Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Istanbul: Confluence of East and West




Any walk or ride in Istanbul invariably turns into a journey through history. Centuries-old civilizations stand sentinel to the passage of time in this fabled Turkish city where East (Asia) and West (Europe) literally meet. For 16 centuries Istanbul was the imperial capital, first of the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and then of the Ottoman (Uthman) sultans. Now it is a thriving city, perhaps the only city in the world where it is possible to see humanity as a whole, in peace and joy, instead of the walls dividing peoples and races everywhere else, instigated by the powerful blinded by racism.

Blue Mosque
My wife and I sat in the courtyard of the Sultan Ahmet Blue Mosque at various times of the day and watched the stream of tourists from around the world flow by, from dawn until midnight, curious, unstoppable, alive. As the ethos of this cosmopolitan city, “Let them come to Istanbul” can do for our times by way of inspiration what Kennedy’s famous words did for the free world over half-a-century ago in Berlin.

Aya Sofya Museum
In the courtyard are the Hippodrome, site of Roman chariot races, and obelisks describing the history of the place. Across the expansive courtyard is the Aya Sofya (Divine Wisdom) museum and adjacent to it is the Topkapi Palace, a sprawling wonder that was the residence of Ottoman sultans for nearly 400 years, now housing a sui generis collection of robes, porcelains, jewelry, calligraphic manuscripts and other Ottoman treasures.

History suffuses Istanbul but what also struck us was the pervasive presence of cats, dogs, crows and seagulls. The dogs lie on the marble floor of the courtyard, docile as doves. Children pat them without fear. The cats roam the cobblestone alleys and hotel lawns with aplomb and are provided food and water at regular intervals by the locals. In the Golden Horn hotel where we were staying, we saw hotel staff replenishing bowls with water and spreading cat food at designated spots with purpose.

Feeding seagulls and cats
Just before noon prayers at the Firuz Aga mosque near my hotel one day, I saw a cat walking about in the main prayer room. In any other mosque in the world, a devotee would shoo the cat away. Not in Istanbul. I watched with gratitude and admiration as a young man ever so gently lift the cat up and place her at the exit door. I have never seen people as friendly toward animals as Istanbul natives. They do not merely tolerate them, they love them. In front of the biggest mosque in Istanbul, the Suleymaniye Mosque, I saw a caretaker feeding fish to raucous seagulls and cautious cats as part of his job.

If history is everywhere in Istanbul, so is fabulous, fragrant food. Istanbul is as close to paradise as can be imagined for foodies and non-foodies alike. Just the sheer variety of kebabs left us in awe, particularly the Testi lamb kebab, cooked in the dancing flames of a barely controlled fire before the wondrous eyes of patrons. It’s al-fresco on both sides of narrow alleys, with a shallow divider between to feed the cats who wander around like tourists out to have a good time. I tried everything: lamb, beef and chicken kebabs. I found the shawarmas irresistible. Tasted sea bass, prawn, and whatever else they haul in from the waters around, always served fresh. We ate with pleasure and without guilt. “You can always fast,” an inner voice told me, “when you return to California.” There’s a time to fast and a time to feast. In Istanbul, there’s always some excuse to feast, unless you are a Muslim traveling during Ramadan.

The Bosphorous cruise on a spacious boat is something to write home about. The Strait connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. Proceeding toward the Black sea, Europe lay on our left and Asia to our right. Light moved enchantingly across the face of the water and we felt in its ebb and flow the rise and fall of civilizations. The historical buildings made their presence known with authority amid modern utilitarian homes: Dolmabahche Palace, Beylerbei Palace, Anadolu Fortress and the Rumeli Fortress, built in 1452 by Sultan Mehmet II, the largest and strongest fortress of the Middle Age.






At some point, modernity overwhelmed history in the form of … Selfies! When historians chronicle the 21st century, one milestone they are bound to acknowledge is the moment when “I Believe in Myself” morphed into “I Believe in My Selfie!” The selfie-takers were easily the dominant homo sapiens in Istanbul. No place was too secular or sacred. We saw as many selfies being snapped inside Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque, the Suleymaniye Mosque and the Ayub al-Ansari Mosque, as in the plaza and the courtyard, in the Grand Bazaar and in the eateries. Ah, the bottomless vanities of humankind!






Istanbul is not immune to geopolitical reality. We saw Syrian refugees everywhere, mostly women, eyes hollow with despair, arms outstretched for alms. We did our share to help but there is no end in sight for these proud people whose country is in ruin, and where return, at least for now, is unthinkable.

In Istanbul, there are no pedestrian rights, only the rights of drivers. It took us a day to adjust to this reality, particularly after I made some narrow escapes with my life and limb intact. Thereafter, we became pros in jumping from the edge of the street to the curb at the last moment to avoid being hit by taxis, cars and buses. “Nimble” is the only word I can think of to describe our new-found athleticism.


We took in a performance of the whirling dervishes one evening, a Sufi tradition that induces spiritual ecstasy among practitioners through rejection of the material world and evocation of the inner realm. The inspiration comes from the words and practices of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi master from the 13th century whose poems have sold in the millions in the U.S., making him the best-selling poet in America. “What you seek,” wrote Rumi, “is seeking you.”

Departing Istanbul was difficult for we had fallen in love with this magnificent city. The friendliness of the Turkish people overwhelmed us. We were fumbling with our tickets one day, trying to get into the subway that would take us through the tunnel under the Bosphorous from Europe to Asia. A middle-aged man, responding in Turkish to our English, took us through the whole process without making us feel small or embarrassed. This gesture repeated many times every day during the week we were in Istanbul. Even the smallest shop we visited treated us to Turkish Tea and Turkish Delights. Everyone had a smile for us. It is true: Smiling is indeed charity.

Jet lag made us lethargic after we returned to California but as soon as we regained our bearings, we began planning our next trip to the city that sits at the intersection of East and West, mysterious and manifest: Istanbul.  

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