Chora Museum

Glimpse of land walls from taxi

"Chora" means "in the country", and the Kariye Museum at Chora  is in fact a 12 - 15 TL taxi ride from the Eminou area.  Of course, Istanbul's urban sprawl now extends way past Chora,  which is just inside the Land Walls (as extended).   We sighted these when we made the trip out after our cruise on Thursday.

There is a good view back over the city area from the museum grounds.

The museum was previously the church of St Saviour which dates from the early 12th century (although it was sacked by the Fourth Crusade, and later restored and extended).   Its significance is that it contains numerous remarkably well-preserved Byzantium mosaics and frescoes, said to date from the 13th and 14th centuries.  They were covered with plaster while the building was used as a mosque from 1511, and restored between 1945 and 1958.

 

In fact, the number of frescoes and mosaics is almost over-whelming.  They include several series, such as the Cycle of Christ's Ministry, and the life story of Mary (to mention just two). I couldn't describe them all.   However, photography (without flash) is freely permitted, so here are some samples (although my photography doesn't really do justice to the scenes).

Christ holding the inscription "Come to me all you who are weary & burdened and I will give you rest"

Fresco of the "the Harrowing of Hell", with Christ raising Adam and Eve

EDIT:   I now understand that this depict- Christ's descent into Hades to (after His crucifixion and death on the cross) to bring the good news of the resurrection to Adam, Eve, and all those departed, imprisoned.  At the bottom you can see how the "gates of hell" have been shattered by Christ's overcoming of death.

One of the domes, depicting the Virgin and Child at the apex and figures from the genealogy in the fluting

Christ Pantocrator (inscription is "Land of the Living")

St Paul, holding Bible

St Sava Temple

Well, the concept of this enormous Church was put forward in 1895, 300 years after the burning of Saint Sava's remains by the Turks, but there have been a number of interruptions since then, including a few wars and the Tito era.     Construction commenced in 1935 and recommenced in earnest in 1985 and the exterior was finished in 2003. However the interior is still not complete, although  some shrines have now been established which means that it is one of the world's largest Orthodox Churches (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Orthodox_cathedrals).   
It's a basilica or temple, as it's not the seat of a bishop (required for a cathedral).

We went past on Saturday to pay our respects and to check progress, before having a light lunch at a restaurant in the Vračar area, in a pleasant courtyard covered by a 150+ year old plane tree (I'm still trying to track down some more details of the restaurant).

 

Restaurant in Vračar

Manastirska Slava Sv. muc. Justin Filosof; prep. Justin Celijski, kod Barajevo

We attended the Monastery's Slava (Saint's Day) at Barajevo, presided over by Bishop Artemije.   About 400 people were present.  We were greatly privileged to have an audience with His Grace Bishop Artemije.   The service was greatly enhanced by the choral contribution of the Monahinje.   The Slava banquet was most impressive.

Arrival of His Grace Bishop Artemije

Monahinje

His Grace Bishop Artemije

Sitting at Slava tables

Slava

Father Naum

Father Irinej

A day in Kraljevo

We had a very good day in Kraljevo on Tuesday.  This is a very pleasant town, about 40 minutes by bus from Vrnjačka Banja .   We refreshed ourselves with coffee and palacinke in one of the floating restaurants after our bus trip, noted very impressive main "square" (which is round) with its big statue and visited the Church of Holy Trinity.  But the highlights were Master-Vasa's Lodging (see earlier post) and the National Museum.

We were provided with a guide at the Museum.  I normally prefer to self-guide, but on this occasion it really added to the experience.     The Museum concentrates on matters relevant to the Kraljevo area.   It has a number of truly excellent displays on the many events that have occurred here over the centuries.  This included aspects of great interest to Sue, in relation to which it can be said that the Museum (like the fresco) acknowledges a slightly more rounded view of history than perhaps would have been the case in an earlier era.

A special area of research at the Museum is the Nazi massacre of 1941, when 100 civilians were shot in retaliation for every German death, and 50 for every injury.   The result is a very moving display.

Orthodox Spiritual Centre "Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic"

We were in Kraljevo today (Tuesday) and visited Master-Vasa's Lodging (dating from 1831).  Today, it's the Orthodox Spiritual Centre "Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic".  There is an impressive fresco which includes Saint Nikolaj, Saint Justin and we also noticed with interest that General Draza Mihailovic was depicted to the left of these figures.

