Salamis

 I loved exploring Salamis - arriving in the early morning mist before the sun had broken through, we had it to ourselves. Strewn around its ancient stones were carpets of wild flowers adding to the enchantment of this magical sleeping city

The outer buttressed walls, with the sea just visible beyond, gives some idea of the scale of this city from antiquity.
Salamis was one of the most opulent cities in Cyprus during the classical period with a history dating back to the 11th century BC.  Due to Salamis' strategic location beside the sea it became an important commerical port at the end of the 8th century BC and was particularly important for exporting copper

In connection with sea transportation we saw these remains of an ancient 4th century BC Greek merchant ship. First discovered on the seabed in 1965 and now housed in a special room at the castle in Kyrenia.

The Gymnasium was built during the first century BC and is where young Greek men gathered for physical workouts and cultural training. Each year one person from the town was elected to financially support the gymnasium and provide the athletes with olive oil used to rub into their bodies before the games.

Located near to the Gymnasium is the Frigidarium - a cold water bathing room where slaves provided the althletes with massages before they went into the Gymnasium. After their workout they would then visit the Tepidarium - medium hot water bath followed by the caldarium - hot water bath.

Replicas of classical statuary discovered at Salamis stand around the site 

St Barnabas and St.Paul visited Salamis establishing a church a few miles away. 

After surviving eathquakes and pirate raids the city was abandoned in the c7th AD when the population moved to what is now Famagusta

For thousands of years Salamis was completely covered in sand which helped to protect the remains until excavation work began in the mid c20th.  There is still a very large area awaiting further excavation work again lying hidden beneath sand and Pine trees.

Salamis cannot be compared to other well known sites such as Pompeii and Ephesus, but it is a lovely place to visit and a privilege to be able to enjoy it on your own.

Although the city was originally founded by the Greeks much of it was destroyed during several earthquakes, and most of what is visible today was built by the Romans
The amphitheatre is unusal in as much as it is free standing. Most Roman theatres tended to be built into hillsides.   

The latrines were a social gathering place for Roman men - the large area of latrines at Salamis had 44 seats with fresh water flowing constantly through the deep channels removing waste out into the sea.

The remaining marble columns and flooring reveal just how palatial Salamis must have been

 Lovely detail in these two Roman marble solomonic corinthian columns sculptured and carved in opposing directions

The old Roman road continues ever onwards to yet even more hidden treasures awaiting discovery

Where East meets West

Istanbul, a vibrant metropolis, once known as Constantinople, standing on both sides of the glittering Bosporus Straits straddling the cross-roads between Europe and Asia

Hagia Sophia

Across the centuries Hagia Sophia has been reincarnated countless times - her interior reveals her history. Used as a church for 916 years until the conquest of Istanbul by Fatih Sultan Mehmed, when she was then converted into a mosque for 482 years. In 1935 under orders from Atatürk she became a museum where Christian and Muslim symbols hang together side by side. 

Here an altar once stood, now occupied by a mihrab pointing towards Mecca

Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture, and is decorated with mosaics, marble pillars, and paintings of great artistic value. It is so richly decorated that Emperor Justinian proclaimed, "Solomon, I have outdone thee!" His expenditure on Hagia Sophia is said to have weighed in at 20,000 pounds of gold

Many of the notable mosaics are in the Upper Gallery known as the Loge of the Empress - the one above is the Deësis mosaic dating from 1261. Commissioned to mark the end of 57 years of Roman Catholic use and a return to the Orthodox faith. It is widely considered to be the finest in Hagia Sophia because of the softness of the features, the human expressions, and the tones used. The style is close to that of Italian painters during the late C13th/early C14th such as Duccio.

Sultan Ahmned Mosque - the Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque, has one main dome, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. It incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements seen in Hagia Sophia along with traditional Islamic architecture, and is considered to be the last great mosque of the Classical period. The interior is lined with more than 20,000 handmade Iznik ceramic tiles, many showing different tulip designs. Did you know that tulips came to Europe from Turkey? They are native to Turkey and Central Asia.

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Tulips on Iznik plate c.1550

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Procession of the guilds in front of the Sultan
at the Hippodrome, now called Sultan Ahmned Square from an Ottoman miniature - 1582

The Hippodrome was a sporting and social centre - the word Hippodrome comes from the Greek 'hippos', horse, and 'dromos', path or way.  Horse and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras.

In what is now the Sultan Ahmned Square there remain a few pieces from antiquity such as the sculptural spiral bronze base shown above in the miniature and also in the photo below. However, the square is much depleted compared to the glory days of Emperor Constantine the Great when the central island was lined with bronze statues of horses, charioteers, gods, emperors and heroes. Amongst them was a magnificient statue of Heracles by Greek sculptor Lysippos, one of the greatest sculptors of the Classical Greek era during the C4th BC.

Made from bronze this spiral base once held a three-headed serpent which was brought to the Hippodrome from Delphi, Greece - the serpent's heads are not, however, lost but reside in the Archeological Museum located nearby.

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 When I last visited Istanbul several years ago, I discovered that the four gilded bronze horses that now reside in Venice, had originally stood on top of the imperial box in the Hippodrome used by the emperor and other members of the family. Their exact Greek or Roman ancestry has never been determined, but they were looted, from what was then Constantinopole, during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and installed on the façade of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.

