"I just read your book. Thank you for compiling the stories of expat women in Turkey. I am one too. I really laughed and cried along as I went, so many situations for which I had no words now eloquently described for me. I will be passing the recommendation along to my other bemused expat girlfriends in Turkey."
When & How Political And Nationalistic Issues Become Personal
There’s a few things about living in Turkey that I don’t like; the habit of ‘turkifying’ names being one of them," writes Catherine Yigit at her blog The Skaian Gates. She's one of the expat women writers featured in the Expat Harem anthology, and a contributor to the expat+HAREM blog. "So Catherine is sometimes changed to Kadriye, a completely different name. I don’t understand why anyone would want to change a perfectly good name to another one, isn’t changing countries/cultures/languages enough?" she asks.
My response to her post:
That's poignant, Catherine, and a good example of how political and nationalistic issues become personal.
When my father-in-law Suleyman went to London to work, they insisted on calling him "Sully", which he thought was amusing. Like many immigrant American families, our name was changed at Ellis Island. Names come to us in so many ways -- from the people before us, the land around us, the language on our tongues.
However, the fact of the matter is that what you're called is not inconsequential to who you think you are -- and being designated a new name by a group for their own convenience is often a power play.
Decomposing Self: Misplacing Your Most Valuable Expatriate Possession
Happily at home in Istanbul in 2007, I flipped through Unsuitable for Ladies. Edited by Jane Robinson, this anthology of female travel writing crisscrosses the globe and stretches back into ancient history. Complete candy for me. Around the same time I was ruminating in an essay for a global nomad magazine why I've come to employ a defensive strategy for my expatriatism.
Sense of self is my most valuable expatriate possession.
During my first long-term stint overseas in the '90s my boundaries were over-run by circumstance and culture. Language and cultural barriers prevented me from expressing my identity. I'd tell Malaysians I was a writer. They'd reply, "Horses?"
I was mistaken for a different Western woman in Asia. A crew of Indonesian laborers working at my house wondered when I was going to drink a beer and take off my shirt.
Like leather shoes and handbags molding overnight, expat life on the equator made me feel my sense of self was decomposing at time-lapse speed.
A thunderbolt from Robinson: "Southeast Asia has more than its share of reluctant women travelers."
She compiled Wayward Women, a survey of 350 female travel writers through 16 centuries so her conclusion about Southeast Asian travelers is drawn from a massive canon. In that moment, my hardest-won lessons of expatriatism felt vindicated.
What happens to your unique travel or expat experience if you consider yourself part of a continuum?
Check out some of expat+HAREM's favorite hybrid life reads here.
Reading Travelers: Find Your Historical Context
"Can you share a travel secret?" asked an online travel site for women prepping its annual feature of tips from women writers worldwide. "Read the women who went before us," I replied. "Or, read about them."
For this expat/ archaeologist/ writer/ traveler, cultural wisdom pools at the intersection of women and travel. The romance and grit of historical travelogue connects me to the land -- and reminds me of travel's transformative force in the lives of women. Reputation-risking. Life-threatening. Culturally redeeming. Personally empowering. (My post about a related controversial history.)
Adventurous Women in Southeast Asia (Oxford-in-Asia), a selection of traveler sketches by historian John Gullick, gave my own struggling expatriate experience new meaning when I was sweating it out for 5 years in the Malaysian jungle. Playing an attitudinal extra aristocrat on the 1860s filmset of "Anna and The King" with Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat in 1999 (next to a pig farm during a swine flu outbreak, but that's another post!), I appreciated learning about the dark side of the iconic governess to the Siamese court. Foster may have played Anna Leonowens prim, proper and principled but actually the lady was a scrappy mixed-blood mistress of reinvention. There was hope for me!
If you plan a trip to Turkey maybe Cultures in Dialogue holds similar promise for you. The print-on-demand series resurrects antique writings by American and British women about their travels in Turkey (1880s to 1940s), along with surprisingly political writing by women of the Ottoman empire. Contempo analysis by spunky scholars Reina Lewis and Teresa Heffernan refreshes the context of a region in transition.
Any favorite antique travel reads? What draws you to by-gone reports? +++++ Check out some of expat+HAREM’s favorite hybrid life reads here.
