Ortakoy: first port on the Bosphorous

Just north of central Istanbul is a port of calling known as Ortakoy. Here you can find a number of restaurants and cafes serving fish and also the Radisson SAS hotel. Far from the city center (maybe an hour in heavy traffic), it looks out over the Bosphorous strait and also the Golden-Gate style bridge that connects the "European" and "Asian" parts of Istanbul.

As you can sense it feels European but still yet the mosque does not feel that so out of place.

I walked inside to visit it and at the entrance took off my shoes as if entering a Japanese house. Near the entrance are lockers to place your shoes and in the center of the mosque is a carpeted area not unlike the tatami-grass mat tiles on the interior of many Japanese shrines. But what was most impressive was the silence in the center of the mosque. No organ playing, no chanting, just people looking up at the walls with the Arabic characters, or the crystal chandeliers dangling from the ceiling, or the ornate decorations on the ceiling ... quite a holy silent place, so much so that I declined to take a photo inside that space.

Oh, and the women and men worship in different places, the women on the second floor, secluded from the men who worship on the main level. This part I can't say that I approve of, but it's the way of worship at this mosque and so I can do nothing but accept it.

For dinner, I ate kofte meatballs with the guide and we talked about some aspects of Turkish life. Meanwhile, the other French members of the group ate fish for dinner (and had wine, of course) in a restaurant near the pier. I enjoyed my time tremendously and ate my kofte hamburger meat balls (actually flat slabs of meat) with the Turkish equivalent of harissa sauce! And to the side dish of white beans and salad I added the Turkish triumvirate of lemon, vinegar and olive oil. Yummy!

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LINK:

Ortakoy Mosque
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortak%C3%B6y_Mosque

Sultanahmet Koftecisi restaurant
http://www.sultanahmetkoftecisi.com.tr/