I visited Istanbul – the city has way more to offer than just Turkey teeth

Chances are you, or someone you know, has been to Turkey. There was a time when the country, to the Brits, was a land of package holidays, sun and sand, and bootleg T-shirts.

Now, it’s all cut-price nose jobs, hair transplants and new teeth.  Or you’d be forgiven for thinking as much.

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The truth is Istanbul – a city of 15 million people and  bigger than Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen combined –  has a lot more  to offer.

Straddling two continents the former Constantinople is a bucket list city and is world’s apart from the resorts frequented in the 1980s and 1990s.

The city manages to inspire and to confuse, to entertain and amuse, and to send you away with a burning desire to return.

One of the most striking things is the architecture. There are silhouettes of mosques, minarets and towers and the Turkish flag is never far from view.

And there is of course money.  From the cavernous departure lounge of Istanbul airport to the number of 4x4s cruising through the streets.

There is a constant clash here – between old and new, east and west, and rich and poor.

I stayed  in the W in Besiktas, just around the corner from the stadium of what many of us know as Istanbul’s third team.

The hotel is bright and daring – a mirrored entrance hall leads to a dark reception cum bar area and Besiktas is a lively neighbourhood.

A rabbit warren of streets, it is  packed with bars, and on the night I arrived I found Galatasaray taking on Besiktas. Almost every bar was decked out with widescreen TVs and even the fish restaurants  got in on the act. The whole  neighbourhood was mobbed.

Even late at night the cafes and restaurants are bustling and that’s because, it seems, the Turks love to eat.

Every great culture is build on its food and in Istanbul  you cannot escape it.

My guide told me there is a great tradition of bakery, from the sugary baklava, to the fried breakfast doughs, and an array of breads on sale at almost every hole in the wall.

The city is a foodies’ paradise crammed with cafes, street vendors and show stopping restaurants. Almost every turn offers some kind of temptation.

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Feriye is a restaurant that showcases the best of meze – endless plates of humous, aubergines and salads appear at the table, before spiced liver and cherry sauce – a far cry from the liver and onions wolfed down by my dad after a day at the yard – and sea bass.

Best of all are its unimpeded views of the Bosporus – the great divide between the European and Asian sides of the city, and a Golden Gate-esque bridge spanning the gap.

There are a series of rapid ferries running across the divide which take around 20 minutes. However, if you’re relying on road travel like I was, crossing times can take up to three hours due to traffic.

So I will have to wait until my next visit before I experience crossing a continent in the time it takes to crack a crossword.

But the much mythologised divide between east and west isn’t so vast as you might imagine. Both sides seep together, you’ll find a myriad of mosques in the west, and likewise churches in the east.

Istanbul is a cosmopolitan culture clash. There are niqabs and hijabs. Armani Suits and tracksuit bottoms. The ragged and the rugged.
But it is the food which is the highlight for me on this my first visit.

And lots of it.  The emphasis is, effectively, fresh is best – and who could disagree? From leaves to loaves. Meze. Meat. Bread. 

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It is all good. I tried so many restaurants serving the best of it all. I wolfed down simit, a seeded bread somewhere between a pretzel and bagel but with a crunchy crust and fluffy inside, baked in a traditional bakery.

The breads are served with a simple Turkish tea (no milk) and the tradition of putting ‘one on the hook’ –  paying one forward, which allows bakeries to keep a stock and if someone is caught without their wallet, or is in need, they are able to take bread and tea on the house.

This tradition of giving and sharing, I am told, extends to the elderly. My guide insisted anyone who fails to care for their parents into old age is beaten. But the Turks are, threats of violence aside, a friendly bunch.

But they take their Baklava business seriously. Karaköy Güllüoğlu is one of the best known companies with five generations of the same family having rolled up their sleeves, producing  the diabetes-inducing treat.

For the uninitiated baklava is a pastry based treat, filled with nuts, praline cream, and doused in sugar or honey – and in Istanbul it is inescapable.

Baking the pastry pillows is an arduous task as a walk through the factory showed me. Pastry is rolled so thin that it’s nigh on translucent before being stacked, shaped, filled, baked and glazed.

And the history of the city  is as rich as its desserts.

There are the globally recognisably landmarks of the Blue Mosque, and sat almost opposite, the Hagia Sophia which started life as a church before becoming a mosque with the Ottoman conquest.

Ironically the best view of Hagia Sophia can be found on the roof of a seafood restaurant, where Russian tourists have bizarrely built a social media trend of feeding fish to dive-bombing seagulls and capturing it all, for the ‘gram.

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Perhaps one of the coolest sites is the Basilica Cistern. A sunken cistern spitting distance from the two great mosques.

Built to hold water for Constantinople it is a Roman relic, recycled from what the raiders found. Each column seems unique – salvaged from ruins and used to hold the surface above.

It has appeared in films and a walkway leads visitors through moodily lit columns above a couple of inches of water.

There is something of a push on Turkey, or Turkiye as a recent rebrand has it and in Istanbul you’ll find  a both  an ancient and modern city, which by default has something for everyone.

The fun part is figuring out what it is you’re looking for.

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