Discussing Life At The Crossroads On Satellite TV With Martin Anthony
Talking about foreign women in modern Turkey, the making of Expat Harem the book, and other cultural crossroads, in a live television interview with Turkey's 6 News.
Expat Harem coeditors Jennifer Gokmen and I appear in THE CROSSROADS, an English-language TV talk show broadcast out of Istanbul via satellite -- from Ireland to Mongolia! The channel broadcasts programs in Turkish, English and Russian, which is why the news crawl appears in Russian.
Click on the photo to view Expat Harem on the Crossroads at YouTube. ⇒
Canadian host and personality Martin Anthony kept us on the hot seat for an hour in this lively session...we may be sitting next to a refreshing-looking pool in the city's breezy Etiler district, but can you tell it's the muggiest day of the year? Ooof, July 10, 2009.
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Istanbul As Epicenter Of Pro Expat Women & Social Media Tribe?
I just spent an hour on the phone with a member of Professional American Women of Istanbul (PAWI) asking for guidance on using the internet to grow her business. She’s 51, hearing all about social media networking and willing to try whatever it takes. I was sorry to learn she’s spent a lot of time joining professional “e-marketing associations”, as if she’s shifting her business to marketing when in fact what she wants to do is add an online component to her existing business.
“Which automation tools should I use?” she asked, “they’re all talking about automation tools like Seismic and Tweetdeck.”
To automate what, I asked. Content you haven’t created, to put into distribution channels you haven’t forged, leading to niche customer bases you haven’t identified beyond their age and where they live in Istanbul? Cart, horse.
“I went to the Twitter site and couldn’t figure out what to do.”
I agree Twitter has a high barrier to entry, but once she’s got it she’ll be accessing all the information she needs to grow her business, and she’ll be learning it from the very individuals who are pioneering this field. That’s the beauty of Twitter.
I'll be leading a panel this fall on social media for professional use for International Professional Women of Istanbul Network. After today's call, now I'll be inviting members of PAWI.
Perhaps this can be the start of a connected, digitally-savvy tribe of international professional women in Istanbul and expat women everywhere.
I’m envisioning people in the community self-identifying themselves as “Social Media enthusiasts” or “SM-interested” parties after this panel, and then we can create an actual Istanbul Social Media subgroup for mutual support, skill training and sharing, and more.
I'll suggest the entire panel be proponents and active users able to demonstrate their individual professional development through Social Media.
1. What is social media? Definition, main platforms/tools, overview of its rise to prominence and communication paradigm shift it represents 2. Personal/professional uses of social media including expertise and platform building, professional development, job hunting, collaboration 3. Best and worst practices
BTW TRUST AGENTS by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith is the hot book coming out of Social Media at moment and encapsulates the most progressive thinking on the issues.
Guest Hosting #LitChat On Twitter On Topic Of Expatriate Literature
On May 29 at EST 4pm, I will guest host #litchat, an open discussion series founded by a fellow author (@litchat), on the topic of expatriate literature. (#litchat is an hour-long open discussion on a topic, three times a week. You can follow it in Twitter search or on www.Tweetchat.com using the term “litchat”.)
I’ll be guiding the hour-long live discussion, soliciting opinions and offering my own based on this view:
Expatriate literature may be stocked in the travel section, but does it deserve a shelf of its own?
Living for extended periods in foreign locales, expatriates struggle to reestablish themselves and find meaningful access to their new home.
Travelers passing through often have the luxury to avoid the very issues of assimilation and identity that dominate the expat psyche.
We’ll talk about the unique depths this can bring to expat lit’s combination of outsider-view-from-the-inside and journey of self-realization.
See litchat.wordpress.com for more info.
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See the transcripts of my expat #litchat event here.
How Use Twitter As An Author
As the coeditor of an anthology by foreign women in modern Turkey, and an American living abroad in Istanbul, Twitter has been an invaluable tool to bring me closer to the world I work in, and up to speed on my industry. I meet my readers (fellow expats, travelers, writers, and culturati among them) and my publishing world colleagues (agents, authors, editors, publishers) to discuss not only issues relevant to my first book, but also to the memoir I am currently writing, and the rapidly changing state of publishing. I’ve also connected with professionals who are giving me feedback on my work in progress.
