Istanbul: A Cultural Crossroads

---

Istanbul. A city straddling two continents, two religions, and two ways of life: one ancient, one modern. Although they are all stereotypes, my recent visit to this magnificent Turkish city taught me that there is a lot of truth behind each of these images. Although not the capitol of Turkey (that would be Ankara, on the Anatolian plateau), Istanbul is most definitely the demographic, economic, and cultural capitol of the country. Growing incredibly rapidly, it offers a vivid reminder of the ancient heritage that this fascinating "crossroads of the East and the West" possesses, as well as an example of the wrenching dislocations of globalization, westernization, and European integration forces. Read on to learn some more...

On February 20, my friend Bryony and I arrived in Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport after flying through Vienna from Paris. Spotlessly clean, modern, efficient, (bilingual), the airport was nonetheless practically empty and we were through customs within 15 minutes of landing. You have to purchase a 15 euro entry visa to visit the country, but that was the only irregular formality- and there was no line for that either! By the time we got through customs our bags were already lined up alongside the carrousel waiting for us. Less than thirty minutes passed before we were out, underground, and riding the almost-new light-rail train system that takes you the 15 or so kilometers into the city, where you can catch a tramway to the center. If only Charles de Gaulle could be so pleasant...my first impression of Turkey was of a modernizing dynamism, with helpful (English-speaking) citizens and efficient public transportation systems. Great!

As soon as we started making our way to the city, though, we immediately noticed differences that mark Turkey as a poor country still in need of much development. Like any city, it has its slums on the exterior, but the peculiar stretches of cracked concrete and rusty fences reminded me of Lima, Peru, rather than the banlieux of Paris, France. Poverty was evident. However, the tenement houses were painted bright colors, so it was a little less dreary than some American cities I've seen...which also reminded me of Peru. A bit more vibrancy, maybe. Arriving in the city, we descended from the train and were immediately feeling slightly overwhelmed trying to find the tramway station. However, it only took a few minutes of wheeling our bags around and staring, befuddled, at a road map before a really nice man named Mohammed approached us and offered to guide us to the metro. Having just arrived in Istanbul himself from a year spent living in Japan, it wasn't even his city...and yet he took care to make sure we got off at the right stop, and warned us about pickpockets before bidding goodbye. Friendly people? Check. Good transportation? Check. Only cost 2.60 lira (about 1.5 euros) to get to our hotel. Take the trains, people. Don't take a cab.

Our hotel was the Golden Crown hotel, an Expedia.com special located right in the heart of the historic district in the southern part of the European bank of the city. (It's separated from the northern part by the Golden Horn, and from Asia by the Bosporus Strait). All the streets are cobblestone, and the "main street" (the Divan Yolu) that bisected this area of town was a two-lane road- the same one that the trams run on. It was an interesting mix of modern tram-technology plopped right down into a millennia-old warren of city streets. However, the location of our hotel turned out to be fabulous, only 5 minutes from all the principal tourist sites and about 2 minutes from the Cemberlitas (chem-ber-LEE-tash) tram stop. It was clean, the rooms were nice (if basic), the mini-bar was actually relatively affordable, and the employees were great. A continental breakfast was included, all for about 15 euro a night per person. Gotta love the EXTRA-Europ zone. I'll be sad if Turkey joins the EU and everything gets twice as expensive. We were lucky enough to get good meals for 4 euros, tea for 30 centimes, and tramway rides for 50 centimes. Excellent.

So Bryony and I arrived safe and sound, albeit exhausted, on Tuesday night around 5:30 pm. Some of my first and strongest impressions were the following: the women were, indeed, veiled; instead of steeples, mosque minarets dot the skyline, too numerous to count; and the Muslim call to prayer which echoes across the city, broadcast on loudspeakers from each and every minaret. It goes out five times a day: before dawn, morning, noon, 5:30 pm, and after sunset. I am sure that it must get commonplace to citizens of Muslim countries, but for a Westerner like me, it was a magical experience. I loved hearing the call-and-response sound of the criers, and it really made me realize how DIFFERENT Turkey is from the "rest" of Europe. European? Asian? Muslim? Secular? Difficult to respond to those questions. I would say it is truly a mix- which makes it all the more interesting. An intellectual journey. Turkey is a secular country according to its constitution, although the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim. However, not all are practicing or overly-observant...kind of like France is 87% Catholic but nobody goes to church. In Istanbul, most people go to the mosque for the main Friday noon prayer, but they do not pray 5 times a day. Although every time the call goes out you do see some men hurrying towards to mosques to wash their feet, enter, and pray. Very cool.

