A scenic view of the Anatolian side of the city from across the water:
Formerly Ottoman Palaces, these amazing structures are now upscale hotels:
When it began to get dark we hung out at this nice riverside park. I picked up a few postcards at a nearby gift shop:
We ended the night with tea with more new friends, Nil and Tuba (who took the picture):
From August 5-19, 2011, I spent two amazing weeks sightseeing and studying in Turkey. This series of blog posts will hope to share some highlights of this incredible trip.
I arrived at Istanbul Atatürk Airport around noon on Friday. I had to buy a new cell phone after discovering that mine did not work in Turkey, and then spent almost an hour trying to connect to the wireless network in the airport before reaching my friend, Murat. He gave me instructions for how to get to Taksim on the Havas shuttle, and we met at an outdoor cafe, where he had tea and I had a beer (Efes, one of the national brews).
This is the music store where Murat teaches guitar. We went inside and I met the owner–an extremely nice guy.
Turkish coffee with new friends at an outdoor cafe.
The restaurant where Murat and I ate dinner the first night.
This soup is made with lentils. Very nice.
Meatballs with sliced tomatoes. Delicious!
And of course, tea after dinner.
Solid, granitic, and sardonic music inspired by the Early Modernists.
A dozen short pieces drawing on a variety of influences and techniques, evoking a wide range of expressive characters – from the silly and ironic to the tender and heartfelt.
Sinuous, expressive melodic writing, pungent harmonies built from perfect fourths and tritones, and a recurring ritual-like rhythmic ostinato.
An ancient story of gender, civil disobedience, and family ties.
The ticket counter in the Budapest-Keleti train station:
The food on the train from Budapest to Vienna. It was pretty great, but we won’t talk about what it cost…
The street leading to the apartment where Mozart composed “The Marriage of Figaro” and some of Mozart’s letters, from inside the museum:
A view from outside the window and the first page of Mozart’s manuscript of “Don Giovanni”:
The original title page from “Don Giovanni,” the first page of the manuscript of the “Dies Irae: from Mozart’s Requiem, and Mozart’s death mask (possibly). Photos inside are not allowed, so I had to be discreet:
Some lunch and a few sights around the city:
The Beethoven Pasqualati House in Vienna. I arrived too late to see the inside, but I got to take some pictures of the exterior. I don’t know why there is so much graffiti:
Meat and potatoes at Chagall Cafe. Not exactly sure what kind of meat it was:
After lunch I had time for a guided tour of the city. Our first stop was the Synagogue. Hungary had one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe before World War II, and the Synagogue in Budapest is one of the largest in the world:
Our next stop was St. Stephen’s Bisilica. We had a half hour to get out and walk around:
“The second biggest circus in Budapest.” (The biggest, according to our witty tour guide, is Parliament.)
In and around Millennium Square, also known as the Heroes’ Square:
The Castle on the Buda side. A bit touristy now, but an architectural gem with a great view of the River and the Pest side:
The Hungarian Parliament, as seen from the Castle:
After Serbia I continued on to Budapest for a few days. My first stop was the home of composer Béla Bartók:
The home is now a beautiful museum inside, carefully restored with the composer’s personal effects, including his piano and phonograph:
The attic contains more items (including some preserved insects):
The tour wrapped up with a manuscript of the Third Piano Concerto, the concert hall on the second floor, and a relief map of the places Bartók collected folk songs:
A monument to the composer in the garden:
Ezra Donner 