Istanbul 101 (part deux)

Okie on to the other remaining sights that we visited in Istanbul.

Facing the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia (meaning “Divine Wisdom” in ancient Greek) is a remarkable structure and an important monument for the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.  I learned that it was once a church and then it became a mosque and now a museum which houses a collection of Christian and Islamic art, Byzantine mosaics, holy relics, and extraordinary examples of iconography.

Here are some facts about the building, with its immense dome that soars to a height of 56 meters.  Interestingly, the dome was built in only five years by about 10,000 workers and 100 master craftsmen.  I thought it was rather impressive to see different religious symbols co-existing together.

 One of the most impressive aspects of Hagia Sophia is the plethora of mosaics with their glittering gold surfaces. Restorations are still ongoing; in 2009, a painting of a six-winged seraph, thought to date to the 14th century, was rediscovered. Another remarkable feature is the “weeping column”, which by popular superstition is believed to cure people with eye infections and boost fertility.  Hmm, I only found out about the “weeping column” while doing research for this post.  No wonder there was a long queue of people waiting to touch a column.

Now that I’ve been trying to get my fitness levels up, the Man decided to venture off a little further from the Bazaar district by taking a nice walk to check out the Süleymaniye Mosque.  The Süleymaniye crowns one of the seven hills and dominates the Golden Horn, providing a landmark for the entire city.

Though it’s not the largest of the Ottoman mosques, it still is one of the grandest. Inside the mosque’s setting and plan are particularly pleasing in its simplicity.  Again, you’re required to remove footwear and ladies are required to put on a headscarf before entering the mosque.

Outside, it was interesting to wander around and get lost in the breath-taking landscape on day with clear blue skies.  We’re thankful that the weather cleared up and the sun came out on the third day that we were in Istanbul.  The weather forecast for our stay didn’t bode well so we were pleasantly surprise by the change in weather.

Well, this concludes some of the sights that we did in Istanbul.  We missed out Hippodrome completely because we didn’t have enough time.  If you’ve been there, perhaps you could share with me what we’ve missed?

I’ve still got more to share on Istanbul.. the Bazaar and some of the traditional Turkish things we did during our trip.  So check on in soon. 

Wardrobe mal-function (hit panic button)

I’m having a moment!  A wardrobe crisis moment and I really need help.. FAST!

Okay, so we’re going to be heading to Venice mid February to witness one of Venice’s largest festival – Carnevale di Venezia.  How did this come about?  The Carnival originally started as a time for celebration and expression between the classes where wearing of masks are used to hide any form of identity between social classes.  Today, the carnival is used to bring back the history and culture of Venice and approximately 30,000 visitors come to Venice each day for the activities centered around the Carnival.

So, the invite for the dinner that we’re attending in Venice states : Costume.  It means this:

Photo Credit: CFSVenise

I was pretty cool about this initially thinking that what better way to soak in the festivities than to don the traditional costume.  But as the email thread flowed and we realised that it would cost us about 400 EUR and above to rent a pretty decent costume, that’s when I started to panic.  I thought that’s kinda hefty for an evening affair.  Some of the group checked and if we were to purchase the costume, it can cost anywhere between 200 EUR and above.

So, I’m in a wardrobe dilemma stuck in between wondering whether I should purchase a rather affordable traditional Venetian costume (then worry about storing it back in SG) OR buying a formal evening gown that I can wear over and over again.  Oh and the rental or purchase of the traditional costume doesn’t include the mask so we’ll need to buy those as well.  What do you think?

1. Rent? OR
2. Buy a formal gown / evening dress (taking advantage of the online sales) and splurge on a nice mask?

I had grand plans of trying to get away with the dress-code by wearing one for the four cocktail dresses that I brought from Singapore to Geneva.  But I’m starting to think that I will look severely under-dressed for the occasion.

Watch this space as I frantically go in search for the costume or the dress. And if you are reading this and by any chance will be attending the Carnival of Venice, I would be ever-so-grateful if you knew of any places/sites to recommend the rental of the costumes.  Many thanks in advance!

So now the question, to RENT or BUY?

Watching a movie

I can count the number of things that we could do on a weekend back home, but in Geneva, this proved to be a little challenging especially when most of the stores are closed on Sunday.  While I used to live for the weekends, we now find ourselves actually planning in advance the activities to fill our weekends for fear of being too bored or wasting the entire 2 free days away.

