The double life of Istanbul

Oct. 17 2013

by Laurence Ogiela / TÊTU

City-bridge, between East and West, between Black Sea and Sea of Marmara. World city, at the crossroads of civilizations and cultures. Schizophrenic city, between traditions and modernity. City-paradox, between secularism and religious fundamentalism. Istanbul has always oscillated between its European side and its Ottoman heritage.

For many, Istanbul remains the eternal Byzantium, the fascinating Constantinople. Walking around the Seraglio, which gathers the historical and architectural jewels of the city, one understands this nostalgia and the orientalism still so alive. But, how to come to Istanbul without admiring the Hagia Sophia Basilica, the gold of the Topkapı Palace and the earthenware of the Blue Mosque? How to appreciate Istanbul without sailing on the Bosphorus, the mythical waterway that links the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea.

The backbone of the city, the Bosphorus strait sees thousands of boats pass by every day, from the Ukrainian cargo ship to the fishing caïque, passing by steamers and ferries that link the different parts of the immense city. Another magical place: the district of Ortaköy, its mosque with its feet in the water, its Ottoman wooden houses and its fish restaurants, very popular with Stamboulians for the Sunday walk.

Do not miss the Galata bridge, crowded with fishermen from morning to evening. It spans the Golden Horn, an arm of the sea that crosses the city perpendicular to the Bosphorus. Under its arcades, lots of restaurants offer mezze and raki. It is the ideal place to enjoy the sunset on the immense domes and the multitude of minarets of the city. You can sip tea while smoking a hookah, comfortably installed on the colored cushions of the Maxigala bar, before tasting the voluptuous oriental nights.

Turkish Movida

Between the last call to prayer in the evening and the first call to prayer in the morning, Istanbul puts on its night clothes and offers a completely different face: that of an embagouzée princess who has become an uncomplicated girl of joy. The Turkish movida never stops attracting partygoers from all over the world, and Istiklal Caddesi Avenue, in the heart of the trendy Beyoglu district, is similar to the ramblas in Barcelona. An old red streetcar runs up and down it, and all the youth of Istanbul stroll along it non-stop day and night.

In the adjacent alleys, one plays a kind of local backgammon and smokes apple narghile while remaking the world. Covered passages with an old-fashioned charm, such as Çiçek Pasajı, the Flower Passage, are home to restaurants frequented by students, artists and intellectuals.

Many clubs have winter quarters in Beyoglu and summer terrace quarters along the Bosphorus. at nightfall, the old decrepit Empire-style buildings are transformed into bars and clubs on every floor with loud sound systems, such as Love Dance Point, the emblematic club of the Istanbul gay scene.

The gay heart of the city beats in Beyoglu, between Tünel, Galatasaray, Cihangir and Cucurkuma, a sort of local Greenwich. This is where the majority of gay and even lesbian bars and clubs are located.

The nights in Istanbul are in turn festive, gloomy, trendy, hidden, tender and mysterious. The places vary from an old decrepit apartment transformed into a bar to a more bourgeois one with a terrace where one dances on the roofs, from furtive meetings near the docks along the Bosphorus to the dance-floors of the clubs with a street front. You can imagine yourself as a young sultan, as a eunuch so dear to orientalist painters, as a courtier at the Ottoman court, as a pasha... But everywhere you go, you're entitled to... Turkish techno at full blast!

If Istanbul has recently become the new trendy gay destination and if homosexuality is more and more visible there, Turkish society remains very largely homophobic and coming out is an exception. For if there is no law on homosexuality in Turkey, Turkish law does not condemn discrimination or crimes for sexual orientation. However, the LGBT association Lambda Istanbul organizes every year a gay pride to raise public awareness about tolerance and acceptance.

Public opinion obliges, we don't see any gym-queens, and few fashionistas in the streets of Istanbul. If their wardrobe leaves something to be desired, the men are natural, beautiful, dark and, above all, virile. Sexy without really realizing it. To meet them in the simplest way, go to the hammams. Turkish baths are back in fashion, so why not try these oriental beauty treatments. Ideal to relax after a hectic weekend, despite the massages a little muscular ...

(Main photo © Laurence Ogiela)