Istanbul 4: cisterns, cruise and claustrophia plus a good meal

When I first started looking at Istanbul, I could not figure why anyone would want to visit a cistern, even if it was Roman. Basically they are not very exciting -- places to store water. Umm I was wrong.

We went to Basilica Cistern on the Monday morning and it was utterly magical. Unlike the other cisterns I have seen, the Basilica cistern still has water and is lit in low light. It feels like you have accidentally strayed onto a set for some fantasy movie. In the water, the carp swim about making ghostly shapes while every so often water drips on your head. In one section of the cistern, two gorgon or Medusa statues lurk. One is tilted and the other upside down. No one knows why they are there or why they were placed in such a fashion. The logical reason is that the Romans reused bits from other places in the Empire but it is more fun to speculate on a paranormal reason, particularly as the iron stain on the statue showed up only when I took the picture!

The cistern was built in 532 by Justinian and was used to store water for the Great Palace. It was forgotten about some point before the Conquest in 1453 (Turks say Conquest whereas the West often says Fall of Constantinople). Then in 1545, scholar Petrius Geyllius was told by locals how people were lowering buckets to get waters and even catching fish from their basement and the cistern was rediscovered! However, it was not treated with respect and became the dumping ground for all sorts of things including dead bodies. The cistern was restored somewhat in the 18th century and then in the 1950s (it features in the James Bond film -- To Russia With Love) Eventually, it was opened to the public in 1987.
After emerging blinking into the sunshine, we went for a tour of the Bosphorus. Now you can either take the ferry and spend 7 1/2 hours doing the whole thing or you take a more expensive private boat. We opted for a private 2 1/2 tour and sat down in the van to wait, having been promised that the boat was about a minute away. The driver of the van could get a job on Harry Potter's night bus! One minute speeding through traffic and then slamming the breaks on. Luckily the cruise was far more peaceful as we saw various palaces and wooden yalis from the late Ottoman period. The boat stopped just beyond the Bosphorous bridge and we had lunch in Asia.
After the cruise we walked up to the Grand Bazaar. Unlike Sunday when only tourists were about, the Bazaar area was completely crowded. Great masses of humanity pressed down as shop after shop displayed items until they ceased to have any meaning. It felt a bit like shopping on the day after Thanksgiving and this was just an ordinary day. The Grand Bazaar is no place to window shop. It is place to go if you have a specific item in mind. All I wanted to do was escape!

Later, we went out to dinner at the Terrace restaurant in the Hotel Armada near the walls of the Topkapi Palace behind the Blue Mosque. As we walked there, a cavalcade of cars passed us -- sirens blaring from the two lead police cars and blacken windows in the limos etc with an ambulance bringing up the rear. They had just emerged from the Topkapi as far as I could figure.

With its conference rooms etc the hotel felt far more like somewhere that a spy would stay and I was pleased we were staying at the Sultanhan. However, the terrace restaurant was fabulous with its excellently prepared Turkish tasting menu, discrete waiters and wonderful views of the Blue Mosque on one side and the Bosphorus bridge on the other. Just the right place for a memorable final meal in Istanbul.


In Other News:

I drew the two winners from my October Reader's Contest -- Minna who won Carla Capshaw's debut The Gladiator and Roberta who won a book from my backlist. Both winners have been contacted.

My next newsletter goes on the 15th when I will run my annual writing mentor contest, and have a signed copy of The Viking's Captive Princess up for grabs. So please sign up for the newsletter if you haven't already.

Istanbul 3 -- bookshops, Byzantine and bazaars

After supper on Saturday, we went to the Galeri Kayseri Bookstore. The shop has the widest selection of English books on Turkey, Byzantium, Ottomans -- basically anything to do with Turkey. I was delighted to discover a handsomely illustrated book on the Harem. My husband found Barbara Nadel who is Istanbul's crime writer much in the same vein as Donna Leon writes about Venice. One of the assistants convinced me to buy Irfan Orga's Protrait of a Turkish Family which details the suffering one family had during World War One. The book was a bestseller in 1950 and remains highly readable. As I was paying for the books, I happened to explain about being an author and being here to do research. At this point, the owner came out, offered me (and the rest of the family) coffee and a chance to look at his big coffee table books in case they helped. The books were works of art and totally lovely. If I had been doing Byzantium, I would have tempted but as it was the Harem book was what I was looking for.

He also had me sign the guest book. It was slightly daunting to see who else had signed -- a variety of best selling authors, diplomats and celebrities but I duly signed, proudly putting Harlequin Mills & Boon Historical Author under my name.

One thing the bookstore made us determined to do was to visit Chora or the Kariye Museum. Although small, it has some of the best Byzantine mosaics and frescoes in Istanbul. Having served as a mosque for four centuries, it is now deconscecrated and feels empty -- despite the hordes of tourists. Like most Byzantine churches it does not look like much from the outside. But the mosaics in the inner and outer narthex are breath taking. Unfortunately some people ignored the signs and took flash photos thereby putting the mosaics in danger.