Some examples of how I use Twitter as an author:
1) On May 29 at EST 4pm, I will guest host #litchat, an open discussion series founded by a fellow author (@litchat), on the topic of expatriate literature. (#litchat is an hour-long open discussion on a topic, three times a week. You can follow it in Twitter search or on www.Tweetchat.com using the term “litchat”.) I’ll be guiding the discussion, soliciting opinions and offering my own based on this view: Expatriate literature may be stocked in the travel section, but does it deserve a shelf of its own? Living for extended periods in foreign locales, expatriates struggle to reestablish themselves and find meaningful access to their new home. Travelers passing through often have the luxury to avoid the very issues of assimilation and identity that dominate the expat psyche. We’ll talk about the unique depths this can bring to expat lit’s combination of outsider-view-from-the-inside and journey of self-realization. See litchat.wordpress.com for more info.
2) #editorchat – I follow the illuminating transcripts at editorchat.wordpress.com since the chats take place at 5am Istanbul time and I haven’t managed to be awake during them yet!
3) Through Twitter I’ve also been invited to write a guest post for an editor’s blog, voted in the top 100 publishing blogs, about my experience as an author abroad trying to get up to speed with my traditional and digital publishing options and comparing today’s conditions with those I once reported on the e-publishing beat at Internet World trade magazine in 2000.
4) #queryfail and #queryday – these discussions (also found by Twitter search and Tweetchat) have been consistently good to refresh my own agent pitching techniques, especially as I prepare a package for an agent this month
5) A pop physicist I met on Twitter is currently vetting some popular science in the foreword of my current memoir, and I’ve discussed some of my emerging theories about online psychology (also in current memoir) with a group of psychologists championing it, including the founders of #mentalhealthcamp
I wholeheartedly recommend authors use Twitter in these ways and all the others you’ll likely be inspired to pursue.
#1 Thing To Do In Istanbul: Get Out On The Water
In Istanbul, get out on the water...for the freshness of the sea air, the unimaginably glassy blue surfaces, and to get the proper perspective on this ancient imperial capital.
The Bosphorus was the main drag for centuries and it’s still the best way to appreciate the sprawling, hilly city.
It’s also the only way to truly enjoy the Ottoman grandeur of the mansions built along its banks.
Bypass expensive (and noisy) group tour boats and surrender instead to local color and rhythm.
Try an ultra-cheap commuter ferry at one of many docks and spend a day lazily hopping from village to village, crisscrossing the Strait, and back again over steaming tea and sesame-covered bread in the shape of a life-preserver.
Ferries heading to the bustling Asian town of Kadikoy afford priceless views of Topkapi Palace, the Haghia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the historic district.
Or take a quieter one-hour upper Bosphorus tour that embarks from the artisan street market and tea garden district of Ortakoy, and for less than five dollars drift past Mehmet the Conqueror’s 15th century fortress festooned with wisteria.
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These tips appeared in Journeywoman newsletter and various other travel publications.
Expat Personal Branding For Career Success Abroad
In a two-part interview with Career by Choice, a blog run by expat career coach Megan Fitzgerald in Rome, this week I talk about the lessons of Expat Harem in forging my expat writing life. Answering questions about personal branding and career success abroad, I explain how writing about my life overseas and editing Expat Harem connected me to a worldwide band of peers, and gave my career and conflicted expat mindset a new cultural context. Part one Part two
From The Mailbag: Writer Notes Expat Harem Offshoots Of Community & Education
Thanks for your message Monika Jones! "As a writer with experience in both project management and book publishing, I'm captivated with Expat Harem and the exciting offshoots of the book. What gorgeous intersection of literary works, community engagement, and education."
And thanks too, for your review of the book:
"After an intense experience living in Istanbul for three months, I sojourned back to the U.S. to catch up with family and friends. One afternoon on my way to a bookstore to buy a copy of Expat Harem (which I'd been meaning to read when I was in Turkey after meeting one of the editors) I met my cousin for coffee. Immediately, he handed me a book. The book: Expat Harem! I was thrilled. His mother-in-law had read it with her reading group and wanted me to have it. It was so serendipitous! I started reading and the stories spoke to my experiences as a foreign woman in Turkey - right down to the smells, awkward interactions with pseudo-relatives, and observations on popular culture. Since I've lent it to friends and family, and found it is a way to share my experiences with them in an accessible format. What I appreciated the most is the lyrical, lovely writing and honesty of the works."
