Istanbul Backpacker

Turkish Zarf & Russian Podstakannik A Turkish zarf is a holder, usually of ornamental metal, for a coffee cup without a handle. Coffee was served in small cups without handles, which were placed in holders known as zarf to protect the cup and also the fingers of the drinker from the hot fluid in Ottoman times. Cups were typically made of porcelain. However since it was the holder that was more visible, it was typically more heavily ornamented. A Russian podstakannik is a tea glass holder, most commonly made of metal with a handle. It is a traditional way of serving and drinking tea in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Antique Ottoman prayer beads with gold coins. The coins dated 1223 and 1255, years 1808 and 1839.

Photograph of excellent antique Ottoman bag for holding gold or silver coins, embroided with gold and silk thread at the very beginning of twentieth century.

Istanbul is always surprising. We returned to Kadikoy pier at the night. And we met these guys playing traditional bagpipe called tulum of Black Sea, singing old sailors' and fishermen's songs, and hora dancing, called horon.

After a great cruise on the Bosphorus of Istanbul, the ferry takes us to Anadolu Kavagi, to the north, near by the Black Sea, where we see the wonderful view of the castle called Genoese Castle, due to Genoa’s possession of it in the mid fifteenth century. It is also called Yoros Castle or Yoros Kiseli.

The Bosporus or Bosphorus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, is a strait that forms the boundary between the European part, Rumelia, of Turkey and its Asian part, Anatolia. The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, it connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea). It is approximately 30 km long, with a maximum width of 3,700 metres at the northern entrance, and a minimum width of 700 metres between Kandilli and Aşiyan; and 750 metres between Anadoluhisarı and Rumelihisarı.

Istanbul is always surprising. From Eminonu Square we walk to Karakoy and then climbed to Galata Tower. Galata (also known as Pera) was a colony of the Republic of Genoa between 1273 and 1453. The famous Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 at the northernmost and highest point of the medieval Genoese citadel. The name comes from the word Galat (meaning Celtic in Greek) as the Celtic tribe of Galatians were thought to have camped here during the Hellenistic period before settling into Galatia in central Anatolia. The inhabitants of Galatia are famous for the Epistle to the Galatians and the Dying Galatian statue. See Galata Tower too.