Prague, snow at october

The subject is "Prague, snow at october" , even so we are currently in january. I do not know what kept me writing my blog. But I know why I started to write it. My answer is snow. At the moment, it's snowing outside, İstanbul is being covered by snow. So beautiful and so peaceful...

In october while I was in Prague, while I was walking through the streets of Prague it suddenly started to snow. Prague is a beautiful city, more beautiful under the snow.
Not surprising that people describe the city as "fairy tale city".

  

                                      

According to Wikipedia Prague was a city in the territory of military and political control of the Soviet Union (see Iron Curtain).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague

But now Prague is a city which erased the traces of the communist history.  Communism Museum and Mc Donalds shares the same building, such  a dilemma! Speaking of which, no need to visit the  Communism Museum. First of all it's not a museum, it's an apartment house, secondly pieces in that so called museum are not worth to see. It's like a group of kids collected all the busts, posters etc and pieced together them in an apartment house. Instead of going that "museum" visit Berlin Wall, you can learn more stuff about communism.

After  Communism Museum  I would like to see some art so went to Cubism Museum. Unfortunately it was closed due to construction work.

Then I  have decided to see famous Charles Bridge. Try to go there when it's quite if you can take pictures smoothly. Well, I do not know If you can find any quite time of it. But the Bridge has every right to be famous. It connects the Prague Castle and Old Town, decorated with 30 different Baroque Style statues.

After taking thousands of pictures I reached the Old Town Square. Ununsual crowd was gathering in front of a building called "Clock Tower". In no time at all I have understood why all people were gathering and looking at a wall.  The answer was The Prague Astronomical Clock or Prague Orloj, medieval astronomical clock.  There are four animated figures and they represent four things. One is vanity, second is greed, third is death and the fourth figure is in the shape of an Ottoman man and it is representing pleasure.  I forgot to tell why peoplewere looking at Prague Orloj.  Every hour on the hour the figures move. Vanity looks to mirror, Ottoman man drinks, Death shnow a sandglass and I forgot what does greed do.

All right folks! You are in Prague, in the lands of delicious beers. Drink as much as you can. If you don't live in Germany or Holland or Belgium it is almost impossible to have qualified beer.
They have various kinds of beer, dark, wheat, blonde etc. Beer brewing is a serious and old line of businees in Prague. Like wine tasting tours, they have beer tasting tours.  I haven't attened any of those tours but I stop by almost every beer shop tired to taste as many as I could.

By the way, an important warning for you, travelers DO NOT BUY PRAGUE CARD. The most useless and expensive card I have ever bought among the city cards. It is not possible to use the card for the public transportation, no discount or free pass for the decent museums. I paid $ 99  for a non-functional card. All my Prague trip I felt like a complete idiot.

Are we going insane?

Do you know a place free from all  prejudice ideas?

Eminönü and Beads

It seems like Spice Bazaar was built to hide loudly speaking streets, mess and chaos of Eminönü.
Spice Bazaar and its surrounding  buildings cover by-streests of Eminönü/Mahmutpaşa. If you just visit New Mosque or Spice Bazaar you'll lose your chance to see one of the most interesting places of the world.
Walk towards exit door of Spice Bazaar. Every step will lead you to a parallel universe, a universe which will be suprised you, strike you. I call it "the universe of beads"



Spice Bazaar and herbal teas




Spice Bazaar and spices

Do you love beads? I adore them!Do you know beads are good for your psychology? Beading makes people more patient.

And don't be afraid, enter the passages, you'll find so many interesting things together. For instance coffe machine and baby dolls, viagra pills and beads or prayerful people who sell viagra pills or condoms.

 Beads of Spice Bazaar

Have you ever heard the word of "Nazar"? Nazar simply can be explained as bad luck. Bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike says Wikipedia . Would you like to protect yourself from jealous people, use "evil eye"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_eye

It's the most common charm in Turkey. Almost everybody believes in nazar and use those blue beads which called as evil eye and aslo looks like an eye




Evil Eye



Do you want a necklace or wristlet ? Go to Eminönü/Tahtakale Marputçular Passage

All you need beads and yarn. Particolored, glass, big, wooden, small, naturel stone, plastic millions of beads



Vienna, Gloomy city

This heavy-hearted city under the cloud capped sky is the home of spectacular art objects. The city is rewarded  with the best artists in the world like Klimt, Mozart, Schiele and many others. 

