Monday, August 4th - Tuesday, August 5th: Reflecting on Friendship

Monday, August 4th - Tuesday, August 5th: Reflecting on Friendship

Yeşim, me, Nükte and Dilek on Burgaz Island 8/3/14

Just 13 days ago, Nükte and I rescued my mother from an Aksaray tourist hotel, one which was sure to give her an impression of this country vastly different from the one I have carried with me over the past 3 decades. Without friendships and personal connections, Turkey seemed to my mother to be a loud, impersonal place. That's not the Turkey I know.

Now that I've fully relaxed in to this rich experience, I've had more time to reflect on my now 25 year+ love affair with this country. What drew me here in the first place was Turkey's proximity to Iran - what kept me coming back was the strong connection I felt with friends. Maybe I was just extremely lucky to meet the right people, to strike friendships with the kindest and most generous of the lot. More likely, Turkish culture simply inspires warmth and an intimacy between people that is unique and ubiquitous. Meeting Nükte Devrim in 1989 changed the course of my life in many ways: it inspired a love of writing and journalism, it awakened in me a more critical and analytical view of the world and the freedoms I took for granted, and it left me inextricably linked to her, her family, this language, and this country. There were other Turkish friends that I made over the years, many of whom I've lost touch with now. In most cases I have only the portraits I took of them. But each of them make up the Turkey that I know.

Turkey is diverse, it is dynamic, it is mysterious. In Küzgüncük I hear complaints that too many cafes are opening up now, and the signs are getting bigger, more commercialized. With each visit to Istanbul I see more women covered, some completely in black similar to Iran's chador. The politics of the veil, and the politics of the growing conservatism of the ruling AK Party are complicated and I have much to learn about the impact these have on the lives of my friends. But to me Turkey hasn't changed in the most essential ways. During each of my four visits I've had the benefit of living here (I've stayed in a hotel only once - in Cappadocia in 2007). I've traveled to the farthest reaches of greater Istanbul to explore its varied communities and I've seen Anatolia - Kayserı, Göreme, Ankara, Izmir, Trabzon, Van, Diyarbakır. In each place I met people who touched me in some way.

Amongst its secular classes, Turkish women dress and see the world much as I do. They are well-traveled and multi-lingual. They raise their children to be of the world-at-large. Nükte and Vincent's girls are no different. While American fathers might give advice to their daughters about more mundane subjects, Vincent instead admonishes his girls about mixing different languages in the same sentence. "One should finish a sentence in one language before changing to another," he insists. Such is the challenge for the children of a Frenchman and a Turk.

Nükte, Müge and their mother

So, during my time here this month, while the the sights of this city are stupendous and grand, and I shall make the pilgrimage to visit them, the memories I am making will be about the people. Nükte's sister Müge is one of the kindest women I know. Already I have enjoyed multiple meals at her table, I have played with her son, and reveled at the magnificent view of the Bosphorus from her living room window. Nükte's friends Dilek and Yeşim are warm and welcoming. I wandered out of my front door in Küzgüncük at about 3:00pm today to buy ingredients with which to cook dinner when I ran in to Yeşim having tea with Tansel, a woman I'd met on Burgaz Island. I never made it to the store, because I sat having tea for more than an hour, and then was invited to dinner at a rooftop restaurant just few blocks away. It is now 11:00pm and I just got back home. A slight cool breeze is blowing through the house and I feel so content sitting here, reflecting on the conversations we had, and the banter over glasses of Rakı. Dilek's backyard abuts Nükte's, and she frequently sits at her back table to drink tea with friends. Turks drink on average of 6 glasses of Turkish tea a day, and you must add to that the Turkish coffee they consume. These rituals provide daily opportunities to sit with friends. Dilek practices her English with me, and has been very patient about answering the many questions I have about the Turkish language. I haven't gone a day without sharing in the warmth of friendship from one of these women.

Each time I've visited, I bring the same tattered copy of "Elementary Turkish" by Lewis Thomas, the book that I first poured over with a young Turkish waiter in the seaside town of Çeşme back in 1989. I was so touched by his enthusiasm to teach me his language that it kept me motivated to keep learning. Every time I pick up that book I think of him. I still have cassette tapes of Turkish pop singer Sezan Aksu back at home that I haven't been able to part with, even though I no longer have a tape player in which to play them.  I grew up in Turkey and, as is Nükte, it is my abla, my sister.

A Quick Post: (a couple of the) The Flowers of Burgaz Island

Akşam Sefası, or "Evening Feast"

Called "Four o'Clocks" in English

As it looks all day in the sunshine. 4:15pm

A short 90 minutes later at 5:45pm

Begonvil, or Bougainvillea in English

Begonvil are all over the Prince's Islands

Mom posing in front of an
impressive Burgazada Begonvil bush

Stepping down from the pool with a lush view of
Begonvil in the distance

Sunday, August 3, 2014: Learning as I Go

The most accurate metro map

Sunday, August 3, 2014: Learning as I Go

Müge's husband Alp tweeted about the 18 metro maps that I found online, and he says the message was retweeted and seen by almost 5000 people!



