Took Lufthansa from San Francisco to Istanbul via Frankfurt. Arrived in Istanbul on the evening of the 22nd around half past five. Immigration was a breeze. The Ataturk Airport in Istanbul is one of the best organized and cleanest I have seen. Very hard to believe after all the negative stuff I have heard about Turkey. However this was a first among many positives.
I cleared Immigration and waited for the foreign exchange counter to open. They were taking stock and politely told me to wait for 10 minutes. Meanwhile there was a sign Kapali(my first learnt word in Turkish means closed). In less than ten minutes they were back to open. I exchanged 200 US dollars at 690,000 Turkish Lira for a US dollar. Yes Easy to be a millionaire in Turkiye. Picking up our luggage we went out and found our tour agency had sent someone to pick us up. Without further ado we were transported to the hotel. The traffic on the way looked a lot like India with cars going in all directions and severe traffic Jams. I would say a few shades better than India but nevertheless chaotic when compared to driving conditions in the United States. I was then dropped off at my Hotel Marmara which is in Taksim Square in the new part of European Istanbul(The side which had the Genoese colony of Pera). This is currently the commercial and Night club district of the modern city and separated from the old city where all the historical monuments lie by the Golden Horn. In any case we checked into the hotel and were asked to be ready by 8:30 AM next day morning for the Guide to come and pick us up. We were using Pera Tours in Istanbul to show us around via Yalla Tours in the US(800 644 1595). They did a fine job of all the arrangements and I would highly recommend them. However tickets cannot be purchased directly from Yalla or Pera as they work through travel agents. In this case I used S K Travel and Tours (805 241 6064) and again I recommend them.
We went to our rooms and showered and shaved and after that I wanted to use the Traditional Turkish bath(or Hamam) and the Hotel had one of those. So I went downstairs and tried using it. I got a locker key from the attendant, asked him how to use it and he explained some of it to me. I was feeling lost and I got out of the place in 15 minutes after a stint at the Sauna and the Jacuzzi. The Hamam itself confounded me as it looked like a place where all that one does is pour water over oneself. There was no massage available on that day so it was all by myself. The attendant seeing me walk out in 15 mins refused to charge me because I had really not used anything and it was not fair that he charge me. I offered to pay him because I felt the decision to walk out was mine. However he insisted and overwhelmed by his hospitality and kindness or should I say shocked I agreed. This was a first in a long line of Turkish niceness and hospitality I experienced through this trip.
The next thing was of course dinner. We were vegetarians who did not speak Turkish. The problem posed itself as it did in Paris before on how we would explain to anyone that we did not eat meat. So we walked up to the head waiter at the Brassiere and explained to him that we don't eat meat. He asked us to look at his buffet and there were very few offerings. We explained it to him and he asked us what we wanted for dinner and I thought Pasta should be fine. So we were served pasta, some really great Turkish Coffee and of course some of the best deserts you can hope to taste including the best Baklava I have ever tasted. It all came up to 20 dollars or so for a dinner for 2. I suddenly remembered my elementary school arithmetic teacher as I sat and calculated tips on a bill that was several million Lira. Had to make sure the 0s were all correct and not excessive. A very very good first day in Turkey.
A few notes here. The name of the country is Turkiye(pronounced Thurki yea) and not the animal we slaughter for Thanksgiving. Whenever I remember in this travelogue I shall try to use the correct name for the country. Second there is clearly a lot of negative western propaganda about Turkiye including the movie Midnight Express. Anyone coming to this lovely country may as well ignore such nonsense. I shall tell you a lot as I go along, but be rest assured that Turkiye is safe, in fact much safer than London and Paris and NY and LA.
We woke up at 6:30 AM, very unusual for the high tech worker that I am used to being up at 9 AM and even later at times. The long sleep compounded with Jet lag did play a role in me being up. Showered and shaved as I always do immediately on being up and went down for a breakfast buffet. The breakfast is a especially important meal for the Vegetarian when traveling. I stuffed myself as much as I could and flushed my system with the seven glasses of water that I do when I am away from home. We then waited for the Guide at the hotel lobby.
At around 9 AM the Guide arrived. Her name is Melthem and she was very glad that I was able to pronounce her name accurately unlike most tourists. I feel any Indian can get her name right. This was an all day tour of the old city and its historical monuments.
