A week in Istanbul - Part 2: Kadiköy

We spent a couple of days on the Asian side of Istanbul. The pace and bustle was considerably quieter than on the busier European side.

We ferried from Beşiktaş to Kadiköy

and passed by the Maiden's Tower - a tower lying on a small islet located at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait 200 metres from the coast of Üsküdar. During the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the tower held a Byzantine garrison. Subsequently, the structure was used as a watchtower by the Ottoman Turks during the reign of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror

The tower was destroyed during the earthquake of 1509, and burned in 1721. Since then it was used as a lighthouse, and the surrounding walls were repaired in 1731 and 1734, until in 1763 it was erected using stone. From 1829 the tower was used as a quarantine station, and in 1832 was restored by Sultan Mahmud II

For any James Bond fans, the tower featured in The World Is Not Enough. It was also visible in the background in From Russia with Love

We travelled by tram to the smaller district of Moda

We saw the Fenerbahçe Stadium ...

... and this statue of Brazilian footballer, Alexsandro de Souza, commonly known as Alex. He was sold by Cruzeiro in 2004 for 5 million euro to Fenerbahçe and he became captain after the team's captain Ümit Özat's transfer to Köln. He scored his 100th goal in the Süper Lig for Fenerbahçe in November 2010. 

After Fenerbahçe's league title in 2010-11, Alex won the golden boot award with 28 goals for the season. On September 15, 2012, while Alex was still under contract with Fenerbahçe, a fan-funded statue of the player was unveiled in Kadıköy Yoğurtçu park

We also took the opportunity to visit another famous railway station - now sadly closed.

The Haydarpaşa Terminal of the Turkish State Railways is close to Kadıköy's centre, having served east- and south-bound international, domestic and regional trains until 2009.railways

Haydarpaşa Terminal was opened in 1908 as the terminus of the İstanbul-Baghdad and İstanbul-Damascus-Medina 

The decor in the entrance and booking halls were impressive

These trains are sadly going nowhere these days

Very close to the railway station we came across this cemetery which is run by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. This is the Haydarpaşa Cemetery and was established initially for British military personnel, who took part in the Crimean War (1854–1856). The cemetery holds also graves of Commonwealth soldiers from the two World Wars, and civilians of British nationality. This obelisk was erected in 1857 by order of Queen Victoria to commemorate those who died in the Crimea. 

The soldiers died mostly as the result of cholera epidemic in the first organised military hospital in modern history created by Florence Nightingale. A bronze plaque, attached by the British community in Turkey on the plinth of the Crimean Memorial and unveiled on Empire Day, 1954 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s nursing service in this region, bears the inscription:

"To Florence Nightingale, whose work near this Cemetery a century ago relieved much human suffering and laid the foundations for the nursing profession."

Gravestone for the soldiers from the 17th Lancers who fell at Sebastopol

Other monuments in the cemetery include a symbolic broken column in memorial of German Jäger officers who fell in the Crimea

There are just over 400 graves of military personnel from World War I, who died in Turkey mostly as prisoners of war or some during the occupation of Istanbul (1918 to 1923) after the Armistice of Mudros.

For more photos and details of our time in Kadiköy see Kadikoy

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.