Istanbul: Madness or Addiction?
How different can a single city be…
While political controversy has continued in recent times in relation to the famous sacred Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the city has hit the headlines just as it has for centuries.
I have visited more than 83 countries on four continents in my whole life and I have seen more than 436 metropolises and although I have Turkish roots, without prejudice, I believe that none of them comes close to Istanbul with its fame and beauty or can contest it. It is simply the crown of the cities, not only historically but also spiritually, culturally, and on many different levels. I might only see Delhi in India and Rome in Italy a little more alike.
Imagine a city that has been besieged more than 28 times in the past 1500 years and each of these armies has considered it to be the center of the world, so if you could take it over, it would also be right as to see yourself the true world empire and Istanbul, with its old name Constantinople, as the world capital. It is not for nothing that Napoleon Bonaparte once said:
“If the earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its capital.”
In 1453 it came into Turkish hands and from that period until 1923 it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, from where three continents were ruled. Although the capital of the newly founded Republic of Turkey was moved to Ankara in 1923, the city has never ceased to be the most important industrial, cultural capital of Turkey and one of the most important cities in the world. A city that served as the capital of three world empires and still serves as one of the centers of world politics for a fourth state.
With its 15 million inhabitants, it is one of the largest cities in the world, the fifth largest in the world after the city proper population and the largest in Europe. You will surely say now what does Turkey have to do with Europe, isn’t it Asia?
Yes, the unique Istanbul comes to face again, it is the only city in the world that lies on two continents, Europe and Asia, which is connected from one another with different bridges, tunnels, and ferries over the famous Bosphorus strait, which everyone wants to have in their possession for world trade and even is involved in many controversies today.
The world-famous Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, who also comes from this city, describes in his book ‘’ Istanbul: Memories and the City ‘’:
“Life can’t be all that bad, ‘I’d think from time to time. “Whatever happens, I can always take a long walk along the Bosphorus.”
How can you describe this city?
Many of my travel friends always ask me how many days you should invest in a Turkey trip for Istanbul and each time it is difficult for me because Turkey and Istanbul are actually two different countries in one, that is, if you plan to spend two weeks in Turkey you plan at least so much for this city, because only in this way you can get around 1% of this city.
The marvels of the different empires on the historical peninsula, which start from the mighty structures like the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, combined with three different world religions in Ortaköy, the whole mosque splendor like the Süleymaniye and others from one of the most famous architects in history, Mimar Sinan…
… or have a Turkish coffee on one of the seven hills on which Istanbul was built while reading the books of Elif Shafak?
Get lost in the myriad historical streets of the famous Istiklal street or that your nose and heart fell in love with the most exotic spices and flying carpets in the largest and the oldest covered Bazaar (Grand Bazaar) in the world?
Has the city become too much, how about a trip on the ferry to the Princess Islands?
Eating Baklava from the inventor himself?
Or celebrate in the evening so that the earth shakes under your feet and see the beauty of the sea at the same time?
There is simply no stopping for anyone in Istanbul.
If you are interested in history, nowhere in the world can you see so many stories and masterpieces…
Art? How about countless works of art in different museums? Young and celebrate? Nobody can offer you such a vibrant evening…
Christian, Muslim, Jew?
No problem, there are hundreds of alternatives to pray and communicate with each other in this city, because for centuries these people have lived together and created an extremely diverse city that has built its own civilization that cannot be expected anywhere else, it is the hub and the mixture of the West with the East, the key from the Orient to the West and vice versa, the shining eye of the Caucasus, the Middle East, the smell of the Central Asian steppes, from everything a bit, very balanced, but enormous tasty.
I really can’t tell you if it’s worth seeing this city at least once in your life, but instead, let the Turkish poet Ümit Yaşar Oğuzcan speak for us:
‘’I looked at you from another hill, dear İstanbul! I know you like back of my hand, and love you dearly. Come, come and sit on my heart’s throne as long as I live Just to love a district of yours is worth a whole life.
There are many flourishing cities in the world. But you’re the only one who creates enchanting beauty. I say, he who has lived happily, in the longest dream, Is he who spent his life in you, who died in you, and was buried in you.’’
Istanbul is a fairytale that you cannot understand if you have not experienced it in the book itself. You have to smell it, feel it, see it, and if you have only done it once, it is the greatest addiction in the world that penetrates from your blood into the smallest cells of your body and causes a lifelong withdrawal symptom that without the city, you can no longer live…
Author: Harun Resit Aydin
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