Una antologista accidental
Spanish translation of "The Accidental Anthologist" courtesy of International PEN Women Writers’ Committee which published it in their trilingual newsletter, August 2008 [Boletín Trilingüe del Comité de Escritoras de PEN Internacional]
Turquía frecuentemente entra en las noticias por suprimir a sus autores. Irónicamente, como expatriada americana en Estambul encontré mi voz feminista -- y tropecé en editar un best-seller internacional sorpresa, creando un harén literario de mis pares expatriadas.
Cuando mi esposo turco y yo llegamos de Nueva York en 2003 planeé aislarme para escribir una memoria ensimismada de viaje. No a los días largos pasados en un laboratorio de lenguaje, tratando de encontrar mi equilibrio. Mi vida en Estambul sería acerca de mí, un retiro extendido para escribir. Esta visión había sido filtrando en mi mente desde cuando había sido expatriada anteriormente. Cinco años había pasado pudriéndome en las trópicas malasias como un Somerset Maugham, menos prolífico y más sobrio. La primera cosa para pudrir en el calor ecuatorial fue mi personalidad -- la esencia de mi voz literaria. Cuando expliqué a la gente que era escritora me respondieron, "¿Caballos?" También en Asia me confundieron con una mujer occidental muy diferente, como cuando un equipo de obreros quien trabajaban en mi casa se preguntaron cuándo yo iba a tomar cerveza y quitarme la camisa.
En vez de eso, la tos ferina me silenció a mí y también a mi ego. En el silencio de 6 meses, Turquía sugirió una metáfora para fortalecer mi expatriadismo -- y mis escritos: El Harén Expatriado. Esta reunión contemporánea de mujeres extrajeras podría ser un depósito de conocimiento y poder como lo era en los días del siglo XV bajo los sultanes otomanos.
"Instaladas aquí, somos destinadas a ser extranjeras," ideé en un correo electrónico a mi co-editora, mi colega, la también emigrada americana Jennifer Gokmen.
"Pero está bien -- el Harén Expatriado es un lugar de poder femenino," ella me respondió, conectándonos a un panorama feminista oriental poco conocido en el mundo occidental.
"¡Sí! Cárcel etnocéntrica o refugio de pares—a veces es difícil averiguar en qué sentido va la puerta de batiente," contesté, intoxicada con nuestra metáfora anacrónica. Como una contraseña secreta, las noticias extendieron cuando solicitamos colaboraciones. Mujeres fascinantes de catorce naciones depositaron una lluvia de sus historias en nuestro buzón. Muchas nunca habían publicado antes y todas eran voces de minorías en un país musulmán con una reputación de censura. Realidades alternativas me inundaron, representado una penetración en el país que nunca había imaginado que abrazara. Pero no importó. Si mis aventuras expatriadas anteriores me habían hecho reacia, El Harén Expatriado convirtió mi ferocidad personal en un beneficio: yo podría dar un foro a otras. Sus luchas para asimilarse también me animaron para resistir menos.
La colección premiada Tales from the Expat Harem dio la base para una vida másrica y un libro subsiguiente más perspicaz. La felicidad de trabajar con escritoras de todo el mundo desde la oficina en mi casa en el Bósforo clarificó unos aspectos contradictories de mi carácter -- como que yo pueda ser una introvertida espinosa y también una mujer quien anhela una conexión con personas y el planeta a la vez. Me parece que Turquía no solo me conectó con una banda internacional de mis pares, también alzó mi voz en la conversación cultural. También me ha puesto en contacto con escritoras a quienes admiro, como la novelista celebrada turca Elif Shafak, quien escribió el prólogo para los dos tirajes turcos de mi libro. Ahora mi carrera literaria y mi actitud ambivalente sobre la vida en el extranjero tiene un nuevo contexto cultural más prometedor.
