You see, that day when we walked past, this guy talked to us and asked us to eat here but we told him we already had our dinner and so he said nevermind.. just remember us and come back again...
We did not really remember them to be honest.. we were just walking around and found ourselves in this area again.. and then this guy (his name is Sebastian) was on the phone right.. suddenly, he hang up and jumped up in front of us and asked us, "Do you remember me?"
We vaguely remembered him and I think chinese faces like ours with botak head not really difficult to forget:) wahahaha..
And so step one, he started to remind us about what they have to offer... when we did not look like we were interested... he started to offer us coffee and tea and he even told Ace he is going to offer Ace free ice cream...
But Ace was whiney and not too impressed as he has already declared that he is SICK OF TURKISH FOOD:) wahahahaha...
So he told Ace that he has something special to show him. "You come with me and take a look, and then you tell me if you like it or not..." and then he held Ace's hand and brought him into the restaurant...
If you look at the picture above, you can tell that the restaurant is right next to this very old looking building made of bricks... it is actually some ancient ruins.. so at the back of the restaurant, there is like a hidden well and there are fishes inside.. they purposely put in a light bulb so that you can see the fishes.. and the water is amazingly clear!
Here is a video of Ace feeding the fishes happily...
When Ace came back, Ace told us, "He used me as an advertisement leh... he asked me if the food was good and if I liked this place... and I said the food is good and I like it..."
The ending was that they also decided to eat here.. hahahaha :)
On trip advisor, there was someone who commented that watching how they get people to come in to eat itself was entertainment.. and I agree!:)
Apparently, the well is only last resort.. so not everyone who eats here knows about it..
Actually if you look closely, there are a few people in charge of doing "Sales". If they see chio bu, they will send out this really handsome looking guy... and different people have different strategies:) wahahaha..
After that, we walked around and went to the bazaar again.. just to take a photo of the lamp we bought cos we realized we did not take a picture of ours... hahaha..
I was quite intrigued by this toilet.. cool right.. pay money and can go in through the turnstile.. hahha
And then Ace asked, "What is that" when he saw the toilet.. and Max told him jokingly, "It's a museum..."
So while walking through the parade square, we saw these really tall structures and went to take a look... I also noticed that there are alot of shops called Hippodrome this.. Hippodrome that... so I asked Max if he knew where or what is the Hippodrome...
Then hor, when we walked past the toilet and started to read the posters on top... the toilet turned out to REALLY BE A MUSEUM! :) wahahaha..
Turned out that the whole area we were walking through.. IS THE HIPPODROME!
The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Turkish: Sultanahmet Meydanı, At Meydanı, Turkish pronunciation: [sulˌtanahˈmet]) was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving. It is sometimes also called Atmeydanı (Horse Square) in Turkish.
The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos ('ιππος), horse, and dromos (δρομος), path or way. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras.
Apparently,the place started off as an arena for chariot races and other entertainment. Back in the days where Istanbul was known as Constantinople (when it was under Roman rule), the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 m (1,476 ft) long and 130 m (427 ft) wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators.
It was supposed to be very grand and supposed to have lots of statues of famous horses and chariot drivers and even gods.
Throughout the Byzantine period, the Hippodrome was the centre of the city's social life. Huge amounts were bet on chariot races, and initially four teams took part in these races, each one financially sponsored and supported by a different political party (Deme) within the Roman/Byzantine Senate: The Blues (Venetoi), the Greens (Prasinoi), the Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi). The Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi) gradually weakened and were absorbed by the other two major factions (the Blues and Greens).
So I guess maybe you could say it is like our National Stadium in Singapore... with lots of fancy stuffs..
But leh, when we visited, not much of its former glory is left liao...
This tall structure is called the Obelisk of Thutmose III. One of the Roman emperor called Theodosius the Great, who in 390[4] brought an obelisk from Egypt and erected it inside the racing track. Carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor during the reign of Tuthmosis III in about 1490 BC. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. The top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition.
This is how it looks like in the day time..
The next one that we saw... was a stick.. wahahaha.. or at least that was what it looked like to me..
But of course, that stick has lots of significance lah... Apparently, to raise the image of his new capital, Constantine and his successors, especially Theodosius the Great, brought works of art from all over the empire to adorn it. The monuments were set up in the middle of the Hippodrome, the spina. Among these was the Tripod of Plataea, now known as the Serpent Column, cast to celebrate the victory of the Greeks over the Persians during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BC.
Constantine ordered the Tripod to be moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and set in middle of the Hippodrome. The top was adorned with a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads. The bowl was destroyed or stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The serpent heads were destroyed as late as the end of the 17th Century, as many Ottoman miniatures show they were intact in the early centuries following the Turkish conquest of the city.[3] Parts of the heads were recovered and are displayed at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. All that remains of the Delphi Tripod today is the base, known as the "Serpentine Column".
We visited a museum and saw one of the heads on display..
This is how it looks like in the day..
Here is one of the heads they found..
I wondered how it looked like orgiginally and googled for it..
Apparently, this is how it used to look like..
This is known as the walled obelisk... The 32 m (105 ft)-high obelisk was constructed of roughly cut stones by Constantine VII. Its exact construction date is unknown, but it is named after Constantine VII after he repaired it in the tenth century. At that time, it was reportedly decorated with gilded bronze plaques that portrayed the victories of Basil I who was the grandfather of Constantine VII. Also there was a sphere at the top of obelisk. However, reportedly these gilded bronze plaques were stolen and melted down by Fourth Crusaders in 1204.Since young Janissaries liked to use the obelisk to climb and show their prowess, the obelisk suffered further damage to its surface... I think this one is somewhat restored...
That is all that is left at the square now known as Sultan Ahmed Square are these three things...
But leh, when we went to the Bazaar, we actually passed by this thing that I thought looked like a chimney.. I realize now that is the Column of Constantine. The 32 m high column was built by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogentus. When it was originally built in the 10th century, it was covered with gold, however in 1204, the gold was removed by the Crusaders.
This is how it looked like..
Then also at the other side nearer to Sultan Ahmed, there is this dome shaped thing... called the German Fountain..
Considering that it takes me a while to walk around these places, I will say the old Hippodrome was really super big..
Remember I mentioned that everyday they were selling different things?
If you look at the left top corner of the photo.. you can tell that there is someone selling something.. the item of the day for today is this thing with lights you can shoot into the sky...
Something like this..
And the people selling these are really good.. can shoot so high in to the sky...
Anyway, we decided to go find dessert to eat again:) hehehehe..
- They only seem to play one tune.. if you hear that tune, they are nearby
- They always have a shoebox in front of them and play with a kneeling position...
- When the police appear, they will take their shoebox and run away and hide
- 15-20 min later, they are back again.
- There is a whole organized group of them... all play the same song at different places
- Seems like they have duty rosters
- Most of them are about Ace's age or slightly older
- They are there all hours one.. almost as if they dun need to go to school..
- At least this group I see still play with each other and smile.. so I guess they are not being abused.. maybe this is their job
Of course, I have also seen like families sitting there with their children and babies just waiting for people to pass them money... also saw an old lady asking for money to buy bread...
I wonder what is their story like and why they are doing what they are doing now...
Anyway, time to go back and pack a little because we realize we have to cover 2-3 places in a few hours tomorrow as we are leaving in the afternoon..
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