Watching a movie should seem relatively easy except for a couple of things.  One, there aren’t too many cinemas here in Geneva.  Two, some of the movie screenings are in French so while booking for a movie, we’ll have to make sure that it’s in the original language.

It wasn’t our first time at the movies.  We watched X-Men: First Class last year at Pathe Balexert.  Getting to the cinema proved to be rather adventurous as some of the exits to the cinema were closed.  But we eventually made it to the movie just in time before the credits rolled.  We were not able to choose our seats so we ended up sitting in the front row, stretching our necks to catch a piece of Professor Xavier in action.  That marred our experience a little so we haven’t been back since.

We had planned on going snowboarding on Sunday but the weather wasn’t on our side.  So, the morning was spent on blogging and catching up on reading blogs.  It turned out that S from Schwingen in Switzerland recently went to the local cinema to catch ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ so I decided to check out what movies were screening at the cinema she recommended for that was something that we could fill the rest of our day with.

Great, they were showing ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ that I had been wanting to catch at the Astor Film Lounge. I reserved the tickets on-line and was pretty excited about our afternoon of movie activity.

Going to the movies in Switzerland isn’t exactly cheap but at CHF 18 (approx. SG 25) for a ticket that comes with a free alcoholic beverage, I say this was definitely a STEAL!  We arrived at the cinema a little earlier to hang around at the plush lounge and enjoy our free cocktail.

The theatre was pretty neat as well.  Loved the leather seats that allowed us to recline while watching the movie.  And if you’re feeling cold, you could help yourself to some of the blankets and keep warm.  You could also order some food and ice-cream from your seat but there was no popcorn.  Darn!  Popcorn and movies go hand-in-hand, how could they not have popcorn?  Hmm, perhaps I could ‘smuggle’ my own snacks the next time?  But I guess this movie experience was soo.. good that it kinda reminded me of the Gold Class Movie experience at Golden Village back home.  Looks like I wouldn’t mind hanging out here and watching a movie on my own the next time.

Istanbul 101

It’s said that many visitors to Istanbul never really make it out of Sultanahmet.  While it may sound like a shame, but it’s hardly a surprise.  This neat little area is at the tip of the historic peninsula where the city sprang to life.  It’s also the area where majority of the must-see attractions can be found: Topkapı Palace, Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia), the Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque, the Aya Sofya Hürrem Sultan Hamamı, the Yerebatan (Basilica) Cistern, the Hippodrome, and many more.

As ambitious as we tried to be, we didn’t have enough time to finish them all during our 3D/3N stay in Istanbul.  Here are the sights that we managed to squeeze in during our trip:

The Blue Mosque was completed in 1616 by Sultan Ahmet I, and is famous for being the first mosque in Turkey to have six minarets. Facing Hagia Sophia, from which it borrows certain stylistic elements, the Blue Mosque combines the two great influences of Byzantine and Ottoman religious architecture.

The mosque was built on Sultan Ahmet’s orders by the architect Sedefkâr Mehmet Ağa, and dramatically changed the city’s skyline. The exterior is built of beautiful grey stone and consists of a series of semi-domes leading up to the huge central dome and six minarets.  The reason why the mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque is because of the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior.

The mosque is such a popular tourist sight that admission is controlled so as to preserve its scared atmosphere.  We didn’t get to go through to the main door as worshipers were making their way into the mosque for prayers (there is an approximate 10 minute wait to enter the mosque during prayer time).

Please be advised of the dress-code when making a visit to the Blue Mosque: Visitors are asked to wear relatively conservative clothes (no bare shoulders, shorts, or short skirts).  Women will be given a scarf to cover their hair if they haven’t brought their own. Shoes will also need to be removed at the entrance.

Tokapi Palace became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 but it’s the subject of more colourful stories than most of the world’s museums put together.  It was the home of Selim the Sot, who drowned in the bath after drinking too much champagne, Ibrahim the Crazy, who lost his reason after being locked up for four years in the infamous palace kafes; and many more.

The first and most famous of the Ottoman Sultans’ residences and administrative centers in Istanbul, Topkapı Palace was built in 1465 during the reign of Sultan Mehmet II and was in use for approximately 400 years of the 624 years of Ottoman rule. Topkapı’s heyday ended in 1852, when Sultan Abdülmecid moved to the newly-built Dolmabahçe Palace; Topkapı itself was converted into a museum in the 1920s, and contains various Islamic relics which have made it a place of pilgrimage for the devout.  We saw some pretty cool relics including the staff of Moses.

