Thoughts on Istanbul...

Our trip is coming to an end very quickly and I feel like there are many more posts that I wanted to write. One post I wanted to write about is why Istanbul is so great. Why it is so dynamic and vibrant, what is that "thing" that makes it so great? The second thing I wanted to write about is progress. Advancement, initiative, creativity of the people here.

Then I realized that maybe those posts were the same thing.

This idea started percolating in my mind near the beginning of our stay here. We spent an afternoon with a friend of Ozayr's who is an architect. He and his American wife run a practice here and they have a daughter who is 5 years old. Over the course of our conversation, Ozayr mentioned that the area we are staying in (around Beyoglu/Cihangir) was changing very rapidly. A lot of the older buildings were being converted into galleries, fancy shops and other "modern" amenities. Ozayr's tone was very nostalgic - he has been coming here for many years now and the city changes each time. He seemed to be saying "what a shame" because he felt the older way was somehow better, or more authentically Turkish. Our friend Murat looked at us blankly as we shook our heads, as if he had no idea what we were talking about. He looked so surprised that I asked him if he felt the same way. He said definitively, "well, no, not at all. This... this is progress. This is good."

Skip to a later conversation with friends over a delightful Turkish breakfast. We were discussing carpets. They were discussing a company named Dhoku who had recently put together an exhibitions of their carpets and kilims designed by Turkish artists and architects. I heard our friend Emre say, well, why does the Turkish carpet always have to be the same? Why does it have to have the same designs always, and the same look? Can't you keep the quality and keep the process (ie. handmade with traditional weaving techniques using quality Turkish materials) and show a NEW kind of Turkish carpet? That is what Dhoku is trying to do. We actually stopped by their shop today at the Grand Bazaar (where hundreds of sellers will try to sell you a typical looking Turkish carpet) and saw their stuff. They were beautiful...

I feel this instance with the carpets is a great metaphor for what's happened in the city at large over the last few years. I absolutely feel that if you are coming to Istanbul, you should visit the historic center and you should soak up as much of Turkey's history as possible, while visiting some AMAZING places, such as:

The Blue Mosque
The Hagia Sophia
The Basilica Cisterns
Topkapi Palace
Rumeli Fortress

These are classics, like the traditional Turkish carpet, it is always going to be a staple of Turkish culture and anchors its persona. But Istanbul is always growing, always changing. Its people are extremely resourceful and the population is very young (half of the population of Istanbul is under the age of 35), and now you are seeing lots of exciting new things along with the old. Such as:

Istanbul Modern
Velonottte International
The Museum of Innocence
Santral 
Panorama 1453
The Istanbul Film Festival
Salt

Whether or not these more modern sights are going to be a draw for the tourist who comes to Istanbul, I don't know. If you were going to buy a carpet in Turkey, perhaps you would want one that looks traditionally like a Turkish carpet, because that's new to you and that's what you came to Turkey expecting (and there's nothing wrong with that). But I do believe that these innovations and the creativity and the drive for progress of the people here have gone a long way in creating an atmosphere and environment that is layered and exciting. How the old and new are all intertwined (in all areas: architecture, food, cinema, culture, art, leisure) and the resulting atmosphere is really (to my mind) is what puts Istanbul ahead of other ancient cities who also have old monuments and historically relevants buildings. It is not a ghost town of abandoned relics, nor has the city wedded itself to the past. It has a paradoxical feeling of being "Old World" and yet dynamic and new. I think this is part of its "Je ne sais pas".

We met a very reluctant traveler in Kusadasi, an Australian named Julie. Her grown son is away at school for the first time, and her husband, the very charismatic Bill, had convinced her to visit Europe for the first time. She admitted that she hates traveling, and she did seem a little overwhelmed. Tentatively we asked what she thought of Istanbul. She said, "I should have hated it" and then with a big grin, "but I loved it!!"

Paradox, indeed!