Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the Alexander Sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museum. It was discovered in Sidon.
Today's photo with the most hits was taken in Istanbul Archaeological Museum. It's a Hellenistic grave stele, memorialising Discourides.
Today's Flickr photos with the most hits: some shots taken in the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul.
Tell Me About İstanbul
Nâzım Hikmet
Stop! Let the water of the coffee boil, Tell me about İstanbul, how was it? Tell me about Bosphorus, how was it? June is washed by the runaway rains with vibrations, Would that seven hills get dried by Such a hot sun like a mother’s care…
Tell me people laughed there, In trains, ferries, buses. I like it even if it’s a lie, say it. Always agony, always agony, always agony Had enough…
Stop! Let it stay, don’t turn the TV on Tell me about İstanbul, how was it? Tell me about the city of cities, how was it? While looking in my forbidden eyes from the hills of Beyoglu, Make compliments about bridges, Sarayburnu, minarets, and Haliç. Could you say a hello, secretly…
Tell me people laughed there, In trains, ferries, buses. I like it even if it’s a lie, say it. Always agony, always agony, always agony Had enough…
Stop! Leave it, don’t move stay like that, please Your scent is like İstanbul, and your eyes like İstanbul nights. Now come and hug, hug me the one with henna. Under the sky, just there together The dream of starting over by saying thanks to god Is like a river in the desert of your longing.
Tell me people laughed there, In trains, ferries, buses. I like it even if it’s a lie, say it. Always agony, always agony, always agony Had enough…
Posted before, but simply too good to pass over
Blue Mosque
James Frederick William Rowe
Upon fire wings
The seagulls soared--
Lit by light
Which burnt wing tips
Red hot against
A sapphire starscape
Abud with evening stars
Glistening through the
Transparent haze
Of wind-wisped clouds
--Gliding aloft on currents of
Chill, November air
Buffeted by the dome
Of Sultan Ahmet
The Blue Mosque
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the Blue Mosque, Istanbul, from the Orient Hostel.
Love Istanbul
Ayhan Inal
Her lover for years,
I love Istanbul.
Beylerbeyi, Küçükyali,
I love Istanbul.
I love Istanbul
With her sweet accent,
Her poverty, her sufferings,
Her Kumburgaz and her Sile.
Sultanahmet, Dolmabahçe,
From inside
To outside,
Are like lace work on canvas.
Visitors wear out the threshold
Of mosques where the Qur’an is recited.
Its corners are sacred.
I love Istanbul.
Our best ornament.
We’re grateful to Him,
Our heaven on earth,
I love Istanbul.
The Bosphorus has no equal, the Golden Horn is blue,
Let’s walk in the moonlight in Küçüksu.
How can we tire of this city?
I love Istanbul…
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the gobek tasi (belly stone) of the Cemberlitas Hamam, Istanbul. It's not my photo - but I've visited the hamam, and been scrubbed on it! Cinema buffs might it.
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: St Saviour in Chora, Istanbul - sanctuary and mihrab.
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits:
Iznik Ware - late 16th CE - Istanbul Archaeological Museum
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: detail from the sarcophagus of the mourning women, 4th C BCE. Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the 'Alexander' sarcophagus, from Sidon: a 4th C BCE royal sarcophagus. Now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the inner narthex of Hagia Sophia, looking north.
My Dear Istanbul
Necip Fazil Kisakurek
They have melted my soul and frozen it in a mould;
They have named it Istanbul, and put it on earth.
There’s something smoking inside me; air, colour, grace, and climate;
That’s my beloved who came from beyond time and place.
Its flowers are golden stars, its water is sweet;
The moon and the sun have always been Istanbulian.
The sea and the earth have reached their union in her
And the dreams have turned to reality in her.
Istanbul is my life;
my motherland…
Istanbul,
Istanbul…
History has eyes, the riddles on ancient walls;
Cypresses, cypresses are of fine stature, they’re the curtains
of two worlds…
A steed rears up on the clouds;
Diamond domes, perhaps there are billions of steeds…
The minarets are index fingers pointing to the sky.
In every embroidery a meaning: we must die.
Death is more alive than life, mercy is greater than sin;
When Beyoğlu is drowning in worldly pleasures,
Karacaahmet weeps…
Seek the meaning, find it!
Find it in Istanbul!
Istanbul,
Istanbul…
The Bosphorus, the silver brazier of the Bosphorus, boils the coolness;
The depths of heaven on earth are in Çamlica.
Playful waters are the guests in the basement of the sea-side house;
A photo of the sad face of a former diplomat hangs on the wall.
Every evening flames on the windows in Üsküdar,
A haunted house, big as the city…
A song from the Ud or the Tanbour?
It sings “Katibim” behind the bay-windows…
Its women are like sharp knives,
Warm like fresh blood,
Istanbul,
Istanbul…
Time on the seven hills embroiders
Seven colours, seven voices, endless manifestation…!
Eyüp is an orphan, Kadiköy is dressed up, Moda is haughty,
Wind in the Island plays tricks with the girls.
Each dawn, the arrows fly from their bows.
Cries come from Topkapi Palace still.
The mothers are the best of sweethearts, Istanbul is the best of places;
Never mind the cheerful crowd, those who cry are happier.
Its night smells hyacinth, Its Turkish the nightingale’s voice.
Istanbul,
Istanbul…