The “Blue Hour” at Ortaköy Camii
We traveled by ferry to Beşiktas, today, then took a long walk to Ortaköy Mosque, which is located right at the foot of the Bosphorous Bridge, specifically to photograph the “camii” (in Turkish) as the sun set.
When we arrived at Beşiktaş, we tried to find the bus to take us to Ortaköy. However, we failed to find the bus stop, so opted to walk the couple of miles. Turned out that was a fortunate move. While walking, we passed the same bus number we had been looking for three times. The roads were so clogged that we arrived in Ortaköy before any of those three buses did…
Ortaköy is a picturesque village right on on the Boshorous strait known for its colorful nightlife scene and its mosque. The mosque is quite a gem; small yet beautiful and tranquil (upper row). People come to the restaurants (lower row) for their kumpir (potato skins filled with your choice of goodies), fresh seafood and waffles. While waiting for the sun to set, a strange-looking boat arrived (middle left) and began scooping up garbage from the harbor. We had seen a couple of these boats before, but this was the first time we saw them in action (also see video clip at end of this blog post).
As always, watching people is a favorite activity for us. The imam praying (upper left) is probably the same person doing the 5-times per day call to prayer over the mosque loudspeakers. A wedding couple came for their photo shoot a little before sundown (upper right), and other people were feeding the pigeons on the square. Once the sun had set, we saw a young girl holding a paper “wish lanterns“, ready to launch it.
Here is a 47 second video showing the garbage boat in action, with the claws grabbing the trash on the surface of the water, then a conveyor belt pulling it out. The Bosphorus Strait was generally considered a polluted garbage dump in the 2000’s. In 2009, Istanbul put 12 of these on full-time duty. You would never know today that garbage was once a problem. These boats have been extremely effective.