ISTANBUL
My preconceptions of Türkiye were not dissimilar to those of Morocco – dangerous, fundamentalist, crazy. Well, one of three were right – it is crazy.
Istanbul was the first stop and my first impressions were that of my hotel transfer mode of transport. I can only describe it as an ex-drug dealers van all blinged and lit up in the back. It even had a safe in it!!! Along with the safe there was a fridge, leather (I think) seats, fake wood panelling. Anyway, he got me to the hotel in one piece so I can’t complain.
The hotel building was a tiny little thing (but the room itself was spacious) in the back streets but it turned out that it was near a lot of the big sites. But brekkie was first and I got my first taste of how expensive things are in certain parts of Türkiye. If you buy anything near a hotel or tourist site it costs an absolute bomb (ie coffee for $11).
The next impression I got was how oppressive the heat was there. It was more the humidity than anything, very similar to Singapore to be honest. I was absolutely dripping before the tour of the Topkapi Palace and stupid me was short of a bit of water. But this did not stop my enjoyment of the Palace which is in stages or Gardens. The further you go through the closer you come to being in the presence of the Sultan. But what was pretty cool was that the first garden was open to the public and still is today. You only need a ticket if you want to go further in. Mind you, you don’t get to see the Sultan because the Palace and the Sultan were no more after the break up of the Ottoman Empire after the defeat of Germany and it’s allies in World War 1 and the establishment of the Republic of Türkiye. It is pretty much a museum these days containing many rooms. The rooms I went through were:
- Imperial Clothing which was pretty funky with some incredible looking clothes, serious level of detail, amazing boots that looked more like something from the crazy 70’s and these coats that were enormous with such immaculate detail.
- The Harem where the wives, the concubines, the Sultans mother, the female slaves and the eunuch slaves lived. And when I say lived, that was it, they did not leave there. The concubines were from far and wide and quite often did the bargaining and lobbying for their respective countries. I wonder how they did their lobbying??? But basically the life of those in the harem extended nowhere beyond the harem. They were, to be blunt, sex slaves. What a god awful existence.
- Imperial Treasury – the Ottomans were as much about excessive bling and wealth as the courts of Europe and the UK. I have a love hate with these sorts of displays. Just wonder what the “people” would have preferred, more food or more bling for the Sultan?
One of the buildings had a view across the water to Asia (the continent at least) while we were standing on Europe. It is one of the reasons that Türkiye is so intriguing, important and only one of 5 countries that do. It made it a very strategic place as well with the Romans moving their capital there as it expanded East. That stretch of water we were looking over was the one that Sultan Mehmet II crossed in order to take the heavily fortified city thus beginning the Ottoman Empire. The walls were so thick that no attacking force had penetrated them prior. It was the advent of an almighty massive cannon that could be fired more frequently than previous canons that enabled Mehmet to break through the walls. Well, it was that and the fact that the literally carried their boats over land to avoid the chains that were blocking the entrance into the narrow channel. Yes, carried. How determined. It’s amazing what can be done when you put your mind to it. You kind of need to close your eyes to imagine what it would have looked like as it was now full of cargo ships but it is pretty cool to realise that this world changing event happened just down there.
It is a crazy city, a bit like some of the Asian cities with a European bent and heavy Middle Eastern influence. Walked through the Grand Bazaar which was a lot more modern than I thought it’d be. I was imagining and oversized medina but instead they were covered and quite orderly in layout. Mind you, outside the walls of the Grand Bazaar where the markets extend it does get a bit more haphazard and chaotic. Most of the stored are just repeated over and over but there are a few that are unique. There is a whole section dedicated to books which was a bit useless for me as I can’t read Turkish but it was interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, I saw a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kumpf in Turkish which I am not sure was funny or a bit of a worry. Secondly, I found a map of Turkey which I bought. Love a good map. And finally, there were the cutest kittens hanging out there and they let me get some beautiful photos.
The next day I did the big 2 – Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. OK, going to be a bit controversial now. The mosque is just another amazingly over the top mosque similar to the one in Casablanca. I just struggle admiring it when I think of what the money could have been used for. It is the same as the big European cathedrals and palaces. But as a piece of beauty is something very special.
The Hagia Sophia was originally a massive church until the Ottomans took control and subsequently converted it into a mosque for the people (the Blue Mosque was more for royalty). It had been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the years and I must admit it was a little tired. So on one side we have this beautifully maintained royal mosque and on the other we have a very rundown peoples mosque which includes a few Christian images. So you can see how the people came a very distant second to the royalty. Also, muslims do not allow images of people in a mosque so most of the Christian art work were covered over or removed. They left a few upstairs away from the prayer floor which was fortunate. Apart from the age, the historical significance and those few images the building is not much chop.
We went to the Basillica Cistern which was really something out of this world. Basically, a massive water storage building. The architecture was stunning with rows and rows of of arches and the cavity created would have been filled with water from an outside source for the city. They would have had fish in there as basically an aquatic canary in the coal mine. No longer used as a water supply it has been used in many movies and was an incredibly popular place to visit.
That night I had an encounter with a nice enough guy who turned out to be a carpet seller who wanted me to be an intermediary for his Australian imports. I got out of it after feeling well under pressure but it did cost me a couple of hundred – I bought one of his silk scarves. Oh well, at least he pointed me in the right direction for a good feed. The price we pay. So I survived Istanbul and was so glad I visited. There would be days more of sites that I could see so I would come back for sure. I would also be a bit more prepared for where to get food and coffee that won’t break the bank.
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