Istanbul and its Infiniteness:
Three places to not miss out on
Istanbul | Thursday, 29 August 2019
Stepping out from the constantly rocking, two-hour ferry ride that rode from the Mudanya docks near Bursa to the Eminönü pier, it was good to be back on solid ground. I looked over at the Golden Horn and felt a sense of slight wonderment but also a sense of perturbation to be back in the city of Istanbul.
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Exiting the pier hit us with the gentle but bright sun and cool winds that had enveloped the city since the rains that had taken place a few weeks earlier. Istanbul was alive with the noises of the bustling crowd and the traffic grew louder as we headed away from the pier.
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We had four more days to spend in Istanbul before heading back home. So far, we had visited the former Ottoman capitals in reverse order: we started from Istanbul, then went onward to Edirne, a city which borders Greece and Bulgaria and then went eastward to Bursa, a city which has for its backdrop the famous Mount UludaÄŸ (which in the past was known as the Mysian Olympus).
In our previous stay in Istanbul, we had spent 11 days in Fatih, the district of the city that lies in the European side that constitutes what is technically Constantinople. Unfortunately, the stay hadn’t exactly boded well for us. My entire family – my parents and brother – had fallen sick, we had encountered extremely rude staff in our hotel and we had been swindled twice. It seemed hard to believe that we would encounter such things in the great and historical city of Istanbul.
Of course, we had come across many kind and helpful people too. I was awestruck to learn that the Turkish are unconditionally kind to all street animals by ensuring they are well fed and taken care of. I am sure this is something you may have heard of but witnessing it first-hand is a whole different story.
Many of the historical mosque complexes in Istanbul are made in the Turkish architecture forms of Külliye which consist not only of a mosque but also a madrasah, burial areas, dervish lounge, caravanserais and public kitchens. Praying our daily prayers in these different historical mosques which acted as sanctuaries to all - humans and animals alike really showed the tolerance and kindness of the people. I absolutely adore the obsession of the Turkish with cats: I witnessed people feeding them, speaking to them, patting them and selling cat-shaped cushions.
1. The Forum of Theodosius (now Beyazit Meydanı or Beyazit Square)
On our first day back, while walking down the street near Laleli - the area in Fatih where we were residing - I couldn’t stop and marvel at a gravesite that stood between two commercial stores. There were only two headstones and they had a rusted metal grille placed in front of them. Passers-by hardly spared a glance at the graves but for someone like me who thought that Istanbul had run out of surprises to offer (such as the fact that the ‘Column of Constantine’ in Fatih was built by the same Constantine in whose honour the triumphal ‘Arch of Constantine’ which stands near the Colosseum in Rome was erected), I was flabbergasted.
Sure, I had seen a bundle of tombs and ancient fountains and obelisks but this seemed so out of the blue yet so natural - a piece of solid history that remained untouched. It was as if the modern world instead of altering it had just moved on and grown around it, leaving it untouched. Yes, Istanbul was flooding all of my coherent senses with its vastness of history – a vastness which transpired not only time but continents and cultures too.
I kept staring at it as I walked ahead only to be completely surprised again (which frankly I shouldn’t have seeing that every other street in Istanbul has so much history just lying about) as I came across decorated, broken pillars and columns on the side of the street.
These were the ruins of the Forum of Theodosius – only a small portion of the base of four solid pillars remains and has a fence around them. A major hunk of the base of the Triumphal Arch of Theodosius is fenced off on the right, surrounded by shops on either sides and its rear. The rest of the broken marble just lies around open to the public – no fence, no barricade.
What blew my mind away was the way the modern world had woven itself around this ancient piece of history that is more than 1000 years old. An old man sat in front of the ruins with a weight machine, hoping someone would pay a single Turkish lira to find out how much they weighed. Kids were climbing the ruins of the columns for the fun of it. Nobody was standing around it and regarding it to be anything important the way they did for places like the Blue Mosque or the Hagia Sophia.
2. Galata Tower and Galata Bridge
On the second day we decided to go to the Galata Tower as it was one of the famous attractions that we had missed out on during our earlier stay. We got off the tram station at Karaköy and walked uphill (what a great leg day it was) to the Galata Tower.
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Unfortunately, the line to get to the top was longer than the tower itself so we skipped getting an aerial view of Istanbul. Although, seeing the tower from its base was fascinating too because standing at Eminönü and looking over the other side of the Golden Horn, the Galata Tower was always remarked upon so seeing it from its base just added to its beauty.
The walk back to Eminönü along the Galata Bridge was a picturesque scene out of a fairy-tale: the sun was just setting over the Golden Horn and men lined the railing of bridge with their fishing rods cast. The water was a deep cerulean and the sky a gentle blue defined by its purplish-grey scudding clouds. In the chilly weather, the crowded bridge emanated an unexplainable sense of calm.
On reaching the other side, the crowd thickened, the noises grew louder and the hawkers added to the stagnation of the crowd. They were selling nuts, oysters, fried fish, corn and watermelon. The fresh, salty air was stained with the smell of cooking fish. Children were selling tissue packets and we ended up buying head massagers from a very insistent hawker.
3. Sahaflar ÇarSısı (Old Book Bazaar)
Sahaflar Carsisi which was the cherry of the cake as it was a cat and book heaven – a real dream come true. My sister and her husband had stumbled upon the market when they were discovering the Grand Bazaar. Near the Sahaflar Çarşısı is the one of the many entrances to the maze that is the Grand Bazaar.
The Old Book Bazaar is full of books at cheap prices with books not just in Turkish but English too. Beyond books, the bazaar has cats everywhere. Sleeping on the books, grooming on the books and generally spending a good life amongst the books. The shop owners consider the cats to be a natural presence.
The bazaar also sells notebooks, diaries, calligraphy equipment, bookmarks, and souvenirs. I ended up buying five of the famous carpet covered notebooks (which are a speciality in Istanbul as the city is famous for its carpets) and five books in English and also ended up befriending a couple of cats in the process.
In our earlier stay in Istanbul, I had bought myself a handmade woven bracelet that held two charms: an infinity symbol and the word ‘Istanbul’. I'm a fan of jewellery that means something and this just reminded of the endurance of the great city; a city that has withstood hundreds of years and now has its history and modern age thriving alongside each other.
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On our last day, as we drove away from old Istanbul, through the Eurasian underground tunnel into Asia, and towards the airport, a sense of forlornness lodged itself in my heart. I looked out at the city blurring away through the window of the taxi; the journey had been long and it had taken me a while to truly understand this ancient place. It was around 9:30 pm and the dying glow of the sunlight reflected down on my bracelet; the golden infinity bright against the deep set of the word ‘Istanbul’.