Round Three at the Archeology Museum
Cats chased each other around outside the window while we prepared breakfast. This one was chased up onto this tree then watched by two cats for the better part of an hour.
Makena and Eric noted that I'm eating more like a Turk, my breakfast was sausage and eggs with chai, yoghurt, and lots of olives. We sat around the apartment talking with Asli before she had to go prepare for her trip. Then slowly we got moving out the door, we hailed a taxi and headed over to Beshitash to the ferry boat, something changed with the meters in the taxis, or perhaps it's just on Saturday, but they are starting out at 1.50 YTL and going up 0.1 at a time at a faster rate than before. It used to start at 1.30 YTL and go up 2.somthing at a slower rate. Anyway, it seemed about the same cost, maybe slightly cheaper for the trip. A side note about taxis, they are so cheap here, even when you get burned, you're paying less than a third of what you would pay in the States.
After we unloaded in Beshitash we went to find a ferry that would take us to Sultanahmet, none to be found. That ferry only runs during certain commuting hours, but there is another option. We took a ferry over to Asia to Katikoy and then walked over to a ferry that would take us back across to Eminonu. A ten minute walk from there and we were at the Archeology Museum. The ferries are a blast here, when you're on board you can sit at little tables, they even have nice whicker chairs with cushions on them, and they will bring you chai, fresh squeezed orange juice, or even hot sandwiches. And all for really, really good prices. Istanbul knows how to take care of the locals. Just get away from the tourist places and you just feel the tension melt away.
But enough chatter, Archeology Museum time! Round three, baby!
Re, Isis, and Osirus.
What was really amazing about this cat figurine was it didn't appear to be just an abstraction, someone thinking about what a cat looks like and making the statue. There was a slight bend to it's posture that suggested real character. It sat like a real cat.
Okay, these are a bit strange. They're tweezers from the bronze age. I begin to wonder if they weren't dropped accidently by an excavator and then found later by another excavator... Or humans just found something that worked and have stuck with it.
Stranger still, while browsing through small figurines and engravings from mesopotamia I came across these three carvings labeled "Erotic Scenes." These people must have taken their smut seriously if they sat down and chiseled it into rock.
This is a Hitite Slab I took a liking to, most of their markers like this are carved from basalt.
This is a sarcophagus made featuring Alexander the Great. Too bad he never made it back from India to be laid down in it. But shoot, rulers then sure knew how to die in style.
From another sarcophagus in the necropolis. This one was covered in figures of women in mourning, the skill used to carve these is just amazing.
My trip to the museum was a short one, we were hungry and decided to return Monday for round four.
Makena and Eric noted that I'm eating more like a Turk, my breakfast was sausage and eggs with chai, yoghurt, and lots of olives. We sat around the apartment talking with Asli before she had to go prepare for her trip. Then slowly we got moving out the door, we hailed a taxi and headed over to Beshitash to the ferry boat, something changed with the meters in the taxis, or perhaps it's just on Saturday, but they are starting out at 1.50 YTL and going up 0.1 at a time at a faster rate than before. It used to start at 1.30 YTL and go up 2.somthing at a slower rate. Anyway, it seemed about the same cost, maybe slightly cheaper for the trip. A side note about taxis, they are so cheap here, even when you get burned, you're paying less than a third of what you would pay in the States.
After we unloaded in Beshitash we went to find a ferry that would take us to Sultanahmet, none to be found. That ferry only runs during certain commuting hours, but there is another option. We took a ferry over to Asia to Katikoy and then walked over to a ferry that would take us back across to Eminonu. A ten minute walk from there and we were at the Archeology Museum. The ferries are a blast here, when you're on board you can sit at little tables, they even have nice whicker chairs with cushions on them, and they will bring you chai, fresh squeezed orange juice, or even hot sandwiches. And all for really, really good prices. Istanbul knows how to take care of the locals. Just get away from the tourist places and you just feel the tension melt away.
But enough chatter, Archeology Museum time! Round three, baby!
Re, Isis, and Osirus.
What was really amazing about this cat figurine was it didn't appear to be just an abstraction, someone thinking about what a cat looks like and making the statue. There was a slight bend to it's posture that suggested real character. It sat like a real cat.
Okay, these are a bit strange. They're tweezers from the bronze age. I begin to wonder if they weren't dropped accidently by an excavator and then found later by another excavator... Or humans just found something that worked and have stuck with it.
Stranger still, while browsing through small figurines and engravings from mesopotamia I came across these three carvings labeled "Erotic Scenes." These people must have taken their smut seriously if they sat down and chiseled it into rock.
This is a Hitite Slab I took a liking to, most of their markers like this are carved from basalt.
This is a sarcophagus made featuring Alexander the Great. Too bad he never made it back from India to be laid down in it. But shoot, rulers then sure knew how to die in style.
From another sarcophagus in the necropolis. This one was covered in figures of women in mourning, the skill used to carve these is just amazing.
My trip to the museum was a short one, we were hungry and decided to return Monday for round four.
posted by Alex Gray at 21:58
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