Byblos!

Byblos harbor as seen from the breakwater

After a prolonged absence, I'm back with updates from Lebanon. We finally made it out of the city over Eid weekend. We were stuck in Beirut for several weeks while we were finding an apartment and Andrea was getting settled at school. Our first out-of-town foray was to the ancient Phoenecian / Greek / Arab city of Byblos (or Jebeil - it's Arabic name). We got there a little late as we took our time waking up and buying groceries for the weekend. Because we got there so late we decided to not pay for admission into the archeology sites which were only open for a few more hours so this update will cover our forays into modern day Jebeil. Don't worry though - I'm sure we'll find another reason to return soon as the town was spectacular. It is a very quaint and compact city with an active fishing harbor that was once one of the major international commerce hubs in the region.

A typical Jebeil fishing boat

I love this scene - the fishnets and the city's entire fishing fleet moored for the holiday weekend

 Back in Lebanon's glamorous years, Jebail was a popular watering hole for the yacht crowd. We went to one of the more famous outdoor bars and had a drink.

Mojitos in Lebanon are so good!

 The whole town is very picturesque and they have a beautifully restored historic district with the original souq. This street that lead from the harbor to the souq captured both of our imaginations.

Imagine living on this street

After a very relaxing day of wandering Jebeil taking in the sites we walked out to the breakwater and watched the sunset over the Mediterranean.

The yacht days of Jebeil seem to be returning

All in all, it was a great first experience of Lebanon's many seaside towns.

Been out of Touch

Sorry for the lack of activity,

We've been moving and getting settled in our new apartment. I'll update again as soon as the internet gets set up in our apartment, which should be tomorrow.

Stu

The Honeymoon, Ch 2

Today I'm going to write about our visits to the two famous mosques in Istanbul. The Aya Sofia, or Hagia Sofia as it was once called, and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, otherwise known as the Blue Mosque.

The two mosques seem to be associated with each other quite often as they are located within a few blocks of each other. However, their history and design vary significantly. The Aya Sofia was built during Byzantine times and later converted into a mosque once the Ottomans took over. The Blue Mosque was entirely the brainchild of Sultan Ahmed and his superstar architect, Sedefhar Mehmet Ağa. Interestingly, Sultan Ahmed built the mosque to appease the big guy because he was convinced he had done something to anger God after his army suffered several consecutive ass-kickings.

We went to the Aya Sofia first during our initial stay in Istanbul. After the palace, it was a welcome and awe-inspiring visit. From the outside, the Aya Sofia doesn't look like much



But then you walk into the foyer



That is when we got a little giddy, knowing we were about to see something truly amazing.

It got even better once we entered the actual core of the structure. I will confess, we didn't do a very good job capturing the scale of this place. To give you an idea of how big we're talking about, the picture above is begins about 15 feet off the floor. You can see the top of a chandelier in the bottom of the image.

This picture is taken from the gallery level, which was perhaps 30 feet off the ground.



Since we couldn't capture the immensity of it in any one picture, we focused on particular details like these column capitals



There was also amazing mosaic and fresco work everywhere. The colors are still very vivid.



Some of the original Mosaics are left from the time it was a cathedral. The Ottomans preserved these mosaics as they found them.



In comparison to the Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque just didn't live up to the same standards. It was probably just as big, but the difference between the two was the Aya Sofia possessed artistry with even the minute details while the Blue Mosque sought to simply overwhelm you with its size. Once you began poking around the Blue Mosque, it was obvious that where the Aya Sofia had been painstakingly built and embellished over decades - if not centuries, the Blue Mosque was put up rather quickly and it lacked the attention to detail that the Aya Sofia displays without even trying. A good example is the massive structural supports of the Blue Mosque compared to the slim columns of the Aya Sofia. While built over 1,000 years later, the Blue Mosque does not try to push its architectural limits. Rather, it relies on huge structural columns to hold its weight. The Aya Sofia accomplished the same support 1,000 years earlier using beautiful and thin marble columns.

Look at these monsters



Instead of fresco, the Blue Mosque uses decorative tile work and calligraphy for its decoration. The tile looks amazing, but after seeing a certain amount of Ottoman buildings covered in similar tile, it becomes a bit eye-jarring. Call me old fashion, but intricate stonework and beautiful, intricate craftsmanship impresses me much more than replaceable painted tile. The calligraphy is a different story - I love it.

The one very nice thing about the Blue Mosque was its traditional mosque design. Since it was built from the start as a mosque, it incorporates outdoor space as Islamic architecture does so beautifully.

This square, even when crowded with tourists, was a very serene and pleasant place.



Overall, the mosques were pretty amazing. The Aya Sofia, again, cost $13.33 per person to enter (ouch!) but the Blue Mosque was free.

Tomorrow: The Bodrum peninsula and the Greek isle of Kos

The Honeymoon, Ch 1

Greetings, After a hectic first week in Beirut, It's time to start posting some updates. I'm going to begin several weeks ago with the honeymoon and work my way forward over the next few days. This gives us time to go and actually take some pictures of Beirut. We've been so busy finding an apartment that we haven't had time to do the "tourist" stuff in Beirut.

Three days after the wedding we arrive in Boston Logan for our great adventure. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and we missed our connection to Istanbul. We were stranded in Chicago for 24 hours courtesy of United Airlines. We didn't mind this so much because we got to eat a Chicago style pizza:



Yum. So, after a few pounds of cheese and meat, we fly to Istanbul.

We go from this:



To this:


In 24 hours.

It actually wasn't too much of a culture shock. What was a shock was how expensive Istanbul has become. A lunch at a tourist trap cost us $44. We didn't make that mistake twice. Kebap stands are delicious, and cheap!

We saw lots of things in Istanbul, like the Topkapı Palace, the imperial palace of the Ottoman Sultans. We didn't like it too much.


Nice gate, jackass.

they did have a pretty cool view though



and some huge beds



and some cool ceilings



The Sultans also had a lot of ridiculously gaudy things that we weren't allowed to photograph. Rather than awe I was just struck with the waste of it all. They had such an empire filled with so many rich and varied lands and people and all that energy and wealth went into ridiculous things like ruby encrusted oil lamps and gold filigree pendants that they wore once before locking them up in their royal treasury. All the empire's wealth went into this crap when it should have gone into things like roads, railroads and universities.

Did I mention it cost $13.33 per person to enter?

Gross gross gross

It makes you realize that Turkey is much better off now without the Ottomans and without a Sultan. Perhaps that's why they keep this crap around..?

That is all for today. I'll post more in a day or two.