Anastasia M. Ashman, nativa de Berkeley, California, es autora de la novela premiada de Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey la cual se estudia en siete universidades norteamericanas y ha sido recomendada por el Today Show de NBC TV, Nacional Geographic Traveler, Lonely Planet Turkey, el Internacional Herald Tribune, y el Daily Telegraph.
Página de la autora: http://www.redroom.com/author/anastasia-m-ashman Sitio de Expat Harem: http://www.expatharem.com Versión completa de este ensayo: http://www.janera.com/janera_words.php?id=80
Taping The Joey Reynolds Radio Show
Pleased to appear on the Joey Reynolds Show this week when he was broadcasting live from Istanbul to the United States.
The WOR Radio Network show is heard on radio stations from New York to Hawaii and has more than 5 million listeners.
Jennifer Gokmen and I met with the veteran radio show host -- often called the father of "shock talk radio" -- and his producer Myra Chanin at the offices of Turkish national broadcaster TRT for an hour on-air to discuss Tales from the Expat Harem and life and work as American women in Turkey.
From The Mailbag: Filmmaker Finds Expat Harem Cinematic
"I've enjoyed your book tremendously and thought that some of the stories in the book were very cinematic and could make an interesting movie."
Explaining Turkey to 5 Million Americans on NBC's Today Show with Matt Lauer
When America's most popular morning talk show came to Istanbul, they asked me and my Expat Harem coeditor Jennifer Gokmen to explain Turkey to five million Americans. Here, we talk with NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer in front of the Haghia Sophia, a 1,500 year old architectural wonder of the world, on a breezy May first.
If the embedded video doesn't work for you, you can view this interview here
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Prepping For Today Show Interview With Matt Lauer
Excerpt from NBC Today Show interview prep, April 2008.
YOU'VE LIVED HERE 5 YEARS AND YOU ARE FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA...WHEN YOUR FRIENDS COME TO VISIT..WHAT IS THE THING THAT THEY MOST OFTEN ASKED YOU ABOUT LIVING HERE?
They wonder if I’ll ever return to America! I will, but in the meantime I'll be enjoying the Turkish quality of life... like the 5 pounds of organic produce delivered to my door every week for $25, a tailor down the block ready to rework the most trifling thing and if I want to while away the afternoon at a leafy cafe I know the waiter won't be rushing me to make way for new customers. Turks believe life is to be savored. My New York friends always want to know about real estate and are amazed to learn how affordable my cliffside apartment is, with its panoramic Bosphorus view. Unusual for most big cities.... My friends also wonder how I survive Istanbul's #1 downside -- Congestion. Sometimes it takes hours to cross this sprawling, hilly town. The Bosphorus was the main drag for centuries and the water still seems the fastest way to get around.
FROM MY RESEARCH IT APPEARS THAT TURKEY HAS DONE A REALLY GOOD JOB MAINTAINING IT'S CULTURE AND TRADITIONS...WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO?
Turks are an ethnically diverse people – you know they originally came on horseback from Asia, and then Ottoman empire once spanned three quarters of the Mediterranean, mixing with all those cultures and people for 600 years. They're adaptable, but even so Turkish trsdition has very deep roots and seems almost imprinted in their genes. You'll see people from every walk of life sharing the same customs on a daily basis. Like the blue glass evil eye to ward off bad luck, which is an echo of their days of shamanism, before they adopted Islam. They wear it as jewelry, decorate their homes, offices, and cars, even on their cellphones they'll stick a small evil eye as if to say, hey no bad news will come thru this phone. Over time they've kept the beliefs that work for them.
WHAT WOULD AMERICANS BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT TURKISH PEOPLE?
Turks have a great sense of humor. This is helpful to know since they are also very inquisitive – you might say even nosey -- and may ask a question Americans feel is personal, like ‘Is this your natural hair color? You can deflect an impertinent question with one of your own, or an obvious joke. Smile broadly and it won't matter if they don't understand the punchline. Being jovial is also a smart bargaining technique. A vendor will agree to a better price if you're playful.
Co-Hosting Istanbul's First Global Nomad Salon
I'll be coproducing a Global Nomad Salon this June at Istanbul's Four Seasons Sultanahmet along with the Salon founder Dutch-Curacaoan banker Janera Soerel. Introduced by various international friends in 2007, Janera and I quickly found common ground: our shallow roots in many different communities and the urge to find the larger meaning in local issues.
