Sedona Istanbul is a concept road bike produced by Turkish bicycle manufacturer Sedona. Artworks on the frame are drawn by Aydan Çelik, a friend of mine.

The artworks on the frame are some historical and cultural details of Istanbul: buildings, boats, bridges, etc.

Aydan Çelik with Sedona Istanbul
Aydan Çelik with Sedona Istanbul. Photo: Hüseyin Öngen
Sedona Istanbul. Artworks drawn by Aydan Çelik.
Sedona Istanbul. Artworks drawn by Aydan Çelik.

Cultural and historic items on the frameset of Sedona Istanbul

Maiden’s Tower

Sedona Istanbul - Maiden's tower
Maiden’s tower is drawn on the seat stays of the bike.

The Maiden’s Tower (Turkish: Kız Kulesi), also known as Leander’s Tower (Tower of Leandros) since the medieval Byzantine period, is a tower lying on a small islet located at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait 200 meters (656 feet) from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey.

There are many legends about the construction of the tower and its location. According to the most popular Turkish legend, a sultan had a much beloved daughter. One day, an oracle prophesied that she would be killed by a venomous snake on her 18th birthday. The sultan, in an effort to thwart his daughter’s early demise by placing her away from land so as to keep her away from any snakes, had the tower built in the middle of the Bosphorus to protect his daughter until her 18th birthday. The princess was placed in the tower, where she was frequently visited only by her father.

On the 18th birthday of the princess, the sultan brought her a basket of exotic sumptuous fruits as a birthday gift, delighted that he was able to prevent the prophecy. Upon reaching into the basket, however, an asp that had been hiding among the fruit bit the young princess and she died in her father’s arms, just as the oracle had predicted. Hence the name Maiden’s Tower.

Maiden's Tower
Maiden’s Tower

Rumelian Castle

Sedona Istanbul, Rumeli Castle
Rumelian Castle
Sedona Istanbul, Rumeli Castle
Rumelian Castle, drawn on the head tube.

Rumelihisarı (Rumelian Castle) is a fortress located in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul, Turkey, on a hill at the European side of the Bosphorus. It gives the name of the quarter around it. It was built by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II between 1451 and 1452, before he conquered Constantinople. (wiki)

Rumelian Castle
Rumelian Castle

Galata Tower

Sedona Istanbul, Galata Tower
Galata Tower, drawn on the seat tube. You can also see Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi with a bicycle.

The Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi in Turkish) — called Christea Turris (the Tower of Christ in Latin) by the Genoese — is a medieval stone tower in the Galata/Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, just to the north of the Golden Horn. One of the city’s most striking landmarks, it is a high, cone-capped cylinder that dominates the skyline and offers a panoramic vista of Old Istanbul and its environs.

Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi was a legendary Ottoman aviator of 17th-century Constantinople (present day Istanbul), purported in the writings of Evliya Çelebi to have achieved sustained unpowered flight. The 17th century writings of Evliyâ Çelebi relate this story of Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi, circa 1630-1632:

“First he practiced by flying over the pulpit of Okmeydani eight or nine times with eagle wings, using the force of the wind. Then, as Sultan Murad Khan (Murad IV) was watching from the Sinan Pasha mansion at Sarayburnu, he flew from the very top of the Galata Tower and landed in the Doğancılar square in Üsküdar, with the help of the south-west wind. Then Murad Khan granted him a sack of golden coins and said: ‘This is a scary man. He is capable of doing anything he wishes. It is not right to keep such people,’ and thus sent him to Algeria on exile. He died there”.

It is known that Evliyâ Çelebi was exaggerating the stories. Probably Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi couldn’t fly to Uskudar (impossible even with the modern paraglides today).

Galata Tower
Galata Tower

Obelisk of Theodosius

Sedona Istanbul, Obelisk of Theodosius
Obelisk of Theodosius. Drawn on the fork.

The Obelisk of Theodosius (Turkish: Dikilitaş) is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople (known today as At Meydanı or Sultanahmet Meydanı, in the modern city of Istanbul, Turkey) by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD.

Obelisk of Theodosius
Obelisk of Theodosius

Bosphorus Bridge

Sedona Istanbul, Bosphorus Bridge
Bosphorus Bridge, drawn on the stem

The Bosphorus Bridge also called the First Bosphorus Bridge (Turkish: Boğaziçi Köprüsü or 1. Boğaziçi Köprüsü) is one of the two bridges in Istanbul, Turkey, spanning the Bosphorus strait (Turkish: Boğaziçi) and thus connecting Europe and Asia (the other one is the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, which is called the Second Bosphorus Bridge.)

Bosphorus Bridge
Bosphorus Bridge from Ortaköy

Ahırkapı Lighthouse

Sedona Istanbul, Ahirkapi Lighthouse
Ahirkapi Lighthouse, drawn on the seatpost.

The Ahırkapı Lighthouse (Ahırkapı Feneri), a historical lighthouse still in use, is located at the southern Seraglio Point on the Rumelian coast of Bosporus’ south entrance, in Ahırkapı neighborhood of Istanbul’s Fatih district, Turkey. It is across from the Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri, which is on the Anatolian coast of the strait at a distance of 1.5 nmi (2.8 km). A line connecting the two lighthouses marks the southern boundary of the Port of Istanbul. (wiki)

Ahirkapi Lighthouse
Ahirkapı Lighthouse

Vapur

Sedona Istanbul, Vapur
Vapur, drawn on the down tube.

“Vapur” is the word for “ferry” in Turkish language. “Vapur” is one of the symbols of Istanbul.

Vapur
Vapur

Nostalgic Tram

Sedona Istanbul, Nostalgic Tram
Nostalgic Tram, drawn on the top tube.

Nostalgic Tram of Istanbul works between Taksim and Tunel.

Nostalgic Tram
Nostalgic Tram
M. Özgür Nevres

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