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SENSATIONAL ISTANBUL - How to spend a week in the city of a thousand delights. Istanbul is a city that assaults the senses. Whether it’s aromas of spice and shoe polish, sights of dazzling ceramics and superb architecture, flavours of Loukoum and Köfte, touch of soft silks, or just the sound of boats chugging along the Bosphorus, this syncretic city, stretching from Europe to Asia, is guaranteed to keep your sensory perceptions on perpetual red alert
Capital to three of the world's greatest Empires and inspiration for Agatha Christie's 'Murder on the Orient Express', home to exquisite architecture, fascinating museums, vibrant markets, steamy hammams, and a host of top class restaurants, Istanbul easily merits a month - and can be a bewildering place to spend a week.
If you’re already feeling dizzy, just hang onto the legendary Golden Horn. Named for evening’s golden sunlight which sets it ablaze, this strip of water linking the Black sea to the Marmara sea, and dividing a city founded around 675BC and later united by the great Atatürk, is ideal for orientation
CROWN JEWELS
Sultanhmet is an excellent place to start your visit. At the heart of the conurbations history, this area boasts three of the most precious jewels studding the city’s magnificent crown.
Spearing the sky with its six, slender minarets, Sultanahmet Camii is Istanbul’s architectural Koh-I-Noor. Built in the 17th century by the renowned Ottoman architect Mehmet Aga, when sun burns hot on flagstones outside, the mosque’s cool interior, hung with opulent chandeliers and decorated with the vibrant azure iznik tiles responsible for its ‘Blue Mosque’ moniker, is as soothing as cool ice-cream to the weary soul. A short stroll north will take you to the pink domed ‘Church of the Divine Wisdom’. Dubbed the world’s eight wonder, Aya Sofia was built some 1000 years before Sultanahmet Camii. Church for 916 years, mosque for 481 and museum since 1935, this vast masterpiece of Byzantine art has fabulous mosaics and paintings and 30 million gold tesserae tiles that are guaranteed to take your breath away. .
A more secular monument, Topkapi Palace was home to Ottoman Sultans for 400 years. Apart from housing a porcelain museum and the fifth largest diamond in the world, a sacred area of the third court is shrine to fascinating Holy Muslim relics, including the sandals worn by Mohammed.
The ornate Harem had room for up to 800 women, but can only be seen with a guided tour.
TAKE TO THE STREETS
For a picturesque introduction to Istanbul street life follow Küçükayasofya avenue and get lost in the labyrinth around Kumkapi fishing district. You’ll see elderly woman splitting logs, fisherman cycling past with strings of silver trout and a host of wooden- fronted Konaks, some of which, like Yengeç in çapariz Sok, double up as restaurants where you can sample local specialties like the delicious grilled shrimp, and anchovy, mèzes..
Copyright fuller-love 2004 No reproduction without permission. Photos and text provided by author.
To read the rest of this feature see the May edition of Oryx Inflight magazine, Dubai.
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LETS SHOP: VENICE
HOME WARE TO DIE FOR.
Whether it’s Burano lace or Murano glass , luxurious brocades or handmade masks, Venice is a shop-till-you-drop-paradise – not for the faint of heart!
“See Venice and die”, the saying goes and many a shopper who’s stumbled bright-eyed down yet another Venetian alley, lured by the thousand fires of millefiori glass (or seduced by a pale cobweb of Burano’s intricate lace) must have secretly mumbled the phrase.
If the piazza San Marco has a glittering array of antiques, glass and some of the best art galleries in the city, stained glass and wrought-iron can be found in dim boutiques studding the streets between the campo San Polo and campo San Giacomo dell’Orio, while the best antique stores cluster around the campo Santo Stefano, and the ponte dell’Accademia (Dorsoduro side) is the place to buy handcrafted masks.
A paradise of kitsch, a haven of history and a watershed for art if you dare explore Venice’s alleys black with time, venture over her secret bridges, listen to the water’s urgings and hire a gondola, or simply follow your feet, you’re sure to discover some of the finest antiques, textiles and glass Italy has to offer. Or die in the attempt! MURANO FIRE
Traditional or contemporary, archaic or avant-garde, glass is Venice's number-one product and Murano it’s main producer. But the isle only became synonymous with glass in the late 13th century when the Venetian Republic ordered glassmakers to move their foundries from the mainland because of fire hazard.
With it’s fabulous smalto enamelled glass and millefiori multi-coloured pieces, Murano’s vitreous monopoly lasted for centuries and it’s glassmakers were even allowed to marry with the Republic’s nobility – at a price: in return for these courtly favors they faced a life-long interdiction to leave the lagoon.
These days Murano’s factories produce a glut of kitsch knickknacks for the tourist trade, but they also turn out stunning works of contemporary art - and the city’s antique stores hold a superb range of vintage glass.
VENINI : an institution since way back in the 1930’s, Venini boasts some of the city’s top names in glass design.
Piazza San Marco 314; tel: +39 041 5224045.www.venini.com..
Copyright Fuller-love. No reproduction without permission. Photos and text provided by author.
To read the rest of this feature see the December 2003 editon of Design & Architecture magazine. USA.
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