The following post was written by my husband Jeff – my very own international man of mystery. Please enjoy!
When I was young, one of the ways I would experience faraway places without the means to go anywhere my bike couldn’t take me was watching movies. I was a fan of spy movies in particular. Watch enough spy movies and you’ll note there are certain places in Europe that pop-up pretty consistently – London, Prague, Budapest, Istanbul. These cities have always been high on my travel list in the hope of getting caught up in an international spy ring and because I’ve learned that seeing a place in a movie is never quite like the real thing.
In 2012, Emily and I received an invitation to a wedding in Italy scheduled for October 2013 and we planned to tack on another week to go to Istanbul and Greece. Italy is one of my favorite places, but Istanbul was the real attraction for me on this trip. A few months after booking our flights, our plans changed when we moved to Singapore. Because we now lived half a world away from our friends, we decided to use our additional week to go to Lake Como and Berner Oberland with our dear friends Kat and Mike. No Istanbul. We had a wonderful time…and there is a famous James Bond scene filmed in Lake Como, but it just doesn’t have that espionage feel.
Fast forward to 2018. Emily and I now live in London – the land of James Bond and MI6. We’ve been to Prague and Budapest. To complete the spy-city list, we booked tickets to Istanbul over the Easter holiday. I then remembered that the U.S. and Turkey banned tourist travel due to diplomatic disputes stemming from a failed coup in Turkey.
After gathering intel online I learned the ban had been lifted and never applied to non-resident U.S. citizens anyway. With a failed coup in the mix, this trip was looking even better. I was good to go. Or not. Emily started having visions of our one-year old son being detained at the border and refused to go. After cancelling a few non-refundable tickets, this was going to be a solo mission.
As I read the paper and sipped my coffee at 7AM in the airport lounge en route, I was astonished by the number of people going to the bar to order Prosecco – a relatively cheap and usually too sweet Italian sparking wine favored by the British. I’ve always been fascinated with airport drinking habits – anything is seemingly acceptable at any time. I boarded my flight two hours later and was pleased to learn I accidentally booked business class where I was welcomed with a nice glass of Champagne and thought, ‘It is about that time isn’t it?’
Upon landing I needed to get the lay of the land, plot escape routes, etc. The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (and Four Seasons Bar) were just a short walk from my hotel so I headed off in that direction.
The Blue Mosque was luckily closed for refurbishment. (It’s always good to leave at least one legitimate reason to go back.) However, the Mosque’s world famous neighbor, Hagia Sophia, was open for business. Built in 537 and once the world’s largest building….actually, you can go to Wikipedia just as easily as I can for all the fun facts.
The most striking thing about the Hagia Sophia, for me, is that as different religious groups passed control of the house of worship back and forth, they didn’t fully erase the previous group’s symbols and artwork. As you walk past enormous Arabic script or mosaic you’ll notice an ancient fresco of Christian saints. Like a fed-up parent with two children fighting over a toy, secular Turkey eventually turned Hagia Sophia into a museum which is now enjoyed by everyone.
While Hagia Sophia is world famous and the Blue Mosque is known to many, the mosque that dominates the city skyline is Suleyman’s Mosque. Relatively new (16th century) it is modeled on the Hagia Sophia. But unlike the Hagia Sophia, I found the outside of this mosque to be far more impressive than the inside.
As most readers will know, the Bosphorus River splits Istanbul with half of the city in Europe and half of the city in Asia. The geographic split is reflected in the social and cultural norms of the city as well. While some Turks look to the East and choose to follow a more conservative way of living, others face Europe and, in certain parts of the city, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in Paris.
The cultural mix is reflected in the food and drink as well. There are plenty of restaurants trying their hand at complex European-style gastronomy and alcohol is readily available at most establishments. At the same time, you can tell from the beverage selection that, while acceptable, alcohol is not something completely ingrained in the culture as in most European countries. It should be noted that the best food I had on the trip was in the more traditional restaurants where I ate simple grilled fish or meat with veggies.
Whether East or West leaning, it seems the typical Turk has not embraced the hipster coffee craze sweeping the rest of the world. And why would they? I generally like my coffee to resemble something like black bitter sludge. Turkish coffee presents an interesting option for like-minded coffee drinkers. At its core it’s strong and bitter but they also add lots of sugar and, somehow, it works – really well.
One of the hottest restaurant tickets in town is the sky-high Mikla and I was reservation-less (again, no Emily). However, I managed to make a contact at the Four Seasons who called in some favors and got me in.
Mikla has one of the best views of one of the most famous skylines in the world. Drinks on the outdoor terrace at sundown are not to be missed. Why sundown? Because the sun sets just behind the skyline illuminating the famous mosques while the day’s final call-to-prayer is sung from hundreds of smaller mosques below. Like the movies, photos don’t come close to the real thing…
Despite it’s prestigious “50 Best Restaurants in the World” ranking, the tasting menu with wine pairing costs less than a typical dinner out in London. This is due, in part, to the current economic challenges in Turkey which have hammered the value of the Lira. Some would also cite the fact that the President appointed his son-in-law as Finance Minister as a driver of Istanbul’s recent currency challenges. Whatever the reason, it’s a good time to go! (There might also be a lesson in here for presidents of other countries that are tempted to give official responsibilities to under-qualified family members.)
After leaving Mikla, I stopped by the Grand Hotel de Londres for a nightcap. The slightly run-down nearly empty lobby bar was clearly super-ornate during the Ottoman Empire’s golden days. The barman still wore a black tie. It all felt like something out of a Wes Anderson movie.
Little did I know as I was finishing my first nightcap that one of the greatest moments in all my travels was about to happen. Two tipsy (was it an act?) British tourists entered the lobby bar and started making conversation with the barman. After hearing my American accent one of them eventually turned to me and said with a chuckle, “My friend and I have a bet, so I have to ask. An American, alone in Istanbul at this strange bar…are you a spy?”
“No.” I responded. “I’m in the import/export business.” I think they bought it.
Mission accomplished.
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