Istanbul - May 2013

Last November, Monsieur celebrated his 30th birthday, and because I didn't know how much time we would find to travel together in 2013, I gave him a city trip as a present. I expected him to need some time to decide where we would go, but he knew it right on the evening of his birthday, and so we started planning the trip early this year. This is why one week ago I was in sunny, lovely Istanbul. Now, only a few days later, I read about what happens there and I can't believe it. This blog post should have been about our trip to one of the most amazing cities in Europe, it should have been about lazy walks around historical sights, great dinners and the friendly people we met in Istanbul.

I feel I have to express my sympathy and support for the people in Istanbul who stand up against their government's wrong decisions and the violence of the police fighting against peaceful protests.It is always hard to tell if a report found online on something like this is true or not, but I'm adding the link to a blog post here, a post that really touched me when I read it yesterday. At the same time it makes me so angry, it's just awful that people still have to fight for their basic rights - in a country that calls itself a democracy. Of course, bad things happen in other countries as well, also in central Europe. But Turkey wants to join the EU, and what happens in Istanbul these days is so, so very far from the european idea of equality, of human rights and of peace. The turkish government shouldn't get away with this.

This I saw on Facebook today.

I am shocked about the news, and I know at the same time that I shouldn't be. 

I know that the fact a country calls itself "democratic" does not necessarily mean that people there are blessed with the same freedom I enjoy as a swiss citizen. I know that Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey 154 of 179 countries in their Press Freedom Index 2013. I've read about the tendencies of the turkish government towards a stronger influence of religion on politics.

So Turkey is definitely not a country that I would see as an example when it comes to human rights and to the implementation of democratic structures. But it is always easy to criticise from a distance. And is it really a reason not to travel to Turkey, knowing that not everything is the way it should be? Actually I don't have an answer to this question. Today I would probably say yes. Yes, it is a reason, as tourism is a major source of income for Turkey's economy, it might make a difference if we stay at home. But honestly, only two weeks back I didn't think about this for a second, I was just looking forward to visiting Istanbul. Now all I can do is write this blog post, to express my concern and sadness and to honour the women and men in Turkey who stand up for their rights, peacefully, and are confronted with this incredible violence and ignorance from their own government.

Although I don't really feel like it, I also want to write about our Istanbul – Istanbul one week ago.

We arrived there on a beautiful, sunny Friday evening and found our way from the airport to the hotel. The hotel – this is already my first recommendation. We stayed at Ahmet Efendi Evi, ten minutes walk from the blue mosque. When we found the hotel online, we read in a comment that it's worth to book the terrace room and so we did. Oh yes – jackpot. From the terrace we could see the sea, and (standing on the small table, holding on to the roof) the blue mosque. It was fantastic.

Ahmet Efendi Evi

Terrace view, at night.

Terrace view, daytime.

The people working at the hotel were incredibly friendly and helpful, the breakfast was great and the room not luxurious, but completely okay for us, cosy and clean.
After our first walk around Sirkeci neighbourhood we already knew we would love Istanbul. In the evening we had a nice dinner at Cankurtaran Sosyal Tesisleri – a recommendation from someone at Ahmet Efendi Evi. The sea in view, a great turkish dinner on the table, what a start into the weekend. 
 

Swissair still exists in Istanbul.

On Saturday, we started our little city tour at Taksim Square, with a coffee and a piece of cake. We discovered Beyoğlu's streets and alleys, stopped at Mephisto Bookstore for lunch (there's a nice little café on the first floor), did some shopping and admired the view of the city from Galata Bridge. Concerning shopping – I bought a pencil drawing of dancing dervishes, sneakers, a lot of souvenirs for my parents, my grandma and myself. In a shop named „Crash“, we found really cool T-Shirts for Monsieur and as a birthday present for a friend. And I bought a dress, white with little black cats sitting on red balls, I love it. Of course we had coffee again, this time at Brew Coffeeworks, which was very nice. In the evening we enjoyed the light on Galata bridge, took pictures of the people fishing from up there and of course had dinner in one of the restaurants on the bridge.

On Sunday, we went to see the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, two buildings you should absolutely visit when in Istanbul. The Blue Mosque is extremely beautiful from the outside, but the experience to see it from the inside – which would probably be very impressive if you had time to admire the colourful tiles and the dimensions of the room – turned out to be a bit disappointing. We were there very early in the morning but so were others and most of the tourists didn't behave in a way I would think is appropriate for being in a mosque. The Hagia Sophia, after centuries of being a church and later a mosque, nowadays is a museum. But while it doesn't look very inviting from the outside (although it is really BIG), to see it from the inside is a breathtaking experience. We spent a long time on the gallery, watching the people down on the ground floor, taking many, many pictures of the mosaics and paintings, marvelled at the huge dome and reading about the building's incredible history in our guidebook.

Later we took one of the ferries to the „other side“, the asian part of Istanbul. We wanted to have a walk along the sea, needed to spend some time in a quieter place than the very lively, touristy heart of the city. The view from over there is amazing, and of course you can't spend a weekend in a city so connected with the sea and not go for a boat trip.

On our last evening in Istanbul, we had dinner at „On Brasserie“, a very nice restaurant that belongs to Faros Hotel Sirkeci. We ordered something called „Sultan's plate“, it was great, although we could have shared it with another person, and all of us would have been full afterwards.

Sultan's plate.

Later, we sat on a bench between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia and enjoyed our last evening in Istanbul. It was warm and there were a lot of people on the streets, going for a walk, buying something to eat at one of the many street stands, watching the dervish dance in a restaurant's garden.

In Istanbul, there's many stray cats and dogs. This is always something I struggle to deal with, as I love cats (at my parents' house, the lady cat of my childhood, now 20 years old, still resides like a queen) and also like dogs a lot and can't stand it if they are not treated nicely. But there's nothing like this to see in Istanbul, people feed the cats in front of their houses in the evenings, and the stray dogs seem to be quite healthy and well fed. So we took a lot of pictures of cats and dogs, here are only three of them.

 

Monday, early in the morning, we went to visit Topkapi palace and enjoyed the beautiful gardens, the trees and flowers and of course the gorgeous buildings. We spent the whole morning walking around and reading about the different parts of the palace, and we took a lot of pictures. I was particularly impressed by the fantastic domes of the sultan's rooms. But also the view from the various terraces is just amazing.

The Istanbul we had the honour of visiting is a peaceful, interesting and beautiful place. We only met friendly, welcoming people, we saw a city where diversity is not just a new and trendy word in the media, but something that has been part of everyday life for a long time. It is so, so sad that not all people in Turkey, especially not the government, seem to appreciate this huge advantage, this rich experience and the possibility to learn from centuries of their country's own history. I will be back some day, and hopefully the newest chapter in the city's history will be one the people of Istanbul can be proud of.