There is Magic in Istanbul: 

May 13th, 2024 

By: Sally Golan 

BORED ON AN ISLAND 

Summer 2021 

It was July 2021 and I was crispy brown and bored. Sitting at the beach club in Crete, Greece, for what felt like the billionth time, I felt no sparkle, no jazz, no magic. Just sweaty and a bit agitated (or perhaps over-caffeinated from yet another Elliniko Greek Coffee). Where was that “summer feeling”? Where was that DJ whose music I could not stop Shazaming? Let me go for another swim and maybe I’ll drift off to another island… 

Floating around the emerald green bay, I looked up at the top of the hill where the beach club sits, to see row after row of empty loungers, despite the locals claiming that the island was “packed with tourists”. Well…where were they? Where is everybody and Why. Am. I. So. Bored? 

I dragged my sandy ass into my rental and drove home like a maniac, just to see if I still had a pulse. With all the windows down and my house music blasting, I tried to remember what summer in Greece is supposed to be like: a wild beach chasing adventure with long sunsets and epic nights out. But….was it all in the past? Have I outgrown my island?

One sweltering summer evening in my stone home of an Airbnb, I started researching other possible summer destinations. It was time to….dare I say…cheat on Greece. 

“Hey! Where are you?” Ali, a dear travel friend writes. 

“Stuck in Crete. Bored as shit. Where are you?” I replied. 

“Come to Istanbul”. 

Turkey? Hmmmm. Turkey… Turkish baths, spices and bazaars, chaotic traffic, endless history, kebabs, gooey Turkish ice cream, cats!!! So many cats. 

“Let me think about it,” I texted back. I closed my laptop, grabbed my flip flops, and sat outside my rooftop patio to gaze at the stars. Wild dogs barking loudly in the neighborhood, Greek music playing in the distance from someone’s home, the sound of sikatas. I found myself desperate to find magic in that moment. So I cocked my head upwards to the night sky and I asked none other than the Greek goddess Athena: “Tell me… tell me where to go this summer. I need a sign.” 

The colors were so vivid. Silky, bright blues and reds. The hum of the streets bustling with people all walking in a million directions. I head inside what looks like a palace made of marble. A white dome with natural light…are those…bath bubbles floating?  Where am I? 

A familiar voice cuts through the noise to ask me, “How are you liking the city?” But what city? Where am I??? I look at piles and piles of spices, exotic shapes I can’t make out. The feeling of a river breeze?

I woke up in a pool of sweat from my travel dream. I looked around at my stone home of an Airbnb in Greece and I knew exactly what I needed to do that morning. 

I booked my flight and hotel within one cup of coffee. I was ready to leave the island of Crete and have a very different summer. 

A Turkish summer. 

Welcome to Istanbul:

A Sensorial Experience 

The energy was different in Istanbul. The busyness was palpating. I knew I made the right choice as soon as I joined my friend Ali (and a few other travel friends) for a rooftop dinner at our hotel in the heart of Sultanahmet overlooking The Blue Mosque and The Hagia Sophia. The Sura Design Suites provided the perfect view, the most delectable dishes and an incredibly quiet and plush room to escape the Istanbul madness. What a COMPLETELY different vibe! 

I traded turquoise waters for a maze of jeweled mosques. I traded chicken souvlaki for Adana Kebab on a bed of bulgur pilaf and Coban salad. I traded bikinis for long pants and full sleeve shirts.  I traded the sounds of sikatas for loud rolling street cars and honking taxis and I loved every sensation of it. I was indeed cheating on Greece with their arch-enemy and I could not help but feel mildly guilty. 

Walking around central Sultanahmet is such a sensorial experience. Rows of Turkish delight shops with piles of colorful baklava covered in pistachio, towers, and minarets spiraling upwards adorning ancient mosques, carts selling freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, and the sweetest kitties freely roaming the streets. The smells, the tastes, the sounds are all so pleasing. 

“I’m hungry,” we all said, simultaneously. 

 

Istanbul: The food experience 

After touring around the stunning Topkapi Palace, we sat down for lunch in the courtyards.
With every bite of food, I felt something new: satiated. There was so much flavor, so much charm and history. It felt like a mixture of my mother’s traditional Moroccan cooking with hints of Middle Eastern notes. It’s not like I’ve never eaten Turkish food before. It just hits different when you’re actually there. Not to mention the fact that I was surviving off of burnt souvlaki for three weeks prior to my arrival. My taste buds were dying to get away from Greek salads and gyro pitas. 

