Walking in Galata and visit to Taksim Square

While it was quiet Sunday June 2 during the day at Taksim Square, things exploded in the late evening.  We were at our apartment monitoring twitter until about 2:30 a.m.   The demonstrators went to Bisiktas, a part of Istanbul where Prime Minister Erdogan's offices are located.  The police were ruthless, using a huge amount of teargas.

Monday June 3 was a beautiful day in Istanbul with blue sky and about 23C.  We decided to finally explore the area just south of us called Galata, one of Istanbul's historically most diverse neighbourhoods.  We followed a self-guided walk in our Frommer's book, which turned out to be a great idea.  However, first we stopped at Aponia, the cool T-shirt place near Galata Tower.   We got some recommendations for restaurants from the owner and I bought a T-shirt.  We also got some tips from a customer from Vienna, about the next city we are going to visit.

Fatih the designer and owner of Aponia Design Store

Alain, Toby and Fatih with my T shirt

We started our self-guided walk at the Galata Tower.  The Tower that stands today is a 14th century reconstruction by the Genoese, built in appreciation of Michael VIII Palaeologus who granted permission to allow them to settle the area of Galata.  As we had already gone to the top of the Tower, we proceeded to the next stop which was the Neve Shalom Synagogue.  There are 17 synagogues, but to visit one has to call well in advance.  Neve Shalom is built in the late 1930s on the former site of a primary school.  It was the target of three terrorist bombings in 1986, 1992 and 2003.  Of the 23 people killed in the last attack, all but six were congregants.  Al Queda claimed responsibility for the bombing which occurred 5 days before the bombing of the British Consulate and the HSBC Bank.

Neve Salom sinagogu

We then proceeded to the Camondo House, the former home of Abraham Camondo, a prominent 19th century Jewish Galata banker, as well as a banker to the Ottoman government.  He also held Venetian citizenship and helped found a school in the poorest section of Istanbul.  He eventually died in Paris, but was buried in the family plot in Istanbul.  His son, Moises, lived in Paris and left his mansion on Rue Monceau to the French state.  It is a wonderful museum that we visited last year.  Moises Camondo's daughter and grandchildren were murdered in Auschwitz during WWII.   The mansion is now a long-stay hotel.  In front of the building are ruins (in a terrible state) of what was the neigbouhood mikva, the ritual bath serving the Jewish community.

In front of the former Camondo mansion

The door

The ruins of the Mikva

We also passed by the Bereketzadi Mosque which was the first mosque in the Galata area built in 1453.  It was destroyed in 1948 and reconstructed in 2006.

Bereketzadi Mosque

The next stop was the Schneidertempel, originally a synagogue built in 1894 for a working class community of Aschkenazi Jews.  It was originally called the Tailor's Synagogue.  In 1998, it was convered into the Schneidertempel Art Centre, a gallery for contemporary art exhibits.  A lovely man greeted us at the door.  

View of former synagogue, now gallery

Inside the Gallery

The Bima was wonderfully preserved.

Bima at the Schneidertempel

We chatted with a woman at the gallery about the demonstrations.  She was critical of the Prime Minister whom she said often talked about "revenge and religion".  She said that the real issue behind Gezi Park was PM Erdogan wanting to restore an Ottoman Empire army barracks that had been destroyed by Ataturk.  She also warned us not to go to the area where there had been clashes the night before.  She said that people who had put white sheets in their windows to offer safe haven to demonstrators had their windows broken by rubber bullets and had tear gas canisters thrown in the windows.  She was glad that the young people had taken to the streets, remembering when she used to so in her youth.  

Item from show "Fly so you can see" by Rosemarie Luttik Bozkurt, inspired by a poem by Wallace Steven

We then saw the Camondo Staircase, which Abraham Camondo had built so that he could easily get from his house to work on Bankalar Sokagu (Bank Street).  It was fascinating to link the Constantinople and Paris stories of this amazing family.

Looking down the Camondo stairs

Plaque- Kamondo is the turkish spelling

Toby at bottom of stairs

We then saw a couple of very old buildings dating back to the Genoese community.  One is a cultural centre now.

Plaque commemorating monument built in 1314 by Genoese

We then saw the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, a Fanciscan church.

Door of Saints Peter and Paul church

Next was an Old English Jail, converted to a Restaurant.

Former British jail

On the way down the next steep alley, Alain encountered the shoe shine scam.  A guy dropped a shoe brush, which Alain handed back to him.  He thanked Alain profusely and started to polish his running shoes as thanks.  Of course, when he was finished, he demanded money for his mother who he said was in the hospital recuperating from a bypass operation.  Needless to say, Alain hung tough and only gave him 3TL (about $1.75)

Shoeshine scam

We then walked on Voyvoda Caddesi, the heart of the financial and mercantile activities of the Ottoman Empire.  There still remain a number of large banks, although one has recently been turned into an art gallery.  We then passed the Arap Camii (Mosque) which was first built as a Dominican church and then turned into a mosque.

Arap Mosque

Minaret

Our final stop on the self-guided tour was the Jewish Museum.  It was originally the Zulfaris Synagogue built in 1671.  It remained a synagogue until 1958 when it closed.  In 2001 in reopened as the site of the Jewish Museum of Turkey.  When we got there at about 2:50, the guards told us it was closed.  We went into the gift shop and told the woman that we had been told yesterday to return today.  She made a quick phone call and we were let in.  The man in charge inside told us that the Sephardic community leaders were meeting shortly and that is why they had closed early. However, he told us to look around as the leadership had not yet arrived.

Inside of Jewish museum- former synagogue

Entrance to Jewish museum with quotes from Turkish Prime Ministers
about the importance of the Jewish community

Ceiling of the Museum

After our tour, we went for a late lunch of some mezze (appetizers)-- eggplant; meatballs and a small Turkish pizza, with turkish tea.  Very pleasant sitting outside.  Of course, a hungry cat hung out at our table, and was fed a meatball by Alain.

Turkish pizza, eggplant and meatballs

Hungry cat with green eyes

We then went for a short walk in the neighbourhood.  I bought a pair of hand-made shoes at a wonderful store called "old Sandal".  We saw more cats, including a very intriguing one.

Turkish cat behind bars

It was now about 6:00 p.m.  We decided that we should finally go up Istiklal Street to Taksim Square.
We passed more graffiti, demonstrators on the way to the square, and then finally reached the Square, which while very large, is not particularly attractive.  Gezi park,  is a small bit of green adjacent to the square.  People were beginning to amass after work.

En route to Taksim square

At the Square

 Of course, my camera ran out of juice, and I had to use my Iphone.

Anonymous masks for sale

The Square

Demonstrator prepared

More crowd

Near Gezi Park

Barricades blocking one entrance to Taksim Square

Burning tires

Our final stop in the square before heading back to the apartment was the watermelon vendor where we had some delicious watermelon which is now in season.

Watermelon in Taksim Square

We went back to the apartment at around 7:00 p.m. and found that the internet had conked out.  We decided to go out for dinner at Ficcin, a restaurant not to far from us recommended by Fatih, the graphic artist.  We had excellent mezze, ravioli and finished dinner with hashash Revani (poppy seed cake) in a syrup.  Of course it is now de rigeur to wear a face mask---even at dinner!

Eating with face masks on

Poppy seed cake in syrup

It was a fascinating day exploring past and present Istanbul.  The internet finally decided to work at about 11:45 p.m.  As a result, a late night blog.