Only one “n” in Istanbul
Four weeks living in the Turkish capital and I still sometimes spell it Instanbul - like it’s an Add Water & Stir cow mix. Four weeks in a place where Rick Steeves recommends 2-4 days, and I’m still discovering and reaching and wondering.
Where have all the churches gone?
After a month on the Camino celebrating Catholicism and the remains of St. Thomas (it was actually cool to be right beside the actual bones of one of Jesus’ disciples in Santiago, along with instructions how to properly embrace the apostle), it’s refreshing to be in a country dominated by beautiful mosques instead of cathedrals. Whereas the Spanish hilltop churches were generally awe-inspiring and impressive, I find the mosques to be comfortable and welcoming. People hang out, talk, nap, read. I listened for 15 minutes to a man giving singing/chanting lessons to a 6-year-old.
Of course Istanbul was Constaninople (kids, that’s a They Might Be Giants song reference - and for you really crusty readers, here’s the 1951 original by The Four Lads), so there are many old church buildings that were turned into mosques, and some that had been mosques turned into churches turned into mosques. The few remaining churches we've found have been by accident, always a little hidden off the road, down a hill, behind a gate. Even the interiors seem subdued and understated, like they understand and respect their minority status here. Honestly, the humility feels good, like if a Quaker meeting house and a Catholic cathedral had a baby.
Museum of Innocence
After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, Turkish author Orhan Pamuk’s next book was about a doomed romance in which the man obsessively collects (steals) everyday items from his beloved’s house and creates a Museum of Innocence as testimony to his love, and to capture everyday life in 1970’s Istanbul. In a clever and confusing weaving of fiction and reality, the author then actually built the museum, setting it in the alleged house of the girl’s family and recreating the instructions given by the book’s protagonist. I emerged semi-convinced that the book was based on a true story and those really were Fusun’s berets and butts (hair and cigarette, that is), which was entirely the point of the bold experiment. The most innovative museum I’ve ever been immersed in.
We mostly skip museums - information overload - but did wander into some great art shows and enjoyed street art and painted stairs. History and beauty spill out into the streets, not just in museum institutions.
Breakfast Street
A lot of our outings are to unique foods that Sarah had researched. A small shop famous for its candied quince with clotted cream. A tiny café up 5 narrow flights of stairs where the once-persecuted Christian Orthodox community still gathers. A nowhere shop that sells traditional Turkish sodas. A beautifully decorated old coffee shop where we work on our laptops for a whole morning with Sarah sipping cinnamon-sprinkled Sahlep. And one morning a 90-minute trek to the Beşiktaş “Breakfast Street” where over 20 restaurants compete to serve the most elaborate breakfast spread imaginable.
Day Trip to Asia
One day we hop a ferry across the “Bospherous” inlet that separates Europe from Asia (Istanbul is on both sides) to visit Kuzguncuk. It’s a funky old neighbourhood with thriving coexistence of many peoples, including Armenian Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim populations, with character houses and a warm and eclectic main avenue with its iconic triangular bookstore/coffee shop. On a side street we happen upon a second-story 4-table café with zucchini fritters & artichoke - the owner has just arrived and is unloading the pots of steaming-fresh foods from home, and we almost order one of each.
On the 45-minute walk back to the ferry dock, we divert to a mosque in the old area that was once Constantinople (now it’s Istanbul…) to finally find one of the famous bird palaces. These tiny mansions, which became increasingly ornate during the Ottoman empire, were seen as a way to curry favour with God, as well as to keep bird nests on the outside instead of inside of mosques and schools.
This loving care also extends to cats, in the form of makeshift cat houses and food dishes all over the city. This dates back to early shipping days when sailors weren’t the only visitors enjoying shore leave, and cats were highly valued to control the mouse population.
We could stay. We’ve still only hit a quarter of Istanbul’s 39 regions. We feel comfortable and secure, able to navigate and communicate and appreciate with increasing depth. The teachers at our lovely, dark yoga studio (we bought a one-month pass) know that we’re able to follow along to their Turkish instructions (by watching, not by understanding their beautiful language). We know to avoid the first fish seller on the right because he didn’t fillet our sea bass, and that the best and fairly-priced baklava is in the narrow street four doors down - the owner likes Canadians because a large man with a beard (he was very specific about that detail) at the market he worked in as a boy once gave him a Canadian flag pin.
I suppose we’re leaving because we think we Should, or anticipating future regret. We’ve spent enough time in Istanbul to claim some familiarity, but to someday look back at 6 weeks in Turkey without seeing any other part of it could feel like a missed opportunity. So we consult with friends and Lonely Planet, and pick one new adventure and new perspective on Turkey. But not without a lingering nostalgic “but we were so comfortable” over-the-shoulder look back at Istanbul (which I have just spelled correctly 6 times in a row, so I guess it’s time to close the book on that lesson).
Way at the top of this post I chose the tourist map as the banner photo. On the 3-day Rick Steves tour we would have checked off all these must-see’s. In our month we did get to most of them, but the real experience of Instanbul was the spider web of streets and stairs, garbage collectors and stray cat hotels, ornate doors and inner courtyards we discovered in between all the “sights.”
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Currently in...
Mayne Island, BC, then to a family wedding in Surrey
Heading to...
Paris, Albania, Milan, then Cambodia-Thailand-Vietnam for Oct-May. Please share any sites, people or ideas by email.
Thank you for your wonderful observations and photos, Rick.
It brought back many lovely memories.
We are so very glad, you two are having such an enjoyable time.
Wishing you all the very best for your next adventure.
Harald and Heidi
I’m really glad you guys lived well in Istanbul in the east-west mishmash. You did it better than I did, clearly. I was there for five days in 1990 as a poor student with a copy of Let’s Go Europe to tell me what to see. Wonderful sights and bazaars, and great food. I loved those lahmacun pizzas I got from street vendors. So cool though that you and Sarah had a place to stay and cook up fresh fish, and felt right at home there in town.