Tag Archives: Historical Sites

Sultanahmet

Sultanahmet was weird blend of both past and present. The historic center of Istanbul once stood as the capitol of the Byzantine Empire and later the Ottoman’s made it their capitol. Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque stand opposing each other in the large courtyard. In between these massive temples you can find a number of street vendors trying to sell their knick-knacks to tourists. Bread stands selling freshly made simits (a bread ring with sesame seeds) covered the area as well.

Touring the grand cathedral of the Byzantine Empire was remarkable experience. Beautiful marble floors and decorated archways were everywhere. Chandlers seemed to levitate over the main floor. The artwork on the ceilings and walls were also quite remarkable. There were also countless stained glass windows that let in a beautiful array of colors in the building.

We next tried to tour the Blue Mosque but our timing was poor because as soon as we

arrived prayer began and they wouldn’t let tourists in during that time. We could have waited but there was still so much to see and we figured we could always return.

The next stop was the Ottoman Topkapi Palace. The palace had multiple courtyards and gardens. Inside the buildings they had converted rooms into museums to showcase the treasures and power of the Ottoman Empire. Clothes and artworks of Ottoman Sultans were on display as well as a number of religious items from Islam, Christianity, and Judaism

After such a quick day briefly visiting these amazing buildings we then went to the Grand Bazaar. The bazaar was unlike anyplace I have ever been. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was surprised when I walked into the place to find a multitude of shops in such a historic building. There were stores everywhere selling everything. Every small space was used. A flood of colors from clothes and pottery filled the buildings to the ceiling.

Location: Alemdar Mh., 34122 Istanbul/Istanbul Province, Turkey

Chantilly

On Saturday IES hosted an excursion to the Ch�teau de Chantilly, a castle in the Picardie region outside of Paris. Although some parts of the original buildings are no longer standing, the castle was constructed in 1560 for the princes of Cond�. Today the castle is more of an art museum, hosting the Mus�e Cond� and its collection of paintings that’s said to rival the Louvre. And of course, Chantilly is home to the famous Chantilly cream, lace, and racecourse.

Location: Château de Chantilly, France

Mexico City

Hola,

So I’m back from Mexico City and it feels so surreal. I can’t believe this is my last week in Mexico. The city was great, but nothing like I expected. We arrived on Thursday and started off the weekend with a great dinner in our Hotel. Then we explored the Zocalo (the historic downtown plaza, otherwise known at the plaza of the constitution) and the area around our hotel. The Zocalo is very cool and huge. It is bordered by the Cathedral to the north, the National Palace to the east, the Federal District buildings to the south, and just to the northeast is the site of Templo Mayor (the remains of the Aztecs’ main temple). In the center is a flagpole with an enormous Mexican flag.

Later that night, we went out to celebrate my friend Anna’s birthday, had some Mexican gelatin cake, and danced like crazy. The next morning, we went to Teotihuacan (which means ‘where men become gods’) to see the pyramids. It was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, and like always nothing close to what I’d expected. The pyramids were enormous and I could almost feel the age in the city. First, we climbed the smaller pyramid, the pyramid of the moon, and from there we could see the whole city. Then, we started the trek up the pyramid up the pyramid of the sun. The view was so amazing. We stayed up there for at least half an hour just relaxing, taking in the view, and taking tons of pictures.

It was crazy how many people were there trying to sell stuff. More than once we were approached by someone claiming their goods were “almost free” and others just wouldn’t leave us alone if we even glanced their way. Then a big group of eighth and ninth graders approached us and started interviewing us in English. At one point I was surrounded by 6 people and was being interviewed by two students at once. Some of them, who didn’t know as much English, didn’t even bother trying to ask the questions, instead they just handed one of us the paper and smiled. Then, they all wanted a photo shoot with us, which was pretty fun.

Afterwards, we went to a huge market downtown with all sorts of good gifts. There was tons of silver, tons of obsidian, many woven blankets, and a ridiculous amount of pottery. It was very overwhelming, but the merchants weren’t nearly as pushy and I had a lot of fun haggling with them. The next day, we started off at the National Museum of Anthropology, which houses one of the best and most important collections in the world. An interesting, and very sad fact, is that most of the works in the museum were replicas because the real artifacts were taken to Europe the moment they were found. It was still really interesting to see all the art, sculptures, and history by the many indigenous groups that once occupied Mexico. After that museum, we went to Frida Kahlo’s house. It was really interesting to see her artwork and photographs spread throughout her house and her things. We were able to see her brace, her x-rays, and many of her self-portraits, and I feel like I learned so much about her in the short time we were there.

