Aziza Sa'id's Trip to Turkey

Aziza Sa'id's Mid-Eastern Belly Dance Site

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There are also pictures of my wonderful troupe Anwar Al Sahaara. You can also see my photo gallery and video of me dancing.

These are pictures from my trip to Turkey last summer with Morocco.

Dancer's Trip to Turkey

Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the whole picture....

ISTANBUL

The first few days we were in Turkey, we stayed in Istanbul in the Taksim district. The view from the hotel room was wonderful, a couple of very interesting old buildings, one of them a mosque, or perhaps a church. Many of the buildings have served as both, depending on the era in history and the current rulers / leadership of the area. This mosque did not appear to be in use, but had some wonderful architectural detail. And 5 times a day we could hear the sound of the call to prayer broadcast from the mosques.

The street below our window was busy 24 hours a day, and the later it got, the louder it got. The taxis seem to honk continuously, in fact we decided, based on the way the taxis drive, that having a working horn was more important than having working brakes. In these pictures, you can see a couple of the Turkish women in their conservative dress, fully covered. We saw lots of tourists, mostly European and Russian, that were scantily dressed, and some younger women who were dressed in a more western style, but everywhere we saw the conservative dress as well.

A sign of the local economy (we were in a bar district) and the influence of the west, the "Harem Taverna".

The Turks use their public spaces and parks, socialize and hang out in them. In Taksim Square, we saw people sitting, smoking, feeding the pigeons, hanging out with friends. All the benches and seating on the low walls were occupied, much of it even well into the evening.

Many of the public squares and parks also have commemorative statues and monuments - this is Lisa and Andrea in front of the monument in the center of Taksim Square.

Right off Taksim Square there is a street full of shops. It's a walking area, closed to cars, with a trolley that runs it's length. There were restaurants and clothing stores, music shops and candy stores, shoe stores and Hammams (Turkish baths). One of the Costumers we visited had their signs right down on the street as well.

Istanbul is full of Mosques, all of them different, all of them exotic. Some of the places we visited were no longer used and had been converted to museums, but some, like the Aya Sophia are active places of worship.

It's fascinating to see the mix of buildings in the old sections of Istanbul - modern, pragmatic western-style buildings sandwiching the classic oriental lines of a mosque. For me, this picture sums up the feel of Istanbul - two completely different worlds meet here, and find a way to coexist - east and west, old and new, Europe and Asia, the exotic and the ordinary, the first world and the third - what an exciting place to be!

With all the mosques and minarets, the skyline of Istanbul is fascinating no mater what direction you view it from.

The Galata Tower stands up with a fabulous view of the city of Istanbul and the Bosphorous. Galata is hundreds and hundreds of years old and in the top of this medieval tower is a night club. At the top, there is a balcony that goes all the way around. The sunset view from the tower and the night view of the city, with the mosques lit up and the stars above is a truly incredible sight.

The architecture of the mosques was quite amazing, full of elaborate detail. Many of the mosques have been restored or are undergoing restoration. But sometimes the problem is where to stop. Often newer paintings, frescos and mosaics have been put up right over the older ones. Each layer is a treasure, so where do you stop? Which layer should be preserved and restored and which should be sacrificed? It's especially problematic in the mosques that were churches at some time in their history. Another fascinating aspect of the mosques is the architectural detail. The elaborately painted arches and domes, the carved and mosaic tiled quotations from the Koran, the intricate geometric patterns of the inlaid woodwork and carved stone porticos must have taken huge amounts of time to create.

The Turks we met were wonderful, friendly and helpful everywhere. Many spoke English, particularly in the shops, along with a good variety of other languages - German, Spanish, Russian, French, Dutch... The shop keepers were helpful, and persistent, some of them quite clever in their sales approaches. The variety of things for sale was remarkable. Of course we bought costumes (we're dancers, how could we not?) And Turkish musical instruments (spoons, ouds, kemechis and mizmars.) And rugs. This gentleman was most informative and a pleasure to chat with and we bought several rugs from him.

The food was excellent, although the vegetarian fare was looking mighty familiar by the time we left... one place served a selection of vegetarian items as the appetizer... then served exactly the same thing again for the entre! The white eggplant dishes were fabulous, the yogurt was truly remarkable, the fruit was tasty and gorgeous. The bureks (sort of a deep fried cheese pie) were plentiful. Even McDonalds had the McBurek on the menu for breakfast!

Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the whole picture....

TRAVELERS

These are some of the folks we toured with. In the picture to the right, the second from the left is Morocco, teacher extraordinare and our fearless leader. The fellow sneaking into the picture on the left is Salim, our guide for the entire trip. He was extremely knowledgeable and an extremely good sport for putting up with 16 women with such grace and patience... "...No there are no S - H - O - Ps at this rest stop..."

This is the entire group - quite a diverse crew from all over the U.S., mostly dancers. On the right are Andrea and myself with Soraya, one of our heros, who helped us with banking and other essential matters...

and this is Salim and Soraya.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the whole picture....

Treasures

We saw some of the most amazing things in Istanbul... incredible tile work, like this at a shop near the Cora museum. Some of the largest emeralds in the world are in the Tokapi Palace - an astonishing array of huge cut and uncut gems. There was wonderful inlay and enamel work, as well as emeralds as large as your palm - just astonishing!

This throne was completely covered in rubies, emeralds, diamonds and pearls all set into beautiful intricate enamel work. The cushion was heavily embroidered and studded with gems as well. It's hard to get a perspective on the size, but it's about 3 feet deep and perhaps 5 or 6 wide, and about 18" tall. Incredible work and absolutely stunning!

These pictures are from the underground cisterns - another remarkable engineering feat. The builders used many of the blocks, stones, columns and carvings that earlier cultures had created. Here you can see 2 beautifully carved heads of medusa - both used as foundation blocks for columns without regard for which way medusa is facing.