Istanbul

Article by Marion Hume
Photos by Amber Rowlands

Istanbul is one of the world’s great cities. It is mystical, magical yet modern; hip yet ancient; secular and yet multi-faith - predominantly Islamic with its magnificent mosques and yet also with its churches (both Christian and Greek Orthodox) as well as synagogues.

I stayed in the Pera Palace Hotel, which is listed in the “1,000 Things to do Before You Die” guide and what they don’t say was it could be number 1,000 because it is seriously decrepit and you could meet your end there and they probably wouldn’t find you for days! I’m sure my room hadn’t been touched since Agatha Christie stayed in it. She wrote “Murder on the Orient Express” while staying there. In the old days, the Pera was the last stop in Europe after passengers disembarked from the Orient Express. The next day they would be rowed across the Bosphorus to Asia. I loved the faded grandeur of the downstairs bar. You could visualize that Mata Hari and all the other spies of the Empire days might still be lurking behind the pot plants. The Pera is not for those in search of luxury or reliable plumbing, however.

Istanbul is great for shopping. The Grand Bazaar is the world’s first covered shopping mall. Much of it dates from the 15th century and there are 4,000 shops, restaurants, banks and a post office. I was expecting it to be like a souk, but it is amazingly civilised. Super-chic and wealthy Istanbullus go to Hilat in the bazaar to buy their jewelry, but don’t expect any bargains. The pieces are exquisite and the prices, while less expensive that gold and precious jewelry elsewhere, are hardly in the range of holiday souvenirs. The other place everyone in the fashion world goes to within the bazaar is Koc Deri for leathers. They make leather for Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani etc. and the quality is superb.

The restaurants are wonderful. Chef Mehmet Gurs at Mikla is half Scandinavian, half Turkish and mixes raw seafood with Ottoman flavours very successfully, although it sounds bizarre. He’s also divinely handsome so no surprise he is the city’s hot chef of the moment. Mikla has a wonderful panoramic view across the Bosphorus as does Ulus 29, which is the “design destination” for dinner. We also ate meatballs at a stall just outside the Grand Bazaar for a few cents and they were incredible. The food in Istanbul is superb. To drink? The wine is great.

What were the highlights? Of course the Hagia Sophia, which started as a Christian church and then became a mosque. It is enormous and enduring - the famous dome has withstood lots of earthquakes. My advice would be to hire a great guide. I was there to work so my sightseeing “slot” was limited and I was introduced to a superb guide called Attila Tamer. I explained that I had to see the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque but I also really wanted to see the Church of Saint Saviour in Chora, which is 11th century and way off the beaten track. And Attila was like, “you have four hours, put your sneakers on because we’re going to jog this one.” It was like brainy aerobics! I’m surprised Dan Brown didn’t use a fresco at Chora for ‘evidence’ in “The Da Vinci Code,” because Jesus appears before a dying Virgin Mary holding a baby. Apparently the baby represents Mary’s soul but I bet conspiracy theorists could have a field day with that! Although Turkey is a secular state, Istanbul embraces Islam, Christianity, Judaism and it is the centre of the Greek Orthodox world. I’m not especially religious, but you can’t come to Istanbul without being moved by the majesty of its multi-religious history.
Attila Tamer - attilatamer@hotmail.com

That Istanbul is not all about old stuff. The modern art scene, especially Istanbul Modern and Haas Gallery are worth checking out too. And you can see twice as much as you think - those endless hits of Turkish coffee keep you going!