Working together long-distance, we are co-producing this cultural entertainment. It's a guided dinner for 20-30 educated, intellectual, opinionated people to discuss concerns of global culture and economics.
The Economist magazine calls the scene at this worldwide series of intellectual dinner parties "jetsetters with a conscience." Pluralism, individualism, universalism are Global Nomad values.
Experts who guide the conversation at their ends of the table will include Serif Kaynar (country managing director of Korn/Ferry) and Nese Gundogan (secretary general of the Turkish Olympic Committee).
Along with an online magazine and members-only social network (Janera.com), founder Janera Soerel, a Dutch Curacaoan banker who lives in Manhattan, launched the Global Nomad Salon series October 2007 in Washington DC, then Rome, the Caribbean and New York City. With local co-hosts, Janera’s events are now spreading across the globe. This summer and fall they will take place in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Tuscany and London. The goal is to rouse the Global Nomad community worldwide and strengthen the network of its members, eventually with a GNSalon occurring twice yearly in various countries, events populated by Global Nomads both local and from afar.
From The Mailbag: Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin's Coverage Of The Book Sends Couple To Turkey
A message from one of the Expat Harem writers in Istanbul about a couple she met in Istanbul: "A couple visiting from NYC came to Turkey because she, a Bryn Mawr alum, had read about you in the Alumni newsletter when the book came out. She does not know you, but was intrigued enough to read the book, loved it, and insisted that they spend several weeks in this country on their way home from a trip to Ukraine, where she had been living for a few years."
Designed & Conducted Culture Shock Session at AISEC
Drawing on my experiences as an expat, a foreign student, and the editor of a book about cultural journeys of self discovery, I have designed and conducted a session on Culture Shock at AISEC here in Istanbul for 75 outgoing international exchange students. Thanks to Ajda Mustafova, Chair, 5th AIESEC National Conference for the invitation.
Personal Explorer Walking Tours of Istanbul
Excerpt of a proposal I created with Jennifer Gokmen for NatGeo's Personal Explorer Walking Tours of Istanbul All tours contain CITY, CULTURE, HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE, ART. One also includes NATURE.
THE OLD FOREIGN QUARTER: ISTIKLAL AND PERA Taksim Square (heart of downtown) Haci Abdullah (oldest Ottoman restaurant in Istanbul) Historic Embassies (now consulates for France, Holland, Russia, Sweden, Greece) Historic Churches (Franciscan Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, etc.) Istanbul Film Festival (historic cinemas along Istiklal pedestrian boulevard) Cicek Pasaji/Balik Pazari/Nevizade (19th century flower market building and specialty foods shops, restaurant row) Galatasaray Lisesi (elite French high school established in the 15th century) Pasabahce (local handmade glassworks shop) Historic Hotels for Orient Express passengers (Hotel Grand London and Pera Palace) Pera Museum (Orientalist paintings in historic building) Asmalimescit (backstreet with historic taverns and iconic music venue Babylon) Ottoman Memorabilia Shops (Artrium and Ottomania in Tunel) Tunel Funicular Station (2nd oldest subway in the world)
SILK ROAD TRADING POSTS: GALATA, EMINONU, AND THE GRAND BAZAAR Galata Dervish House (Sufi monastery established 1491) Galata tower (1348 lookout tower for Genoese trading concession) Schneider Temple/art gallery Ottoman Bank Museum (heart of Ottoman-era banking district) Işbankası Museum Zulfaris Musevi Muzesi/ Jewish History Museum (500 years of Jewish history in Turkey) Galata Bridge and Golden Horn (fishermen, view restaurants, waterpipe cafes) Yeni Cami (1597 mosque with tombs of 4 sultans) Haci Bekir shop (Istanbul confectioners since 1777) Egyptian Spice Bazaar/Flower Market (17th century food and medicinals bazaar) Pandeli restaurant (80 year tradition in bazaar guard tower) Kucukpazar markets/Mahmutpasa shops (speciality foods and sundry markets) Rustem Pasa Mosque (1516 tiled mosque by star architect Sinan) Grand Bazaar (mother of all shopping malls established 1461) Grand Bazaar specialty shops (hamam supplies, Ottomania-inspired merchandise)
