Istanbul at dawn: January 19, 2019

Lina left from Istanbul for Manila at 2AM on January 18.  I had a 14 hour layover and spent part of that time wandering through Istanbul.  The Metro from the airport stops at Aksaray Station and that is where my wanderings started and ended.  The photos here were taken from 7:40, just before dawn, until just after noon.

Dawn over the Bosporus, Asia in the distance

This was a magical time to walk through the narrow streets of a district around the Süleymaniye Mosque.  I found old wooden buildings, some in good repair, others falling down.

A sign on a home in Ayranci Street told me the building was 180 years old.

Street art at the corner of Ayranci Street

Mosques were flood lit before dawn,

The Süleymaniye Mosque on Istanbul’s Third Hill

A former hamam or “Turkish bath” seen from the grounds of the Süleymaniye Mosque

markets were waking up,

All the vendors I saw were men. How striking when, in so many countries, women are selling goods from stalls like these.

Herbs and spices – some, I think, for tea like the rose buds in the foreground.

Many kinds of “biber” or pepper

and I had nothing but kindness from the man who sold me some burek (cheese pie) and tea, the vendor who pressed fresh pomegranate juice

and all the other “strangers” whom I encountered as I walked the morning streets.

A ferry carries passengers across the Bosporus.

The University of Istanbul’s front gate

A doorway with three mannequins beckons.

Inside, a courtyard surrounded by arcades …

 

and a marble fountain.

Life offers such rewards when I can trust myself to wandering.