Grand Bazaar

We spent our final morning in Istanbul exploring a small portion of the sprawling Grand Bazaar, the oldest shopping area in the world. Vendors sell silk scarves, turquoise tiles, hand-woven rugs, hanging lanterns and even fake designer bags like the ones sold in NYC’s Chinatown.

Haghia Sophia

Sitting in-between the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace is the Haghia Sophia, or “Divine Wisdom,” which originated as a cathedral in the 500s until the Ottomans captured Constantinople and converted the Haghia Sophia into a mosque. Mustafa Kemal A. declared the building a museum in 1943. The buttresses which hold up the building detract from its original beauty and made me a little skeptical of what the museum would look like inside. Instead, its hybridity overwhelmed me. Gold Arabic writing coupled with images of Madonna and her child painted on the ceiling, stained-glass cathedral windows and the dome-shaped structure, all contribute to create an awe-inspiring architectural experience.

Topkapi Palace

I preferred the Topkapi Palace to the Dolmabahce Palace. The TP was designed with an Ottoman-aesthetic rather than a European one. Tulips are arranged symmetrically in all the palace’s gardens, and turquoise tiles decorate a majority of the rooms including the Library… and the Circumcision Room! We walked through the Imperial Treasury where we viewed a collection of armory, swords and rifles before taking in the view of the Asian side of Istanbul across the Bosphorous.

Right outside the TP is the Archaeological Museum where we saw Greek and Roman statues as well as Egyptian tombs the Ottomans took as spoils of war.

Yerebatan Sarnici

After a late start, we visited the Yerebatan Sarnici, or Basilica Cistern, the most well-known underground reservoir in Sultanahmet. A good friend of M’s calls it “one of my favorite places in the world.” The damp and cool cistern is strategically-lit with multi-colored lights that lead the way from the entrance to two statues of Medusa’s head stolen from Greece during a war. The BC is an amazing engineering and architectural feat and beautiful in a very different way from all the palaces, mosques and churches we visited in Istanbul.

Food Review: Balikci Sabahattin

We had dinner at a Turkish fish restaurant inside of a three-story townhouse. Our friendly, bow-tie-wearing waiter showed us a tray of cold starters to choose from; we picked the feta cheese (amazing), olives & tomatoes in Italian-seasoned olive oil, and brown rice with muscles. For our entrees, we had the grilled striped bass and the red gunard. As always, I’ve saved the best for last: all three deserts were phenomenal in their own right. The strawberries with cream served to freshen the palate. The honey cake with green semolina seasoning was sweet, and, finally, the brown halwa reminded me of the carrot halwa my mother used to make for me when I was a child.

Camlica Hill

We concluded our day in modern Istanbul by crossing the Bosphorous Bridge to Istanbul’s Asian side where we admired the Bosphorous and the sprawling city from Camlica Hill.

Istanbul exceeded all my expectations. It is a clean, well-maintained city bereft of the poverty Orphan P. describes in his book. Beautifully-manicured tulip gardens decorate Istanbul. We never had a problem communicating with locals; it seemed as if everyone knew some English, and many of the store owners could also converse in French and Spanish. Modern Istanbul is covered with posters of Mustafa Kemal A., the country's first president (ending the Ottoman dynasty), asserting the country as a modern nation. A majority of the young women in Istanbul are Muslim, but they cover their heads with a wide range of modern and fashionable scarves (widely known as “Islam chic”). Not once did I see a man wearing a fez.

Dolmabache Palace

After a seafood lunch at one of the restaurants on the Bosphorous, we visited the Dolmabache Palace, a western-style imperial home built in the mid-nineteenth-century. Europe’s baroque and neoclassical styles rather than an Ottoman one dominate the palace’s aesthetic. The ceilings are ornately carved and ostentatious in their mediums; ceiling designs were made of pure silver and gold bought on loans from GB. The luxurious red-and-gold arm chairs, spectacularly large chandeliers, wall-to-wall mirrors, and parlor-style furniture reminded me of a European palace rather than an Ottoman one.

Bosphorous Cruise

We took a cruise on the Bosphorous which divides Istanbul into two – the western side which sits on the European continent and the eastern side of the city which is on the Asian continent. Istanbul is known as the only city on the world which belongs to two continents. Like commuters who live in the boroughs of Manhattan, millions of Istanbullus from the Asian side of the city commute to the European side everyday for work.

I was eager to see the yalis, waterside mansions built on the Bosphorous by the wealthy Ottoman families during the eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries. Despite the sunny weather and clear water (dolphins followed our boat and showed off their diving skills), I quickly understood the huzun, or melancholy, Orhan P. uses to describe modern Istanbul after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in his memoir/travelogue, Istanbul: Memories of a City. Dilapidated mansions sit on the water’s edge. Large industrial ships make their way under bridges that connect the city’s European and Asian shores. Upon first seeing the yalis in the distance, I was skeptical that they were real homes; they looked like one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs of mansions that once stood. However, upon closer examination, as the captain maneuvered the boat closer to the shore, I could see a woman draw back a curtain or a man untying his boat docked on the shore. I realized that Ottoman-style architecture is devoid of balconies or terraces, and shutters are almost always shut closed to protect women from any invasion of privacy. Ottoman-style homes were designed this way, giving them a flat, one-dimensional appearance.

From the water we viewed the Rumeli Fortress which the Ottomans built in the mid-1400s and lead to their success in taking over Constantinople which was at the time a Byzantine state.

Spice Bazaar

We began day two of our trip by checking out the Spice Bazaar at the Bosphorous. Istanbullus love Bollywood films which are often played on local television, and a number of shopkeepers referred to us as Indians and invited us to share some apple tea with them in their shops. Istanbul is the only city I’ve ever visited where time and time again I was seen as an “Indian” rather than as an “American.” Despite my short, western-style haircut, black boots and denim jeans, all signs that mark me as an American, locals identified me as Indian rather than American.

Food Review: Turquoise in Sultanahmet

Our first night in Sultanahmet (UNESCO WH) we had dinner at the Turquoise, a restaurant recommended to us by our concierge. A few blocks away from the Blue Mosque on a cobblestone street, the Turquoise is a spacious restaurant with cozy sofa chairs and multi-colored lights that hang from the ceiling. For appetizers we had the calamari and home-made hummus seasoned with crushed tomato. For entrees we ordered the Turquoise special and the stir-fry lamb dish served with saffron-seasoned rice. After our simple yet delicious meal we took a nighttime stroll around Sultanahmet whose monuments, palaces and religious structures are illuminated with spot-lights after nightfall.