A few short days after we returned to Istanbul, we slipped away to be with dear friends - the sort you gladly do holidays and vacations with - whom we hadn't seen for a year or two. A friend of a friend offered us all a place to stay in İznik, ancient Nicaea, a city our family'd never been to before. Actually we realized it's been years since our family has visited a new province in Türkiye, so I guess it was about time for that too. This was a great choice!
One of the most interesting features of Iznik is the lake, which has a sunken basilica in it, which may be where one of the two Councils of Nicaea were held, although they seem a bit small, so it seems unlikely. Anyways, the underwater basilica is worth a look: article here, and I've linked a picture from it. Naturally when we went swimming, we swam over to it though you can't actually swim among it, of course.
Below are some additional pictures that you may enjoy from Iznik; it was a lovely, friendly setting with traditional pottery still being produced, olive groves surrounding our house, and delicious food to supplement the history. There were lots of jokes about retiring their someday.
 |
Storks nesting on a mosque
|
 |
Seeing the old inner walls
|
 |
A vine-covered portal in the city wall
|
 |
the Iznik city wall (inner wall to the right, outer wall on the left hidden by greenery)
|
 |
items in the museum - glass bowls, a diadem, a clay lamp, jewelry, etc
|
 |
This inscription (translation in the next picture) looks like it has hearts bracketing the text. Despite the appearance, they seem more likely to be leaves.
|
 |
According to the notes, this mini-sarchophagus (ostotek) held the ashes of a cremated person, which is odd since it is clearly marked with a cross, and I have not heard of any Christian tradition that supports cremation, (although a solid biblical basis for this eludes me).
|
 |
The Iznik Hagia Sofia (Ayasofia) from the outside. (Like that of Istanbul, this building housed a church, became a mosque, then a museum, and is now a mosque again.)
|
 |
According to the imam who shared some of the building's history, this was the spot where kings were crowned during one period.
|
 |
| The main interior of the Hagia Sofia |
|
|
 |
| remains of frescos in Iznik's Hagia Sofia |
 |
| fresco in the Iznik Aya Sofia |
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment