Heybeliada

Yesterday I went to one of the Princes' Islands, Heybeliada, with a group of women from the women's organization IWI - International Women of Istanbul. There are four visitable islands located in the Marmara sea, about a 1 - 1.5 hour ferry ride from Istanbul. Heybeliada used to be populated by Greeks, but that has changed and I think now it is mostly Turkish people who have a summer house there. The houses there are to drool for, old and wooden with lovely carved features. Another lovely change from Istanbul is that there are no cars there, only some municipal vehicles, so it was nice and peaceful. Visitors often travel by horse and cart, an expensive and I think slightly cruel way to travel, but also kind of an experience. This island is known for the Haghia Triada Monastery, a Greek Orthodox school of theology, but it was closed down in the 1970s by the government. This has added to the tensions between Turkey and Greece, as well as Turkey's chances to enter the EU.

The monastery is difficult to visit but fortunately the lady leading the group was a Greek Orthodox and had some connections. It was built upon Byzantine ruins I think in the late 1800s, and it was a pretty prestigious place for people who want to be a Somebody in the priest world. People came from Australia, the US, and other parts of Europe. Though the school was closed over 30 years ago, it looks like the it's ready to open any day. The desks are organized, a person is cleaning the classrooms, and there are even ping pong tables in the hall still. The monastery is on top of a hill so there were spectacular views. Most of our time was spent at the monastery, then an overpriced lunch (with fish, I was the only person who had to eat the kofte) with bugs crawling from the bread and I was pretty queasy all last night.

After lunch we had a little bit of time to walk around before taking the ferry back, so I snapped some pictures of the wooden houses, but I'll post those later because I have many other photos to put up now.



View of the Hagia Sofia and Topkapi Palace while leaving the ferry.



Looking up the Bosphorus, at the first bridge



A view of one of the islands - the ferry stops at 2 others before Heybeliada.



A ride up the hill to the monastery. Visitors can rent bikes to travel around the island.



Outside of the monastery. There were really lovely gardens there. It was also a beautiful, gorgeous day.



Entrance to the monastery



School time! We were listened to a priest who gave us a nice tour. While it isn't a school anymore, it's still one of the best places to go for research, apparently. We went into the library and there were tons and tons of books as well as magazines.



Staircase in entrance hall.



Ping pong tables



A pretty remarkable church in the monastery. There were a lot of decorations. I hadn't seen Jesus in a long time, you don't see him much around Istanbul!



View from the hill where the monastery and church is. That's the Asian side of Istanbul off in the distance, it's actually not that far away at all.



That's the biggest island, Buyukada. I hope to visit there next week.