Ishak Pasa Palace

image via agt.si.edu

The east is calling me.

First Gobeklitepe, then Zeugma, and now Ishak Pasa Palace. This place looks liked it dropped right out of a fantasy novel. No?

Ishak Pasa Palace (circa 1685) seems a pretty nice pied-à-terre for Sybil (my MC), especially since the palace is gorgeous and waaaaay out in Doğubeyazıt. Few tourists find there way out there these days, but once upon a time, the palace was strategically situated on an important trade route. What do you know? Djinn love that abandoned palace thing.

image via wikipedia

I know Sybil would enjoy exploring the compound - because that's what the palace really is - a bunch of buildings connected with halls. There's a mosque in the middle and a harem. Plenty of little nooks and carved out niches to discover or hide in...

Outside there are jagged mountains, bare plains, a town: all the stuff I need for an interesting setting.

BUT I still have work to do on the first ms and a second ms I'm planning for NaNoWriMo is set up in the forests of Trabzon. Guess I'll just have to let this idea roll around and gather some cobwebs in my head. Maybe the next time I think of the palace, I'll know exactly how to use it.

Istanbul Tulip Festival



ibb.gov.tr

Many people know the root of the word "tulip" comes from the Turkish word "tülbend", meaning gauze. Well, "tül" means gauze. Tülbend has more to do with the shape of the gauze, because tülbend is derived from the Persian word for turban, "dulband". Anyhoo, bulbs were wrapped in Ottoman tülbend for shipment to Europe and the rest is history. 

 

In Turkey, the tulip is seen as a symbol of abundance (probably because Europeans paid a fortune for each bulb) and a signature of the Ottoman "Lale Devri" or Tulip Era. (More creative than "golden age", don't you think?)



This April was the sixth year Istanbul hosted the festival, and there were 11.5 million bulbs planted in various parks around the city. Every bulb was domestically grown in Çumra or another one of the small towns surrounding Konya out on the Anatolian plain. (Why get tulips from Holland, when they grow in the backyard practically by themselves, right? My only real question: why was this only the sixth festival?)

So if you've seen the Keukenhof , the Chelsea Flower Show and every other garden event you can think of, try Istanbul. This festival has music, ebru (marbled paper - very bookish) and all sorts of art, plus a spectacular setting. The official website is in Turkish, but check out the pdf brochure  in English for all the breathtaking details, especially if you love flowers. Sigh. Next year.... 

 

turkishclass.com - I think. It's all over the web without proper credit.
Thank you to the photographer, whoever you are! 



The Ottoman Tulip

Istanbul’s Tulip Festival

6th International Tulip Festival begins in Istanbul