"Istanbul (or is it Constantinople?)" Istanbul Ili by Fasulye

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman Empire between 330 and 395, the Byzantine Empire between 395 and 1453, and the Ottoman Empire between 1453 and 1923. It was officially renamed to its modern Turkish name Istanbul in 1930.

My first trip to Istanbul was with friends. We visited the Hagia Sophia which was originally a Christian church, later converted to a mosque, and then a museum. We also toured the Blue Mosque which was built between 1609 and 1616 by order of the Sultan Ahmed I, after whom it is named. Both mosques are located in the oldest part of Istanbul, in what was before 1453 the centre of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

The mosque was deliberately sited to face the Hagia Sophia, to demonstrate that Ottoman and Islamic architects and builders could rival anything their Christian predecessors had created. However, the architect was unable to construct a bigger dome than Hagia Sophia's, so he instead made the mosque splendid by the perfect proportion of domes, semidomes, and minarets. Still, the building failed to surpass Hagia Sophia in terms of size, which greatly angered Sultan Ahmet.

My second visit to Istanbul was to teach at the Hava Harp Okulu (= Air War School... basically the Turkish Air Force Academy) as part of a NATO-RTA mission. During my week in Istanbul I was transported courtesy of the Turkish Air Force in a private staff car with a driver and a body guard. Istanbul is a city of 9,760,000 drivers who are all on the road simultaneously. Traffic is awful, but with a machine gun toting guard in the front seat, people just seemed to move aside like Moses parting the Red Sea. This is the only way to travel in Istanbul!

During my week teaching, I didn't have too much time to see sights, though I did get to walk around the city near my hotel. It wasn't too different than any large city in America. You had your Burger King with its drive-thru window; I shopped at "Migros" which is a super market food chain owned by one of the richest men in Türkiye, Rahmi Koç (Rahmi M. Koç, was born in 1930 in Ankara, Türkiye as the only son of Turkey’s wealthiest man Vehbi Koç, he attended high school at Robert College in Istanbul after his primary education in Ankara. Rahmi Koç then studied at the Johns Hopkins University in the USA and received his B.A. in Industrial Management.)

At Rahmi's Migros store I bought fıstık (pistachio nuts) and vişne suyu (sour/tart cherry juice, as opposed to kiraz suyu which is sweet cherry juice). These as well as apricots are very good local treats. If you visit Türkiye, try going into the stores where local people go-- don't just stay in Western hotels and eat in restaurants. You won't experience the real Türkiye.

Çeğdem smoking a "nargile" (hooka water pipe)

One night we stopped by a street side cafe for çay (Turkish tea-- see the traditional çay glass in front of Çeğdem ( Çeğdem = "crocus flower") in the accompanying picture). Someone suggested that the group smoke a Turksh "nargile" (hooka, or water pipe). I don't smoke, never did, and never will, so I just took pictures of others doing it. There are replaceable mouthpieces that go in the end of the pipe. Each patron gets his own mouthpiece.

A nargile is a multi-stemmed, often times glass based water pipe device for smoking tobacco, and originated in India. From India, it was made popular as the form we now see it in today in Türkiye. A nargile operates by water-filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking many substances, such as herbal fruits, tobacco, or cannabis. I think my friends used tobacco.

Friends at dinner near kapalı çarşı

My last meal in Istanbul with my friends in 2001 was near the kapalı çarşı (covered market). The kapalı çarşı is a marvelous place selling everything imaginable: fruits, vegetables, fish, jewelery, clothing, and even electronics. This was my last meal NOT because I was going home the next day, but because my former graduate student and friend "Gül" (= rose in Türkçe) and I ate something bad in Ankara several days earlier, that in the mean time had multiplied in my digestive tract to cause real problems. I actually thought it was the meal pictured here that caused the problem until weeks later in an E-MAIL, Gül told me that she had an identical attack during the same time frame. E coli no doubt. From that point forward, I could not eat anything or stay too far from the bathroom. It took a full week to get over this ailment.

The Turkish drink "rakı" would probably have cured me if I had consumed enough, but I don't drink alcohol as a rule. Rakı is made from different fruits in different regions, but grapes, figs and plums are the main ones. The best way to enjoy rakı (the Turkish national drink, also known as "Lion's Milk"), is with thin, cylindrical glasses and cold (about 8-10 degrees Celsius). One can drink it straight or with water, soda, or mineral water.

Now having put doubt in your mind about Turkish food safety, let me assure you that this is most unusual. I have been to Türkiye many times and have eaten everything local and have never gotten sick. In the accompanying picture, my friend Ayhan (third from left) took me one day to about 10 different food establishments in Ankara's Kızılay (= "red moon") district. He introduced me to various Turkish meats, drinks, and traditional dishes, all of which no one would ever eat together in one sitting. We went from establishment to establishment experiencing traditional Turkish cuisine (how could you experience Türkiye without friends like this?). We drank ayran which is made from yoghurt and water (similar to buttermilk). Then we had "turşu" (pickle juice). I must say that mixing this with ayran was probably not wise, and it is probably the only thing that we tried that I really didn't like (shudder! ugh!-- like drinking vinegar and salt).

• Pros:Very cosmopolitan; many things to see and do-- must see
• Cons:Very expensive; many things to spend your money for-- must buy
• In a nutshell:Very busy, very crowded, waiting for the next earthquake...