After the museum, we went to a nearby market and had some of the best quesadillas I’ve ever eaten. The woman there was truly an artist. She made the tortillas from scratch, filled them, and fried them in record time, and they were delicious. After lunch, we went to Xochimilco, which is home of the famous chinampas. Chinampas are huge rafts that were made by the Aztecs as a means of irrigation. They would fill these rafts with soil from the bottom of the lake and then planted their crops right on the rafts. Over the years, the roots have grown down into the soil, creating canals around the chinampas. Anyway, we spent the afternoon floating down the canals, listening to music, and trying to ignore the venders floating down the river in their own boats. It was so relaxing and really a great way to spend the afternoon.

So that’s all for now, I’ll write again very soon!

Adios,

Lexi

Location: Mexico City, Mexico

Oh, they had wheels!!

So today we went and climbed and hiked up the pyramids of Teotihuacan. There are the pyramids of the moon and the sun. The pyramid of the sun is bigger than the moon, but the moon is much steeper. It was really interesting exploring the ruins of Teotihuacan after we had learned all about its history. It is incredible because the people of Teotihuacan did not have access to the wheel or animals to help them in building the pyramids. They did everything through human labor, which makes the pyramids that much more fascinating! We have a joke that the people of Teotihuacan did actually have the wheel and cement trucks and horses, but just destroyed them all when the Spanish came and conquered Mexico so that the Spanish would not have access to them but the people of Teotihuacan then realized how bad of an idea this was because the Spanish then used the indigenous people as slaves and for human labor. Hah, but this is just our funny pretend theory. It was interesting how at the base of all the pyramids and the surrounding area-was littered with venders trying to sell you everything under the sun! Everything from Obsidion to animal whistles. It was a little intimidating because they were so persitant that you buy their merchandise. My favorite was when they would yell in English to us “Almost free”. It was such an amazing opportunity though to experience such an essential part of past history.

Location: Teotihuacan, Mexico City, Mexico

Oaxaca

Hi all! I know it’s been awhile since you all heard from me, so this might be a longer sort of post to make up for that! J

Here’s what I’ve been up to –

Last Thursday our entire study abroad group loaded up onto our tour bus at 8am to drive four hours to the Mexican state of Oaxaca. We were going to check out some historical sites, some native artisan crafts, and also just to explore another of Mexico’s cities.

The first thing we did upon our arrival in Oaxaca around 12:30pm was to tour what was one of the most ancient and largest cities in the region – Monte Alb�n. Monte Alb�n was built by the Zapotecs and Mixtec cultures and was a thriving metropolis around 500 AD. We got to hike around a couple of the remaining stone structures and learned a little bit about the customs, daily life, and religious ceremonies of these peoples. It was really interesting. Also really really warm and sunny on the mountaintop. You can see the village for miles around in Oaxaca Valley.

Sadly, I left my camera on the bus for this first day of our trip, so there are no pics for you to enjoy. There will be a few of the following days, however, so stay tuned.

After we toured Monte Alb�n we checked into our hotel in the actual city of Oaxaca. It was really nice. I didn’t take a picture, but here’s the link – that’ll show you pretty much anything you wanted to see.

http://www.hoteloaxacadorado.com/

We stayed in this hotel the entire time we were in Oaxaca, and it was great. I even got in the pool. (A big step for me, but it was in the 90s, and a girl’s gotta cool off.)

Anyways, for the rest of “Day 1” I pretty much just chilled out in my hotel room with the fan and the TV. We supposedly have a pretty huge day tomorrow, so I didn’t want to overdo it right off the bat.

Friday was even longer and bigger than I expected.

I got up bright and early and started out the morning having breakfast with my prof. and one other earlybird student at the z�calo in Oaxaca.

A “z�calo” is a town square type idea that all Mexican cities have. And the bigger the city, the bigger the z�calo. To give you a better idea of sizes, the zocalo in Oaxaca was pretty “small” for a zocalo. Puebla’s is bigger, and I’ve heard that the one in M�xico City is huge because the z�calo there is basically all of what was once Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec city. But that’s another city and a story for next week. (After we’ve been.)