A view from the city

 



 SIGHTSEEING

Why do we travel?  Have you ever questioned it? Sometimes I ask to myself, why do I love travelling? Do I like to see new cities? Do I want to meet with new people? Do I want to try something different? Only one answer comes to my mind. -ART- But when I say art, I mean everything related to art like painting, archeology, music, writing, architecture…

Before making my travel plans, first I research the museums, writers, artists of the cities. It’s really important for me to see an important painting or watch a good play. I can say  art is my religion and all the museums are my temple. Those are the places where I find peace.
So love art. It will give you the inner peace.  Don't be afraid of art just because do not understand it.You don't have be an art expert to love and respect art. The key is feelings. When you see a Klimt Painting, ask to yourself how do I feel? If you like it you'll start to search beyond visible.
You don’t have to know it’s an impressionist painting or not, but learn. Lack of knowledge can lead to fear and learning is a necessity.
Most importantly please respect art. Do not ridicule with art just because it doesn't fit your moral standards. I always respect cities, countires which respect art and protect it. Vienna is one of those cities. It's an ordinary European city with tidy and clean streets. If you ask my opinion there is nothing charming about the city. But just because it hosts so important artists and respect them it's a wonderful city.

 "I’m sure I’m not particularly interesting as a person. There is nothing special about me. I’m a painter who paints day after day from morning till night."

I believe in the immortality of all creatures

The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.

Those humble and witty words are giving me comfort. It’s nice to know once upon a time our earth welcomed those kinds of smart and extraordinary people.

I don’t want to talk about how great The Kiss is or why Egon Schiele rebelled the traditional training in Vienna Academy.

Go to Belvedere & Kunsthistorisches  Museums and admire all those great artists. When you visit Egypt Section of  Kunsthistorisches  Museum  do not forget and always remember those pieces were belonged to people who lived thousand and thousand years ago

When you see a little bronze statue do not ignore it by its size, it could be a god, once upon a time people could worship it and hope for help.

When you see a head statue, don’t say “just a statue”, maybe you are looking at an emperor.

When you see the The Kiss think for a moment why did Klimt use so much golden yellow and do not forget nothing occurs without a reason.

Kunsthistorisches  Museums

Kunsthistorisches  Museums-Egypt Section

Kunsthistorisches  Museums



Kunsthistorisches  Museums -Marie Antoinette



Kunsthistorisches  Museums - Rubens

Belvedere-The Garden



Kunsthistorisches  Museums - Babylon Tower

     

Wiener Staatsoper

Opera House is one of the landmarks of Vienna. 

This poor building was not the most popular building in the city. When it was being built, people of Vienna did not like it at all. It was criticized by so many people. So the architects, Eduard van der Nüll committed suicide, Sicardsburg had a heart attack. So neither architect saw the completion of the building. 

The opening premiere was Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The Opera Haouse was bombed by the Americans at the II. World War.  Nowadays Wiener Staatsoper is one of the busiest opera houses around the world.

The Opera House

Mozart Haus

The proud of Austria lived in Vienna from 1784 to 1787. Mozart Apartments are located Domgasse 5. Well, there is nothing to say about Mozart Haus. If you think live emotional moments or bond an emotional tie with the great composer, think again. Because there is nothing to see in the House. It is literally empty.  There are quotes from Mozart on the walls, you can listen his composition but do not be in expectation.



Entrance-The Mozart Haus



Kunst Haus Wien

You must see this architecturally interesting building. (Actually it’s an art gallery.)

 The architect of the building is Friedensreich Hundertwasser. 
Friedensreich Hundertwasser believes people have 3 segments.  No;1 is our skin,  No;2 is our clothes, No;3 is walls which  surround us. As a consequence buildings should be in a harmony with human nature. In the nature nothing is smooth or plain so the buildings must be built rough and uneven.

Which is why Kunst Haus Wien is not an ordinary building. It’s not flat or plain. It’s splashy like a candy and funny.

Nationalbibliothek

Another” think twice before you act” place.  Before the visit I was assuming I’ll see a huge library with lots of books. Yes, there were lots of books, but in their shelf’s. So I could only see the covers. It’s a small place with nice ceiling paintings. There are nicer places than Nationalbibliothek in Vienna. Do not waste your time and money with visiting it.

Nationalbibliothek-Entrance

 EATING

I would like to say that Vienna is famous with its schnitzel, so do not expect so much from the food.

The best place for schnitzel is Figmüller. There are two Figmüllers; No:1 is in Wollizeile 5 and open between 11.00-22.30. No:2 is in backerstrabe 6 and open between 12.00-24.00. I ate “Cordeon Bleu and Sirlian Steak”. I tried 2 different beers. Radler and Otto Kringer. I loved Otto Kringer. It's lemonade beer and tastes really good.