As the spice bazaar was open (much to our and the cab's driver's surprise), we stopped the cab. First we walked across the Galata Bridge and then we explored the spice bazaar. The Spice Bazaar sells all manner of spices, dried fruit and love potions as well as lokum. There is an intense smell of pepper, cloves and cumin about the place which dates from the 1660's.

Afterwards being hungry, we went to the Hamdi restaurant which has an excellent reputation for its kebabs and its location. You are supposed to book 2 weeks in advance for a table on the terrace but we were early enough and had no problem securing one. Thus we were able to watch out over the Golden Horn and across to Galata as we ate. They came around with the cold starters and it was very much point at what looks good. The kebabs were excellent and afterwards we had a selection of baklava.

In the early evening we went to the hippodrome where there are three obelisks. I will admit to wondering why there was an early 20th century piece in the hippodrome but then I read my guidebook. The Obelisk of Theodosius was carved around 1450 BC and placed in Heliopolis. Theodosius had it brought to Constantinople in 390 and it has worn rather better than the plinth. There are 2 other obelisks in the Hippodrome. The spiral column which was once much taller and had 3 serpents' heads but these were lost in the early 18th century and the rough stone column which lost its bronze plating to the Forth Crusade.

Tomorrow I will finish up the trip.

Today I am blogging at the Pink Heart Society on the ITV production of Wuthering Heights.

Istanbul -- Topkapi, lokum and Turkish baths

Through the centuries, the Topkapi palace has been legendary. Its harem and fabulous wealth tantalized the Western world -- what was the Harem like? How did the sultan actually live?
Topkapi served as the seat of Ottoman power from the time Mehmet the Conquer started to build it in 1453 until the mid 19th century when a far more Westernised palace -- The Dolmabahce Palace -- was built on the Europeon shore of the Bosporus.
To visit the Topkapi is catch a brief glimpse of a vanished world.
The Topkapi with its various artifacts relating to the Prophet remains a place of pilgrimage for many Muslims and thus it is a mixture of pilgrims and tourists mingling in the various courtyards.
You buy your ticket to the Topkapi in the first courtyard ( 20 TL or about £10) and then you need buy a second ticket to enter the Harem (15 TL or £7.50). Although one guidebook said that the Harem would be crowded and you are guided through, we found the Harem to be nearly deserted and there was no tour, so we were able to take our time going through this fascinating place.
The tiles alone bore examination, and there were the various baths, the golden road and the Crown Princes rooms. The Queen Mother or Valide Sultana was often the defacto ruler. Wives could be replaced but sultans deferred to their mothers, and with no set rules for inheritance, these women schemed. Following the custom of Suleyman the Magnificent, the sultan's wives were once slaves. After a sultan died, his mother, wives and favourites retired to the Old Palace unless the woman happened to be the new Sultana Valide. In an interesting quirk of history, the most influential sultana of the late 18th century was one Amiee de Rivery (1763 - 1816) who was the cousin of Josephine Bonaparte and captured by Algerian pirates aged 21. She was sold to the Bey of Algiers who saw a chance to cultivate the sultan and gave her to him as a gift. She eventually converted to Islam and was renamed Naksidil. She bore the sultan a son who eventually became Mahmud II and started many Western reforms.
After going through the Harem, you enter the 3rd courtyard where the treasury and ceremonial robes are kept. In the 3rd room of the treasury is the Topkapi dagger and the Spoonmaker's diamond. The Spoonmaker's diamond is 86 carats and so called as it was discovered in a rubbish heap and bought for 3 spoons. The fourth courtyard features various pavilions including the lovely revan kiosk and the picturesque golden roof of the Iftariye Baldchin. There is also the circumcision room which was used when the princes and other notables were admited to manhood.
After touring the Topkapi, we walked down to the Spice Bazaar and found Hafiz Mustafa Sekerlemeleri which has been going as a sweet shop since 1864 and has a cafe upstairs. They serve very good baklava and Turkish coffee. Across the street is Ali Muhiddin Hacki Bekir which is the orginal manufacturer of lokum or Turkish delight and has been in the same family since 1777. Their Turkish delight is excellent!
Being tired, we decided to go to the Turkish Bath or hamam. We chose the Cemberlitas Hamami where there has been a Turkish bath since 1584 as it was only a few hundred yards from the hotel. Opting for the bath, scrub and soap massage, we were given sponges and directed to appropriate sex side. My daughter and I were given black bikinis to wear in the bath while the men went commando. Apparently the men have private cabins with leather sofas where they change but the women just have lockers in large upstairs rooms. You are given a towel to wrap around you and then make your way to the hot room where you sweat. It was funny -- when you first arrive in the hot room (which is very hot indeed), the newcomers are all wrapped up in their towels, but then you realise the pointlessness of staying that way as you are directed to lie on the large marble stand or gobektasi where you can look up at the star shaped holes in the roof and modesty vanishes. Some women obviously unused to Turkish bathing wore tons of make up and in the heat, their faces melted. You can also watch as women are bathed so you get an idea about what you are about to experience. Eventually one of the bikini clad women call you over and you get scrubbed down, massaged and foamed bathed. You then pour bowl after bowl of cool water all over yourself and can sit in the hot room for as long as you like. After wards, thoroughly clean, and wrapped in fluffy towels, you make your way back to the main room. You can either dress or you can get a drink. If you are a man, it is also possible to take a nap in a cabin. Baths are very sociable affairs and do wonders for reviving one's flagging feet!
We enjoyed the bath so much that we tried the Cagaloglu Hamami the next day which I preferred as it was slightly less crowded and the staff took the time to explain what was going on. The surroundings are just as impressive! Also the women section has little cabins with leather couches. However they do not give out black bikinis so either you go commando or you wear your underwear. The Turkish bath is not really a place for modesty... The Cagaloglu has been going since the 18th century (1741) and was featured in an Indiana Jones film as well as boasting of many celebrities including Florence Nightingale and King Edward VIII. It was at the Cagaloglu that the woman masseuse drew my attention to the fact that my left forearm is swollen.

