I am so enthralled with Istanbul and excited about our TV production work that it is hard to make time for a blog entry. This is very rushed, but I’ve got to share a little walk around the block with you.
Last night I went out alone for dinner. On the street level, the restaurant was dead — but a TV monitor was showing the action up on the terrace, four flights up. I sat down to dinner with the domes of the Blue Mosque on one side of me; on the other side, a fleet of freighters were patiently waiting their turn to slip through the bottleneck of the Bosporus. My dinner grace was forced on me as calls to prayer rang out all around. It was surround-sound: Allahu Akbar— “God is great.”
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| Filming the muezzin singing at the base of the minaret, we attempted to put a face on the Muslim call to prayer. Enlarge photo |
This round of the call to prayer was particularly vivid to me because just a few hours before, I’d had the privilege of sitting at the base of a minaret of the Blue Mosque, at the feet of the man who is perhaps Istanbul’s best singing hafiz (someone who has memorized all 6,000-plus verses of the Quran). He grabbed two old-fashioned microphones, put a hand on his ear, closed his eyes, and filled his neighborhood with a soulful warbling and highly amplified call to “come join the prayer, come join the salvation, God is great.” He covered me with goosebumps.
I was gazing at the Christmas-tree lights that draped the minarets spiking into the sky above my dinner table, when suddenly my waiter’s face filled my view and he plopped down a hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven loaf, a balloon of bread shaped like some Assyrian flotation device.
Tourists at the next table told me they were here to meet some students on a study ship cruising the Mediterranean. But because of the bomb here a couple days ago, the ship had been diverted to Egypt. (I wanted to scream at this example of nervous parental over-reaction — not only because it made no sense, but because Egypt has got to be many times more dangerous than Turkey anyway.)
I decided to walk home the long way, savoring the Istanbul night. A local couple was sucking on a four-foot-tall hookah, cuddled up on one of the sofas that’s so common these days in outdoor lounges in the Mediterranean, lost in each others’ gaga eyes.
I stepped into the Blue Mosque, as if to give it another chance. It was so touristy this morning, inundated with cruise-ship visitors. Now it was once again just the neighborhood mosque in action — not a tourist in sight. A window was open for ventilation. I peeked through to find it was the ladies’ prayer zone. I drew back, suddenly feeling a tinge of peeping-Tom guilt.
A family gathered around their little boy in his proud admiral’s outfit. It was his circumcision party — celebrated as Christians would celebrate a baptism, but even more joyous. (Turks call the circumcision party the greatest party — like “a wedding without the in-laws.”) The boy was all smiles…for now.
Looking up, I enjoyed a treat that sneaks up on me whenever I find myself under mosques after dark: the sight of soaring birds swooping past silhouetted minarets with their undersides floodlit.
I was regretting eating and drinking so much. In Turkey, I have sentimental favorite dishes from my student days as a backpacker here. Because of that (and a certain pride in being able to actually say the words in Turkish), I always order sutlac (rice pudding) and visnu su(cherry juice). Even if I’m not hungry or thirsty, I say the words, eat and drink…remembering my first tastes of Turkey as a teen.
Leaving the mosque, I came upon a big electronic reader board. It was evangelizing, constantly spooling out delightful, Muhammad-praising, “love thy neighbor” aphorisms in crawling red letters. After a few minutes pondering the verses, I thought, “Good religious marketing.”
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| In Istanbul the dervish comes to the tourists as a follower of Mevlana whirls. Enlarge photo |
Just outside the gate, a man was drawing tourists’ names on plates, mesmerizing a small crowd with his gorgeous calligraphy. While Western tourists in Turkey tend to assume that anyone “foreign-looking” is a local, I’ve realized that in Istanbul’s touristy zones like this, many of the “exotic locals” are actually tourists from other parts of the Islamic world.
My day’s little victory lap was just about done. Tourists filled a big patio, enjoying a single dervish whirling on an elevated platform. I have a bad attitude about dervishes doing their whirl for tourists who have no idea what’s going on. That’s because I have enjoyed the good fortune of having a dervish actually explain the meaning of this meditational prayer ritual, and how it relates to the teachings of Mevlana. (You might call Mevlana the “Islamic St. Francis.”) But I buried my bad attitude and simply enjoyed the beauty of his performance there in the Istanbul night.
I had a 7 a.m. appointment with a Turkish bath (to get in with our camera crew before the baths open to the public), so I headed back to our hotel, climbed into bed, and enjoyed reviewing the memories generated by simply spending a few minutes walking around the block after dinner in Istanbul. It affirmed my love of this city, which I rank (along with Paris, Rome, and London) as one of Europe’s top four great cities.
Beautiful imagery. Your writing style often reflects such attention to the details of the moment. As a traveler and travel writer, your situational awareness seems so keen. One of the many things that I love about traveling is that it heightens your sense of awareness so that what may ordinarily seem quotidian and, well, ordinary becomes a moment to comtemplate and preserve in the memory of our heart and mind.