SHOWCASING SINAN, THE SULTAN'S FAVORITE ARCHITECT: SULEYMANIYE AND FATIH Suleymaniye Mosque (1550 masterpiece Sinan built for Süleyman the Magnificent to rival Haghia Sophia) Tombs of Suleyman and Roxelana (Crypt of the 10th Ottoman sultan and his wife) Mimar Sinan's Tomb (Grave of greatest Ottoman architect) Daruzziyafe restaurant (Ottoman cuisine in mosque complex's former soup kitchen) Ottoman library (public library still in use) Vefa Bozacısı (130-year-old Albanian shop producing fermented millet drink) Burmali Mosque (one room mosque with Byzantine columns) Şehzade Mehmed Kulliyesi (architect Sinan's first imperial mosque complex) Ruins of palace church of Anicia Juliana (grandest 6th century Greek Orthodox church before the Haghia Sophia) Aqueduct of Valens (375 AD Roman water bridge) Gazanfer Aga Complex (16th century theological school and tomb of chief eunuch) Caricature and Humor Arts Museum (history of Turkish cartoons)
CASTLES AND COASTLINES: ORTAKOY TO BESIKTAS Ortakoy village (preserved 16th century waterside village now entertainment hub with shops, cafes, clubs) One hour Bosphorus boat tour from Ortakoy dock (palaces, fortresses, wooden mansions, bridges on upper Bosphorus) Ortakoy houses of worship (1853 Baroque mosque, Russian Orthodox church, 17th century Etz Ahayim synagogue) Angelique (popular waterside nightclub) Istanbul Jazz Center (worldclass performance venue) Yildiz Park and Ottoman pavilions (green hillside park of 18th/19th century imperial kiosks and a porcelain atelier) Ciragan Palace (luxury hotel in restored Neogothic 1863 home to sultans) Yahya Effendi mausoleum (sultan's advisor, now a guardian spirit of the Bosphorus) Beskitas Iskelesi (1911 ferry terminal) Tomb of Barbarosa (resting place of 16th century Ottoman Naval warrior known as Red Beard) The Maritime Museum Dolmabahce Palace (seat of the sultans after 1853) Besiktas Stadium (home to one of Turkey's premier soccer teams) Maiden's Tower (5th century tower in middle of Bosphorus, with cafe and fine dining)
TAPESTRY OF TRADITIONS AND FAITHS: KUZGUNCUK Uskudar's mosques (1547 Iskele Cami, 1710 Yeni Valide Cami, 16th century Semsi Pasa Cami) Fethi Ahmet Pasa Yali (18th century waterfront home of Ottoman general/ambassador) Kuzguncuk Quay and Cesme (ferry terminal and 1792 fountain) Surp Krikor Lusavoric (1835 Armenian Orthodox church) Uryanizade Mescit (1880 mosque with carved wooden minaret) Ottoman houses (historic wooden "painted ladies" of Kuzguncuk) Icadiye Street teahouses and galleries St. Panteleimon (6th century Greek Orthodox church) Jewish Cemetery (16th century) Bostan Street art gallery and street market Greek Cemetery Ayios Giorgios Monastery (1821 Greek Orthodox church) Beth Yaakov Synagogue (1878 Sephardic temple)
IMPERIAL TREASURES: SULTANAHMET Great Palace Mosaic Museum (6th century Byzantine tesserae) Arasta Bazaar (handicraft boutique row in 17th century donkey stables) Topkapı Palace (seat of the sultans, 15th-19th century) Aya Sofya (6th century cathedral, Christendom's largest for 1,000 years) Blue Mosque (early 17th century İznik tiled mosque) Aya İrini (first church in Constantinople, now stunning performance venue) Darphane (17th century imperial mint) Istanbul Archaeology Museum (Turkey's first museum, established 1881) Cafer Aga Medrese (1559 theological school built by architect Sinan) Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (set in 16th century Ibrahim Pasha Palace) Hippodrome (4th century chariot-racing track with obelisk relic) Basilica Cistern (city's largest ancient water reservoir, circa 6th century)