So a couple of big ole gay guys decide that they’ll go on vacation to a country that’s 95% muslim. Sounds fun eh?
Turkey was so much more than fun.
It was thought-provoking, awe-inducing and mouth-watering. It was exotic, quirky, and sometimes warmly familiar. It was history-laden, futuristic, and filled with reminders to live fully in the present moment.
It is a place that many more able writers than I haven’t begun to do justice. I won’t try. Instead I’ll fall back on the “a picture tells a thousand words” adage to condense at least a fragment of this adventure into a blog-sized tale.
We arrived in late March to an early spring. There are more tulips in Turkey than in The Netherlands. In fact The Netherlands buys their tulips from Turkey. The streets of Istanbul are lined with miles of elaborate floral displays.
Our guesthouse was just down this tiny cobblestoned street, a few blocks off bustling Taksim Square. The flags crisscrossing overhead are actually promoting political parties for the election that was held during our stay. (So much more esthetically pleasing than yard signs.) These have a dark side though. They represent the party of Turkey’s creepy current prime minister. He shut down Twitter for a bit while we were there to slow the viral spread of recordings implicating him in a corruption scandal. Fortunately Turkey is a democracy and the courts overruled him…for now. He’s despised by the educated urbanites we met in Istanbul, but draws his support from the rural poor and religious right. A scenario all too familiar to those of us who live in the South.
The centuries-old streets that radiate from Taksim Square are lined with shops and outdoor cafés that remind me of Paris. We’d just had lunch at one along this particularly pretty street.
Today’s istanbul is as contemporary as it is ancient. Innovative high-rise architecture to rival Dubai fills the skyline, and this coffee shop where we hung out a lot illustrates some of the city’s superb modern interior design.
I found myself wondering how many Turks are diabetic. I think every third shop featured the country’s signature sweet, Turkish Delight. This counter filled with dozens of variations on the nutty, chewy stuff was at least thirty feet long.
And it wasn’t just Turkish Delight. Baklava originated with the Ottoman Empire, and a favorite evening activity for locals (one we instantly embraced) is hanging out in “dessert palaces” as I called them—beautifully decorated and often chandeliered restaurants focused on coffee, tea, and myriad combinations of phyllo dough, nuts and honey. Our Greek friend Vasileios shows off his selection.
Istanbul has a vibrant gay scene, despite the fact that 95% of Turks identify as Muslim. Just like many folks who identify as Catholic here in the U.S., they heed the teachings that have meaning in contemporary life and ignore those that don’t. And we happened to arrive just in time for a weekend of festivities put on by the local gay bear community, One of those activities was an afternoon aboard a boat cruising up and down the Bosporus Strait which divides Istanbul between two continents. We were surprised, in a country that we’d perceived to be highly conservative, to see the boat pull up out and proud with a big rainbow flag. It was a terrific afternoon.
That weekend’s activities also included a visit to a Turkish hammam in business since 1445. The traditional experience includes stretching out on a hot marble slab to be scrubbed from head to foot with a loofa, then massaged under a cloud of tiny soap bubbles. It’s very pleasant, as you can tell from the look on Dave’s face.
In the next post—Turkish Delights beyond Istanbul.