Trish: My favorite Quotation is, The Eye can See and The Heart can Love, What the Word cannot Describe. ===== At the Sultan Ahmet Camii, the (Blue Mosque), there are several domes (counting the little ones, perhaps a couple of dozen), and six tall, slender minarets. Tourists are in awe as they walk here and there in this fantastic place. We could have spent days just to see a summary of the interior, but if we spend more than 30 minutes today, we will miss too many other splendid things, especially being back to our ship before it sails. There was one more bit of blue in the Blue Mosque, information not discussed in other tourist books, not found in Rick’s books, a scoop for this Travel Journal. I bought two blue sun-visors in Athens, I looped one on my arm as I took photos, and it was lost somewhere in the Blue Mosque. We didn’t miss it until we were on our way to St. Sophia Mosque, and time was short. When we got back to the ship, we were told that one of the tour leaders found a blue sun-visor, and had tried to find its owner. The other one was “lost†then “found†after the wind blew it off Sweetie’s head, as we walked the Wall in Dubrovnik, and we still have it after all those years.
I agree it is a top notch city!
I agree with you about Istanbul being very beautiful and interesting. I spent a wonderful evening there (before our cruise ship sailed at midnight), strolling around the port area, under the Bosporus through a tunnel full of people selling their wares, and through the Spice Market. Fascinating. The strange part was, I felt so SAFE. I think one of the most exciting parts, other than all the usual Istanbul sights, was crossing the bridge between Asia and Europe (on a bus). And the Bosporus itself was enthralling, with all those ships heading for exotic destinations, and the colorful ferry boats. And all our tours in Turkey had terrific, knowledgeable guide. How little I knew then that 9-11 was going to happen just a few years later. I also came home very curious about Attaturk!
Thanks for bringing back memories of four times in Istanbul…. before and after your bus tour in 2006 and Lale/Sidar sailing tour in 2007. You are probably talking about the Doy Doy Restaurant [Sifa Hamami Sokak No. 13, Sultanahmet –Downhill from the southern end of Hippodrome]. This link will take you to some photos of the dramatic views from the roof top there: http://picasaweb.google.com/MaryGeorgePhotos/IstanbulMosques2007 Here you can see the huge “balloon” bread: http://picasaweb.google.com/MaryGeorgePhotos/IstanbulWalkabouts2007 Ma?allah.
I have found that the best places are often not the most famous. When my wife and I visited Istanbul last October we were herded through the Blue Mosque with hordes of other tourists. The next day, after visiting the Grand Bazaar, we walked up the hill to the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent. It is older and more interesting than the Blue Mosque, and has several ornate mausoleums, including Suleiman’s. But there were hardly any tourists there because it is not as famous. I think part of the reason is that there is no place for buses to park.
I enjoy reading about Istanbul and cannot wait to someday visit that vibrant city. Your passion for that city makes your writing come more to life, I feel as though I am there with you.I was reading your section on Traveling through History and you stated: “knowing some history helps you appreciate the places you’ve traveled so far to see. We can’t image anybody fully enjoying one without the other.” I totally agree with you and was disappointed that you did not have a section on the ancient world, without the ancient world, would there be a Renaissance? you speak of Roman learning, was there anything before that? It would be great if your site talked about the beginning of European culture (the cradle of European culture) and how it progressed through the centuries–if I am going to travel through Europe, it would be wonderful to know how it began and how one culture influenced the other. For example when I travel the world and I see buildings with Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns, its just really nice to know how they were formulated etc.And the more you write about Istanbul, the more I want to get an overview of that city, the buildings, how it came into existence, etc..I recently took an art history class and the professor tied art and history and showed us how the two are intertwined…it’s so fascinating and while taking this class I thought of you, being the travel guru and being fair and balanced on matters of history and art. I am getting carried away here, so Happy and safe travels!
One of my most exciting experiences was Windsurfing in the straits….in my youth, when I still thought I was bulletproof. The wind is great there and the tankers and cargo ships kick up nice predictable waves for great “airtime”. Rick, I hope you continue with the political discussion on the places you visit. I want to know more about why the bombers are bombing. A lot of these people have real grievances that may go back centuries. I’d like to know about the “terrorist” invaders who destroyed the existing cultures and then built the great new cities and cultures. I do love your writing, but I don’t like looking at the world through rosecolored glasses. I want the “real” world. I can handle it. The real world is not just pretty sights and great food. It is also great ideas, people and civilizations in conflict with each other. I want the ebb and flow, the destruction and renewal. I want the full picture. Who doesn’t visit the dungeon when they visit Rothenburg? I grew up blind and brainwashed. I felt betrayed. I now want to see it all.
Terry your post is a great one..like you said, these great cities of today, what came before them. If you visit some of these countries and their grand cities, in some of these countries their greatest churces, temples, art work came from a preceding culture, and why was the previous great culture taken over? You have posed some interesting thoughts, great thinking outside the box, as many Americans tend to lack at times
Great writing, Rick! Really nice job of capturing an Istanbul night.