ISTANBUL: Magic Carpet Ride To An Exotic Mediterranean City – And Many Turkish DelightsPart One |
My introduction to Istanbul began with a marvellous aerial view of the Bosporus Straits, and the Old and New sections of the city bisected by a long narrow channel romantically known as the Golden Horn. It was immediately apparent that this eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea is as bustling a waterway today as it has been for thousands of years. But now, instead of quinqueremes, dhows and slave ships plying this famous passageway which links the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, it is crowded with tankers and container ships, and ferries carrying both locals and tourists to and from the European and Asian sides of Turkey.
My 3 ½ -hour flight from Heathrow took me over the Straight of Dover, and the green fields of Belgium, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, interrupted only by the high, snow-capped peaks of the Alps. Peter’s flight from Stockholm took him much the same time, crossing the Baltic Sea, Poland, the Carpathian Mountains, Romania and Bulgaria.
My next Turkish experience was less pleasant: conflicting official instructions at Atatürk Airport as to whether or not I needed a visa, and where exactly I was to pass through Customs. I have seldom been slightly fearful of officialdom on my European travels, but the uncertain temperament of the Turkish authorities, and movies about the dire fate of drug smugglers caught in the act, was enough to engender frissons of anxiety. But two simple steps later, which included a passport-filling plethora of stamps, I found myself in the bustling outer concourse, where vociferous touts assailed the incoming tourists with “good prices” for shuttle buses, taxis and accommodation. (It would seem that South Africans do not require a visa after all – unless it was my Swedish Residence Permit that did the trick. Everyone else who was not an EU citizen was charged €20 for a visa.)
As soon as Peter and I had rendezvoused, we took a terrifying taxi ride to the pleasant Legacy Ottoman Hotel, conveniently located in the Old City, and overlooking the azure confluence of the Gold Horn with the Bosphorus. We soon discovered that it wasn’t just this taxi driver whose maniacal speed caused us to cling frantically to our seats, but all Istanbul taxi drivers. Their notorious driving makes our South African minibus drivers seem mild in comparison.
The history of Istanbul is long and fascinating, but briefly it is as follows: People have lived in this area since the Neolithic Age (or New Stone Era). The earliest known settlement dates from 6700 BC, and was discovered in 2008 during the construction of the Yenikapı subway station and the Marmaray tunnel on the European side of the city. The first human settlement on the Anatolian side dates from the Copper Age, and artifacts dating from 5500–3500 BC have been found there.
In nearby Kadıköy (Chalcedon) a port settlement dating back to the Phoenicians has also been discovered. Cape Moda in Chalcedon was the first location occupied by Greek settlers in 685 BC. Then, according to legend, in around 667 BC, a Greek colonist called Byzas led an expedition from the overcrowded cities of Athens and Megara to establish a colony on the European side of the Bosphorus, which became known as Byzantion. This area had already been the site of an ancient port settlement called Lygos, which was founded by Thracian tribes between the 13th and 11th centuries BC. Only a few walls and substructures of this civilization have survived, and are today located near what is known as the Seraglio Point (or Sarayburnu in Turkish), where the Topkapı Palace now stands.
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| Topkapi Palace Entrance | A room in the Harem of the Topkapi Palace |
During the Byzantion period an Acropolis stood on this spot, and the city became a successful, independent city-state (polis). During the next few centuries it endured Lydian, Persian, Athenian and Macedonian invasion and rule, and in 64 BC it became subsumed into the Roman Empire as Byzantium. The city was almost destroyed by Septimus Serverus in AD195, because of its support for his rival for imperial power, Percennius Niger. He then renamed the port Augusta Antonina, in honor of his son.
The location of Byzantium attracted the attention of Emperor Constantine the Great, who, in 324, after a prophetic dream, moved the capital of the Empire from Rome to Byzantium, and renamed it Nova Roma. This in turn became Constantinopolis – The City of Constantine – and was officially proclaimed the new capital of the Roman Empire in 330. Constantine, who was only baptized as a Christian on his deathbed in 337, nevertheless did much to create a coherent system of Christian belief out of the varying practices of the day. Under a successor of Constantine, Theodosius I (379-395), the official state religion of the Roman Empire became Christianity, and this transformed the status of Constantinople into a thriving religious center.