The first place we visited was the Sulaimaniye Jamii(Mosque). This mosque was built by the famous Ottoman Architect Mirmar Sinan for the Ottoman Sultan Sulaiman I between 1550 and 1557. This was also the Golden Age of the Ottomans and it was during the reign of Sultan Sulaiman I that Belgrade and Buda(now Budapest) fell to the Ottomans and Sulaiman was at the Gates of Vienna in what is termed as the famed siege of Vienna. There is a legend about this mosque that the Guide described to me. Apparently the Sultan was running low on money to complete the mosque and hearing that the King of Persia Sent him a box full of precious Jewels to use to complete the Jamii. Sulaiman was very cross with the Persian and asked Sinan to grind all the Jewels with the brick and mortar into the Minaret. The master architect obeyed his king and did exactly that. One of the Minars is thus loaded with precious stones gifted by the King of Persia to Sultan Sulaiman. Sulaiman was the 4th ruler since Mehmet Fatih(Conquerer) conquered Constantinople and made it Istanbul. To Signify that there are 4 Minars in the mosque. In addition there are 10 balconies in the 4 Minars put together to Signify Sulaiman I as the 10th Descendent of the house of Osman(hence the name Ottoman). The inside of the Mosque is really serene and beautiful. Of note are the stained glass windows filtering the light in as well as the acoustics set by the wooden pipes that were laid under the flooring. In addition to the interior main prayer hall, the complex of the mosque houses the tombs of Sulaiman, his wife Roxellena, his Chief Architect Sinan's tomb and tombs of several others. Also as is the ottoman tradition a mosque is a complete Social center with Several schools, a mad house, a hospital, Hamam baths as well as an affiliated Bazaar thro whose taxes the mosque and its facilities were funded. All mosques run by the Ottoman State had these facilities of Soup kitchens, hospitals, school and Hamam as part of its complex and also always had a bazaar to fund its existence.
The next place we went to was the Aya Sofya(or Church of Divine Wisdom). What was the third version(the previous 2 versions were destroyed in earthquakes) of a church built by Justinian in AD 537 became a mosque when Mehmet the Conqurer(Fatih) took the city in 1453. If one were to consider it a church, this is even today the 4th largest Basilica in the world. The mosaics on the walls and the ceilings are really wonderful. My descriptions cannot and will not do justice. The Ottomans in the process of converting the Basilica to a Jamii(mosque) preserved the church but whitewashed the mosaics in accordance with the Islamic ban on images. After the fall of the Ottoman's the republican Govt of Turkiye led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk converted the mosque into a museum and reclaimed the mosaics by removing the whitewash. The whitewash protected the mosaic from damage by time and humidity thus enabling its survival into the 21st century.
We left Aya Sofya and moved to the Topkapi Sarayi(Palace). Topkapi Palace is located like most Ottoman and Byzantine historical monuments in the old city which was previously called Constantinople. This was the first Ottoman Palace and among its occupants were Sulaiman I the Magnificient(or Kannoni Sulaiman the law giver). The construction of the Palace was begun by the citys first ottoman conqueror Mehmet I. The palace is very huge and impressive and the Harem tour is a must see as is the Divan where the Sultan watched his Grand Vizier administer his empire via a grilled window. Secrets of the state were discussed in a room with gushing fountains to mask out the noise with a deaf and dumb guard at the door. Also wonderful were the Jewels and Ottoman costumes on display. The Ottoman sultans lived in Topkapi from 1461 to 1855 when Sultan AbdulMajid moved the royal residence to DolmaBachi Sarayi a newly built European style palace. In 1924 Topkapi was made a museum by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk.
Our next stop also in the Old city was SultanAhmet Jamii, A mosque built by Mehmet Aga, pupil of Miramar Sinan. There is a very interesting story to this mosque of 6 minarets. The emperor was Ahmet I and the period circa 1616 AD. The Sultan wanted a minaret of Gold, the Architect thought it impossible. The words for six and gold are pretty close to each other in Turkish. So while the Sultan was away in Mecca, Mehmet Aga built a mosque with six minarets and when the emperor returned behaved as though he had heard it as six and not gold. It was nevertheless the mosque with the most number of minarets at that time. This Mosque is also called the blue Mosque by the tourists due to its blue floral iznik tiles inside. You have to see the inside of the mosque to relish it. Like the Sulaimane it has stained glass windows and a huge chandelier. Beyond this one has to see to enjoy this grand structure.
Almost next door to the Blue Mosque is the Hippodrome. This is the race track built by the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus circa 100 AD. Very little of this remains now because the Amphitheater was destroyed to build the blue Mosque. What remains now are the imperial enclosure as well as 3 columns which include the Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III(1504 to 1450 BC) brought to the city by Constantine the great from Syria, there is also the serpent column made of bronze and the column of Constantine.
The last stop before we returned to our hotel was Kapali Charisi(Covered Bazaar). It is also called the Grand Bazaar. This is the Ottoman equivalent of a mall in the west. It dates back to 1461, but has been rebuilt several times due to fires and earthquakes. It is the classic Oriental Bazaar, lined however with modern shops selling everything from carpets to tea. I have not seen a more fascinating market than this one. It is huge and houses 4000 shops and consists of several streets all housed within a single structure. This is where you bargain for carpets and gold and Turquoise and Lapis. We spent only half an hour here and I bought myself a overpriced carpet made of wool. The official all day city historical tour had ended and I decided to go and visit a Hamam.
