Reminiscing Part IV: Istan-bully-bully!

"Bully-bully" is an appropriate way to describe this city, it's one of the best places on earth.  Period.  No 'ifs', no 'buts.'  Everyone should visit at least once in their lives, and here's your incentive, dead reader.

The first three days of running through the city, just to try to see all the tourist pulls leaves one gasping for time to write it all down.  At the end of the 3rd day I was in shreds and put my foot down.  On the steps of the Turkish bath.  There’s nothin’ like good long soak and a meeting with a big woman armed with a loofa to make one feel human again.  I glided out of that bath and didn’t even mind the street kids outside under our hotel veranda who were screaming and running around like miniature tasmanian devils.
Leaving my room windows wide open is another quirk that I have when traveling through dynamic cities that are known for their energy.  If you must sleep, it allows the party outside to continue around you, so you don’t wake up wondering what you missed. That lesson was learned several years ago on a trip to Morocco where (believe it or not) the only available hotel was above the spice market, and there was noise and general hubbub from the time we went to sleep at 1am to the time we woke up. But that’s another story for another time.

 No matter what time of year it is there is always something going on in the former Constantinople.  Especially in the summer, there will always be a sea of tourists, but the Turks are so friendly that nobody really gets in each other’s way, and you don’t get the sense that the hundred thousand of out-of-town visitors are a complete nuisance.  Also, there are places like Beyoğlu, up some steep hills where tour buses fear to tread, leaving it open to the locals and the more adventurous.
This is the place to come to really see Istanbul.  Back in the early Victorian days it was the ‘little Europe’ section of town, and all the diplomats and celebrities built their town homes here amidst the numerous bars, patisseries, restaurants, boutiques and embassies.  With this kind of attention, it’s no wonder that it also sported telephones, electric lighting and one of the first electric trams in the world, the Tünel.  But when Ataturk moved the capital to Ankara, Beyoğlu fell into disrepair and took on a decidedly sleazy air.  Recovery took a long time, and it wasn’t until the 1990’s that people started to renovate the neighborhood, bringing it back to a reminder of it’s glory days.  This hill is, once again, the hub of everything chic in town, and we unintentionally dropped in on the night of the big jazz festival, so the cafes and streets were packed. There is no better way to mingle with well-dressed locals!

 Some of the highlights of the city that will be covered in subsequent entries will be the Aya Sofia, and other churches known for their stunningness, some of the most famous mosques, palaces & ruined castles along the Bosphorous and possibly a special section on the harems. 


To come full-circle, lets close with with a quote from Alphonse de Lamartine “If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul.”