The first night Bryony and I ventured out of our hotel and walked 5 minutes down the tramline-street to take a look at the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. It was an amazing sight, and we arrived in front of the Blue Mosque just as the evening call to prayer went out. Nothing could have said to me better, "Welcome to Turkey." "How lucky am I?" I kept asking myself. All we could repeat was, "wow." Very eloquent...and yet true. It was "wow." See the pictures...I wish I could send you the sounds. However, it was also right there that we got our first taste of being a European woman in Istanbul. The problem: WAY too much male attention. Never thought I would say that. While we were standing in a park, taking pictures of the mosque, a couple of boys who looked about 14 came up to us and started repeating the word "six." Pronounced "seex." Well, combine those two spelling and you have what I finally realized he was TRYING to say..."sex." That's apparently what most Istanbul men think European women are looking for when they "go East"...a good time and a one-night-stand. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry that we were being propositioned by a boy who knew no other english word than "sex" (badly pronounced) at 7 o'clock at night. Little did I know it was just a precursor of what was to come...4 days of being the constant object of attention, prompting stares, catcalls, whistles, pick-up lines, and even a car full of 40-something men who tried to pick us up on the main road near our hotel like a couple of cheap hookers. This with Bryony and I dressed in jeans, jackets, gloves, and pretty much every other skin-covering article of clothing. It was incredible. I have never felt so objectified in my life as while I was there. You might think it would be flattering, but it's obviously such groundless, undiscerning, insincere, attention that is holds no value whatsoever. First you laugh it off, incredulous (I mean, we were trying to look UNATTRACTIVE!), and then it starts to grate on your nerves. We eventually put scarves over our heads to ward off a few stares...but that barely worked either. The Bazaars are the worst, because there the men actually speak multiple languages and hit on you as soon as you slow down to glance at something. It got so bad that we couldn't even look sideways! You just kept looking straight ahead and ignored all the comments and invitations to "come into my store." We weren't even safe at a high-class jewelry store: the salesman started to hit on Bryony about 30 seconds after we walked into his area. Dressed in an expensive suit, selling Cartier, he had the effrontery to assure us that, "Don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you jewelry. I just want to talk to you...are you interesting in seeing more of the city? In a car? What are your plans for tonight?" Furthermore, he made the ultimate mistake: diss one girl in front of her best friend. All the guys were enthralled by Bryony's (admittedly) beautiful gray-green eyes, and this particular salesman told her, "You have the most beautiful eyes. What's your name? Oh, your friend has pretty eyes too...but I think she's with him!" (Gesture over to Chris, hovering nearby.) Bryony and I basically gawked at each other and then blew him off a minute or two later, going back downstairs and fleeing to our waiting tourist bus. Chris emerged only several minutes later, having secured the guy's business card in exchange for not following us. Now what the hell does the guy think we're going to do with his stupid card? Call him up for a little action? Unbelieveable. EVEN THERE we weren't safe. Fortunately nobody ever tried anything physical (except for some dude walking behind us on the road, who reached and tried to touch Bryony's curls before I slapped his hand away) but it was just irritating. Chris had no problems. Typical. Why wasn't I born a guy??? When we were in the Bazaar, he would get molested and accosted just like us when we were all together...but alone...nada. Grrrr.

We had to admit it was ridiculous to the point of comical, however, so Bryony and I started keeping a LIST of things we heard. Here are some good/typical ones:
*Hey, Spice Girls! (In the Spice Bazaar)
*Hey lady, I know what you want! Come into my store."
*Hola guapa!
*Charlie's Angels (there were only 2 of us)
*Beautiful (only about a million times)
*"Six"
*Where are you from?
*May I call you a dream? (to Bryony, from creepy jewelry guy at Storks)
*You're pretty too, but I think you're with him (to me, also from creepy guy...he had some real winners)
*Good morning ladies. Tell me, which part of my friend do you like best? (from a 55-ish guy who kinda reminded me of my Dad)
*Hey girls...have you maybe lost your way? (Driver of a car who stopped in front of us and tried to pick us up)

You can see how these sorts of 'compliments' got old quickly...

But don't judge too harshly! Istanbul has more than enough magnificent aspects to make up for these slight inconveniences. While these guys were maybe a bit TOO friendly, the Turkish people in general are incredibly helpful and friendly. Waiters, tramway workers, hotel employees, shopkeepers, etc...it was a nice change from Paris, where shopkeepers act as though they are doing YOU a favor by selling to you and where nobody goes out of their way to help you.

