A week in Istanbul - Part 1: Sultanahmet

We have just returned from a great week in Istanbul. We were visiting our elder son who teaches in an international school there.

The weather was kind to us throughout our stay, and needless to say, I took loads of photos - there was a lot to see! In this blog I give a flavour of where we went, what we saw, and what we did with links to more photos and appropriate narrative.

This was our home for the week in the Beşiktaş area of the city. We were about a 30 minute walk from the Bosphorus. This was our first visit to this splendid city - there was so much to see and so much history to soak up. We did a lot but there was still a lot of places we did not visit - 

The Bosphorus is one of the world’s busiest waterways, part of the only shipping lane from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. It’s 20 miles long and varies in width from about 2 miles to some 2,200 feet. It connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, dividing Europe from Asia. 

During our stay we visited the old city - Sultanahmet and Grand Bazaar districts - which is essentially what was Constantinople; we ferried across to Kadiköy on the Asian side of the city as well as a slightly longer ferry to the Princes' Islands. We also sampled the delights of our local area of Beşiktaş and neighbouring Ortaköy

This is the Grand Bazaar with an estimated 4400 shops lined along covered walkways. It is said to be the world's oldest shopping mall

It was founded in 1461 by Sultan Mehmet II and was designed as the trading heart of the Ottoman Empire

The shops are organized around their wares, e.g. the silver jewellers are clustered together, the carpet shops are clustered elsewhere and the shoe shops are bunched together somewhere else

Reflected photo of the Beyazit Tower, which was erected in 1828 and was once a watch tower

The famous Blue Mosque - this is probably the single most visited sight in Istanbul. It was completed in 1616 after seven years’ work. It takes its “Blue Mosque” name from the carapace of predominantly blue Iznik tiles which adorn its interior

We strolled around Sultanahmet Square

Column of Constantine - erected by Emperor Constantine to commemorate the inauguration of his new city in 330. It originally had a massive statue of the emperor dressed as Apollo. However it was toppled by a storm in 1106

We also took the opportunity to visit the famous railway station at Sirkeci. Once the terminus of the famous Orient Express from Paris. Sadly no international trains run from here any more - in fact since 2013 there has been a replacement bus service for those wishing to travel to Bulgaria

This is the famous restaurant

... and the old booking hall is now a Museum

For more photos of our time in Sultanahmet with some narrative about the area see link Sultanahmet

A day out on Nene Valley Railway

This splendid heritage railway is based in and near Peterborough. It runs from Peterborough Nene Valley station to Yarwell Junction.

It uses part of the original 1845 London and North Western line which ran into Peterborough East station (now demolished)

Peterborough Nene Valley station was built in 1986 as part of the Nene Valley Railway's Peterborough extension. The station is built on its current site because the NVR could not access the original Peterborough East station site

Our Guard for the day was very knowledgeable about the line, the engines, carriages and wagons. 

Wansford station is the headquarters of the Nene Valley Railway. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Stamford, which separated to the north just east of the river bridge at Wansford

The station opened with the Northampton and Peterborough Railway from Blisworth to Peterborough in 1845. The branch line to Stamford opened in 1867. The route to Rugby became available when the LNWR built a line from Yarwell Junction, west of Wansford tunnel, to their existing 1850 Rugby to Stamford line at Seaton.
 

The Stamford branch closed in 1929, having never properly recovered from the 1926 general strike. The station closed for regular passenger services on 1 July 1957 but passenger services from Peterborough continued to use the line to Northampton until 1964, and to Rugby until 1966

Wansford station and the line immediately either side of it, including the level crossing and the river bridge appeared several times in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy. 

Bond (played by Roger Moore) drove a Mercedes-Benz car along the railway tracks after its tyres were punctured in pursuit of a train on which the villainous Kamal Khan (Louis Jordan) was transporting a bomb. This scene was scripted as being in East Germany

Wansford signal box was built in 1907 by the London and North Western Railway to replace three smaller boxes. It was originally built with 60 levers and is one of the largest preserved signal boxes in its original location.

The turntable is located behind the new station building, and was built by Ransomes & Rapier of Ipswich in 1933. Originally it was 60 feet (18 m) long and was installed at Bourne in Lincolnshire for use on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway. 

It continued in use there until 1959 when Bourne shed closed and the turntable was moved to Peterborough East; its last duties being to turn Travelling Post Office (TPO) coaches for use on the East Anglian TPO. In 1977 the turntable moved to Wansford where it was extended by 7 feet (2.1 m) to make it 67 feet (20m) in length
 

These are from Sweden

Yarwell Junction is the current western terminus of the Nene Valley Railway. It opened at Easter 2007. It was formerly the junction of the Peterborough to Northampton and Peterborough to Market Harborough lines.