Another survivor in the Hippodrome is the Egyptian Obelisk, the oldest monument in Istanbul

The obelisk was erected by the Emperor Theodosius in 390, but was originally set up by Thutmose III - 1479-1425 BC at the great temple of Karnak in Egypt. It is made of red granite from Aswan, between the four corners of the obelisk and this marble base pedestal are four bronze cubes used in its transportation and erection.  Each side of the marble base is engraved - on this side Theodosius l offers a victory laurel

Watch this video in full screen and you will see the obelisk, the spiral bronze base with its three headed serpent, and the four horses above the Imperial box  

Seen from the water, Beylerbeyi Palace, meaning 'Lord of Lords', is located on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. An Imperial Ottoman summer residence built in the 1860s by Sultan Abdülazis as a place to entertain visiting heads of state. Empress Eugénie of France visited on her way to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and had her face slapped by the sultan's mother for daring to enter the palace on the sultan's arm. Despite this Eugénie was so delighted by the elegance of the palace that she had a copy of the window in the guest room made for her bedroom in the Tuilieries Palace in Paris. Other royal visitors were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Entrance to Topkapi Palace

The Gate of Felicity in Topkapi Palace gave access to the Inner Court and what were strictly private areas. It is here that the Ottoman sultans once ruled their empire. On religious, festive days, and accession, the sultan would sit before this gate on his Bayram throne whilst his subjects and officials paid him homage

The palace is a huge, an elaborate complex which could take many days to explore. It also contains holy relics from the Muslim world including Muhammed's cloak and sword.

 At its peak the palace was home to 4,000 people

The Imperial Harem occupied one of the sections of the private apartments of the sultan; it contained more than 400 rooms. It was home to the sultan's mother, the concubines and wives of the sultan, together with the rest of his family, including children and their servants. There was no trespassing through the gates of the harem, except for the sultan, the queen mother, the sultan's consorts, the princes, and the concubines as well as the eunuchs guarding them.

Our journey continues in the footsteps of Alexander the Great to Asia Minor

The ancient cities of Myra & Simena

Greetings courtesy our lovely driver 'Omar' - a patient, delightful man, with a ready smile, and a fantastic pair of eyebrows.

It was from Demre that the cult of St. Nicholas spread around the world - he was known for his charitable nature and humility. This statue in Demre town square shows him looking like the familiar figure of Father Christmas, however, the image below from a wall painting in his church is probably a more accurate portrayal of him

The ancient Byzantine church in Myra (now Demre) is where St. Nicholas was appointed Bishop in the 4th century. He is an especially important figure within the Greek and Russian Orthodox church.  The church of St. Nicholas dates from 400 - 1100 - it is where he was interred, and his desecrated sarcophagus can still be seen. His bones are said to have been stolen by seafaring raiders from Bari, in Apulia, Italy where they now reside.

Although some restoration and archaeological work is being carried out, the church has suffered the ravages  of countless wars and attacks over the centuries. It was damaged during an earthquake in the 8th century, and in the late 12th century there was a terrible flood causing the city of Myra and the church to be filled with floodwater and alluvial soil. Today's city lies approximately 6 metres above the ground level of the church.

The wall paintings show St. Nicholas depicted as a bishop in the first ever ecumenical council in Nicaea along with other bishops

The First Council of Nicaea was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine The Great in the summer of AD 325

This wall painting appears to show Constantine wearing a crown on the righthand side and St. Nicholas on the lefthand side of the cross

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A mosaic of Constantine from a lunette in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Many of the wall paintings also show scenes from St. Nicholas's life, and his miracles

Just north of what is now the city of Demre lie the remains of ancient Myra. The foundation date is unknown as there is no literary mention of Myra before the 1st century BC when it is said to have been one of the six leading cities in the Lycian Union. It is believed, however, to date back much further as there is an outer defensive wall which has been dated to the 5th century BC.

Myra is known for its Greco-Roman Theatre, the largest in Lycia, set against a dramatic rocky backdrop. Its double vaulted corridors are still preserved and it has 38 rows of seats. Its facade was richly decorated with theatrical masks and mythological scenes.

The decorative pattern in the centre of this frieze is known as egg-and-dart moulding a standard feature of the Ionic order

On the rock face behind the theatre sits the dramatic necropolis of rock cut tombs. Most of the tombs date back to the 4th century BC and many contain funeral scenes in relief, some scenes portraying the daily life of the deceased. There are still traces of red, yellow and blue paint, so the entire cliff face must have once been a riot of colour. They are called house type tombs and even the beams of wooden houses have been faithfully reproduced in stone.  

A boat trip from the village of Kaleköy (castle village) revealed the half submerged ruins of the ancient sunken city of Simena, dating back to the 4th century BC. During the 2nd century AD there was a downward shift of land caused by a terrible earthquake which resulted in half of the city being thrust downwards and submerged into the water.

The boat passed by the village of Kaleköy dominated by a well preserved castle built by the Knights of St. John when it became a crusader's outpost. Later it was occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

Along the rocky coast could be seen a necropolis of distinctive sarcophagi dating from the Roman period

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Nearly two thousand years after the earthquake and a square entrance portal from the ancient city of  Simena still stands defiantly

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Visible remains under the sea. Cut off except by boat from the rest of ancient Simena, it is now home to feral goats