Between west and east

Istanbul is the only city that’s places on two continents at the same time, making the transport from the airport on the Asian soil to the European centre of the city a true logistic quest. There are taxi drivers in front of the airport, who offer various prices depending upon the nationality and looks of the visitor. They charge Arabians higher prices than the locals and test other tourists with different offers. We follow the instructions of a local woman and board a clean and comfortable bus, taking us straight to the Taksim and park Gezi, the heart of modern Istanbul. It was in the summer months of 2013 that the Turkish government announced it will build a shopping mall here, so mass demonstrations broke out against it. After police and military were called to the streets the demonstrations grew into anti-government protests. A visitor can easily see why the people of Istanbul cherish this green island among the concrete and don’t want to exchange it for yet another gigantic shopping mall. The multimillion metropolis leaves no patch of green unused. Children even play football on patches of grass in the centre of traffic roundabouts. Due to violent protests, and the decision of the constitutional court that the park is to be preserved as part of the city’s heritage, the prime minister (then) of Turkey – Recep Tayyip Erdogan (now the president of Turkey) reversed the governmental decision in July 2013, thus stopping the destruction of the park. There were at least 8 casualties in the protests, with around 8.500 wounded. A friend, a local girl and also a temporary tourist guide, Meliha, described the events that took place during the protests: “The people were really showing solidarity. They brought food and clothing to protesters and tried to close off streets so the police couldn’t get to the park. The police were using water guns, tear gas and even guns with rubber bullets.” The solidary is generally very high, especially in tourist parts of the city, where hotel owner, restaurants owners and shop keepers are allies and involve the family member in one way or the other to run the business. 

 

Istanbul has the population of almost 14 million inhabitants, with the European and Asian part of the city separated by a 30 kilometre long Bosporus straights that connects the Black Sean and the Marble Sea. Throughout history the city was also known as Byzantium and Constantinople. It was the capital of several empires: the Roman Empire, the Byzantium Empire, the Latin Empire and the Ottoman Empire. You can see the cultural and architectural mark each of the great empires left on the city on almost every step along the way.

Just before we enter the bazar of spices we quench our thirst by fresh juice that a father and son squeeze by hand from ripe pomegranate, oranges and grapefruit and sell for one Turkish lira a glass (1dcl) to visitors. Bazar reminded me of a huge bee hive. Piles of ground spices, teas and other additives of all colours, aromas and tastes will tickle your nose with sweet, sharp, sour and mellow tones. Some of the spices are pre-prepared – like for roasting a chicken and they remind us of smells we’ve already tried with our food before. The kebab in Turkey has different kinds of meat along with bread, rice and vegetables side dishes. Our image of meat in bread was quickly replaced by slices of bread with pieces of beef prepared in tomato sauce with hot cabbage salad with garlic, pepper, chilly and parsley, as well as chicken Shish Kabob with toasted bread and long green grilled peppers. A Kebab as we know it at home, is completely different in Turkey. There are real stakes on a rotating pole, so we can see the texture of meat and the moist is not lost, so the meat is tastier. The bazar of spices also offers everything else – along with spices – so you can buy souvenirs, linen, cloth, scarfs, slippers, sandals… and the most popular souvenir, which is a neckless with the blue eye on them, called the nazar bonjuk that protects you from the evil destiny. Its origin is connected to the fear of blue-eyed people, who are rare in the middle east and in Asia. No matter what you buy the traders expect to negotiate for the price, which is really high to begin with. The end price can be even three times lower from the first price offered. The people are really nice and friendly and if you make a larger purchase they will give a little something extra as a gift. And they’ll always greet you with a big smile, knowing that it helps draw the Liras you got for the Euros you’ve converted, out of the pocket. A local man told us that Turks are friendly to tourists, but they are not trying to make friends. Warnings like this made us careful, especially with taxi service, where we always paid the exact price that we’ve negotiated and haggled for beforehand. At the same time, thin children were begging every few steps along the way. After three days of our stay in Istanbul snow started falling – and it hasn’t stopped. It lasted to the last day of our stay, when we got our last clothes wet and dirty and our bad mood with the taxi drivers used to a chaotic way of driving with honking and speeding even with 30cm of snow on the road, was getting to get the best of us. The shop keepers were clearing the snow from the pavement in front of their shops with brooms as you really don’t need plows and snow shovels in the warm land of Turkey.

 

Due to the chaos of snow we felt even sorrier for the beggars, as well as homeless animals, as all were unused to and unprotected against the harsh weather. After a few days, when we should have realized that women on the streets keep babies in their hands and poke them under the ribs to cry for giving out the sorry image… but I still decided to give a little something to a girl in a short sleeve T-shirt in the snow my long sleeve shirt that I had as the fifth layer of clothing on me. She took it without thinking and put it on, and we moved to the other side of the street and watched her. Three minutes later she was told to take it off. She did so and sat half naked to the ground, with upward turned hands, begging for change. 

You cannot oversee the tall minarets of the different mosques, which are different sizes and with different richness of decoration. The most interesting part, however, is the number of active mosques, which is around 3000 in the city and its surrounding. There are special rules and codes of dressing and behaviour upon entering, but the advice given by most westerners are too strict, unnecessary and only make for a big drama. Before entering you must make sure that the woman’s skirt covers at least the knees and that the shirt covers the chest and shoulders. The scarf must cover the hair. For men it’s simpler. They must wear long trousers, but can have a long or short sleeve shirt. Before entering you must take off the shoes. The hoods many non-Muslims wear is unnecessary and only shows bad taste. Like everywhere else, there are masses of tourists here with selfy sticks that are like flies at any attraction. The construction of the biggest and most luscious mosque was contracted by Ahmed I in 1609, and it is said that he ordered the architect to make the minarets of pure gold. The architect knew that he’ll never get that much gold, so instead he made six minarets claiming he misunderstood the order. The Turkish words for number six and for gold are very similar. This gave the Blue Mosque – but only for a short time – the same number of minarets as the one in Mecca, which is the most important Muslim pilgrimage site. The mosque got its name by the beautiful interior, which is decorated with 20.000 handmade blue tiles, the replicas of which you can buy at bazars.

 

The calls for the afternoon prayer are heard throughout the city. The muezzins call the believers through speaker on the minarets and start by praising Allah. Opposite the main mosque, where there’s a Muslim prayer, is another splendours building – the cathedral of Hagia Sophia. It was 900 years after its construction that sultan Mehmed II. Transformed it into a mosque (in the year 1453), and is today a museum, but still considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. 

 

Istanbul is a city where east and west meet. There’s strong tradition, religion, family ties and working ethic, which meets with technology and capitalism. The world, so different from our own – at first sight – attracts with imposing buildings, friendly people and tastes, smells, habits and believes. Although reserved towards the strangers the Turks know how to relax. Snow might have given them some trouble, but both old and young also enjoyed it. On the evening before we left we saw the snow war between children, who were throwing snow balls at each other and we joined in. With hot red faces after the workout we went home smiling to defrost our feet with alternating warm and cold water.