I'm pleased to report that I am now sure that #16 is the most accurate of the metro maps I found.




With Tuana's advice, I was able to make my way from Küzgüncuk to Şişhane in just an hour today!
Here's how I did it: 

Step One: The city bus between 
Küzgüncük to Üskükdar

Step Two: The Üskükdar - Kabataş ferry

Step Three: The funicular from Kabataş to Taksim
(A funicular is essentially a cable car)

Step Four: The Metro between
Taksim and 
Şişhane

I know it sounds complicated, but I'm thinking that I might actually be getting the hang of this. It's not like you're seeing me in a Dolumuş yet (that's a shared taxi), but I've finally figured out that the metro map is essentially an amalgamation of multiple systems, some old and some new, that have been joined through a series of tunnels and passageways. The Funicular has been around a very long time but now you can get to the funicular station from the metro. These two systems show up as different colors on the metro map, and the rider must look at the key at the bottom to figure out what type of transportation each color is on the map. The blue line, for instance, between Eminönü to Kabataş is an above ground tramway. If you want to connect to it, you've got to come out of the station to find it.

Kabataş ferry as it passes Dolmabahçe Palace

I found this poster at the Taksim station today. Mystery solved! Vezneciler is simply a new station, opened four months ago. This explains
why it was not on many maps. 

At Şişhane, I bought some t-shirts and had a coffee at Starbucks (just 'cause I was a little homesick). I caught a gyspy singer and recorded just a

An old fellow selling granola bars
taking a rest from his job on
Istaklal St. in Şişhane 

bit. He was very talented and this video hardly captures it.

It is very common to see, among the poor, the very old and the very young working here. A 6 year old boy gets on and off the busses in Üskükdar to sell bottles of water to passengers. Since the bus drivers frequently drive with the doors open, he just slips out a the bus is pulling away. Another child, maybe 3 years old, was selling packs of tissues at the Kabataş ferry landing, seated on a piece of cloth with his mother. There was a fellow who looked like he was in his 80's selling granola bars in Şişhane. The day was very hot and he couldn't have stood to make much. It is also striking to me that I have not seen a single wheelchair here. With the roads in the condition that they are, and with all the stairs one must take, it would be impossible to get around. The elevators in the metro stations were frequently out of order (just like our BART, actually) but I wonder if there is any pressure to fix them.

I head back to Burgaz Island Monday. I'm looking forward to seeing my good friends Nükte and Vincent again.

Saturday, August 2, 2014: Musings

Saturday, August 2, 2014: Musings

Today was a blustery, humid day, replete with thunder, lightening and heavy rains. Waking up in Küzgüncük, it seemed a good day to stay close to home, but a call from Müge at midday sent me out with an umbrella to find a bus to Beylerbeyi. I brought what I needed to spend the night, just in case, and I'm glad I did: the rain ceased only long enough for a cup of tea in nearby Çengelköy (pronounced Chengelkoy) before the downpour began again. Later that evening, from Müge's 4th floor porch overlooking the Bosphorus, the lightening gave us a dramatic show, and complemented the fireworks released from a dinner cruise passing by. Müge and Alp had guests for dinner, a sophisticated couple who spoke good English and we had interesting conversations over Sangria. It was a lovely evening.

The teahouse we had visited earlier in Çengelköy was very crowded, and was near the water. With storm clouds menacing, we found a spot under a magnificent tree (the sign said it was 800 years old) which shielded us under a canopy of branches. Two glasses of tea later, we were ready to take a stroll.

Rainclouds over the Bophorus from the Çengelköy wharf

Fresh simit from the baker in Çengelköy

Downtown Çengelköy

My friends speak fondly   of Çengelköy, and describe it as having a very "Turkish flavor," unlike Küzgüncük, which has attracted a more bourgeois crowd drawn to its many cafes and its tree lined main street. Where you find cosmopolitan artists in Küzgüncük, and middle class families in Beylerbeyi, perhaps they mean that one is more likely to find in Çengelköy an older generation and their less sophisticated and less worldly offspring. This is all just my interpretation of their comments, since Çengelköy's small town feel is difficult for me to sense.

****

If you don't like to read about cats, there is no need to read on.

The noisy Küzgüncük cat outside of my back door. 

Have I mentioned much about the wild cats and dogs around Istanbul? Around the home in Küzgüncük, cats provide a constant soundtrack. They mew constantly, and fight over territory and food. Kittens are pitied because they are not expected to live long, considering the difficult life they lead. Dogs are captured by the city, given vaccinations, then marked and released back in to the neighborhoods. Cats don't have this luxury. Nükte and Vincent rescued their cat from the wild and give it a great deal of love. They coo over beautifully colored strays they pass in the street.

