इस्तांबुल विथ मोविंग पिक्टुरेस

Friday

Day 6

The day some had been waiting for and some were frightened by; the day we had to board the flight heading for Copenhagen.

We thought that the trip had been good for the class being a united group of students. The trip had been both educational and fun. It was good for us to see Turkey which we had spoken of frequently the last two months. It gave us an understanding of Turkey and a "muslim" society with secular core values.

Thursday

Day 5

The fifth day we went to the Topkapi palace, and saw the harem, and the residence of the sultans of the Osmannic empire. The sultans lived there until 1856.

Facts:

Topkapi Palace constructed by Fatih Sultan Mehmet, in 1478 has been the official residence of the Otoman Sultans and center of State Administration around 380 years until the construction of Dolmabahce Palace by Sultan Abdulmecid. The palace has currently 80.000 m² area. It is located in Sultanahmet. From the palace you can see Marmara Sea and Bosphorus. The sultan lived in the palace with about 800 people in the kitchen staff, and 3000 harems women to serve him.

After we had visited the palace we went to the underground cisterns, which were a water resource for the population, if the city for instance got into war.

Our impression:

The palace was a wonderful and magnificent place to visit. When you step into the palace you will smell the history. You can feel that a bunch of women had lived there only to please the sultan. You can feel that so much history have been written there. It was quite clearly the main event on this trip. No discussion. After the breathtaking visit we were to go down and deep into Istanbuls Basilica Cistern. The sewers which the christians built and the muslims only discovered hundreds of years after they conquered Istanbul. Lots of fishes swam around in the water and some irresponsible and unsympathetic people threw coins at them. Of course we stopped them and asked them to treat animals decently.

In the night we went for dinner as a whole group and went back to the hotel as such.

Wednesday

Day 4

The fourth day we went to visit a Turkish school. We began the school day by hearing an introduction from the two principals and the lady who was with us the whole day. After a while they proudly showed us their school, and then we were split up into smaller groups, and went out to follow different classes to see how the teaching in the English subject were performed. It was fun to see how their way teaching the students is so different from our Danish way.

After that we went to the former mosque/church but now museum Hagia Sofia which was vey beautiful. It had a mix of christian and islamic symbolics because of the historical changing christian and islamic dominance of the region. We spend about two hours in there and after that we were all very tired. However the teachers thought that we had to see another mosque. Actually a mosque that was older than the Blue Mosque. In this older and slightly smaller mosque we could experience the silence and meditation-friendly aura that is common for mosques. This was possible because of the small amount of tourists visiting compared to the Blue Mosque.

Tuesday

Day 3

The third day in Istanbul we went to the Blue Mosque. Before entering the mosque we had to cover our shoulders and knees and the girls had to cover their hair also. The mosque was fascinating and we had to be focused to avoid letting our conscience take over, because you could easily get so overwhelmed that your mind would stop working. The plan was after this to we visit the church/mosque of Hagia Sofia, but there were to many tourists (as our teachers said), so instead we went straight to the grand bazaar. The bazaar was like anything else in the Middle East. If you have been to Jerusalem and visited the old city with the narrow streets where the arabs sell their stuff you would get disappointed when you see this. In the evening most of the boys went out to a restaurant where they wanted to eat dinner together. The other parts of the class also did this but in smaller groups. Back at the hotel we wanted to prepare for the next day. That was why some of us wanted to play a game of "Trivial Pursuit: Turkey Special". Unfortunately we couldn't get a hold of this game.

Monday

Day 2

We walked to the docks where we took a boat on which we spent half of the day discovering the Bosporus. After a couple of hours we ended up in Anadol Kavagi where we went by foot all the way up to a castle, but there was nothing left but ruins. Some of us were disappointed because of the lack of things to do up there, and we did WALK all the way up. Afterwards we went down again (ON FOOT). we were looking for some food, but it was impossible to find any. Unfortunately we couldn't understand the owners of the restaurant's shouting when they waved at us and their restaurant in the same movement. instead of following their slightly subjective recommendations most of us bought some kebab at a local take away. However some did fall into the trap and found themselves sitting at a restaurant. When we were finished with lunch, we had an hour left before we were to sail back to the docks of Istanbul. Because of this fact and the fact that it was one of the warmest days on our trip, some of us decided to jump into the water. It was refreshing for some and the spectators were indeed also entertained.

As you can see, the pictures in the upper left and right corners show how much time we spent at the gym which were located inside the hotel.

When we arrived at the docks, we were allowed to choose on our own whether or not we wanted to go shopping or go home. We were left to ourselves and the girls enjoyed and made use of the shopping opportunity. In the night we went back and forth to between each others rooms before we went to rest and prepare for the next day to come.

Sunday

Day 1

On the morning of Sunday we gathered to check in our luggage at the Copenhagen Airport. Jeppe who had been sick for the last 3 weeks didn't meet us there. What a sad way to start of the trip. The wretched boy were all alone at home when we were about to make experiences and memories together.

Nonetheless we flew to Turkey (without Jeppe) Sunday the 18^th of September, and arrived in Istanbul at 16 o’clock, where a bus was waiting to drive us to the Blackbird Hotel.

In the evening we all went out to eat together on a restaurant, and when we came back to the hotel, we discussed how our general impression of Turkey was.