Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
16
he Seventh Hill
The first six hills of the city march in an almost straight line along the
Stamboul shore of the Golden Horn. The Seventh Hill stands by itself
towards the Marmara shore, covering most of the south-western part
of Stamboul. Its highest point is at the Gate of Romanus (Topkapı),
whence it slopes down to the north towards the valley of the Lycus,
which divides it from the Sixth, Fifth and Fourth Hills, while to the
south it approaches the sea, leaving sometimes a wide, sometimes a
narrow plain along the shore. Our present tour will take us along
the Marmara slopes of the Seventh Hill, through one of the most
pleasant and picturesque parts of the city. This region, like the slopes
of the Fifth and Sixth Hills above the Golden Horn, preserves much
of the flavour of Ottoman Stamboul, with its winding cobbled streets
lined with old wooden houses, its vine-covered teahouses sitting
under venerable plane-trees, and its ancient mosque courtyards still
serving as communal centres as they did in centuries past. This lovely
old district is one of the most enchanting quarters of Stamboul, and
nowhere else in the city can one enjoy more pleasurable strolls than
there.
AKSARAY AND VALİDE SULTAN CAMİİ
We will start our tour at the crossroads in Aksaray, the second of
the two great squares in modern Stamboul. Like Beyazit Square,
Aksaray occupies approximately the site of an ancient Roman forum,
in this case the Forum Bovis. At the Forum Bovis the Mese once
again divided into two branches, one leading of to the north-west
along the route of the modern Millet Caddesi, the other south-west
following approximately the course of Cerrah Paşa Caddesi. Up until
a few years ago Aksaray was a lively, bustling crossroads and market
square, but now it has been utterly destroyed by a massive clover-
leaf intersection. We will begin our stroll at this point, where stand
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