All the early church councils took place there, or nearby, such as at Nicea, in 325 (today called Iznik) – hence the Nicean Creed. In 395, on the death of Theodosius, the Empire was divided between his two sons, and Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Theodosius II built a chain of massive protective walls across the western extremity of the city, reaching from the Golden Horn down to the Sea of Marmara. Parts of his wall are still standing to this day. When the Western Roman Empire fell to the barbarians during the 5th century, the Greek-speaking Eastern Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire – a flourishing centre which saw the flowering of one of the most magnificent periods in the history of the arts and culture. Throughout the 5th century, the western half of the Roman Empire lost most of its power through a decline in political, economic and social conditions, with the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, being deposed by Germanic mercenaries in AD 476.
Empress Theodora (c. 500-548) was empress of the Roman Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian the Great: Mosaic Bust Meister von San Vitale in Ravenna
During the 6th century, under the extraordinary genius of Emperor Justinian (527-565) and his influential, former-concubine wife, Theodora, the city became the center of the Greek world and, for most of the Byzantine period, the largest city in Christendom. Due to its location, at the crossing point between two continents, Constantinople became extremely significant, attracting people from Africa and many other civilizations.
Empress Theodora (c. 500-548) was empress of the Roman Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian the Great: Mosaic Bust Meister von San Vitale in Ravenna
During the Early Middle Ages, the Byzantine Empire remained rich and powerful, mostly due to its sophistication in terms of diplomacy and commerce. It became an oasis of learning, law, art and culture, while the rest of Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages of strife and illiteracy. Constantinople became the centre of Christianity, and many magnificent churches were built there, including Haghia Sophia – once the world’s largest basilica.
During his reign Justinian extended the Byzantine Empire to include not only Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine to the east, but also Greece, the Balkans, Italy, southern Spain, and many territories in North Africa, including Egypt. He almost succeeded in recovering the provinces of the Western Empire lost to the barbarians. During the following years, Constantinople was besieged by a number of avaricious neighbours including Slavs, Arabs, Bulgars, Persians and Russians. The Byzantine imperial army was totally destroyed at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and a century later at the Battle of Myriocephalon (1176), by the Seljuk Turks from the east.
During the 13th century, Constantinople began to decline in power. Then followed the failure of three Crusades (the First in 1096), the purpose of which was to capture the Holy City of Jerusalem. Responding to an appeal from Pope Innocent III for another attempt, an unruly force of Christians set out again. This time they planned to capture the Byzantine Empire as well, and in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, with the aid of the Venetians, they captured Constantinople. They ransacked the city for treasures, and chose Baldwin I, Count of Flanders, to be the new Byzantine Emperor. Due to lack of funds, the Crusaders never reached Jerusalem, and a period of pillage and disorder ensued. Constantinople never regained its former glory, and, rather than remaining a thriving metropolis, it became instead a scattering of disconnected villages.
This new so-called Latin Empire lasted until 1261, when the Byzantines, under the command of Michael VIII Palaeologus, recaptured the city and some outlying territories. During this next phase of reconstruction and development, a flowering of scholarship and artistic activity ensued, and became known as the Palaeologue Renaissance.
One of the beautiful buildings from this period that I visited was the Church of St. Saviour in Chora – a little Byzantine gem. But peace was not to last for long, and quarrels over the Imperial succession led to a disastrous civil war which lasted from 1321 until 1354. Meanwhile, in 1299, Osman I, a leader of Muslim warriors, occupied territories within the eastern Byzantine Empire, and established Prusa (modern-day Bursa) as his capital. By 1362, with the Ottoman capture of Adrianople (Edirne), Byzantium was reduced to the city-state of Constantinople, and a few minor outposts isolated within Ottoman domains.
On 29 May 1453, Sultan Mehmet II, “the Conqueror”, entered Constantinople after a 54-day siege, during which his cannon tore a great hole in the Walls of Theodosius II. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine Palaeologus was forced to surrender the city, but when he stubbornly refused, attacking the enemy with his sword raised, he was killed during the battle. Later known as Istanbul, this city became the third capital of the Ottoman Empire. Mehmet II then set about rebuilding the city. He ordered the Haghia Sophia sacked, and rebuilt as a mosque. Many building projects commenced immediately after the conquest, including the repair of the walls, and building a number of new mosques, the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. Mehmet issued orders across his Empire that Muslims, Christians and Jews should resettle the city, and they proceeded to live there together as a relatively peaceful, cosmopolitan society.
