The new experiences rain down on me so quick and fast, it is hard to know just what to say or where to start, but as I’m writing for Spacing, a blog concerned with urban landscapes, let me start with the landscape of Constantinople, a.k.a. Istanbul. It is magnificent. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, nor do I think there is. The city is built directly up from the sides of the Bosphorus and the city’s harbour, the Golden Horn, an indentation of the Bosphorous is so broad and deep it looks more like a river.
Ships from all over the world constantly sail by as if the Bosphorus was no different than a busy highway, yet it is not as the many fishermen attest who fish from the boardwalk beside it. The Bosphorus is intimate and lively with small sailing and fishing boats and at the same time it is imposing with the an endless line up of the world’s floating monsters. To give some idea of scale, the Bosphorus makes New York City’s harbour look like a country lane and yet the human use and scale is never lost. The people of the city use it from sunrise to sunset. We ate red mullet for supper that had been swimming in the waters a few hours before.
What else? The museums, mosques and public spaces are thrilling. Seeing rooms of statues from Greco-Roman times gave me a whole new idea in just an hour of the role and importance of sculptures in the ancient world. Until that moment, I had never understood that the Greek and Romans carved statues, the way we take photographs. It wasn’t just emperors. It was actors with their masks still on, famous gladiators, beloved wives and daughters, administrators, businessmen, ordinary soldiers, obscure but favourite Gods. The whole panoply of ancient life can be found in those rooms of sculptures at Istanbul’s national archaeology museum.
If I were to draw three very quick lessons from Istanbul for the city for Ottawa, they would be these: 1) Preserve your public spaces. Istanbul’s Hippodrome, a vast public walking space in the city centre is currently being re-cobbled by city workers and has existed since the time of the Romans. No one has thought it would be a great idea to sell it to a developer. 2) Do not be afraid to convert beautiful private or religious buildings into museums. The Aya Sophia is now a museum as is the Topkapi Palace. People love the ‘real thing’ not some Disney mock-up. The Topkapi Palace when I visited it was filled with Turkish tourists enjoying the vivid reality of their city and nation’s past. 3) Invest in public transit. Istanbul has both the oldest and most modern streetcar system in the world beginning in 1875 and most recently investing in an underground system from the city centre all the way to the airport.
It was heart breaking to see ‘trams’ very similar to our O-Train whisking through the city centre carrying thousands of passengers when I know our city could have gone the same route, but also exciting. A city that is succeeding always fills my heart with joy.
4 comments
I was just in Istanbul and definitely agree with your observations. The city is bustling with pedestrians! It would have been amazing to see trams going down Rideau.
I agree with all your impressions of that *incredible* city. We have much to learn about urban planning and living, why not learn it from one of the world’s most successful cities right down through the ages.
I was similarly inspired by the transit system there – it spans two continents via the mighty Bosphorus bridge, serves a city of close to 20 million, has to withstand earthquakes, includes transfers from subway to funicular to streetcar to bus to ferry – all of this with remarkable grace, and all with the ease of the – that little pre-loaded fare paying device that was perhaps my best friend in Istanbul.
if you’re still there, I recommend the Mosaic Museum down off the beaten path near the hippodrome. It’s underexposed in tourist brochures, and maybe underfunded (the bldg maintenance is a little behind), but it’s a terrific place to see excavated classical floor mosaics (in situ!) from the city’s time of roman rule (one of its many layers).
of course you should really check out the big underground cistern as well, on the other side of the hippodrome.
safe travels Clive!
a word that disappeared from my comment — “akbil”
“. . . all of this with remarkable grace, and all with the ease of the akbil – that little pre-loaded fare paying device. . .”
While I think you may have gotten a great impression of the city trams as a tourist, I can tell you that for the locals, Istanbul’s transit system is seen as woefully inefficient. Certainly a city that size should have an underground network that rivals London’s Tube. A local told me that they’ve had trouble digging for the same reason that people love to visit: the historical layers make it such that it is impossible to dig without turning up some artefact of times gone by. Certainly, the old part of town is very walkable. The trams are limited and slow, and only service the oldest part of the city, and are therefore useless to most residents (especially on the Asian side). Another major problem the city faces is sprawl caused by massive population growth (I think estimated at 10-15,000 new residents every month). In short, it’s really tough to compare the city with Ottawa because there is very little commonality.
I’m glad you enjoyed Istanbul, but it’s easy to fall in love with a city as a tourist without seeing its real flaws.