Meeting new friends and more

I took a tumble near the Blue Mosque off one of those 1" curbs we from the US are not used to so spent much of yesterday icing my wounds. 

However I was up for a 4 pm meeting.  Get this,   A Couchsurfing friend in Iceland has friends from Finland who are now living in Istanbul and we arranged to meet.  Tua is a nurse and Torsten is a Lutheran minister.  Both are studying Turkish intensively to be part of a Lutheran church here in Istanbul.   We had great and wide ranging conversation over cakes and tea.   They invited us to their church this morning and we eagerly accepted.

Getting there  was an adventure.  We took the familiar tram across the Bosphorus and then had to find the hidden Tunel - an enclosed Tram/furnicular that saves you from climbing a steep hill.  We succeeded.

 

 

 

This brought us to Istiklal Street which is a mile of stores of mostly recognizable brands. It is broad and has been turned into a pedestrian street with the "Nostalgic tram " running the mile length of it from Tunel to Taksim Square.

 

 

We were early so we chose to walk the 1/3 mile to the Lutheran Church which uses the building of Saint Mary Armenian Catholic Church .  This Lutheran Church began in 2004 founded by Finish priest.  The congregation is a mixture of Finnish and Turkish.  

 

,

This is the unassuming entrance

The interior - in a city of magnificent mosques and churches built often to honor a secular hero,  I think Jesus would smile at the simplicity of this simple church and the small congregation that struggles to create community beyond boarders.

Norbert, Tua, Janis , Torsten

 

This was an interesting morning with the Finns speaking both English and Finnish and the Turks in the congregation speaking mostly only Turkish and we lone English speakers.   The service was in Turkish, while the Finns were in a section together with a translator repeating the sermon to them.  Tua occasionally gave us the gist of what was being said. 

 

Everyone was very friendly.  It reminded me a bit of the situation at the Mosque in Boston where Muslims from many countries come together for worship but the Mosque is home to many languages and cultures.  I appreciated more the challenge of that.

 

After church we continued our walk down Istiklal Street  toward Taksim Square. 

 

The street before we left was a sea of people and filling more and more.

 

 

We passed many street performers. These kids playing accordians were really good!

 

 

 

Along the way we passed the Russian  and  Swedish Consulates and 2 interesting churches which came as a surprise after the several magnificent Mosques in Sultanahmet (the old section where we are staying.)

 

St Mary Draperis

 

 

and

 

St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church

 

 

There seemed to be a strong connection with Pope John XXIII

here with a large statue and display about him

 

It is a large complex.

 

When we almost reached Taksim Square we could see that there was a large peaceful demonstration in progress.  We decided to turn back and not enter that area.

 

Back down through Tunel

 

 

One of the Features of Istanbul are the stray cats.  They are mostly friendly, not feral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow morning a final breakfast at our hotel and then our flight to Konya, home of Rumi  and what is often called the spiritual center of Turkey.