We were privileged to have a tour of this Centre.   Other details about our excursion to follow!

Барајевo

We visited the манастир Преподобног Јустина Ћелијског at Barajevo for the Saturday morning liturgy.  The area is very beautiful and peaceful.  We were made very welcome indeed, and were especially happy to catch up with Father Naum (who we had met in Australia at the St Sava festival in Canberra last January).

 

 

Konak under construction

Thoughts on Sarajevo

Given its recent history, I was surprised at the vibrancy of Sarajevo (even though I had read that this was so).   The various cultures seem to co-exist, but who am I, as a short-term visitor, to comment on this?  The place most definitely is on the tourist circuit, which I expect contributes to the atmosphere.

Main mosque

One end of the main part of the city centre seems to be more Turkish in feel, with fewer restaurants selling alcohol (but certainly some do) and more small shops, whereas at the other end, every cafe has alcohol and the shops are more western in layout.

Grilled food is readily available at reasonable prices.  There are other restaurants, such as those in the hotels and the odd one or two (but not a lot) serving things such as pasta and Mexican food.   But as with Banja Luka, I haven't sighted  any Chinese, Thai or Indian restaurants.   Perhaps they're here, but if so, they're not very visible.

A section of the tram line is being reconstructed, so there are substitute buses - and quite a lot of traffic congestion as a result (not apparent from the photo, though).  There are numerous taxis, and although they're not expensive by world standards, they're not the great bargain that the information put out by the tourist office suggests!

Sebilj Fountain

I was apprehensive as to the quality of hotels, based on previous trips and some comments on the internet, and so went for top-of-the-range both in Banja Luka and here.   However, it's pretty clear that there are a number of new hotels in the next tier down in both cities,  which with the benefit of hindsight would have been perfectly adequate.
There a 2 long distance bus stations, and we will have to head a little way out of town to the Eastern bus station to catch the bus back to Belgrade

Sarajevo

There's so much to report about Sarajevo, so the question is, where to start?

The answer to this is obvious:    beer prices.  The price of beer in Bosnia is a bit of a mystery to me.  At Banja Luka, I'm certain that the price of the 0.5 litre bottle in two separate restaurants was cheaper than the 0.33 l bottle, for seemingly the same beer.  And here in Sarajevo, the price of the 0.5 l and 0.33 l bottles was definitely the same at the cafe at which I had lunch.    At 2 Bosnian marks (about 1 euro) it's a pretty good buy in either size!    I'm not sure if the same holds true of the price on the train, though.  The guy who came through with his garden-barrow type wheelie trolley selling drinks to a captive market charged me 3.5 marks, and it wasn't even really cold.   But as Sue says, you always pay for room service, even if it is in a 30+ year old railway carriage.

Now, where were we?    The hotel at Sarajevo is apparently one of the best in town, at least from the price they're charging and the presence of a range of business types at breakfast.   The room is Viennese style - heavy on little lights hanging off the walls, dark stained furniture, etc.   But I think the Viennese even in their heyday would have had more functional bath fittings.  The fancy controls for the shower require the tap to be twisted outwards in order to turn the water on.  There are illustrated instructions about how to manage this, but even so it took me about 5 minutes to cotton on.

Latin Bridge

And I may have mentioned how the double-glazed windows keep out the calls to prayer.    Late in the evening, we realised this wasn't the only reason for the double glazing.   Sarajevians are given to late-night partying in the old town, including in the street over the road from our hotel!  But the double glazing was effective, especially as we were pretty tired after the train trip.

Detail from Despica's house

Courtyard of old Orthodox Church

Sarajevo promotes itself as a place where Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, Jews and Roma all mix, and certainly the street scene is very varied.  In addition to the locals, there are obviously lots of tourists.    And there are lots of things to see.   Obviously the first site we visited was the Latin Bridge (where  Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated), followed by Makso Despica's House (the house of a Serbian merchant in the 19th century which has been retained as a museum in near-intact condition).   In the course of the afternoon we found (amongst other things) the Old Serbian Orthodox Church of St Michael The Archangel (dating back to the middle ages), the main Mosque, the Synod Orthodox Church, the obligatory open air chess game, the Catholic cathedral and the Synagogue (the latter two not being open).   Just as importantly, Sue spent some time on retail therapy.  My comments that she should leave some capacity so as to be able to shop in Istanbul were met with a response along the lines that there is always capacity to shop!

