Lycia

After a wonderful few weeks in the Balkans, I am now on my way to Lycia to join the American School for our final trip of the year, - but want to thank the American Research Centre in Sofia once again for its support, and to spurring me to visit. It has been quite wonderful, and I have lots on which to muse, as well as the sounds of a very fine Bulgarian folk music concert ringing in my ear I attended my final day. It will remain with me for quite some time, and not just because it lasted over three hours, without an interval.

Rather than return to Athens, I decided to take a Istanbul and spent a few days reacquainting myself with the city and its museums. Having already spent more hours than I care to think in the Archaeology Museum(s), I intended just a brisk walk through before moving on to more contemporary pleasures. Three hours later...

Glazed brick lions,'procession street' towards Ishtar Gate, Babylon (6th BC)

Look familiar? 'Sea God' from Nicomedia/Izmit (2nd AD)

Mediaeval marble triple capital, Dayr Latrun, NW of Jerusalem

I also finally made it to the Dolmabahçe Palace, the earliest 'European'-style palace built in Istanbul between 1843 and 1856 by Sultan Abdülmecid I, and the place where Atatürk died on 10th November, 1938. Until recently, all the clocks in the palace were set to 0905, the hour he died. It is also the home of what is claimed to be the world's largest Bohemian crystal chandelier in the world, with a mere seven hundred and fifty lamps and a weight of but four and a half tonnes. I had visions of some poor servant spending hours trying to light all the candles but it was, alas, apparently gas-lit from the start.

Dolmabahçe Palace

Changing of the Guard

The other reason for stopping in Istanbul is that I had to go to the British Consulate-General to sort out some documentation. It is worth while passing by anyway, as it is a fine 1845 neo-renaissance palazzo built from plans modified from an original design by Sir Charles Barry, who was also responsible for the Houses of Parliament. In this case, though, I mention this rather mundane event just to note how impressed (amazed?) I was with how both the Consulate-General staff and the tourists there were dealing with deal old Eyjafjallajökull. The gentleman behind the desk in the Consular Section was positively unflappable. I was, though, rather relieved to be travelling on south, not north!