By 1459 the Sultan had brought back prosperity to Istanbul. In several quarters of the city pious foundations were established, such as a theological college, Madrasas (schools usually connected to a mosque), hamami (Turkish baths) and a public kitchen for the poor. In the same year Mehmet sent out orders that any Greeks who had left Istanbul as slaves or refugees were permitted to return to the city. Istanbul became once again a thriving capital – this time of the Ottoman Empire. Mehmet and his followers pushed the frontiers of the Empire across the Middle East and into Europe. Much of Western Europe only just escaped conquest when an Ottoman army was driven back from the gates of Vienna in 1529.
Süleyman the Magnificent’s (1520-66) reign over the Ottoman Empire during the16th century was a period of great artistic and architectural achievements. The famous architect Mimar Sinan designed many mosques and other grand buildings in the city, while the Ottoman arts of ceramics and calligraphy also flourished. The great mosque and the college of Fatih were built on the old burial grounds of the Byzantine Emperors at the Church of the Holy Apostles. Gradually the great Christian city was transformed into a great Muslim city. But the city was not to become entirely Muslim (Sufi), at least not until the late twentieth century. Slavs, Greeks, Jews, Gypsies and Armenians, all of whose diverse skills were needed, were allowed to settle in a city which was to become known as alem penah – “Refuge of the Universe”.
Süleyman’s son, Selim II (1566-74), “the Sot”, was not so capable a ruler, though he did add Cyprus to the Empire. But the defeat of his navy by the Venetians at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 dealt a heavy blow to Ottoman aspirations of becoming a seafaring power. Successive Sultans were controlled by their mothers and wives, during an era that became known as the “Sultanate of Women”. Osman II tried to reverse the decline of the Empire, but was assassinated during the revolt of the Janissaries. During the late 17th century, in 1683, there was another failed attempt to capture Vienna, and the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 marked the start of the Ottoman withdrawal from Europe.
Ahmet III’s reign (1703-30) became known as the “Tulip Period” because of the many beautiful Baroque palaces, fountains, mosques, and formal gardens filled with tulips that he had created in the city. He sent ambassadors to France, and introduced Western couture and culture to Turkey. During the 18th century several Sultans introduced various reforms, including replacing the grand viziers with a prime minister.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire gradually lost territories through wars with Russia and Austria, and to the emerging Balkan nation-states such as Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria. During the World War I, despite winning the Battle of Gallipoli (1815), in valiant defence of the Dardanelles, Turkey ended up on the losing side. Istanbul was occupied by victorious British and French troops, and much of Western Anatolia by Greek forces. The Sultanate finally ended, and Istanbul (meaning “to the city” in Medieval Greek) became the official name for the city.
Modern Turkey was principally established by Mustafa Kemal Pasa (1881-1938), popularly known as Atatürk (“Father of the Turks”) – a military hero turned politician. When he founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the capital was moved from Istanbul to Ankara. He introduced many bold reforms in order to modernise the country, such as converting the Turkish alphabet to that of the Latin letters of the other European languages.
From the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, Istanbul underwent great structural changes, as new public squares (such as Taksim Square), boulevards and avenues were constructed throughout the city, sometimes at the expense of many historical buildings. From the 1970’s, the population of Istanbul began to increase rapidly, as people from Anatolia migrated to the city to find employment in the many new factories constructed on the outskirts.
Today Istanbul is a sprawling metropolis with a population of 14 million inhabitants, but very well geared to tourism. There is a good public transport network system of modern trams, light railways, metro, busses and rapid catamaran sea buses. Ancient monuments have been restored, and many are still in a state of active restoration. There are many excellent restaurants and shops, and wonderful markets with something for everyone.
Exhausted by our respective flights and afternoon peregrinations, we decided, still as novices, to reach by taxi the restaurant Peter had chosen for our first evening meal. This we were later told is one of the first “don’ts” in Istanbul. The drivers can take one for a disagreeable ride – both in terms of maniacal driving, and inflated fares. They also become lodged in traffic jams which persist until well after 8pm. It really is advisable to master the tram system to avoid being cheated, delayed, and frightened witless.
This restaurant was sadly a case of too far to go to eat too little – for too much: Asitane, in the Kariye area. It was nonetheless an interesting experience dining in a leafy courtyard (plagued by yowling stray cats), and enjoying the time-warp experience of watching fellow diners sucking upon hubblies whilst tinkering on their laptops. Our (nouvelle cuisine) meze included four small patés akin to and including humus (made from chick peas), followed by kavun dolmasi – a half-melon stuffed with mincemeat, rice, almonds, currants, pistachios and cumin.