The Hamam I decided to visit was both functional and historical. It was very close to the Grand Bazaar so I walked with my tour guide Melthem to over there. It is called the Chemberlitas Hamami. This is supposed to be yet another creation of Architect Miramar Sinan built in 1584 for Valide Sultan(Queen Mother) Nur Banu. Melthem got me an everything ticket for 10 Million Liras(14 dollars approx) which included the use of the Hamam, Massage, scrub and wash. The first thing you do is get a change and tea room for yourself. This is where you undress and you are given a towel by the Hamam to wrap around. I then left my room and went inside the Hamam. There is a huge marble slab in the center where everyone lies. The room itself is steamy and I suspect they let in steam into the huge chamber. All around you are men wrapped in Turkish towels some being massaged, some being scrubbed and at various stages in the process. I waited for my turn lying down on the marble slab looking lost and confused. In the end a huge man came towards me and motioned me to lie face down. He then rubbed saboon(soap) on my back and gave a massage while lathering the soap. I had expected and wanted harder and harsher massages but this one was lighter than I had expected. It was not the break your bones Turkish massage I had read about. After the back side I was turned over thrown on the marble and another massage was given on my chest. He then poured water on me both hot and cold to remove the soap. After that my body was scrupped of all dry skin with a glove and I was soaped and washed. They finally take me near a water tank and pour a lot of water over me and massage me again(and this was a real harsh one and also it came suddenly). He then left me to my devices as I poured water over myself from the golden Hamam taps which ran hot and cold water. I left the Hamam chamber to the next chamber. There they wrapped me with 3 towels and sent me back to my chamber where I had good hot tea waiting for me. I drank the tea, dressed up and then was given Lemon perfume to rub on my face. I tipped 1 Million Lira and left. It was like I was born again full of energy ready to run a thousand miles.
I was back in the hotel. We walked along Takshim Square the modern city center and went and eat in a vegetarian restaurant we discovered while walking. Istanbul never sleeps and it is absolutely safe to walk around at nights. We had dinner in the Nature and peace vegetarian restaurant phone 252 8609. It is a good place to know if you are vegetarian and if you want to try Turkish food. We were back in the hotel and after a looong day finally went to sleep.
Nov 24, 2000
The Istanbulis for the most part live in the Asian side of the Bosphorous and 3.5 million of them commute to the European new side every day to work. That in essence is Turkiye and Istanbul. An Asian Interior and an European Exterior. There is no informal attire in this ancient City and even the banana seller on the street wears a Jacket and a tie. Part of it is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's doing as he went to every corner of Turkey and Preached dress code. The fez and the veil were banned and western dresses became the Norm. As you travel through turkiye you have to remember one thing. Ataturk is reverered as a demi God in this state and any thing disputing his status as such can spark even otherwise calm tempers. The Turks pack everything you buy even if you specifically request that you don't want a bag. That it seems is the most important part of the sale, the packaging and one might as well get used to it.
Today was Bosphorous day. It was also Melthem's day off. We were instead picked up by a company called ITS. The ITS bus stood outside our hotel. We boarded it and were taken to an Egyptian Spice market. This is a very interesting place to visit. It is full of spices from all over the world. I also used a public toilet in turkey for the first time and was really impressed by the maintenance even in a bazaar....We had to pay 200,000 TL for it but it was really nice and clean. The spice market itself was really good. I found Black Henna from Daryaganj in Delhi there as were a lot of spices and sweets on display. It was a classic oriental Bazaar. The name Egyptian comes from the fact that the revenues from Egypt were used to build the bazaar and then of course the tax from the shops used to fun the Ture of the nearby mosque. I got myself a Hookah(water smoke pipe) and a Fez today at the Egyptian market.
After the Bazaar we went on the cruise on the Bosphorous which divides Asia from Europe. It was really nice and we saw some of the waterside homes of immense value called the Yali. This is where ottoman nobility used to live. The Grand Viziers and the Pasha's. Again the cruise is not something that can be described in detail and one has to experience it. We used the time to ask the tour guide a lot of questions about Turkiye and he gave his spin on a few of them. I asked him about the Armenian Genocide. His response was that the Turks were one of 41 ruling races of the ottoman empire. This was a truly cosmopolitan empire and was not the exclusive domain of the Turks even though the rulers were Turks. Some of the Grand Viziers and Pashas were Armenians and Balkans and so on. So his logic was even if the genocide did happen you cannot blame the Turks for it, this was an Ottoman thing which is of a past that Modern Turkey is unconnected with. I decided I wont push it further.
The cruise ended and then we visited the museum of an Armenian Pasha, just as though to reply to my question. There was not much here except a costume display of the Ottoman times which was interesting. We then had a nice Turkish lunch and some wine. I loved the minted Yogurt and then took a ride across the transcontinental bridge from Europe to Asia. I saw the yellow welcome to Asia board. It was a great feeling to cross continents through land a first for me.