After my breakfast of hotcakes and caf� Americano, we headed back to our tourbus to begin the day (about half an hour later than the rest of the group…oops. I’ve learned to add quantities of time to everything here in Mexico.)

Today we were supposed to visit these ancient historical ruins called Yagul and Mitla, but we discovered about halfway into our drive that the road to Mitla was closed because of a bus strike. So, we had to take an extra hour or so to turn around and do our itinerary for tomorrow instead.

Our first stop was a place where there was this family business (one of many in the Oaxaca area) of making pots and other assorted items out of this particular type of clay that turns black when cooked. It’s called barro negro, and is really gorgeous. I snapped a couple of pictures of our guide working on a pitcher that he made for us in a matter of minutes out of a lump of dry clay.

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The Middle

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Finished product.

Impressive, no?

I also bought a bunch of ridiculously cheap (but artistic and pretty!) souvenirs for my family.

Second stop of the day was at another artisan workshop where they make little wooden carvings called alebrijes. They’re made from specific kinds of wood and then painted in intricate detail.

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If you look at the above picture closely, you can see a grey kangaroo type creature with red detailing in the background, and a kind of red dragony looking creature in the foreground. Every single detail of paint is hand done. Needless to say, I bought more souvenirs here too. J Couldn’t resist.

After the alebrijes factory, it was about 3pm, and our group was really really hoping it was time for lunch. No dice. Our next stop on the tour was a mezcal factory. Mezcal is a type of homegrown Mexican tequila. Everyone I know who’s tasted it finds the stuff pretty hard to stomach, and burning going down. I took no pictures.

After the mezcal factory, we were so so so psyched for lunch, but we were told upon re-entering our tourbus that we were going to a tapete (weaving) place next. Despite my initial grumpiness and hunger, I thought the tapete place was fascinating. Here’re some pics.

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Blue rug with lizards. Dimensions were probably around 8ftx4ft (ish). Fully rug sized.

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See me be artistic with spools of thread. Booyah.

………..

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A partly finished butterfly (mariposa) rug on a loom. The view is a little skewed, so imagine that the butterfly part is flat and that the rest of the loom is perpendicular (if that makes sense).

I bought something here too. I love artsy stuff.

After the tapete place, we went to our first Mexican “chain” restaurant – an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was a scary version of Golden Corral. (If you are a parental unit, stop reading now.)

It’s basically like an open-air buffet where you have little to no idea about the sanitary conditions of the foods you’re eating, and no assurances that it’s safe except for the other hundred Mexicans eating it with you. Also, thousands of bees infesting all of the desserts. (To my cousin, if you read this, it was literally your worst nightmare. Bees in cake, and cookies. And everywhere.) The Mexicans eating here with us seemed totally unfazed by the bees and simply reached through the swarms to grab a fruit pie or a cookie, but the rest of us stared mostly in horror at the dessert array. I can’t say this was my favorite meal so far. Truth: Ignorance is bliss when it comes to food prep. and storage here. Definitely.

After “lunch” it was about 5pm when we arrived back at the hotel.

I took a quick swim in our hotel pool (fantastically refreshing) and then some friends and I went out around 9pm for “dinner” and drinks in the zocalo (city square with cafes).

At our dinner we discovered one of the best parts of Mexico, though probably also one of the most tragic. As we sat with drinks waiting for our food, dozens of Mexican street venders with jewelry, clothing, crafts, clayware, (basically any kind of homemade artisan good you can think of) came by to sell it to us. And many of their wares were really really gorgeous and unique. I don’t have pics of this evening (I should know by now that interesting things will happen everywhere and be photographically prepared), but it was amazing. I bought a few things, and thought about what the lives of these street venders must be like… It seems likely that they just go back to the barrios (Mexican projects) and try to get by on the little money they make street vending. It’s a hard life.

I bought a few things, but had to turn dozens more away.

I’ll probably be writing a future post about the class system here. It’s too big of a topic to cover here, and this is already a really long post.

Saturday and Sunday TO BE CONTINUED…

Location: Calzada Madero No. 224, Colonia Centro, C.P. 68000, Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, México

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