Istanbul - the city that never sleeps

Zipping and zigzagging in our taxi through a moody labyrinth of backstreets in the Taskim and Beyoglu districts was a speedy and exhilarating re-introduction to Istanbul. Mike and I had visited as fresh-faced twenty-one year olds more than a decade before and at the time stayed in a hostel in the touristy Sultanahmet district (as you do). Yet on researching via the trusty Lonely Planet, this time we opted for modern day Istanbul‘s Beyoglu neighbourhood, across the Golden Horn on the European side and where the city’s next generation prefers to reside. Istiklal Caddesi is the pedestrian shopping stroll that runs downhill from Taskim to Tunel Square. An endless river of people and faces, the boulevard pulsates all hours of the day and night, and its iconic red tram somehow manages to part the sea of bodies as it plies to and from Taskim Square.

Mama Shelter Istanbul is the latest in a growing chain of new age hotels (also in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux) catering to the youthful yet discerning independent and business traveller. Ranging in price from 69 euro for a single-bed room to 149 euro for a deluxe double terrace – when each accommodation offering morphs into the next, this stylish yet fun loving and affordable establishment stood out in the crowd. Conveniently located a stones’ throw from Istiklal, contemporary Mama Shelter is not yet a year old; oozes cool and exuberance through its slick reception area, colourful brasserie and expansive rooftop bar overlooking Istanbul’s mosque minaret-accented skyline. The rooms are small yet bright, white and super functional, and the fluffy queen bed is the kind of blissful comfort you wish you could replicate at home. Our sunny double terrace, a corner room on the highest (sixth) floor, was perfect for morning coffees or sunset beers – where we could toast Mike’s birthday, our first wedding anniversary and reflect on the surreal last eight months at sea. Though our favourite feature of Mama Shelter must go to the gracious and cheerful young gents behind reception. Their welcoming and personal service was refreshing and an invaluable asset to the hotel. Mama loves you!

The sheer offering of historical and religious monuments in this great city is astounding and you need more than just a few days to do it justice. Most key sights are conveniently located within the Sultanahmet district on the European side of the Bosphorus. To get there, we crossed the Galata Bridge lined with local fisherman trying their luck in the murky Golden Horn waters far below, ate customary fish sandwiches from the boats bobbing alongside Eminonu wharf and passed all manner of street stall hawkers selling BBQ corn, BBQ chestnuts, fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice and genuine fake watches.  

Built in the early 1600s to rival is grand neighbour, the Sultan Ahme Camii (or more famously: the Blue Mosque) stills functions as a daily place of worship despite the long line of tourists that file through the viewing area. In respect of the religion and culture, female visitors must cover their head, chest and legs (scarves provided if needed) and all shoes removed.

Across the sprawling gardens, the somewhat haphazard additions and extensions to the landmark Aya Sofya (or Hagia Sophia) monument tell a story of a dramatic and volatile history. It was originally constructed in 537 AD as the world’s grandest Christian church, until the Ottoman conquest in 1453 saw the Greek Orthodox Church converted to a mosque. With incredible foresight Ataturk, the first president and eternal father of Turkey, had Aya Sofya declared a museum and today elements and symbols of Allah and Islam sit alongside images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and his Saints. Intricate Christian mosaics that were once plastered over and hidden from view when converted to a mosque have been painstakingly chipped away to reveal the original intentions and are a testament to Istanbul’s remarkable past. Walking into this awe-inspiring building with its towering, seemingly unsupported dome roof and elaborate decorations is one of those wondrous moments that truly take your breath away. 

 

Seven Hills is a rooftop restaurant perched between, yet just downhill of both the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. This was the perfect spot to be precisely when the call to prayer, the broadcast hymn to Allah, was bounced effortlessly back and forth between the two towering edifices. A goose-bump inducing daily custom that will forever remind us of our Turkey visits!  

Disappointingly our mid-October visit to Istanbul coincided with the national weeklong religious holiday Kurban Bayrami (or Feast of the Sacrifice).  Most commercial districts, including the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, were completely closed. Fortunately we experienced both markets on our previous visit, although they had been a highlight and we missed the opportunity for new photographs and hard haggling for souvenirs that we’d been holding out to buy. Probably a blessing in disguise given there was barely a spare square inch left in our loaded luggage!

We simply loved Istanbul the second time around and understand the city has rejuvenated and progressed significantly in the past decade.

While densely developed there is little in the way of high-rise construction, and with a growing number of rooftop bars and restaurants, it’s easy to get elevated above the rooftops and admire evening Istanbul’s dusty pink-red city skyline. Popular restaurant 360 is one such stop for metropolitan vistas with your cocktail, and Leb-i Derya just off Istiklal came highly recommended by Mama Shelter for our joint birthday-first wedding anniversary celebratory dinner. This stylish, moody rooftop venue dished up tasty share plates, both international and contemporary Turkish mains and smooth cocktails overlooking the twinkling lights of the city and its illuminated minarets. We couldn’t have been any further from Fiji where we wed this time last year, but are thankful to share another milestone in such a memorable location.    

Sidestepping north off the main Istiklal thoroughfare quickly immerses you in the crowded and electric Nevizade Sokak eating precinct. Crammed with simple restaurants and meyhanes (tavernas), we could barely take more than five steps without an attempt made to usher us to the first vacant table and once seated could almost reach across the narrow laneway to the adjacent restaurant. Come for the atmosphere, not the food. If there is still energy for shopping – buy from fruit, spice or fish market vendors well into the night, or for a nightcap with the locals – visit Beyoglu’s cay (tea) garden crowded with students and young professionals playing backgammon, chain smoking cigarettes and ordering endless cups of cay served in small glasses. This is sensory overload at its peak. And as the Lonely Planet accurately states: “simply put, if you miss Beyoglu, you haven’t seen Istanbul.” 

