Not counting Monday, which was dedicated to shopping and fixing things, this is our third full day in Balat.

Because Nigel is still recovering, and because covid is still at large, and also because it's Ramadan at the moment, this is going to be a low-key stay. Big sights that attract crowds will remain unvisited until next time. Which doesn't matter at all. I never feel I have to tick my way through a list of big-ticket items to feel a visit has been worthwhile. The only thing that matters is whether you're enjoying it. And we are.

I fear the upcoming blog posts are going to be a bit shambolic, however. We set off on our walks with some sort of objective in mind, but then it all gets very random. We don't follow set itineraries, and when we get home, we read up about the things we've seen, and figure out what we've missed and therefore need to go back to look at. That doesn't matter either. We're not in a hurry. It's all interesting. But it doesn't make for very systematic blogging...

So I'm going to organize this post by theme.

-- Constantinople

What is now the city of Istanbul started out under the Greeks as city of Byzantium in the 7th century BCE. Contact with the Romans increased from the 2nd century, and in 330, Emperor Constantine made the city the capital of the newly reunited Roman Empire; the name was changed to Constantinople. After the Roman Empire split into two parts, upon the death of Theodosius in 395, Constantinople continued as the capital of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. The city's enviable location continued to attract the attentions of other powers, however, and in 1204, it was assaulted by the Crusaders, and the Latin Empire came into being. This lasted just 57 years, and in 1261, the Byzantines were back, but by this time, much of the city's former strength had evaporated. In 1453, the Ottomans, under Sultan Mehmed II, conquered Constantinople, which replaced Edirne as the Ottoman capital.


What I hadn't entirely realized was that the footprint of Constantinople is pretty much co-extensive with that of Fatih, the municipality to which our neighbourhood belongs: "The layout of the old city of Constantinople/Istanbul depicted on medieval maps remains largely recognizable today, because of its site. Think of a rough triangle, bounded by water on two sides -- the Sea of Marmara on one side, the Golden Horn on the other -- the third side capped by the land walls, the walls of Theodosius, which still march from the Marmara to the Horn in an unbroken succession of towers. This envelope of about twelve miles is the footprint of Constantinople."

And there's still a surprising amount of it left. This has already been a big theme of our walks, and we're far from done with it.











The walls are far from being the only remnants of the era, however:




-- Houses and streetscapes

There is still a number of wooden houses in our area. And many more, not necessarily wooden, sport a "cumba", the technical term for what I've been calling a "jutty-out window": "Istanbulites from old would sit in these small, closed balconies, sip tea or coffee, and watch passersby." How pleasant...

There's quite a restoration programme under way, but the need is great, and many of these lovely houses are somewhat tumbledown (albeit in a terribly elegant kind of way).















The colourful houses of Fener and Balat have become a bit of an Instagram draw, and we've twice been approached by tourists wanting to know where "the" houses are. They're everywhere, you want to say. But no, what they want to do is track down and photograph the PRECISE houses that have been photographed a million times already...





The eclectic history of this area is clearly evident:






-- Mosques

Unsurprisingly, they are everywhere, and even the humblest are beautiful...














-- Gulhane Park

This restful space is spectacular at this time of year:












-- Cats

Finally, the felines... Also everywhere. Also beautiful: