Month: September 2014

Piyale Paşa Mosque

 

Piyale Paşa Camii six-dome interior

This is the interior of the six-domed Piyale Paşa Camii, designed by master Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, and constructed from 1565-1573 (although there has been some restoration since). The multiple-dome layout is unusual for a mosque, as they most commonly have a single, large central dome. This mosque has a nice courtyard, affording a little green space to the ultra-urban Istanbul landscape, as well as extensive vegetable gardens next to the mosque complex (which look like what we call community gardens, but I have no idea how this works in Istanbul). An exterior shot and more information can be found here.

Dogs

 

dog with ear tag

There are plenty of dogs in Istanbul (cats, too, but that’ll wait for another entry). The dogs that I have seen on the streets are not what might be called feral, they are more socialized. They don’t roam in packs. I imagine there are feral dogs in the city, but it seems that the dogs I’ve seen are at least tolerated, and in some cases fed. It is more like they are neighborhood dogs, mostly lounging about. Istanbul has had a dog ‘situation’ since Ottoman times. This dog has been tagged. This indicates that the dog has been captured, vaccinated, spayed or neutered, then released again. You can read more about Istanbul’s dogs here. (Just for the record, the only dachshund I’ve seen was on a leash).