Topkapi Palace, what a disappointment

For years I have listened to stories of what a fabulous place is Topkapi Palace.It shows all the richness, power of the great Ottoman Empire.

Bull Shit!

The palace was far from being impressive yet empty.Yes empty, the Harem was a total disappointment.The empty walls painted with cheap white color showed nothing.

The only remarkable section of the palace was the Holy Relics section that contained rod of Moses,hand of St. John the Baptist and swords of prophet Mohammad.

Book Review: Essential Russian Mythology: Stories That Change the World

Title: Essential Russian Mythology: Stories That Change the World
Writer: Pyotr Simonov
Year: 1997
Pages: 184

I found this book in the English Books section of Remzi Kitabevi at Kanyon. The book contains several short stories about Russian Folklore.The stories are short,simple as if intended for kids.The amazon link can be found here. One interesting story was how Russians adopted Christianity during Prince Vladimir period[includes a visit to Constantinople:)]

A weekend @ Buyukada

We went to Buyukada via boat from Maltepe port.The return path was the same ,from Buyukada to Maltepe directly.We were so happy yo learn that 3 boats everyday to each direction.

We stayed in a small and old pension which had very uncomfortable beds.

We got to the island Friday evening,ate fish as it is a tradition,made a small tour on foot and went to sleep.Next morning we went to the famous Aya Yorgi [St.George] church on top of the hill.

We spent out saturday going to and returning back to the chuch. Next day we started seaching for Trotsky's house. I had the exact adresss with street name and number but i still had trouble finding it.And I could not make it if i did not saw the photos prior to the trip.It is a shame that there is no single sign and the people around never heard of it.It is also a great shame that the house is in terrible condition.

Book Review: Rusya'da Is Yapmak

Title: Rusya'da İş Yapmak
Writer: Gurkan Suzer
Year: 2007
Pages: 144

In fact this is not a book but a booklet with its small size and thinness,yet another book claiming to give very valuable advice on Russia and Russians which ends of with nothing,absolutely nothing other than very well known cliché sentences such as 'Oh Russia/Russians is different,you don't know them ','Consult advisors',blah blah blah...

Book Review: Bir Sovyet Kahramani'nin Kizi

Title: Bir Sovyet Kahramani'nin Kizi
Writer: Andrey Makine
Year: 2000
Pages: 168

This sad story is in 80's Moscow.Daughter of a 2nd world war veteran,a soviet hero becomes a prostitute in bad old days which leads to his fathers dead from shame.
Not bad,tells how ruined was the soviet period.

Book Review: Galina'nin Nazim'i

Title: Galina'nin Nazim'i
Writer: Dursun Özden
Year: 2007
Pages: 208

I bought this book after I read Vera Tulyakova's book on Nazim and their life together.I wanted to get another perspective which is what the book front and back covers promised.
The book turned out to be a stupid and yet funny book.The book has absolutely nothing about Galina&Nazim other than just 5 pages.The very small information in the book is repeated in the book many many times that it became so boring.The book claming to be on Nazim&Galina had even the writer Dursun Ozen's poems,soo funny.Get away this book!

Russian language classes completed II

My first post titled "Russian language classes completed" was approximately one year ago.
Now the second round of Russian language courses is completed,this time at Yuksek Kariyer at Maltepe but again for 6 months .Now I can say more than Я понимаю по-русский".

1 exibition 3 books

Yapi Kredi Arts Center hosted a great exibition,materials of Nazim Hikmet during his life in Moscow.It was a nice one,if you are interested in history,old books,old photos,old stuff...

The photos of these materials are published in a book " Şehrime Ulaşamadan Bitirirken Yolumu
Nazım ve Vera Moskova'dan İstanbul'a". If you missed the exibition,you can still see the items,but on photo this time.




After the exibition,I went to the bookstore of Yapi Kredi Publishing which is in the sama building with the exibition hall,I bought two books.

The first one is Bahtiyar Ol Nazim, it is memoirs of Vera Tulyakova with Nazim Hikmet,I liked this book very much,it tells how much they loved each other,the problems they faced during soviet times...etc.It was nice to read.

The second book is " Bakü'ye Gidiyorum Ay Balam Nazım Hikmet'in Azerbaycan'daki İzleri (1921- 1963)",it is more about literature history, the poems of Nazim and its effects in Soviet/Azeri/World literature.It was kinda boring for me...

Cheap Plane Tickets

While interrailing I was in search of cheap airline companies,
here is a list:

www.easyjet.com
www.ryanair.com
www.berlinair.com
www.germanwings.com
www.hlx.com
www.vueling.com
www.myair.com
www.corendon.com.tr

Book Review: SSCB Halklarinin Gelenek ve Gorenekleri

Title: SSCB Halklarinin Gelenek ve Gorenekleri
Writer: George Kubliski
Year: 1990
Pages: 102

The book is about customs and living styles of nations among the USSR.The

writer has traveled to the most,if not all, of the 15 SSRs among the USSR and presented this views.Although the topic is interesting, the translation made it boring.

The books contains a few interesting images,here is a sample.