We then went to the Beylerbeyi Sarayi on the Asian side. It is the summer palace of the Ottoman Sultans and used as a guest house for diplomats. It is a very European style palace with great furnishings and chandeliers. It was built by Sultan AbdulAziz in the late 19th century and is of 3000 sq meters in size. We did the official and Harem tours of the Palace. It is much smaller than Topkapi. The original furnishings are preserved here.
It was almost the end of the day. We went to the highest point on the Asian side for the view and pictures and then traveled back to Europe. We were dropped off in our hotel room and then took a walk down Isthiklal St and went to the Robinson Crusoe Bookstore and got myself a book on the Ottomans and another on Ataturk. It is my practice to remember every place by the books I buy and on the books I note the date and place of buying. The streets are very active and safe at night. Full of chestnut sellers and kabab merchants and shekaris. Like the Indians , the Turks like their cusine over everything else. So all food morphs to Ottoman Turkish cusine in Istanbul and why not with such a rich offering? Wish there were more Vegetarian stuff to eat though.
I came back and tried taking a nap in my hotel room and before I discovered it was morning 6 AM and ready for the next day and Melthem back again.
Nov 25, 2000
We were supposed to cruise to the Princess Islands and eat fish there and be back. I was all too engrossed in the history of the city of Istanbul itself to go on a cruise some place. I therefore decided when I woke up that instead of the Cruise I would explore more in the city. I had one more Ottoman Palace to see, the modern version of the Topkapi, the underground cisterns, and the famous archeology Museum at Istanbul and of course the St Saviours Church in Chora. I had decided to see this instead and when Melthem came, since we were the only ones she was guiding she agreed to our request easily. Of course since this was a pre paid tour, we were told we were to cough up another 10 million for the change in plans and we agreed gladly.
It is interesting the way Mehmet the conqueror captured Istanbul. The story goes that the city was well fortified on 3 sides and had its weak underbelly in the Golden Horn. The Romans had closed the Golden Horn by a chain and controlled shipping into it manually. In the end his impatience got the better of him and Mehmet moved his ships overland through specially created pathways over into the Golden Horn and captured the city which was then called Constantinople.
Our first visit was to the Chora. Chora means outside the city. This is because this church was outside the city walls during the period of Constantine the great. When the Turks captured Constantinople they converted this church into a mosque 50 years after occupation. It is now a museum. The art work is really wonderful inside the church. It is really serene inside this church.
Our next stop was the Archeological museum. There is a lot of Hellenic Excavation here and this is really a must see museum anyplace in the world. The crown Jewel of this museum of course is the Sarcophagus from Sidon. We did not have much time so we spent a couple of hours here. This is worth spending a hell of a lot of time at.
A French Byzantine scholar Petrus Gilius who lived during the Ottoman era in Istanbul was told of this underground place where natives would fish. In the process he discovered this underground cistern which was used by Constantine the great to supply water to his city. The water was supplied to it from what came to be later known as the Belgrade forest(named after Serbian Masons who made the same thing possible for the Ottomans). Discovering it the Ottoman Sultans reused the same concept and made it a water cistern. The classical music inside this underground structure as background is really great. First I did not realize there was music on as it blended so well with the place.
We had lunch and we proceeded to see the Dolmabachi palace(Dolma means reclaimed and Bachi means Garden in Turkish...the palace was built on reclaimed land). This is the modern version of the Topkapi and it became the official residence of the last 6 sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Sultan AbdulMajid was the first Ottoman Sultan to occupy this in 1855 and the last occupant of it was Mustafa Kamal Attaturk the first president of the Turkish Republic who breathed his last in the Harem of the Palace. The palace is European style and the state hall has the worlds largest Chandelier. The palace itself is on the waterfront on the shores of the Bosphorous. Unlike the Topkapi, this is located in the new city of Istanbul.
To conclude our city tour we re visit the grand bazaar and do shopping there. We are dropped at the Hotel and told we would be picked up at 3 30 AM the next morning . Today was a special day at the hotel because a famous Turkish Film star arrives to thronging crowds. We have dinner at the Marmara Cafe and end it with a pistachio Bakhlava. A sweet ending to a very beautiful trip and go to be early.
Nov 26, 2000
It is time to say goodbye. Sami the driver picks us up at sharp 3:30 AM. We arrive at the airport and get checked in. We then are asked to pass through passport controls and for a moment my heart flutters, I suddenly remembered Midnight Express and thought what if I was asked to step aside like that movie. Just a fleeting thought. I know very bad after such good experiences in Turkiye. The Passport controls were a breeze. A very fine goodbye to a lovely city inside a great Country. I hope to be back soon.