The GF had a day off – he, unlike me, gets public holidays – and in the afternoon, after I had finished some work, we took the tram over to the Sultanahmet area, planning to take advantage of thinned crowds on a Monday to visit a few sites. It turned out to be very crowded indeed – first the tram, which was packed and quite oppressive after we gave up our seats to an elderly woman. We got off at Gulhane which is normally a quieter stop with an entrance into the park, but the narrow pavement was quite busy and they were not letting anyone into the park for unknown reasons. We put our heads down and walked up to the street that goes up behind Hagia Sophia and even this, which is usually quiet, was full of people. We went into the Tophane park and though there were again many people, they were all walking towards Tophane or elsewhere, so the park itself was not too bad. Our purpose here was the Hagia Irene. This turned out to be very empty so we had it to ourselves, admittedly because much of it was closed off for renovation. Nevertheless, it was cool, quiet and empty, and what remains of the frescoes are certainly striking. The little sign with a history of the Hagia Irene was the usual completely uninteresting type, as it gave an account of how it was turned into an armoury, then turned into an armoury, and finally turned into an armoury again. Clearly written by a bureaucrat with no understanding whatsoever of history or art or architecture, and less interest, especially in the pre-Ottoman.
As we left, a truly horrific family entered, all Americans, with a shrieking mother tossing a bawling baby on her shoulder, weeping seven or eight-year-old boy holding cheek where he had clearly just received a slap, and a large, hard-eyed father telling the boy loudly that this is a TOMB and you know what happens if you cry in a TOMB, don’t you?
We planned to go to the archaeology museum, but the way was barred and the guard told us it was not safe. Clearly our excursion was doomed, so we walked down to the new mosque, buying some coffee along the way. Again it was very busy, and the crowds seemed to largely be families, Turkish speaking, with the women in hijab. Later we learned it was a public holiday – Victory Day – and I suppose the crowds were Turks on holiday.
We stopped at the flat on the way back. Nothing more had been done since our last visit, but still it was a joy to see the bathroom taking shape and the windows partially installed. I think I shall upload a before and after photo or two at some point, as the transformation is quite remarkable.