There's Always Something New in Istanbul

The tulip carpet in Sultanahmet

It was lovely to host old friends, Margaret and Harry, in Istanbul recently. They were with us for such a short time, but we managed to race around and savour many of the iconic sights of this extraordinary city.

The first amazing sight was the tulip carpet, right outside the Hagia Sophia. 543,000 tulips were organised to replicate an Ottoman design. How fortunate we were there at that moment, as the carpet can only be seen for a short time during the annual tulip festival. This year, the carpet was only on view from April 18 to May 3.

Our next lucky break came when we visited the Topkapi Palace and found newly opened sections in the Harem. By the entrance, there are stairs leading down to the dormitory which housed the "Halberdiers with Tresses". These were guards, carrying halberds (axes mounted on the end of large spears). The "tresses" were two long curls hanging down either side of the face.

Two Halberdiers relaxing smoking their pipes in the Halberdiers' dormitory...

...and tending the barbecue?

Other newly opened sections in the Harem, are the Imperial Hall and Music Room.

Margaret taking photos of the beautiful Imperial Hall

The large-domed Imperial Hall in the Harem, is where ceremonies and receptions were held

Even the floors are exquisitely laid out in the Harem

Here, Harry stopped to check out his guide book, there is so much

to assimilate as you walk around this historic building

This was our view, as we looked out from the terraces of the Topkapi Palace

The newly restored kitchens also have extra added areas.

I previously complained that the kitchens didn't show how they cooked in Ottoman times.

Someone must have been listening!

...and here are cooking utensils.

This all goes to show, that no matter how much you think you know a place, it is worth going back to see if anything else has been changed since your last visit.

Of course, we did the Bosphorus cruise...

...all the way to Yoros Castle at Anadolu Kavagi

...and met up with friends on Buyukada, one of the Princes Islands.

I love taking friends around this wonderful city of Istanbul, There is always something new to discover.

Elizabeth Coughlan

GEP Photography Workshop, Istanbul: Day 1

The Blue Mosque in early-morning light

I've just returned from two one-week photography workshops, with Great Escape Publishing, in Istanbul. As an Istanbul resident, I was their "woman on the ground" to help them negotiate this amazing city.

The Hagia Sophia in early-morning light

Our first day of the workshop, began with an early morning shoot from the roof of our hotel, the Armagrandi Spina, in Sultanahmet, the old city of Istanbul. Our task was to take an aerial shot of the old town, including the Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia) and the Blue Mosque. Most of us had limited experience with tripods, so we were delighted to have our three teachers, professional photographers Efrain Padro, Bonnie Caton, and Charlie Bulla, to help us set up and adjust our camera settings.

After an hour's work, we enjoyed our well-earned breakfast before our next shoot at the Topkapi Palace. The palace opens at 09:00, so we made sure we were early, in order to get ahead of the hordes of other tourists.

Once inside, we headed straight for the Harem, while other early birds headed in the opposite direction. This ensured that we had the Harem to ourselves for our shoot. We were then free to wander around the rest of this huge complex looking for suitable subjects for today's assignment, as follows:

1. An image with subject centred, and another of the same subject off centre.

A detail of the mother-of-pearl decorated doors in the Harem, with the lock centred

The same door with the lock off-centre

2. An image with a distracting background, and  one with a clean background.

A pottery urn with distracting people in the background

The same urn with a clean background

3 An image that shows the subject as part of the scene, and one where the subject is the focus.

A subject as part of a scene

focus on my subject

After leaving the Topkapi Palace, we wandered through the area between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue mosque, looking for more subjects to shoot, before taking time out for lunch. With our meeting set for 15:00, we then beat a hasty retreat back to the hotel to download our images and choose the ones for our Guru, Efrain Padro, to review.

Our final task for the day, before falling exhausted into bed, was a twilight photo shoot from the hotel roof, to capture the Aya Sofya, and Blue Mosque "lit up against an evening sky".

The Blue Mosque at dusk

The Hagia Sophia at dusk

By Elizabeth Coughlan

Küçük Aya Sofya, Istanbul, Turkey

I have joined a photography club in Istanbul, as I am keen to become a more efficient photographer. On Tuesday, I went on my first club trek. We met by the obelisk on the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet, opposite the Blue Mosque, with the intention of taking photos there. Unfortunately, some rather large cruise ships had docked in Istanbul, and when we saw the enormous crowd of people headed for our destination, we changed tack and went to the Little Aya Sofya instead.

The view of the Blue Mosque from our meeting place.

Originally built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527-565), the church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus became a mosque in 1503. The locals named it Küçük Ayasofya Camii (Little Aya Sofya Mosque) because of its resemblance to that great basilica. There is an interesting story behind the original name of the church. The saints Sergius and Bacchus were Roman soldiers who died as Christian martyrs after being persecuted for their faith, and were chosen by Emperor Constantine as patron saints of his army.

Küçük Aya Sofya, originally the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus

Fortunately for Justinian, this continued into the reign of Anastasius when Justinian was under sentence of death, after being accused of plotting against the emperor. Anastasius dreamed that the two saints came to him and pleaded with him to spare Justinian's life, which he did. Justinian commissioned the church in 527, and gratefully named it after the two saints.

The roof is reminiscent of the Aya sofya

 We can only imagine the original glory of the golden mosaics and marble decorations that adorned the walls. Justinian's Secretary, Procopius described it as "...more resplendent than the sun and everywhere it was filled with gold...". Unfortunately this is now all lost to us, although the present mosque is beautifully decorated, having been recently restored.

 The decoration on the dome of the Küçük Aya Sofya Camii

The two hours of our trek flew by, and we ended by walking through the bazaar at the back of the Blue Mosque. I learned so much about photography on that trek, and even managed to experiment with different settings on my camera. I can't wait for the next photo club meeting!

Baby shoes for sale in the bazaar