galata Tower in the background on the right. When I left I realized I'd talked with the two boys completely in Turkish, finally achieving one of my year-long goals to have a full conversation without stammering, stalling, or using any English at all.


The Church of St. Stephens, made completely out of iron


Inside the Rüstem Paşa Mosque, built by the famous architect Sinan


The dome of the Rüstem Paşa Mosque

One final note: This morning, with my students on a field trip, me and the other teachers who are leaving have been emptying our closets and looking through old activities and some student work, choosing what should be thrown out and what should be saved. Looking at these pieces makes me think that maybe I had more of an impact on these students than I've given myself credit for. They seem so stubborn and unwilling to learn sometimes, but looking at the games they made and the fortune telling cards and the cookbooks... they really did work hard, despite groaning all the while. There are good memories to be had even in this difficult job, too.