IN other news: My arm is slowly getting better with the swelling slowly going down but I am taking it easy and my gel pad has arrived. Luckily I am still doing paper revisions which means as long as I can read my writing, it is fine!

Istanbul and me

I arrived back from Istanbul yesterday, but have discovered via the kind lady who gave me a Turkish bath that I have RSI in my left wrist. I am trying to rest it etc so my time on the computer is limited and my writing comes first.

Istanbul is fabulous and far warmer than I thought it would be at the end of October.

We arrived Friday afternoon and our hotel -- Sultanhan Hotel was just what we wanted. It is set in a very quiet side street just off the main tourist tourist street of Divan Yolu Cad. This meant all the big tourist sites in Sultanhanmet -- Agia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, The Basilica Cistern, the Grand Bazaar and The Topkapi Palace etc were in easy walking distance. The people running the hotel were very kind and offered a welcoming fruit juice. The breakfasts were good and the view from the terrace restaurant excellent. The rooms were comfortable but without a view. This did not bother us as we slept in the rooms rather than trying to sight see from the rooms.

The first night we walked down the Blue Mosque as the sun was setting and the evening call to prayer began. Never having been in a Muslim city before, it was interesting to hear, but it is loud and I can see how it can be intrusive. Turkey is a secular state and there is this tension between the secularists and the Islamists. One place it is played out is in the head gear. Head scarves are banned in parliament etc. The fez also was banned by Ataturk. However, you did see women wearing head scarves and long coats, even the occasional burka.

Not being sure of prayer times etc, we did not visit any mosques but their minarets give a graceful appearance to the city scape.

For supper we went to Mosiak which is housed in a wooden Ottoman house with tables outside on Incirli Cavus Sokak off Divan Yolu near the Pudding Shop. They serve Modern Turkish food. So we had meze -- a series of cold salads, borek -- fried cheese pastry and aubergine to start. I then had a lamb and aubergine kebab while my husband had the black plum and lamb stew, my son -- manti a sort of Turkish ravioli in a spicy yogurt and I forget what my daughter had. There was only room for Turkish coffee at the end as we were full. The food was excellent and the waiters very helpful.

Saturday was a busy one -- Agia Sophia Museum which looks like not much from the outside but takes your breath away from the inside. They are busy restoring parts so the scaffolding is up. It is also deconscecrated and has served as both a church and a mosque. The Byzantine mosaics are fantastic and must have been hugely impressive as I know what St Marks in Venice is like. Dandalo (the doge of Venice who led the Fourth crusade which sacked Constantinople) is buried here.

We walked along the Sogukcesme Solak which has a pretty collection of Ottoman houses hugging the palace wall to the Topkapi Palace. But my wrist is giving out and so I will do that in the next installment as it is truly one of The Places in the World to visit, particularly the Harem.

Away until the 28th

I am off to Istanbul until the 28th -- researching an upcoming book. Pictures and details will follow so people can live vicariously. I am planning on visiting the Topkapi Palace and the Harem etc etc. Plus doing some Byzantium things. I sort of blame Carol Townend as she went earlier this year and put the idea in my head. Luckily my husband thought it an excellent idea...

In an ideal world, I would have finished my mess in progress and the revisions for HRG would be in. Neither happened. My editor is being lovely.There again, she is going on holiday AND she wants the best book possible from me.

Why is it that you suddenly want to write when you have no time?