Thanks, Adam Sandler. Spending Thanksgiving abroad was strange. But I did get to eat a traditional dinner, courtesy of the American Women's Club of Basel, which I am a member of. It was held in a little castle and it was great. But just 2 weeks before, I was in Istanbul, Turkey. And that was even better.
I didn't know what to expect from Turkey. To me, it was exotic, but not dangerous. I don't think I actually know anyone who has been there. From a landscape architect's perspective, I knew it had a lot to offer. It was definitely a place where all your senses could be in overload, all at once. So this post is a little sample of all the sensory stimuli that Istanbul has to offer.
The sights of Istanbul are amazing. The colors are amazing, too. On the tram from the airport to the hotel, I saw the Theodosian Walls, built in the early 400's AD. Everything modern just seemed to cut through this ancient place. It was interspersed by large sections of lush green lawn. Closer to the center of the city, mosques became a apparent, their minarets rising far above.
The entire skyline is just dotted with minarets. At night, it was interesting to watch the vast numbers of birds circling around the minarets in the lamplight. Why were they there? Good insect eats? Literal swarms of birds would do this lonely circular dance around the minarets. The Swiss just voted to ban minarets from being built on new mosques, throughout the nation. And as a nation, they are getting a huge amount of criticism from the world.
The light in Istanbul in the evening, at least in November, has a sepia tone. And it always seemed a little hazy at night and in the morning. Maybe it was smog, maybe it was from the position at the edge of the Bosphorus River.
I don't think I ever got used to the sounds of Istanbul. The most disturbing to me was the sound of the Prayer Calls, which happens periodically throughout the day and night. Loudspeakers on all the mosques broadcast chants for a few minutes, very loudly to the population. The chants gave me a sort of feeling in the pit of my stomach that was disturbing. The calls seemed eerie to me, almost haunting to my untrained ear.
Another common sound was the voice of the many men calling upon the passerby to stop and eat at the restaurant he was employed at. They said wonderful things and were pretty persistent that their place was the best. To a Westerner, this became tiresome. But they were pleasant, even if I walked away. And they are just doing their job, trying to earn a living.
In addition to the expected not so pleasant urban smells one encounters, Istanbul also smelled very distinctly of food. Grilled food in particular. And in the area surrounding the Egyptian Bazaar, spices took over the air as well. This was pretty nice, not overpowering but enough to let you know you were somewhere special.
The taste of Turkey for me is a bit biased, limited to what we chose to eat. And it is linked to the scents of Turkey also. We ate lots of fresh veg, olives, grilled fish and breads. Of course, with the spices mentioned above mixed in, too. And we drank some interesting apple tea, Turkish coffee and local red wines. Some of the wine was good, some not so much. The pastries were the best. My favorite was something made of shredded wheat, fried and doused with honey. Mental note: try to recreate that one at home....
Istanbul felt hard and uneven to me. No matter where you are, pavement abounds. And it is broken down and uneven. One minute you are stepping over ancient stone, the next over asphalt that is patching the ancient stone. Quite a mix of materials. At the palaces, colorful tiles and marble cover everything. Grassy areas exist at Topkapi Palace, but they were not inviting green spaces, by any means.
Another thing that I 'felt' while in Istanbul, was the crowds. So many people, all seeming to be in a huge rush. It was common to get nudged or bumped on the sidewalks. And I felt as though walking there was sort of like an obstacle course through a big mass of people in a rush, around tree pits in sidewalks, always with one eye to the ground to avoid those tripping hazards. I walk fast. Really fast, in fact. But the people of Turkey could put me to shame. I wondered why the rush? I guess I will never know.
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