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Istanbul, one of the latest vacation hotspots, is an
enticing marriage of Western and Eastern
Europe--perfect for the traveler looking to get
away. My recent trip was an overwhelming blend of
divisions, not between the two continents that share
Istanbul, but between cultures and eras. This was a
striking discovery voyage, having taken advantage of
my location in Paris to hop around Europe.
Day one of our stay was Bebek, assimilating that of
a western country. Similar to Seattle’s sixth
avenue, Istanbul’s impeccably clean waterfront
neighborhood was filled with cafes and SUVs on the
shores of the Bosporus. This neighborhood is one of
the wealthier areas and more attuned to the luxury
image Istanbul is beginning to project. Just north
lies Levant, a financial district which is home to
one of the world’s newest and architecturally
stunning buildings, Kanyon mall. Trendy clubs and
restaurants also fill the streets. It is places like
this that led International Herald Tribune editors
to choose the site for its annual Luxury Conference
in 2006.
Our trip continued the next day with a trip to the
Grand Bazaar. For anyone who has never been to a
loud, stuffy, bartering-type market, this is an
experience that must be lived. The closest thing I
have experienced was perhaps San Francisco’s
Chinatown or Paris’s Latin Quarter. The pressure is
on to buy and, like the nearby Spice Market, the
vendors are there to meet your every desire or as
one told me, “help you spend your money.” A descent
into the basement of one store felt like any woman’s
dream scene. Completely dark when I entered, the
owner hit the switches one by one, revealing rows
and rows of colorful embroidered and beaded dresses,
skirts, shirts--you name it. Of course the idea is
to negotiate as much as possible, never paying more
than two thirds the stated price. I, admittedly,
caved in at one or two shops but walked away content
that my spree cost a fraction of what it would have
anywhere else.
The afternoon was spent on an organized bus tour to
the rococo style Dolmabahçe Palace, dolmabahçe
meaning ‘filled in land’ as it was constructed on a
landfill built on the Marmara Sea. This palace,
built in the 19th century over a span of
12 years, served the last six sultans and is a
definition of extravagance, rivaling Versailles.
Like many other palaces, there was red velvet
covering everything, heavy silk drapes and elaborate
chandeliers throughout. This location boasts and is
famous for its dramatic crystal staircase that is
lined with railing supports made of Baccarat
crystal. The grand finale occurs in the Grand
Assembly room, used to host notable guests. In this
room a 6-ton Swarovski chandelier, a gift from Queen
Victoria, hangs from the ceiling capturing every
angle of light imaginable. Even outside the palace
there is a welcoming entrance with a sculpted swan
fountain and a small park looking across the Marmara
to Asia.
Palace Gate View on
Marmara
The rest of our visit was an equally mesmerizing
mixture of the old and the new. The next day we
began with a visit to the Hagia Sophia, originally
built in the sixth century over the site of a fourth
c. church that burned down. The Hagia Sophia was
originally constructed in the Byzantine era as a
Christian church, but, in line with the rest of the
city, the structure became a mix of two
contradictory cultures and was turned into a mosque
in the 15th century. Minarets were added
to the domed exterior and mosaics dot the walls,
already boasting images of Jesus. Inside, the cold,
stony walls remind you that you are in one of the
world’s oldest structures, an impressive symbol and
reminder of the Ottoman Republic. You are welcome to
climb to the second level and peer over the sweeping
floor at the mihrab, the niche used to indicate the
direction of Mecca and the minbar, used for
sermons.
Just across Sultanahmet Square lies the city’s other
celebrated mosque, the Blue Mosque, so aptly named
for the blue Iznik tiles that line a majority of the
interior. A visit to the courtyard is a mesmerizing
mix of carefully arranged domes and apses. It is
inside that the splendor is gloriously revealed. At
the entrance you are asked to remove your shoes and
women must sport a head wrap. Once the covering
ritual is completed, you are invited inside and are
suddenly overwhelmed with dozens of different
patterns of light and dark blue covering the walls
and ceiling. There are people who come here to pray
so out of respect we felt it wasn’t a good idea to
stay long but we were able to linger for a bit
taking in the grandeur of the mosaics, an scene
almost indescribable, one that truly merits a first
hand account.
View on Blue Mosque
Just as our day had begun in the 14th
century, it ended in the 21st at 360, a
top floor restaurant/club in the busy Taksim
neighborhood. Here the highly polluted and often
not well-frequented pedestrian street, Istiklal
stretches past dozens of restaurants and shops. The
restaurant itself offers delightful cuisine as well
as an amazing view of the entire city, but the
attitudes of the servers are a turn off. Much more
welcoming was the small rooftop restaurant back in
Sultanahmet (Kuçuk Ev at No 21 Incili Cavus Sk.)
where you are greeted with a smile from the
unquestionably Turkish servers, pleased to have your
business and the opportunity to share their
authentic cuisine. Even in mid-march it is warm
enough to sit on the terrace, covered with a clear
plastic awning through which you have a majestic
view of the nearby mosques where you can sit, take
in the sites and listen to the prayers. Beyond
these historic wonders the oil tankers drift in the
Marmara and beyond, the Istanbul landscape spotted
with a fusion of minarets and radio towers
effectively merging the epochs of this country’s
rich history.
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