A Day Full of Old City Istanbul Tourism: the Day Ends with an Aqueduct and a Hamam

This remaining segment of the Aqueduct of Valens cuts through a residential neighborhood

After all this tourism-ing, I needed a bath. So I opted for a traditional Turkish bath. There are dozens of hamami in Istanbul to choose from, ranging from the very high-end touristy to the very low-end primitive. I chose one that was a little off the high-end and a little less touristy: the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam. I also chose it since it would be close to the historic Roman aqueduct.

It was about a two-mile walk from my hotel, but I could take a tram for about half that distance. Which I did because I already had put in my one-million steps for the day (approximately). 

The tram stop was Aksaray. At the stop, as with mots street corners, there was a mosque. This is the Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque. It is relatively new construction, dating from the 1870's. It is an Italian design, which generally means beautiful but non-functional. Italian is not an architectural school commonly associated with mosque design and construction, but here you go anyway.

Then it was time to walk up a hill. Something was going down at the park I was walking past.

This is Fatih Memorial Park, in the Fatih neighborhood of the Old City. It was packed. It also seemed like some sort of rally, as there was a noticeably sized police presence and electronically amplified voices (which, in my Latin American travels, almost always means a political rally, usually benign but loud). It could have been a routine outdoor religious service. I don't know. I didn't ask.

But I did notice this cool statue at the center of the park, so I ventured into the gathering to snap some photos.

This is a statue of Mehmet II, Sultan from the 1500's, which was early into the Ottoman reign. He's on a horse, which likely means that when you're sultan, the ordinary rules against depicting humans and animals in art in a Moslem country do not apply. I got no looks when I wandered into the crowd for some shutterbugging, so I am guessing the gathering was benign. You can feel hostility and I felt none, genuinely. Just people ignoring me as they focused on their reason for being in that park and that time. As it should be.

At the north end of the park, actually more NNE if you want to be technical, was the surviving segment of the city's old aqueduct.

This is the Aqueduct of Valens, the Bozdoğan Kemeri, a.k.a, Valens Su Kemeri, in Turk. I'm not sure of the reason behind the dual naming. Maybe I should have asked someone at the rally/gathering I just walked through.

The aqueduct was an amazing bit of Roman engineering, done in the 300's A.D. The reference to "Valens" in the name is of the Roman Emperor in 373 A.D., when construction was completed.

Very little of the aqueduct remains, but the segment in this neighborhood looks much like it likely did more than a millennium and a half ago.

Once you pass under the arches of the aqueduct, you enter a real neighborhood, not the upscale tourist Istanbul.

It's just where you go to get what you're going to cook for dinner.

All the sights and smells you would expect. This is not the tourist-focused Grand Bazaar by any means.

And then I found the place where I made my appointment for my evening bath.

The Zeyrek Çinili Hamam. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it is large, ornate, aand somewhat traditional once you enter.

Photos are OK in the public area.

But beyond this point, no photos. For so many reasons.

By the time the scrubbing, washing and massaging of over-tired tourist body was complete, it was dark in Istanbul.

And in Fatih Memorial Park, the sultan was now on his horse, flying alone.