Istanbul

To blog about a couple of days in Istanbul is difficult. It's sorta cliche to say that it is in an exotic city, but most cliche's come into their use honestly, and such is the case here. Greater in numbers than New York City but with a geography more like a much sprawled out Seattle, Istanbul is a city on two continents with a population as diverse as such geography could demand. There are spice markets, mosques, high end retail and street vendors selling everything. Everything is here. All nationalities are here, and East meets West. Want a Ferrari? Over here. Want a refrigerator magnet depicting the famed Blue Mosque? Right here. Trinkets? Armani? Yes. Prices are negotiable, for the trinkets and magnet anyway.

There are smells of the big city. Sewers and car exhaust for sure. In close, some, it is apparent, do not share in my ideas of what personal hygiene should be. But there are others that outnumber the bad: Of food carts selling grilled corn on the cob and roasted chestnuts. Of spices (saffron in particular) in the market. Fish, always fish. If there was a candle of that scent, I would be bringing that home along with the olive oil and raki. There are carts selling simits, a sesame seed encrusted bagel type thing. Food, good food, is everywhere. Cafes are around every corner and the Turks, being who they are, are drinking tea in them. Never really having drank tea before, after this trip I find that I like mine with about a teaspoon of sugar, mildly warm, not hot.

Sounds of the city: Car horns, of loud people talking in Turkish, hawking items. Others are speaking english, some german. They are all here. Then, five times per day, a wailing singing call for muslims to pray at the mosque. The designs of the mosques are partly based upon this call, as there is at least one, often more, magnificent minaret for a caller to climb up and make this call. These days, loudspeakers do this job, and with great effectiveness. The numerous woman walking around in full black burqas are reminders that not all the world wants to live like we do. Indeed, for westerners and Americans alike, Istanbul will challenge us to think about ourselves and others.

There is so much history here. The Ottoman Empire. Of Byzantine emperors and sultans. They ruled over millions in ancient times, and their palaces are still here. The Romans had their way here too, and the magnificent columns they left are still here, some erected a thousand years before Columbus sailed for the New World. They were here then, now and they will likely be here long after you and I are gone from this earth. The Hagia Sophia, the massive domed structure and masterpiece of Byzantine architecture, the seat of power for emperors and pulpits for Christians and Muslims alike, is here, and tourists marvel at the stupendous dome and ponder. The thresholds into these buildings are worn smooth from centuries of thousands walking over them. Indeed, I almost slipped on one. These men were the masters of the universes of their time and now, in the finest tradition of Ozymandius,  the public stalks their palaces as tourists. The underground cistern, once a source for fresh water for the city, is still there, with it's columns holding up a layer of the city. Fish swim above the stone floor, a visual dichotomy that is here for any person to see and believe.

There is history, but there is also the present. Shopping the malls as architecturally modern as any in the world filled with merchandise to please any shopper. The subway, with it's clean, sleek trains and spotless stations would be the envy of New York City or anywhere else where mass public transportation is a necessity. The streets vary from narrow and winding to four laned highways, all paved with stone in the city, asphalt or concrete outside of them. Hilly streets. Street closed off to traffic. Taxis everywhere. A boat tour of the beautiful Bosphorus strait, one of the busiest waterways in the world, shows multi, multi million dollar homes on coastlines and the hills circling them. Write an owner of one of these houses a check for about $15 million and you can have one too.

Until then, I shall admire them from afar, but I will try to admire them in person as often as I can. Istanbul is pretty far off the radar from my home in the midwestern United States, but I will, as health and fortune allow, return here again.

I urge you to do the same.