These aspects do not include their Mexican food. For some reason, Bryony and I had a craving for nachos, so we tried a Mexican place our first night...oh dear. We ordered double-decker nachos...and got 4 tiny sandwich things. NOT what we were craving! After that we stuck to the Turkish doners and kebabs and baklava and tea, which was both cheap and delicious. No need to search for anything better than a cheap little diner restaurant-all the food is good!

OK, so on to the less anecdotal stuff...here comes your historical/cultural lesson. Istanbul is, first of all, NOT the capitol of the nation: that is Ankara, in the middle of the Anatolian plateau. It was moved there by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the most well-known and beloved Turkish national hero, who was a general during WWI and then the first president and founder of modern Turkey. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during WWI, Ataturk radically changed the nation, liberalizing its social structure, giving the vote to women, secularizing the nation, and really changing it into a European nation. Today it is a candidate for admission to the EU, but the debate over its admission is heated and divisive in Europe, mainly because Turkey has a Muslim majority and a huge population- some 80 million people. In addition, it has a history of military coups interfering with its democratic processes, because the military has positioned itself as a sort of protector of Turkish secularization, and whenever a pro-Islamic government wins elections there are problems. EU candidacy is beginning to correct this tendency, but there are other issues as well. The nation is much poorer than Western Europe, but its economy is growing rapidly. However, economic restructuring is one of the requirements for admission, as is the continuing improvement of its civil liberties. There is a fair amount of free-speech and political repression, and during the week I was there a pro-Kurdish politician in the east was arrested for "divisive hatred-inciting speech" and for "defaming the nation." (Something like that). Basically, the problem is that Turkey has a large Kurdish population in the east, and is deathly afraid that the decades-old secessionist movement might succeed in breaking away from the country. Much blood has been spilled while suppressing the PKK (the Kurdish Independence Party) (not positive of the name) and an underground terrorist movement still exists. Brutally repressed for decades, the Kurds have just recently been re-permitted to teach their own language in their schools, congregate, call themselves Kurds, etc. This was major improvement in the 1990s, but the war in Iraq (with its Kurds in the north) puts the whole thing in jeopardy. The newspapers and editorials are filled with commentary over possible intervention in Iraq. The last problem blocked EU entrance is the Turks refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide, when roughly one million Armenians were forced-marched across the country, expelled, and murdered. It was a very dark period in the country's history, and I think their refusal to recognize it is related to a fear of remunerations. But without such a recognition, anti-Turkish European factions will always be able to use it has a blocking criteria for admission. So Turkey has some way to go before/if it becomes officially a European Union member.

Now that you're politically up-to-date, I'll rewind a bit a give you a bit of a historical synopsis. As you may know, Istanbul straddles the Bosporus Strait on both the European and Asian continents. It used to be known as Constantinople during the Roman Empire, when Emperor Constantine turned it into the capitol of the Eastern Roman Empire. (This was during the decline of the Roman Empire when it was split in two to preserve its strength). The Eastern Roman Empire became Christian and lasted a lot longer than the Western Roman Empire (centered around Rome) so the Christian era in Constantinople lasted a long time. It became the Byzantine Empire, and there are many lasting influences of this epoch. The most obvious is the enormous Hagia Sofia basilica, which was built in 537 A.D. by Justinian I on the site of an older edifice and was for many years the largest church/basilica in the Christian world. However, when Mehmet the Conqueror and the Ottomans captured the city in 1453, the new ruler's first action was to convert the Hagia Sofia into a mosque. It remained a mosque until Ataturk turned it into a national museum in 1935. Today, it is the most-visited monument in Istanbul, according to my guide book. Inside it are some amazing mosaics, including a couple really famous ones, and the decorations are a fascinating mix of Christian and Muslim imagery. For example, directly above the mihrab (niche pointing towards Mecca) is an icon of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. How awesome is that? It is the perfect example of the mix of influences throughout Istanbul's long history. Even the fact that it is now a museum instead of a mosque says something about the currently-secular nature of the country.

Other remnants from (pre-Ottoman) Roman/Byzantine times include the Hippodrome and the Basilica Cistern. The Hippodrome was a Roman horse-racing/gladiator oval built in 203 AD and at one time could seat up to 100,000 spectators. Today it is located right next to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia today. Although only the shape remains, it contains the 3500-year-old Egyptian Theodosian Obelisk as well as the Serpentine Column, a bronze column commemorating a Greek victory and the oldest Greek relic in Istanbul. You can also see the Tiled Column, a monument from Roman times built by Constantine around 900 A.D. It also has a beautiful mosaic fountain erected in commemoration of a German kaiser's visit in the late 1800s. A classic example of the enormous age of the city- I found it really cool that the different monuments on this one single site trace so far back through history, each a reminder of a different era.

