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SEPTEMBER 2012
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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
THREE PERFECT DAYS
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ISTANBUL
of archaeological parfait. As you stroll
through the Sultanahmet district, for
example, ancient Byzantium is several
meters beneath your feet, right under
RomanConstantinople, which is under the
O omanEmpire. Today you’ll be descend-
ing into the 6th century, to the
Basilica
Cistern
, avast, column-ribbedsubterranean
chamber that provided water to the city
during the reign of Emperor Justinian I.
It would be hard to miss another
ruler’s mark, not far from the cistern: the
impressive 17th-centurymosque of Sultan
Ahmed I, all tessellated domes and airy
arches. It’s often called the
Blue Mosque
because of the intricate tiling adorning
the interior, but it’smost famous for its six
towering stone minarets, which—as one
storyhas it—the sultanhadoriginallyenvi-
sioned in far-too-expensive solid gold. The
royal architect offered these as a substitute
(thereby retaining his head).
Feeling virtuous from your histori-
cal sightseeing, you decide it’s time to
sample a few of the Turks’ pet vices. But
first, lunch. You take a cab to the trendy,
kitschy restaurant
Dai Pera
for plump
shrimp fried in clouds of
kadayıf
(pastry
threads) and a perfectly cooked steak. You
lavish, garden-style restaurantwhere the chefs
have painstakingly replicated centuries-old
recipes. The creamy bi er-almond soup and
the honeydew melon stuffed with minced
beef, rice, almonds and raisins are sweet and
salty without too much he . Ah, it is good to
be sultan.
With daylight fading, Istanbul’s legendary
Spice Bazaar
beckons, so you wander spice-
ward, toward the banks of Golden Horn, and
enter a hall filled with multicolored dunes of
saffron, cloves, tea, nuts, dried fruits and
lokum
(a.k.a. Turkish delight). Sweet scents drawyou
ever deeper into a scribble of alleyways clogged
with cha ering vendors and their equally gar-
rulous clientele. You se le on a bag of sumac, a
sour and locally popular spice, which the store
helpfully vacuum-packs for your trip home.
After your earlier row with the subway
token machine, you figure you’d be er take
a taxi to the waterfront neighborhood of
Emirgan, where you’ll be dining tonight. The
driver deposits you in an otherworldly garden
of jasmine vines and fruit trees, which you
navigatewith some confusion until you reach
the Sakıp Sabancı Museum. Inside is
MüzedeChanga
, a sleek terrace restaurant
that overlooks the Bosporus and produces Asian-inspired riffs on Turkish food.
Here you consume, in short order: grilled
halloumi
cheese wrapped in grape
leaves and toppedwith sweet chili sauce, spicy sausage in an arugula saladwith
pomegranate vinaigre e, slow-cooked lamb served with sour cream, and pain-
fully delicious mushroom dumplings in tea leaf–infused yogurt. Finally, to the
amusement of your waiter, you hold up your hands in a gesture of defeat and
return to your hotel. You have a 9-foot rain shower to a end to.
DAY TWO
| Each of Istanbul’s conquerors attempted to make his mark on
the city, often right on top of the previous guy’s attempt, resulting in a sort
ADDED FLAVOR
Clockwise from left,
kadayıf
-
wrapped shrimp at Dai Pera; the Hagia Sofia;
a few of the offerings at the storied Spice Bazaar;
stuffed honeydewmelon at Matbah