(View from the Ceylan Intercontinental - The Süleymaniye mosque)
Wednesday, Feb 24.
I skipped lunch to visit with Cynthia the Dolmabahçe Palace, just down the slope from the hotel. Incredibly lavish, this European-style extravaganza of a palace, mixing all styles – Baroque, Rococo and Neo-classical blended with Ottoman art! Built mid-19th century by the Sultan of the day, intending to show that the Ottoman Empire was not dying, it almost bankrupted it (and the Treasury was only rescued by foreign loans apparently)! Impressive by its opulence: huge rooms and massive crystal chandeliers and candelabras – you are in growing awe going from one room to the other, until you reach the climax: the Ceremonial Hall with its dome standing 36 meters high and its 4.5 tons chandelier of English crystal. The Sultans moved here from Topkapi Palace in 1856. Atatürk used it as an office and residence after the Republic was established in the 20s; he died here in 1938.
(façade of the Dolmabahçe Palace, facing the Bosphorus)
It would have been nice to have a quick bite on the premises – there was a cafe but not giving on the Bosphorus where really it should be...
We have dinner with Necmettin, local Society CEO, at the Mavi Balik restaurant, a classic seafood place, further up on the Bosphorus. Great appetizers and perfectly grilled blue fish!
(Gate at the Dolmabahçe Palace, opening on the Bosphorus)
Thursday, Feb 25.
Turkish-Armenian relations, another fixture in Turkish politics! A formal rapprochement process (to put behind them the disputed genocide of a hundred years ago) is underway since last year, and it has its ups and downs... lately the respective governments seem to be reluctant in pushing through legislatures what would bring about the conclusion of normalization. A strain as well in Turkey-US relationships as the latter (the Congress) is insisting that this be recognized as a genocide – lots at stake here, considering that America is relying on Turkish support (read military) in the Middle-East…
Last dinner with some closer colleagues, at the Peramey Restaurant – a small Turkish cuisine restaurant, off Istiklal, that one colleague has sampled before. Food was great, and so was the fun!
Friday, Feb 26.
The Greeks want the Turk army out of Cyprus! That one has been going on for generations now! Intimately linked to the issue of EU accession – unlikely to happen, among several reasons, if the Cyprus issue is not resolved...
Meetings ended before lunch; visibility too bad and weather too cold to spend afternoon on Bosphorus; cancelled cruise. Go for a walk in the city. Could not find my cigar case – had to do without! Down Istiklal, all the way to Galata Tower, via the music instrument shops street. Climbed out Tower; grey sky, no sun but great 360 view over the city, the river and the Golden Horn. Built in 14th century by the Genoese to fortify the expansion of Constantinople – trying to stop the ever invading Ottomans; to no avail though – the city was finally conquered the in 1453! Go down to the Galata bridge and come back by the tram along Kemeralti; take the funiculaire up to Taksim square, near hotel.
Went to a Whirling Dervishes ceremony (a “Sufi Music Concert and Mevlevi Sema Ceremony” to be more precise). By the Sufi Group of Istanbul Galata Dervishes. Held at the Hodjapasha, a 550 year old hamman in Sultanahmet transformed and well adapted as performance hall – it provides the right setup for such an inspirational experience. Fascinating! This is what Wikipedia says: “The whirling dance or Sufi whirling that is proverbially associated with Dervishes, is the practice of the Mevlevi Order in Turkey, and is part of a formal ceremony known as the Sema. The Sema is only one of the many Sufi ceremonies performed to try to reach religious ecstasy (majdhb, fana). The name Mevlevi comes from the Persian poet, Rumi (born in Balkh, modern day Afghanistan), whose shrine is in Turkey and who was a Dervish himself. This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.” For more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufi_whirling
(Whirling Dervishes - picture from Wikipedia)
Final dinner at the well-praised Hamdi et Lokantasi restaurant, reputed as one of the best eateries in town. Turkish cuisine, warm ambiance, full view of Galata, the Goldern Horn and the traditional Istanbul skyline. Nice way to cap this week-long séjour here.
Saturday, Feb 27
A bizarre piece of political brinkmanship unfolds while we are there. Some 50 military personnel, serving and many retired, arrested for allegedly participating into plotting a coup that never happens 7 years ago! Led to a major rift between the government and the military! The story was revived by a newspaper which provided sufficient evidence to lead to the arrests. Weird but symptomatic of the tensions that exist between the conservative Islamist party in power and the military which tend to be more secular and sees it as its role to intervene whenever they see fit – and it has happened often in the past apparently! The tensions were palpable in the city, with a lot of police in the streets... (P.S. for a - somewhat histeric - view of Turkey's political dementia, see this piece in the Wall Street Journal that was published a few weeks following our visit: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704131404575117641079293872.html?KEYWORDS=turkey)
Quick shopping visit before leaving in the nearby fashionable district of Nisantasi – reminded us the neighbourhood where some of the action in Orhan Pamuk’s latest novel, The Museum of Innocence, could have taken place in the sixties or the seventies… Packed and left around noon. Good that we allowed enough time at the airport: two security checks – coming into the airport and at the gate – and long queue at the passport checkpoint. Did not leave enough time to process the tax refund through the busy and only counter available (I guess the country is counting on this!...)
(Magnificient view of the Süleymaniye Mosque from the grounds of the Topkapi Palace!)
