cidade dos sonhos (a porta da felicidade)

aqui um pouco de An Ottoman Traveller, ou o livro das viagens de Evliya Çelebi, todo em .pdf aqui mas que vale a pena ter na mesa de cabeceira. viagens no império otomano de mil e seiscentos e quarenta.

First, King (—) built the fortress of Constantinople after the time of Alexander

the Great. The area of Galata was a meadow of pleasant air and a rich pasture

where shepherds tended their sheep and cows, always milking them and bringing

the milk to the king. Since delicious milk came from this fertile pasture, it was

named Galata – galata being the Greek word for milk. Later, in order to quarter

the shepherds, a fortress-like shelter was built near the present-day Kurşumlu

Mahzen (‘Lead-Covered Magazine’). And so Galata became more and more built

up, until the reign of (—).

{It is north of Istanbul, and a mile-wide strait separates them. It is eighteen

miles long, reaching Kağıthane at its western extremity. One crosses from Stanbul

to Galata by caique, ferry, or barge. In the era of the infidels there was a

bridge of chains.}

[…]

Circumference of the walled town of Galata. Its circuit is 10,060 paces. In the

year (—) (1634), when Sultan Murad IV went on his expedition to Revan, his

lieutenant Bayram Pasha repaired and whitewashed the walls of Galata and measured

them with an architect’s cubit. The circuit, together with all the towers and

ramparts, was calculated to be 18,000 cubits. There are 205 towers and 13,000

crenellations. The height of the walls is forty royal cubits. Some of the towers are

eighty royal cubits in height.

But Galata Tower, built by Mehmed the Conqueror, is 118 cubits high, and

its sky-scraping summit is covered with lead. From nowhere can one see the entire

circuit of the walls of Istanbul, and its triangular shape, except from Galata

Tower. In clear weather, the Mountain of Monks (Cebel-i Ruhban, today Uludağ)

which looms over Bursa is visible, and even the buildings of Bursa can be

seen through a spyglass. {This tower, cylindrical in shape, is visible from three

parasangs’ distance.} The tower interior was a dungeon in ten layers; it is now a

storage for Ottoman naval equipment. It has a single iron gate that opens to the
south and is reached by a stone staircase of (—) steps. This humble one used to
fly paper from there (i.e., from the top of the tower). One time I strung a rope to
get a tightrope walker’s view of Istanbul.
On the land side of Galata Tower is a deep moat, extending from Meyyit Gate
to Tophane Gate. I have seen thousands of fortresses but never a moat like this;
only that of Akkerman, where the Dniester flows into the Black Sea, might match
it. There are always sailors in this trench twisting ship cables, marlines, and life
ropes. It is broad and deep, and all along its edge are graveyards and cemeteries.
{But there is no moat on the sea side, which is entirely covered with markets.}
[…]
This city has eighteen Muslim quarters, seventy quarters of Greek infidels,
three of cranky Franks, one of Jews, and two of Armenians. No infidels reside in
the first castle, and none at all in the second castle as far as the Arab mosque – the
inhabitants of the quarter possess a noble rescript from Mehmed the Conqueror
according to which no infidel is allowed in, and if they see an armed Christian
they give no quarter and kill him immediately. The majority of these inhabitants
are grief-stricken Mudejars who came from Spain, driven out by the infidels, in
the time of Sultan Ahmed. If they see an armed infidel in Galata, they kill him
right away.

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mergulhos no tempo.
(quantas vezes me vou deparar com o desde que não seja um árabe da gaiola dourada? ah, tantas)




histórias que se repetem. (The most beautiful view in the world, is from the top of the tower of Galata.)