Turkish Delights

Easter Weekend in Istanbul

In England, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays so my friends and I happily took advantage of the four day weekend with a trip to Istanbul. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia and the site of a formerly great and powerful empire, Istanbul is a fascinating mix of east and west, old and new.

As far as the cultural experiences on offer, Istanbul surpassed my expectations - the harem rooms in Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and the Whirling Dervishes were all worth the flight alone. I was a bit surprised though by the prices - it's certainly not an inexpensive city. While we found a very reasonable and comfortable hotel for 75 Euros per night (in the perfect location in Sultanahmet), most food and drinks prices were what you would expect to pay in any major European or U.S. city. We found ourselves converting to Sterling to make the restaurant bills and museum entrance fees more palatable (anything anywhere seems cheaper when compared to what it would cost in London).

With a group of seven friends travelling together, it can be hard to come up with an itinerary that will please everyone but we did pretty well by fitting in a couple of cultural sites each day, breaking for lunch (kebabs!) or coffee in a cafe, and splitting up into groups at the bazaar, with the hard core jewellery shoppers heading in one direction and the casual browsers (including me) in another.

Trip Details:

Hotel: Valide Sultan Konagi - very comfortable and breakfast on the fourth floor terrace with views of the Ayasofya on one side and the Golden Horn on the other was lovely. Could have done without the nearby construction noise, but the free transfer from the airport to the hotel was appreciated.

Restaurants:

 • Doy Doy - low key, inexpensive kebab restaurant in Sultanahmet, very tasty.

 • Asitane - fabulous, classy restaurant specializing in authentic Ottoman feast recipes - many dishes combine tender meat with unexpected fruit and spice combinations like apricots, cinnamon and pistachios to delicious effect.

 • Sunset Grill and Bar - upscale restaurant serving Asian-European fusion cuisine - the menus were overwhelmingly lengthy (except for the cocktail list) and the wine list was dominated by $100+ choices but the food and views were excellent. It's too bad it was too cold to sit on their beautiful and expansive terrace - the views directly over the Bosphorus probably would have made the prices easier to swallow.

Sights:

 • Topkapi Palace (and Harem tour) - beautiful palace buildings and grounds. The harem rooms and history were fascinating and the jewels on display (including the "three spoons" diamond and an entire suit of armour) were fun to see. There are also great views from the gardens out over the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. The restaurant/cafe in the palace garden looked and smelled really good as well but we didn't eat there.

 • Basilica Cistern - very cool underground Byzantine cistern, a scene from the James Bond film To Russia With Love was filmed here.

 • Ayasofya - Built by the Roman Emperor Justinian, this was the largest church ever built until St. Peters in Rome was constructed a thousand years later. In 1453 Mehmet the Conqueror turned it into a mosque and many of the Christian frescos were painted over or removed. In 1935 Ataturk turned it into a museum. My favorite part of the Ayasofya was walking up the long curved ramp to the upper mezzanine. Some beautiful frescos remain up there and you have a great view down into the main body of the church.

 • Blue Mosque - I've been in plenty of churches, synagogues, and Buddhist and Shinto temples but this was my first Mosque. Really beautiful and awe inspiring. It's open to the public except when prayers are taking place. I wasn't required to cover my head but we all had to remove our shoes. I noted a separate enclosed area at the back of the mosque reserved for women to sit in during prayers. There were a few women sitting in there. I wonder what they think of all the unscarved women traipsing through as tourists.

 • Galata Tower - the only reason to go up into the tower are for the great views of the city. The restaurant/bar/night club they've added inside didn't look like they'd be worth a visit.

 • Taksim Square - Between the Galata Tower and Taksim Square is a long mostly pedestrian shopping street which was very lively on a Sunday afternoon. We had lunch at one of the cute cafe bars just off the Flower Passage which is about half way up the street.

 • Sufi Music Concert and Whirling

Whirling Dervishes Ceremony
The performance was by a Muslim group called the Sufi Group of Istanbul Galata Mevlevi Lodge. The musicians and choir (lead by a male chanter) played and sang for 15 minutes first and then the dancer... [more]

Dervishes Ceremony - I attended a performance in the train station that is also home to the Orient Express. The music and dancing were moving and beautiful - the dancers go into a kind of religious trance as they spin which is meditative for them and the audience. The symbolism, atmosphere, traditional instruments, chanting, and clothing combined to create a really wonderful spectacle.

 • The Grand Bazaar and the Egyptian Spice Market - I liked the Spice Market the best but did end up buying two t-shirts and some cereal bowls in the Bazaar. Oh, and of course a bright red fez complete with tassel.

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