Turkey Travelogue: Topkapı Palace

In France, it was Versailles. Italy has the Vatican. If I sat here and thought about it long enough, I'm sure I could come up with plenty of other examples... But the point is that these are the places that have become so overrun with tourists that it's hard to see the scenery past all the people.

The Vatican was the worst -- after standing in a long, hot, sticky line, and tramping through all kinds of crowded halls and passages, there I was -- finally! -- standing in the Sistine Chapel, under that beautiful work of art, and all I could think was "ohmygod, get me out of this sardine can!"

Versailles comes in a close second -- or perhaps it isn't quite that bad, but only suffers from the contrast provided by my memory of visiting that beautiful palace with my parents when I was in high school, when, for a few moments, we were actually all alone in the Hall of Mirrors. Back in the day. But times have changed -- the last time I was there, it was wall-to-wall people every step of the way.

Anyway, Topkapı, quite the gorgeous palace, was the same way when we visited. I doubt it's always that crowded, the day we were there was a national holiday in Turkey and admission to all the big attractions was free to everyone. So it was really crowded. Which is a long way around to saying that I didn't get very many photos of the palace. I got a lot of photos of people, which I hope to share at some point, but the pickings are slim when it comes to the scenery.

Topkapı was built by Mehmet II between 1459 and 1465, and was the official residence of sultans until 1853. It's been a museum since 1924. This first picture is the Imperial Hall.

Friday Creature

Name this bird! All I know is that it is Italian.

It's another bird from last summer's trip to Florence and Rome. I looked around the web this morning, and so far, haven't found anything to help me make a confident ID. I have to get to work now, though I will keep trying to figure out what it is as time permits. In the meantime, if anyone wants to take a stab at it, feel free!
Other creatures have been more conscientiously identified over on the ark! Enjoy the long weekend!

Friday Creature

The camera has remained pretty much idle again this week. I've been busy, the light has been uninspiring, and the weather's been cold. But, I dug around a bit and realized that I never put up any of the bird pictures I brought back from Italy last year. It'll be interesting trying to figure out which birds they are. This first one wasn't all that hard to ID, given its distinct appearance. It's a Hooded Crow, which was recently elevated to full species status by... well, the people who do that sort of thing.

The first ark of the new year is filling up -- go check out the critters and have a wonderful weekend!

A Monday Photo

It's a cold, rainy, dreary Monday here, so I thought I'd pull something beautiful out of the archives to pretty the place up a bit. This is a view of Florence from above, taken last summer when I was lucky enough to get to visit Firenze, one of Europe's most gorgeous cities (click on the image to see it in its full glory).

Rome window

I took a photo of this sign hanging outside a window across the street from our hotel in Rome. I don't know what it means, but I like the colors and light.

Photo from Rome

My favorite place in Rome is the Protestant Cemetery. The landscaping is beautiful and meticulously kept; there are many cats living there, cared for by volunteers and fed with donations; the variety of vegetation is staggering and ... well, I could have spent the entire day wandering around. We visited the grave of John Keats there after touring his final home over by the Spanish Steps earlier in the day. This photo is not my own, but rather is from a guest photographer -- Emmie's shot of the Keats grave came out far better than any of my own.

Poppies

I suspect this photo might be something of a cliche for people who have visited Italy in the spring, but really, the fields of poppies were breathtaking to behold -- I haven't seen the like since the last time I watched the Wizard of Floyd! ;-)

Another Italy photo

Florence at night.

Vespa-apalooza

Happy Monday! Here's one of the first of my photos from a recent trip to Italy. We started out in Florence, city of narrow streets and passages. We saw relatively few cars and motorcycles there, as the roads were filled with bicycles and scooters. It's a managable-sized city, so we spent most of our time on foot, but I developed a pretty good case of scooter-lust during my stay (which is apparently not an unusual response to the city -- Mark reports returning from Florence with a similar itch, which eventaully led him to his bright orange Vespa).

More later... Have a good week!

Friday Creature

I only just got around to realizing that today is a Friday Creature day. Here's a little pooch I saw guarding the entrance to a shop along the streets of Florence last week. Apparently sentry duty is tiring work...

There're lots of critters up on the Friday Ark already. Check 'em out and have a great (and safe) holiday weekend!

I'm back

Wow! A lot went on around here while I was gone! At the moment, I'm jetlagged, overwhelmed and grateful that I have the weekend for reentry. I'll try to use the time to catch up on the local news. Also, I'm hopeful that the weekend will bring some positive news for the Mendonsa family. More later...

"Through midst of Tuscany there wanders
A streamlet that is born in Falterona,
And not a hundred miles of course suffice it"
(Dante, Purgatorio - Canto XIV)