I highly recommend lunch or dinner at Galeyan Restaurant as we ended up eating there probably more than 5 times. The chef is talented and his passion shows through his dishes such as grilled lamb with eggplant puree and yogurt sauce. Try the Muhammara appetizer; crushed walnuts, tomato paste, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and homemade bread for dipping. Not a failed dish was ordered. 

Istanbul is also famous for fantastic fish dishes, caught fresh from the Bosphorus. You must eat at the Deraliye Terrace restaurant and order the fresh sea bass cooked in parchment paper. If you have a soul, you might just cry as you taste the natural, earthy flavors and aromas of lemon, thyme, garlic, and sea salt as you open the paper to reveal your perfectly cooked fish, a present from the sea. 

In Istanbul, you eat with vigor. You honor their attention to hospitality as they serve every dish on silver or gold platters. Presentation is everything in Istanbul. The Chef takes care of garnishing and just because he knows you have a camera phone.  You inhale the spices before you taste the ingredients. You sip slowly, letting the sweetness dance around your tongue so you can dissect all 7 spices. Your belly has never been more satisfied and you will never eat the same again. 

Istanbul: The Historical Experience 

A bubble bath in ancient times 

On day 2, we headed for the Basilica Cistern. An ancient underground water storage system built in the 6th century during the Byzantine reign. You can feel the temperature drop as you walk down dimly lit stairs, met by underlit columns and glowing waters. Walking through the thick, 9-foot tall columns, I noticed metal boxes, placed on an angle by each column. All of a sudden, the lights went out and dramatic music started playing. None of us expected a spectacular LED light show to start! The underground cistern became an immersive theater experience as the history of Turkey unfolded on the walls, the floor, and the columns. It was a true 365, multimillion dollar show and it was spectacular! View my video of the show here.  

 

My feet were aching from all the walking. So I started researching hamams in the area on Google Images. Wait… all that white marble and huge archways… that’s just like my dream! I zoom in on a stunning image of a communal bathing room that belongs to the famous Hürrem Sultan Hamam, an all-white and gold hammam that sits inside the Hagia Sophia. It was meant to be. 

Booked*

This is not your average bubble bath folks. Firstly, this hamam was built in 1556 and was named after Hurrem Sultan, consort and wife of the Ottoman sultan Süleyman.  Here, you will be treated like a newborn as you head into a communal bathing room, fit for kings and queens (and filled with a bunch of timid naked women LOL). Men and women separated, of course. You get your own personal bather and no, you cannot call her mommy. She/He will literally bathe you while you sit like a plump potato, doing diddly squat. Just how I like it. 

I got the full treatment: a bubble wash, soap massage, hair wash with herbal shampoo and conditioner, and a good old-fashioned cold splash thrown into my face followed by a baby-like scream. All that was missing was a pacifier and a swaddle. That night, I slept with my thumb in my mouth. 

Istanbul: I Found the Magic 

A group of us headed out to a rooftop lounge to smoke some hookah and be amongst the fashionable. We took an elevator to the very top of a bar in the center of Besiktas. When the elevator doors opened, I nearly choked and died. 

The rooftop (despite it being open air) was covered in a cloud of cigar and cigarette smoke, as if we traveled to 1992. My eyes watered and my throat burned, but fuck it. I was going to sit in the cancer cloud, smoke watermelon hookah, and be one with the fog. (Then burn my clothes later). 

The energy on that rooftop was wild! Like what bars and nightclubs were like back in the day with everyone socializing face to face and not buried in their phones. Our table was filled with a vibrant, international bunch. We laughed so much that I was reminded of the muscles in my face. We talked about every topic under the Turkish moon: politics, religion, travel, love and war, modern technology, and that’s when it hit me: 

There’s magic in Istanbul! There’s magic in seeing a city come to life in the dead of summer. Summer doesn’t always have to be about the beach or an island or being on the water. Summer can be about historical time travel, palate-pleasing meals, experiencing a new culture and challenging your comfort zone. The beach can wait. 

Istanbul is the gateway to the world and I just discovered that I have an entirely new country to play with. I was going to do it. I was going to conquer Turkey. So I booked a flight to Cappadocia next. I had no intention of leaving Turkey that summer and every intention of finding more magic. Stay tuned for my next story about my adventure in the land of hot air balloons, fairy chimneys, and underground mysteries;) 

“If one had a single glance to give the world, one should gaze at Istanbul”. – Alphonse De Lamartine