The Basilica Cistern was also amazing. Underground, it covers some 10,000 square meters and was built by Justinian in 532 A.D. to store drinking water brought to the city by aqueducts from the north. It has 336 stone columns and was one of the coolest historical sites I've seen in a long time. (See pictures).

All of these things were just minutes from our hotel. Just across from the Hagia Sofia, on the other side of a beautiful circular park, is the magnificent Blue Mosque. Its official name is the Sultanahmentcamii, which means the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet. Guess who had it built. It was constructed between 1609-1616 and became the principal mosque of the city, because it was located very close to Topkapi Palace, the home of the Ottoman Sultan. Its construction was slightly controversial because Ahmet I wanted the mosque to have six minarets. However, that would have equaled the number of minarets the mosque in Mecca has (which is the most sacred mosque in the world), and thus in order to be able to have his six minarets, Ahmet paid to add one more minaret to Mecca's mosque. It was sort of like bribing the Pope during medieval times, I guess. LOL. The result was absolutely spectacular, though, and the name "Blue Mosque" is derived from the blue haze inside the building. Magnificent blue stained-glass windows filter the sunlight, which then reflects off of walls covered in white tiles with blue, cerulean, yellow, and peach designs on them. The overall effect is quite remarkable.

However, my favorite mosque was the Sulimaniye Camii, or the Mosque of Suliman the Magnificent. Celebrated as the best example of Ottoman architecture in the city, the quality of light and the floating-appearance of the huge dome really impressed me. We visited that mosque in the middle of the day and it was so much brighter and open than Christian cathedrals (which sometimes depress me). Check out the photos. It was built between 1550-1557 by the chief Ottoman architect Sinan, who was an absolute genius. He was also the architect of numerous other chef d'oeuvres, such as the Prince's Mosque (also enormous) and the conversion of the Hagia Sofia to a mosque. He lived from 1489-1588, during the height of the Ottoman Empire. He is buried behind the Sulimaniye mosque, as is Suliman the Magnificent and his wife. We toured this mosque with a Turkish guy we met in the street called Ismail and learned lots of supplementary information. Yay for local knowledge.

I think this blog is long enough for now, so I am going to publish it and create a second one that will take you step-by-step through Istanbul retracing Bryony's, Chris' and my steps. Along the way you'll hear more of my impressions of the city, as well as a few more amusing anecdotes and reflections on the city's evolving character. But for now...enjoy some pictures!!!

---

Photos

The Blue Mosque at night
I have a video taken at this same time which recorded the call to prayer which was being broadcast...a very exotic experience for the two of us on our first night in Istanbul!

Me and Bryony
In a diner on night # 2, eating dinner with Chris. Delicious food!

Bryony and me on the Divan Yolu
Strolling on the tramway road - the "main strip" - near our hotel.

Baklava. With Bryony. Perfect night in the hotel.
I LOVE baklava. Good thing I can't find it everywhere in Paris...we ate a whole freakin' box in our hotel room this night!

Istanbul University front gate
Right after I got back to Paris, I saw a picture of this gate in the newspapers...covering with student demonstrators claiming the right to wear the veil inside the university. (As it's public, and secular, it is currently prohibited).

Interior of the Sulimanyecamii
The mosque of Suliman the Magnificent, built at the apogee of the Ottoman Empire around 1550, is the best example of Ottoman architecture and was my favorite.

Inside the Sulimanyecamii
Women are asked to veil themselves out of respect when they enter a mosque. We happily donned the veils that are lent out at the door.

Valen's Aqueduct
With Bryony and Ismail, our "guide" for the morning. (He attached himself to us and took us on a tour!)

Sahaflar Carsisi
The Antique Book Market...view of a cat sleeping on a roof. Chris bought a piece of artwork here.

The Grand Bazaar
Entrance one of four. Turkish name is the Kapali Carsi.

Gorgeous ceilings of the Hagia Sofia
These beautiful paintings/frescos?? have been wonderfully restored by the State.

Half of the Hagia Sofia
This is only the main central chamber. I couldn't even fit it all into my viewfinder!

Famous Fresco
John the Baptist with some other people...apparently very well-known.

Blue Mosque aka Sultanahmet Camii

Interior of the Blue Mosque
Absolutely breathtaking.

Ceiling and Pillars inside the Blue Mosque
Can you see the blue-tinted tiles???

Comments

[Test]

Test
Thanks for observation