This Çengelköy pet store cat is very
content. A rare sight.

This Çengelköy was ready to fight over the
scrap she got from the butcher shop.

Müge seemed quite alarmed actually, when I described our SPCA to her, and felt it was cruel to put these animals to sleep.

No, stray dogs and cats are simply part of the Istanbul milieu. They're here to stay.

Friday, August 1: Negotiating the Istanbul Metro System

Friday, August 1: Negotiating the Istanbul Metro System

First, an update:

Yesterday I moved from Burgaz Island to Küzgüncük, my friends' home on the Asian side of Istanbul. After a week of lazing under the sun and swimming in the sea, it seemed to be time that I do some sightseeing. I've stayed in Küzgüncük once before, when I brought David, Aisha and Toshio to Istanbul in 2007, so the community and Nükte's house are familiar to me, and the neighbors in the area know me as well. It is also a short 10 minute bus ride from Beylerbeyi, where Müge lives. All in all, I feel very at home here.

I rose this morning with the plan to head to Taksim, the famous square which was the location of the May 2013 demonstration that I wrote about in a previous blog post. There are multiple ways I could have gotten there (land, sea, underground metro) but since the Istanbul metro system is new to me (recently built since my last visit), I decided to try that.

I boarded the metro train in Üsküdar, just a short bus ride from Küzgüncük. I found the station clean and modern, with lots of beautiful artwork and even a large flat screen TV to watch commercials while I waited for the train. My plan was to take the train just one stop across the Bosphorus, equivalent to traveling between West Oakland and Embarcadero on BART. So my first stop would be Sirkeci. Here's the map they displayed at the station:

That's when the confusion began. I wanted to transfer at Sirkeci to the Kabataş line so I could disembark at Taksim. How hard could that be? I've managed many difficult metro systems before (NY? Paris?) but I must say the Istanbul system had me stumped.
I found myself on the street at Sirkeci, unable to find the transfer point, so I took the above-ground tramway that I was more familiar with and found my destination that way.

Fast forward to the afternoon when I was ready to head back, I boarded the underground metro at Taksim with the intention of heading south to get as close to Eminönü as I could, but found myself disembarking at a station the doesn't even show up on this map! Can you find the Vezneciler station on the green line heading to Yenikapi? Neither can I.

I did some research on my laptop when I got home and I found no fewer than 18 different Istanbul metro maps online. EIGHTEEN. To be fair, I can see now that the Istanbul metro system is work in progress, and lines are being added all the time. Of course some of these maps were previous versions that show the limited availability of lines as they were being constructed. BUT, you'll also notice that the shapes of the maps change from version to version, and the line colors change as well. Here is a selection of my favorites:

 

This one does show the stop I got off at in Vezneciler station

Of all the Istanbul metro maps I found online, only 3 had the station that I got off at in Vezniciler. The map posted at the Üsküdar metro station was not one of them. 

Okay, on to what I actually DID today.

Today I toured Istiklal Street in Beyoglu, which is a very nice boulevard with lots of fun stores and restaurants. It is a popular tourist destination so I did see a lot of foreigners. And yes, I did buy some silly Istanbul Tchotchkes.

Sulemaniye Mosque

I also saw the breathtaking Suleymaniye Mosque. Wow. Completed in 1557 by Sinan the Architect for Süleyman the Great, it has been restored to its original state, with beautiful geometric shapes in the interior domes and the same dramatic lighting one finds in all of Istanbul's mosques.

That's me. I had to be covered in the mosque

After visiting the mosque, I made my way North to Eminönü to catch the ferry back to Üsküdar (the metro felt a bit risky at this point), and a small alleyway with some shops caught my eye. What followed was a 90 minute walk through a market area that seemed to cover a square mile, with tiny alleys that go off in different directions with any household item you can imagine for sale. 

Interested in some counterfeit dollars?

This store was entirely decorative boxes and ribbons

Need a combination safe, or a colander? How about some party favors for a children's party? Or some Turkish delight? I was lost, I thought, but emerged later not far from where I started. Go figure.

Underground passageway at Eminönü

At last, it was time to catch the ferryboat and head back to Küzgüncük, but I had one last challenge to face. Those of you who have visited Istanbul before will know that Eminönü is an extremely busy area, packed with taxis and pedestrians. The city smartly built underground passageways to get from one side of the street to another, and industrious shopkeepers opened up stores along the tunnels to entice people as they walked by. There are even public restrooms in the tunnels. I expected this. What I did not expect were the crowds. We were shoulder to shoulder, packed in, as we moved as one through the hot and sweaty space. It reached 89 degrees today at it's hottest. In the tunnels it felt more like 100. Ugh. Nükte had warned me that the crowds had gotten worse since my last visit. I finally saw it for myself.

Back at home, I was so glad to wash off the sweat from this day. It was an authentic Istanbul experience from beginning to end. :-)