But, I can’t labialize same displeased words for the famous Viennese cakes. The name of the cake is “Original Sacher-Torte”. A chocolate cake with a divine taste, http://www.sacher.com/en-original-sacher-tart.htm and Cafe Sacher is the right place. I went to another café to try the cake, Café Demel, but it was closed.  I guess the café  closes very early. So consider the time before going there.

If you would like to go a fancy place, try Tien Cafe. They have nice vegetarian foods.  It’s at Seilerstatte 16. http://www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/restaurants/vegetarian-restaurants.

For Italian food you can try in Il Temp0. It’s at 1010 Wien Wallnerstr.  With pizza try Schneider Wisse Tap 7. It’s a wheat beer, dark and sweet. I loved it.

SHOPPING

Vienna is an expensive city for shopping.  It’s almost not possible to find cheap things there, so not the best place for shopping. But there is a street called as Mariahilfer Straße.  Mariahilfer Straße is the city’s longest and most lively shopping street. I have covered the territory but could not find something interesting.  For souvenirs the best places are museum shops I guess.

An useful Info

Before starting to do some sightseeing, get a Vienna Card (You can find it at airport and tourist information points) for 19.90 EURO. You'll get discounts at museums and public transport will be free

İstanbul Archeological Museum, Travelling through ages

As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.     Michel Foucault

A peaceful day in İstanbul...

Garden

I'm going back in time. I'm 8 years old and stepping in  İstanbul Archeological Museums. I remeber  two things clearly. A dark room, it's covered with red carpets, there is a sarcophagus in the middle of the room. I'm moving slowly in the corridors of the museum, students of fine art department are drawing  the statue of River God Oceanus.

This must be love at first sight, this is how I fallen love with the İstanbul Archeological Museums, one of the most important archeological museum in the world.

This is the place where you can find the animal fossils belongs to B.C.4000, the statue of Alexander the Great or emperors who ruled over Anatolia and neighboring lands.

But The Alexander Sarcophagus is the most important artifact in the İstanbul Archaeological Museums. It called The Alexander Sarcophagus but the  sarcophagus doesn't belong to Alexander the Great, the tomb belongs to The King of Sidon.

Alexander was believed to be the descendant of Heracles, so he is depicted with fur of Nemean Lion. Which is why the tomb is called as  Alexander Sarcophagus. The name of sculptor is unknown.

                      Alexander Sarcophagus - The war between Persians and Greeks             

                                             

Alexander The Great, riding the horse 

                                                     

    The King of Sidon

                                                                      
With the conquest of Alexander the Greek Culture was spreaed to Middle East. So a new culture was born: Hellenism. Below you can find the influence of Hellenistic Culture. This tomb was found in Middle East. The entire body of the tumb carries the traces of Ancient Egypt Art. But at the top you can see the impacts of Greek Culture.

The museum is the home of magnificent marble statues of Roman and Greek Gods.

River God Oceanus

         

Do you know who is first female poet? Her name is Sappho, she was born in Lesbos Island. The word lesbian is derived from the island where Sappho was born. So some people say she was a lesbian and killed herself because her female love rejected her.

 Sappho

                                                                          
Some stories say it was the Pan who challenged Apollo, some  stories  say it was Marsyas. According to our unknown sculptor it was the Marsyas who challenged Apollo at a music contest.  Marsyas was  fluting and Apollo was playing his lyre. Marsyas claimed he was a better musician than Apollo. Apollo was very angry because of being challenged by a satry. So Marsyas was skined by Apollo. The sculptor depicted Marsyas after he skined by Apollo.

 

Marsyas

                              
This piece of terra-cotta is The First Written Peace Treaty in the history of mankind. Can you imagine how precious is it? In the museum you  not only see old statues, you see civilisations which shaped the today's world, present conditions.
The First Written Peace Treaty Kadesh was signed between the Hittite and Egyptian empires at 13th century BC.  

Kadesh Treaty

                                            

Below you can find the reliefs of Isthar Gate. Isthar is the main gate of Babylon. You can see some pieces of the gate at İstanbul Archeological Museums. Other parts of the gate is at Pergamon Museum.

Isthar Gate / Lion Relief

Isthar Gate / Horse Relief

        

Below you can see a  marriage contract belongs to Hittites (B.C. 19). It says; La-qepum married daughter of Enisru, Hatala. He shall not marry to a slave girl in the country (It means Anatolia) but he can marry a whore in the city (It means Asur). If she can't have children in two years, she will a slave girl for him. When the slave girl give birth to a boy she will sell her. If La-qepum divorces her, he will pay 5 silver minas. If Hatala divorces him she will also pay 5 silver minas.

Marriage Contract

Other interesting pieces;



Head of Alexander The Great



Vize Tumulus

Hekate Temple