In April 2006 a track realignment made space for a platform, and this was constructed during 2007. There was never previously a station on the site. The new station is served by footpaths to Nassington and the mill village of Yarwell, but there is no vehicular access

From Yarwell we returned to Peterborough so that we could explore the city centre

Peterborough is on the River Nene (hence Nene Valley!). Human settlement in the area began before the Bronze Age. The Anglo-Saxon period saw the establishment of a monastery, Medeshamstede, which later became Peterborough Cathedral. Peterborough was, from medieval times, administered separately as the Soke of Peterborough. 

Railway lines began operating locally during the 1840s, but it was the 1850 opening of the Great Northern Railway's main line from London to York that transformed Peterborough from a market town to an industrial centre. Coupled with vast local clay deposits, the railway enabled large-scale brick-making and distribution to take place. The area was the UK's leading producer of bricks for much of the twentieth century. 

The Town Hall with its Georgian columns 

Peterborough Cathedral was built on the site of a monastery between 1118 and 1238. Catherine of Aragon - the first wife of Henry VIII - was buried here in 1536. Mary Queen of Scots was buried here in 1587 but James I brought the remains to Westminster Abbey in 1612.

Peterborough Guildhall was built between 1669–1671. The 17th century building is also known as Butter Cross, and is a traditional Market Cross often found in the centre of old market towns. The Guildhall is raised on columns and the open area beneath it used to be occupied by butter and poultry markets

St John the Baptist Church is Peterborough's Parish Church and was dedicated by the Abbot Genge in 1407. During the 16th century its bells sounded for the funerals of Catherine of Aragon in 1536 and Mary Queen of Scots in 1587.

Peterborough Museum was originally the home of the Orme family in the 16th century - they were given the land by Henry VIII in 1536. It was used as Peterborough's first hospital from 1857 until 1928

Monument in the Bishop's Garden ...

... dedicated to Peterborough's first Mayor from 1874-1876

And back to the main line station for my trip home, courtesy of East Coast. A super day out.

Our Greek Odyssey - around Nea Makri

As mentioned in my post of our visit to Athens, we stayed in Nea Makri

This was the view of the pool and bar from our hotel room

Nea Makri is a small town in the Bay of Marathon, some 7 kilometres from the port of Rafina

It is a holiday and/or weekend haven for Greeks who live and work in Athens but also caters for tourists from futher afield - like us!.

The main road to Athens lies about some 500 metres from the coast - so, as we were staying on the coast, we weren't within earshot of the traffic noise

This cafe-bar became our "local" for the week ...

... and this was the best fish restaurant in town

After three days of "commuting" by bus to Athens (75 minutes each way) we decided to have a day exploring Nea Makri and its environs. We registered (online) for these bikes - Cyclopolis: the Greek equivalent of London's "Boris Bikes"

We cycled along the coastal trail around Marathon Bay ...

... to the Schinias Rowing Centre, which hosted the rowing events of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 

This site used to be Marathon Airport before it was converted for the Olympics

This is at the start of the rowing course - Sir Steve Redgrave will have started his Gold Medal winning race here

In March 2011, the Marathon Rowing Kayaking Academy began operating. This Academy, as well as offering rowing and kayaking for to children and adults also organises events such as cycling, triathlon and swimming

The Academy is part of the National Park of Schinias and during the migration season there is a large number of migratory birds arriving in what is one of the largest wetlands in Southern Greece

The grandstand at the finishing line

and this is where the medals were presented

A short ride from Schinias Rowing Centre we found this memorial of the victory of Battle of Marathon in 490 BC

The Battle took place during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. The battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate Greece. The Greek army decisively defeated the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars

The battle is perhaps now more famous as the inspiration for the marathon race. The legend is that Greek messenger, Pheidippides, ran to Athens with news of the victory and this became the inspiration for this athletic event, introduced at the 1896 Athens Olympics, and originally run between Marathon and Athens

However the distance between Marathon and Athens is less than the 26 miles 385 yards that nowadays constitutes a marathon race. The reason why has less to do with ancient Greece and more to do with the British Royal Family. When London held the games in 1908 there was still no official marathon length. The British Royal family requested that it start at Windsor Castle and end at the Olympic Stadium's Royal Box - a distance of 26 miles 385 yards - so now you know!