Orthodox cathedral

We plan to head to Mostar for the day tomorrow, so could be a long day.

To Sarajevo

It was (Orthodox) Pentecost Sunday, so before leaving Banja Luka, we attended the service at the Christ the Saviour cathedral in Banja Luku (Sue for most of the service, me for only part of it).  This site has a lot of history, but suffice to say that the rebuilt cathedral is a beautiful building, the service was impressive (particularly the choir) and it was well attended.
 







We then headed to the Banja Luka station hoping that our understanding that there would be a train to Sarajevo at 1.15 was correct (but in the knowledge that the bus station was next to the train station, and there was supposed to be a bus at 2.30).   As it happened, though, a train was due at 1.15, so after a fairly tedious non-computerised booking process, we were duly issued with our tickets.    The clerk mentioned that, if there was room, we could sit in 1st class.  On closer examination, it appears that she had decided that we ought to travel (and pay for) 1st class, which was probably a good idea but it might have been nice to have been consulted!

River scene from train

The train trip was scheduled to take 5 hours, but there was a holdup just over an hour before we were due at Sarajevo and we were over 40 minutes late getting into Sarajevo.   I found the trip itself interesting.  It mostly follows river valleys, up the Vrbas valley from Banja Luka, then across to Doboj where the line picks up the Bosna valley and joins the line from Vinkovci on the Belgrade to Zagreb line.   It then follow the Bosna river all the way up to Sarajevo.   For quite extended times, the line is close to the river and there are often high hills nearby, and of course the country is mostly rural (just a few power stations, quarries and wood mills to vary the scene!)  Hence, the trip is quite scenic.   The train itself generally moves along at a reasonable pace, but there are stations to stop at and a few works slowings, so the distance seems longer than the nearly 300 km (very approximate) that I calculate we travelled.   The whole line is electrified, and although it appears under-utilised, judging from the numerous coal wagons around, it seems that coal (for power stations) is possibly a major source of traffic.

Rural scene from train

We're at the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo - seemingly one of the more expensive hotels in town, but very well located.    Our brief walk around the old town this evening confirms that Sarajevo is a pretty vibrant place, with plenty of eating and drinking places.  If we keep the window shut, the calls to prayer aren't too intrusive.  More details about all these matters in a future post.

Dinner at restoran Zavicaj

St Sava

We had dinner last night at one of the Serbian restaurants in Rue du Simplon (in the 18th).    We were warmly welcomed at the Zavicaj - the proprietor has a close relative who lives in Camberwell!   We had a choice from quite a comprehensive range of traditional dishes.  Sue's vegeta-free chicken was good, and the cherry pita was delicious.  But we were reminded that Serbian cooking is often characterised by added MSG, which calls for careful discussion regarding any menu!


Also in the street are 3 other Serbian eating venues, although these were all a little more casual.  There's also a church (St Sava), and a Serbian delicatessen.   The latter has down-sized since we were last there.   The prominent corner site that it previously occupied is now an "artisan boullangerie".  Such is gentrification!


Our attempts earlier in the day to tour the Opéra Garnier were frustrated again.  This time it was closed, apparently because it was rented out (for a rehearsal for a forthcomng wedding, we think!).    So we trudged up the steps to Sacré Coeur.  I think they've increased the number of steps since we last did this!    The warm weather (in contrast to Melbourne's, we note) was also a factor.    I can't see there being any "next time", but if this did come about, the funicular would beckon, in spite of the queue and even though it doesn't cover the whole distance.
 

Slava

We went to Nata's Slava (St George's day) on Sunday. As usual Nata had excelled herself in preparing the food, and no detail was overlooked. It was good to catch up with family and friends!

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Христос васкрсе! Ваистину васкрсе!

Yesterday was Serbian Orthodox Easter.  We had a wonderful lunch at N's place.  We ate too much, but it was all good!