Also on offer was nirbaç – a stew made with diced lamb, meatballs and carrots, and spiced with coriander, ginger, cinnamon, pomegranate and crushed walnuts. This is what the website proclaimed was “authentic Ottoman fare” – the same dishes as those served at the circumcision banquets of Sultan Süleyman’s sons, Beyazid and Cihangir, in 1539. As our time in this fascinating ancient city was limited, we began the next morning with the first of our “Top 10” city destinations: the Grand Bazaar (Kapali Carsi), located near our hotel.
Nothing in my wildest dreams could have prepared me for this dazzling, colourful and vibrant emporium of sheer shopping bliss. Established by Mehmet II soon of his conquest of the city in1453, the Bazaar is a labyrinth of corridors set beneath a frescoed vaulted ceiling, and filled with thousands of booth-like stalls. Their tempting wares spill forth into the corridors, and their assertive salesmen are compelling with their greetings, and relentless in their quest for a sale. Hundreds of tourists are equally eager to purchase, and the lively bargaining that takes place here is both expected, and part of the joyous shopping experience.
Each stall is packed to the ceiling with brightly-coloured ceramics, or silk scarves and pashminas, beautifully hand-painted boxes inlaid with mother-of-pearl, kaleidoscopic glass lamps and nargiles (bubble pipes), carpets and kilims, filigreed copper and brass wares, exotic fabrics threaded with gold and iridescent sequins, and fabulously ornate costume, gold and silver jewelry. The smells of incense, apple and cinnamon tea, perfumed soaps, coffee and spices assail the nostrils, and the exotic sounds of recorded wailing singers accompanied on the ut (a lute-like instrument) fill the air. It is a wonderful place in which to completely lose oneself, whilst reveling in a glorious orgy of the senses. It is simply impossible not to appreciate the fabled “Power of Now” in this vivid place, as one revels in each precious, sensual moment.
Prices vary considerably, we discovered, according to the persistence of the sellers – and the gullibility of the buyers. And so I found myself walking in the footsteps of millions of women before me over the past five and a half centuries, jostling and savouring, and using to my best advantage the bargaining skills I had acquired in the souks of Morocco. I was amused by the quaint English of one young man, who charmingly enquired in a lilting accent, “May I help you spend your money?”, to which I replied that I needed no help in that regard whatsoever! There were far too many beautiful, unique and gloriously tempting items in this veritable Aladdin’s Cave of treasures to keep one from spending at least some of one’s hard-earned cash.
The sellers were usually men, always asked where I was from, and responded with engaging enthusiasm – whether they had heard of South Africa or not. They were usually charming, and, once a deal was struck, apple tea was offered, and hands cordially shaken. Compliments were delivered with courtly, old-world charm, with a ring of sincerity and a courteous bow over my proffered hand. ATM’s are strategically situated at a number of points throughout the Bazaar, reducing the control over one’s purse-strings even further.
Dinner that night was with our South African friends, and new friends from England, at the 360 Bar on the 8th floor of Misir Apartment, high up on Istiklal Cadessi (Independence Avenue) in the Beyoglu district. We immediately commandeered a table on the outside terrace, and marveled at the view overlooking the red-roofed buildings below, the spire of a nearby church – one of the few in an otherwise 98% Muslim country – and the cobalt waters of the Golden Horn above which a rainbow hovered far on the horizon. At 360, the guide book warned, the views over the city are spectacular, but the food indifferent. We enjoyed our honey-mustard glazed salmon, however, served with green olive and fresh mint salad, “crab dill mashed potatoes”, and artichokes and asparagus with mustard seeds and saffron olive oil.
To our unexpected delight, the lights were later dimmed, and two dancing girls in risqué attire came out to entertain the eager roof-top gathering. Their seductive dance routine and acrobatic maneuvers from a suspended sash were an exotic reminder of the beguiling dances of the veiled Ottoman odalisques of yesteryear. The dessert menu was like that of a fairy tale magic feast spirited from thin air by a benevolent genie – a rich assortment of “Turkish desserts”: Trio of sorbets – lemon, rosewater and raspberry, topped with candy floss, coconut rice pudding, pomegranate sorbet, “Alaska Dome” – a flamed iced dome with yoghurt and summer berries, and “Hindustani Cevizili Sutlac” – exotic fruits with rosewater granite.
The next day we set out with our friends to one of the next “Top Ten” items on the itinerary – the Topkapi Palace…
Images:
https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/133873/Constantine-I
https://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Theodora.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_the_Magnificent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_VIII_Palaiologos
This article was first published in Showcook.com.
