TALL BATH STREET
Just off the Yerebatan Caddesi, looking up at the side of Coğlaloğlu Hamam. This exact view still exists 21 years later.
AYAMIKE
Ayasofya jut down the hill from Kybele – 2 July 2000 c2PM — Mike & his tassels (some of them)—— Came back up the street after drawing Hagia Sophia to find Mike sitting on the steps at Kybele. After I drew him I marked the exact time to remember it forever. A few of us went up to his Museum, full of tribal art, where I drew the tassels – some of them.
POLIS YAKUP
“Am I handsome?” “Oh, yes.” — The yellow flower he gave me—— Yakup was indeed very handsome in his uniform of the Tourist Polis, who have helped me on more than one occasion.
SURPRISE KITTEN
“Surprise! Here I am!” — Şukru – Sultan Pub — 3 July A day beyond sadness. — Boy, am I sick of THIS — “Little Tiger” “Rumi” A little orange kitty like a baby version of my lost Coyote- Break my heart- Already broken—— Things were not working out.
HAMAM AT EMPRESS ZOE
The view of Empress Zoe & old hamam from Karasu Green Hotel — 3-4 July 2000 — Sultanahmet—— The centuries-old hamam at the wonderful Empress Zoe Hotel. Both are still there.
MR PUDDING SHOP
Namik “Mr Pudding Shop” —–The Pudding Shop is still serving excellent meals all these years after its glory days as the start of the Hippie Trail. Namik is the brother of the late loved founder.
AND THE BOY
Tavukhane Sokak – Murat Oto Yıkama — Kadir – Mert — 4th of July 2000 — Auto mats drying on a crumbling cemetery wall below the Blue Mosque — Sultanahmet — “Yes, we are Kurdish peoples”—— I loved this remnant of the old Byzantine Palace structure, part of a cemetery, according to auto mechanic Kadir and his son Mert. This was at the end of the Arasta Bazaar and has been obliterated by a small plain mosque.
SWISS HOTEL
5 July 10:43 AM — Coffee at the fabulous Swiss Hotel overlooking the Bosphorus. For amusement I imagine the shapes of all the sails ever to cross this horizon—–
MAÇKA PARK
A properly manicured wood & garden leading from the Swiss hotel to the Dolmabahçe Palace. I’m on my way—— That garden is, of course, Maçka Park.
HASAN & FRIEND
“Hasan’s story is very interesting… he threw a knife & hit his father’s second wife… not his mother… and his father say ‘Go out from the house,’ so he go…” a friend of Hasan’s told me — I have a soft spot for street shoeshine boys because of Nizam, who was one —
Hasan & Ibrahim — Hasan was wearing a fez & sporting a shoeshine rig. He ran up to me in the street tonight, took me to a cafe, & bought me a chai. A man at eleven—— A business owner on the Hippodrome adopted Hasan, but I am sorry to say that he ran away again. If he survived his childhood he’s in his thirties now, and I hope he’s well.
Continued in Book 7: ASHES OF ROSES