Starting off the Morning with an Archaeology Museum

I am utterly exhausted. Like, I cannot feel my feet. I have been walking all over Istanbul today with my aunt and our friendly and very knowledgeable personal tour guide, Tarik. Let me tell you about the first part of our tour. We started our day at 9am with a trip to the Archaeology Museum. The first thing my aunt noticed about the building was that there were Romanesque columns supporting the structure (you can tell she is an interior designer). She asked Tarik about it and why the architect, Osman Hamdi Bey, had not created original columns. Tarik said that those columns were taken from Rome and are the influence from the West. In contrast, the bricks used to build the museum are very large, like those used to build the Great Wall of China. That is an Eastern Turkey influence. This building blends together the two cultures and portrays exactly what I discussed in my Senior Research Paper! It's amazing how many obvious examples of the blending of East and West there are here in Istanbul.

Archaeology Museum

Inside the museum, there were so many statues, but even more sarcophaguses! However, the museum was a little bit bleak and had a very 1970s feel to it. It is obvious they don't have too much money to keep updating it. But that is another example from my paper! Western traditions and ideals may have influenced Turkey in many ways, but Turkey is still behind the West. The example I used in my paper is that Turks will dress in Western clothing, but it is very outdated. I have seen a number of 1990s clothing, but there are a ton of tourists in the city as well, so it could just be them with...interesting clothing choices. The Archaeology Museum is struggling to become Westernized, although it is a very outdated attempt. At least they're trying! And all the pieces are incredible!

Oceanius, the god of water before Poseidon took his power after the battle of the Titans.

Sarcophagus

Across the little courtyard from the Archaeology Museum was another museum with Turkish relics. However, this museum had the traditional Turkish tiling along the front of it. The blue color was absolutely gorgeous. It really helped that the sun was shining on it, reflecting flecks of light onto the cobblestones.

Blue tile museum

After our jaunt in the museum, Tarik led the way to the Hagia Sofia or San Sofia. As we walked, he told us a little bit about himself. We were especially curious about his English: it was so good! He said he had never done any English immersion courses nor had he ever traveled to the UK or US. His English is the equivalent of a Turkish high schooler's English...which is incredible! Tarik practiced on tourists to get better and better, although with Australians, Americans, South Africans, Brits, and Canadians talking to him, he has now adopted slang from each of them and forgets his proper grammar, so he says. I was very impressed at how well he spoke though! It's kind of sad how almost everybody around the world works hard to learn and speak English so they can communicate with us, while we do nothing. We just expect them to understand and answer us in some way. I wish I was as good at Spanish as Tarik is at English. We've both only had high school levels!