tulips, tulips …

Istanbul tulip festival, Istanbul lale festival, 2010, Emirgan park, pentax k10d

tulip festival starts with celebrations in Emirgan Park

Five Lines

To overcome lies in the heart, in the streets, in the books
from the lullabies of the mothers
to the news report that the speaker reads,
understanding, my love, what a great joy it is,
to understand what is gone and what is on the way.

Nazim Hikmet

İvazefendi Camii, Ayvansaray, İstanbul

İvazefendi Camii, Ivazefendi mosque, Ayvansaray, İstanbul, pentax k10d

built by Mimar Sinan at 1585  for Kazasker Ivaz Efendi over old Byzantium pension’s basement.

İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzesi

Twenty galleries filled with artifacts gathered from all over Turkey and the Near East celebrate 5,000 years of history with exhibits from Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire and the many civilizations of Anatolia and ancient Egypt. The main building houses the finds of nineteenth-century archaeologist Osman Hamdi Bey, in particular the famous fourth-century Alexander sarcophagus discovered at the royal necropolis of Sidon in Lebanon. The Museum of the Ancient Orient contains artifacts from Egypt and Mesopotamia.  (from Yahoo Travel)