Istanbul .. Our Apartment

Some have asked about our apartment. So here’s the living room with its two good-size sofa-beds. Wouldn't you know, when we left our place for the last time this morning we had to wait for twelve sheep to amble past our door. (As usual, if you care to see these humble photos bigger, just click on one.) (Also as usual, it may make more sense to start reading at "Day 1" on the right.)

Three clever living room windows, which can be darkened with shades and a  full-width swag drape, look out to the street. They swing inward, of course. But you can also tilt them in a little at the top, hinged at the bottom, so you can have a window open even if it’s raining. We’ve seen such windows in Europe since our first trip (of 25 or so) some 40 years ago. Very clever. Although the cheap pine flooring has big cracks between the boards, the recessed lights, the cabinetry, the appliances, the furniture, the terrific shower, the excellent hot water heat, the dishes from Ikea .. everything seems pretty new. The channels on the TV number way up to #1030; many of them are blank, of course, but perhaps 300 of them from all around the world have a picture, about a dozen in English. 

Along one wall is our kitchen, below, complete with washing machine (right end), a dishwasher beside it (top half), a two-burner gas cooktop, an under-counter refrigerator at the left end and microwave above. But only two poor paring knives, one poor saucepan and one poor skillet. Probably most people stay here only a few days and don’t cook.

Here’s the attractive table where we eat. We bought the little lamp so we can occasionally turn off the glaring fluorescent recessed lights overhead. 

The very quiet bedroom has a decent bed and featherbed, two essential reading lights, and a full-width drape to cover the three windows, which look out on a leafy courtyard now full of yellow blossoms. As I write, there’s another cat on our windowsill. Istanbul must have 15 million people and 30 million stray cats.

Finally, here’s a view showing that the kitchen, table area and living room are pretty much one space. A realtor might call this an open concept floor plan. We call it small. 

Neighborhood

Our last three Europe apartments were in Paris. So our hearts sank when we first came around this corner and saw our decidedly un-Parisian rutted street, below. We’re in the white building on the left, by the potted evergreen, one floor up. There are eight furnished vacation rentals there though we rarely heard noise from other occupants. This is where the dozen sheep strolled by as we left.

Perhaps this neighborhood is “gentrifying” because a luxury vacation-rental building is just around the corner, on the left behind the red van in the photo below. Its name is a bit precious (“Homage Istanbul”) but check it out here. It does look nice. As we pass it on our walk to the center, this block includes a bakery (Bereket), a meat market (with as little meat as in long-ago communist East Germany) and a grocery at the far corner. But how happy would you be if you’d pre-paid up to $8,000 for a month at Homage Istanbul and your cab took you here? 

Then we turn left onto a nicer final block .. though it’s busy with cars and trucks. Here we have cobblestone pavement, sidewalks (very narrow), trees, a tiny kabap shop and, halfway down, Ozmar’s grocery.

At the end of this block is a high-rise hotel and a major six-lane divided thoroughfare. We cross it and we’re in the Big City where nobody lets down a basket so the grocery guy can send up milk. But hey, if you lived on the fifth floor in our neighborhood where there are no elevators, what’s wrong with that?

All in all, our flat was spotlessly clean and quiet with fresh towels and maid service every day, and it’s a quick level walk to the center. We might not choose this very same place again but actually it worked well for us. And it cost so much less than a hotel that we could afford to explore Istanbul for an entire unforgettable month. To us, that’s priceless.

Istanbul .. Day 26

Sunday

This is really our last day here .. tomorrow we’ll pack and move to an airport hotel to facilitate our departure Tuesday at 6:15am. From that hotel tomorrow night, maybe I can post photos of our apartment. 

These last days have been so bittersweet. We’re more than ready to get home, yet almost in slow motion we continue to soak in the color and energy of this wonderful place. Istanbul has been more work than we expected .. we definitely are getting older. Can we again manage a month in another interesting city? Or travel in a less demanding way? Stay tuned.

Here are the last of our favorite photos. As always, you can click to see them larger. Thanks for looking.

Istanbul .. Day 25

Bosphorus

Spent all day on a big, packed passenger ferry to and from the Black Sea, 19 miles away, on the Bosphorus, one of the world’s busiest waterways. Europe on one side, Asia on the other, and two big bridges between. It’s far more developed than we remembered, almost a continuous city now, crowding around historic palaces and fortresses. But at times also hilly, green, and lovely with lilac-colored Judas trees in bloom. Lunch was in a bustling fishing village at the far end. On the return, the sun was so hot I had to wear Elsa’s scarf! But the best part was with our favorite local beverages, fresh-squeezed orange juice and beer, at a late-afternoon restaurant under the Galata bridge. Low sun over the minarets, dozens of ferries chugging past, unseen fishermen above pulling up 5-6 tiny fish at a time in front of us, and so many simultaneous calls to prayer it sounded like a choir. Unforgettable.

Istanbul .. Day 23

The tourist stuff

Yesterday we finally did the two main tourist sights here, Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace. Hagia Sophia ("divine wisdom"), completed surprisingly early in the Christian era in 537, was for 916 years through the Byzantine era the center of Christianity in the East and, after the fall of Rome, in the entire Western world. Then the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453; on day one they turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque, plastered over the religious frescos and mosaics, and made it the center of the Muslim faith here for 481 years until the state of Turkey made it a museum in 1934. For over a thousand years it was the largest building in the world. Similarly from 1453, Topkapi Palace was the residence of the Sultan and therefore the seat of Ottoman power for more than 400 years. It’s a warren of lovely rooms, red tulips, courtyards, gardens, mosaics, calligraphy, armaments and all aspects of Islamic faith and life. All of that is of tremendous historical interest and importance. So we rested in the garden of the Blue Mosque.

Having said all that, however, yesterday was our first lousy day here. Huge crowds at both sites, terrible tourist food, jam-packed trams, cabs that refused to take us home because of gridlock, and very tired feet. Imagine what high season is like! 

There were two bright spots, however. Outside Topkapi we were happily ambushed by a dozen excited Turkish high school students eager to practice their English and talk about America. What a delight they were. And on a bench beside the Blue Mosque we enjoyed a long talk with Jacob, a 25-year-old Turkish university grad and engineer on a Turkish cargo ship. He’s currently in port, but while we spoke his shipmate called to say their ship had just arrived in Portland from China and Japan. 

Wiser now, we went back to the Old City today and bypassed the congestion. Did some quiet shopping, found the cute little hotel where we stayed in 1997, and had an excellent traditional lunch. Taxi home. Couldn’t be happier. We still do like it here. But after a Bosporous cruise, more coffee overlooking the water, more fresh-squeezed orange juice, more shopping, a kebap or two, some lahmacun, and perhaps talking with a few more Turks, we’ll happily head back to quiet Minnesota for a while. Is it still snowing there??