Istanbul – September 2022

This post acknowledges the suffering and pain of the people of Turkey and Syria, hit by a powerful earthquake on February 6, 2023. My friend Arif hails from where the quake hit the hardest. May you be comforted.

From Dubai to Istanbul. For what felt like traveling back in time. We left Dubai, a most modern and relatively new city, to the home of one of the most potent geopolitical centers of ancient civilization, the Roman and the Ottoman Empires. Mind you, Istanbul is also a thriving and modern metropolis. Its international airport, completed in 2019, gives you your first impression of the country and is a marvel of modernity, beauty, technology, and comfort. The ride from the airport to our hotel near Taksim Square, although covering a small slice of the City, offers a first glimpse of the expanse and magnitude of this megapolis that house 18 million people.

Once checked in to the hotel, the City and our proximity to busy Taksim Square, teeming with life, made it impossible to resist its appeal. The square, at night, is a sight to behold. Many roam the surrounding pedestrian streets full of activities, stores, sounds, and the tempting smell of roasted walnuts and corn cobbs. The City’s nightlife is hard to describe, and the encountered ambiance is far from what I expected. It is a feast for the senses. Istanbul at night is unforgettable.

But before we dive into my impression and experience of the City, let’s go for a history lesson. Istanbul is a unique City straddling Europe and Asia Minor. This fact alone is fascinating. Located on the Bosporus, the body of water that separates the two continents and provides the only heavily used access between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Istanbul was first settled by the Greeks, thus its founding name of Byzantium. Istanbul is its second appellation, followed by Constantinople, after the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who refounded the City and made it the most powerful City in the world in the fourth century.

I was in my element. I love history for what it teaches us about civilizations, arts, culture, political and scientific advances, and the impacts great men and women and ordinary people have had on the planet and our evolution as a species. I was, therefore, ready to dive into this historic City and enjoy all it had to offer. Visiting Istanbul was a dream come true, and its reality delivered more than I could have ever envisioned.

From the Constantinople era comes the Hagia Sofia, located in the Fairhine district. It was the second-largest cathedral in the world at the time of its construction. The mighty Ottoman Empire that followed turned the Christian church into a mosque, and in its yard, we still find the monuments that house the tombs of five sultans and their families. The Hagia Sophia, a symbol of great Eastern architecture, underwent many functional transformations over the years. It is today a Mosque, a most recent phenomenon. It is located near the Topkapi Palace, which housed the administrative and residential courts of the Ottoman Empire.

When I visited the Topalki palace, I paid an extra fee to go through the harem, a reminder of the hard work of women to gain our rightful place as full citizens in most societies. However, societal organizations still struggle with the equitable treatment of women anywhere. And a reminder that from infinite time, the enslaved people mainly were Black Men and Women from the African Continent. No matter where you visit, this fact seems to be a hard-to-miss constant. Some things, unfortunately, are constant.

One cannot miss the Grand Bazaar and much more within the district. A visit to a couple of former residential mansions turned into museums showcases the evolution of art and fashion in Turkey, especially its most prized Iznik ceramic art dating from the 15th century. A 2-hour cruise on the Bosporus gives you a prime view of the properties and landscape in Europe and Minor Asia.

It is humbling to be in the middle of all this history. I kept thinking of the billions of people who have come before us and mostly spent time making war to amass and possess. And to leave it all behind. The overwhelming feeling, however, was gratitude for the lives of past artists, builders, architects, artisans, and great minds who found it in them to innovate and pursue dreams and realizations that contribute to the joys we experience when we travel.