The weather was pretty dreary then so I didn’t bother with taking too many photos, plus most of the areas restricted photography so we pretty much just explored the vicinity.

As the saying goes ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ so don’t miss checking out the Imperial Treasury which features an incredible collection of precious objects made from or decorated with gold, silver, rubies, emeralds, jade, pearls and diamonds.  I couldn’t resist gawking at the Kasikci (Spoonmaker’s) Diamond, a tear-drop shaped 86-carat rock surrounded by dozens of smaller stones.  The reason why it’s called the Spoonmaker’s Diamond because it was originally found at a rubbish dump and purchased from a street-peddler for three spoons.

I say we probably needed to set aside at least half a day to see all of Topkapı instead of skimming through most of the attractions.  There’s a separate admission fee for the Harem, which we skipped for we didn’t have enough time.  But I hear it’s well worth it, being one of the most fascinating parts of the palace for the Harem was a place where the Sultan could engage at debauchery at will.

Part 2 of our adventures in Sultanahmet to be followed.  Stay tuned.

Turkish delights

Well, we couldn’t possibly leave Istanbul without getting some Turkish delights.

Turkish delight is a family of confections made primarily on a gel of starch and sugar.  There are many varieties but the premium ones consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel.  Apparently, the cheapest ones are mostly flavoured rosewater, mastic, or lemon gels. The sweets are often packaged and eaten in small cubes dusted with icing sugar to prevent them from clinging.

This famed sweet as it is known today was invented by Bekir Effendi, who moved from his hometown Kastamonu to Istanbul and opened his confectionery shop in 1776.  Originally, honey and molasses were its sweeteners, and water and flour were the binding agents, with rosewater, lemon peel and bitter orange as the most common flavors (red, yellow and green).

The sweet was later  introduced to Western Europe sometime in the 19th century.  An unknown Briton reputedly became very fond of this sweet delicacy during his travels to Istanbul and shipped cases of this back to Britain under the name Turkish delight.

Some of these candied treats were really too sweet for our taste-buds but during our brief stay in Istanbul, I actually developed a liking for the pomegranate gel-based sweets filled with pistachios.  The Man liked the nougat ones and we realised that these go so much better with a hot cuppa of Turkish tea or freshly brewed Turkish coffee than having it on its own.

Have you tried the Turkish delight?  What’s your take on this sweet treat?

Greetings from Istanbul

Istanbul surpassed my expectations for a quiet little holiday. In fact, it was anything but quiet for the city’s really vibrant.

When the Man booked the trip and asked his friend for recommendations on the city, he was actually upset that we chose to go Istanbul during the months of January and February. Well, true.. We couldn’t have picked for a worser time to come in terms of weather for the holiday but it has been memorable. In fact, it’s actually snowing here! Wow!

Can’t wait to share our Turkish adventures with you all. Updates coming up soon

Quick fix assam meal

I love my spices (alot)! One of my favourite dishes has got to be Assam Ikan Pedas (Spicy Tamarind Fish).  My family, especially my dad, loves this dish and when we have our family dinners at the Peranakan restaurant along Joo Chiat Road, we would order a huge fish and drench our rice with the spicy sauce.  Arh.. miss those days!

So armed with one precious bottle of Assam paste from Woh Hup, I tried to recreate the dish to evoke memories of home.   Obviously that didn’t work for we couldn’t get the right cut of fish and the sauce turned out to be too spicy for the Man’s taste-buds.  Half a bottle of the paste was left sitting in my refrigerator for the longest time and in a bid to clear out our sauces before we leave, I decided to make good the sauce again.

Once again, I ‘ran’ to my genius of a cook cousin for help.  After a couple of text exchanges, she helped me with this baked seafood platter with Assam sauce.

First, I boiled some water with some slices of ginger and 2 stalks of lemongrass, then I added the paste plus 2 teaspoons of sugar to reduce the spiciness of the sauce for the Man.  Once the marinade started to come to a boil, I turned the heat down and set the marinade to cool.  Then I arranged the baking dish with a cut of Salmon, some calamari, scallops and clams.  Poured the cooled marinade and set the dish into the oven for the seafood to be baked.

And what a simple but sumptuous dinner it turned out to be.. this time round, the level of spiciness was just right!  We tucked in straight away and guess what I did?  Yup, drenched my rice with the sauce, just the way I like it!