The final stop on this short visit was fittingly a Beyoglu tattoo parlour for Mike to collect two small, yet lifelong souvenirs of both our Mediterranean summer escapade and a new nautical bond that we realize is now firmly planted in our short and long term futures in one capacity or another. Let’s just say we already know what we’d dream to do with our own retirements! 

Istanbul – another for your must visit list! 

Side stepping to Rhodes and crew departures

 

Back in early September and still unsure of restrictions imposed by the 180-day Schengen Visa (despite fruitlessly asking several ‘officials’) we had departed Greece a little prematurely for our liking. Having barely touched the surface of the Dodecanese Islands, we jumped at the opportunity to sail a beam reach west from near Gocek, Turkey to the historical walled city of Rhodes, Greece. The prevailing northerly wind was still showing some strength making anchoring off the old harbour untenable – as demonstrated by an aging steel beater that had broken loose of her chain the first night we were there and was awash on the town beach.

Apart from the shelter of its crowded yacht harbour, Rhodes Town was not well positioned to provide protection from the relentless northerly winds and accompanying swell. A poorly designed modern marina just southeast of town was still a long way from completion and has apparently been that way for years. A dozen or so workers and a handful of rusting machines tells that progress is still being made, albeit at a snails’ pace. During our walk past the partially completed development, we observed that substantial further investment is needed to lay an extra breakwater to block the northerly swell that penetrates right through the marina, sending its network of floating pontoons bobbing wildly to and fro. Not somewhere we’d want to pay hard cash to tie up to!

All that aside, Rhodes Town is a fascinating fortified city with an intriguing history dating from Before Christ through medieval times, Roman Crusades, Ottoman, Byzantine and Italian rule. Well preserved through the centuries and battles, old Rhodes is a melting pot of different architectural influences and religious and cultural remnants left behind by the various powers and sea traders that have landed on these shores. Here Muslim mosques and Byzantine churches sit side by side. Built in 292 BC and recognized as one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, the 32-metre high Colossus of Rhodes once straddled the ancient harbour entrance. It is said warships would pass between his bronze legs upon entering the port – until a few decades later when he toppled over in an earthquake, lying in ruins for hundreds of years before being dismantled and the bronze sold in pieces.

Whilst the narrow streets and tourist eateries become a wee tight with a cruise ship or three berthed alongside the old town, the enchanting back laneways in the Turkish and Jewish quarters are begging to be explored. As is a long walk around the old town walls, medieval buildings, a grassy moat and the green grounds of the Knights’ Quarter. Mike has always had his nose buried in some kind of fiction novel based on the Crusaders, Templars or other religious campaigns – so as you can imagine he was in his element reciting all manner of historical tidbits and hypothesis!   

After a few restless nights in a rolly Rhodes’ beach anchorage, we motored three hours northwest to the Dodecanese Island of Symi. These last few days in Greece were bathed in sunshine (surprise!) and flawlessly calm weather. Surrounded by plunging rocky hills (like being back in the barren Cyclades) we anchored off the sleepy village of Pedi – listening to the putt-putt motors of local fishing boats, jingling bells of grazing goats and the morning echo of rifle gunshots from nearby rabbit hunters. This dreamy Greek Island anchorage was the ideal location to squeeze every last drop out of a dwindling European summer daze. We lingered here for three nights: sun lounging, swimming and lazing whilst Mike and I hesitantly counted down our last days of boat life for 2013. Those memorizing blue vistas seen off the back of finally my darling are the visions I will gladly bottle up and transport myself back to whenever feeling the stress and pressures of everyday reality.  

The neighbouring port of Gialos on Symi was a gorgeous deep harbour with cheerful cotton candy coloured homes cascading down both sides of the boat harbour. Almost at the end of sailing season, few yachts lined the quay, which must be shoulder-to-shoulder in the peak charter boat months. Pretty Orthodox churches and bell towers speckled the horizon above, as did dozens of darling petite painted fishing boats on the waterfront: the pride and joy of every Greek fisherman.

Our other ulterior motive for hopping over to Greece was to stock up on pork products, duty-free booze (both either unavailable or expensive in Muslim Turkey) and for the guys to get their fill of gyros! Once these needs were well and truly satisfied, it was time to return to the lush green landscapes of Turkey.

 

Marmaris Yacht Marina is dad’s chosen port of call to winter the boat – he and mum have several weeks to kill here before heading back home to the Australian summer in early November. Yet with a to-do list of boat maintenance an arm’s length long, time is sure to fill up quickly. Whilst they’ll miss Mike’s cooking, margarita making, repair and IT support around the boat and the essential hands of extra crew – I do hope they are enjoying the peace and added room onboard their dream boat – without the live-in kids!  

Mike and my departure day from finally my darling was October 17th – a peaceful glassy morning in Marmaris to load our gear into the dinghy and bid farewell to mum and dad and to our dear floating home that has been the source of a loaded new adventure chapter in the book of life. Lastly, we cannot give thanks enough to dad for living his dream and having us along for the ride.

We are now making our way back to Australia with a detour via our dear second home of Canada! Next posts will include our visit to Istanbul and an update from dad on his progress preparing the boat for the European winter. Thanks for joining our family on our journey this year – we hope to see you back here soon!