Editorial

In the high regions of the Black Sea- Mountains(Turkish: Kaçkar Dağlar) , people like to eat solid food.
The dishes are “alpine” in character, adapted to the lonely life on the mountain farms.
Milk and dairy products, cereals and pastries.
You can get wonderful cheese there.
For breakfast, people like to eat a tasty “muhlama”.

First, a roux is prepared from maize flour, butter and water. The mixture is then refined with cheese, in principle nothing more than a fondue, although the latter does not require roux.

The yoghurt in Turkey is top class, everyone knows that!

I was thrilled by the Turkish bread in all its variations, there is a large selection, much larger than one would imagine
Corn bread with a crispy crust, large white breads made from excellent flour, traditionally and by hand in the local bakeries. A tempting aroma rises to the nose when fresh bread is baked somewhere.

Top patissiers in the West trust the hazelnut from Piedmont. However, I can assure you that I have been served several sweet pastries with Turkish hazelnut that have convinced me. Some of them even with a hint less sugar, which they love there, as we all know.

Fish is a big topic, anchovies are popular nationwide. There are trout in the mountain valleys. The fish is usually pan-fried until crispy, which is how the people there like it best.

The focus of the journey is the Çay, about which the reader soon learns more.
Real gourmandise is called for in the tea tasting, a serious matter in which the taste senses must be sharpened.
Years of routine in competitions, countless culinary tastings and many restaurant visits help, of course.

I love Turkish tea! As soon as I landed in Germany, I got the necessary Çay equipment for little money from the Turkish merchant next corner.
Since then, it’s hard to imagine our household without it.

The Çay tastes discreetly aromatic, does not contain so much caffeine and ” settles wonderfully in the stomach”.

Friendly people, good cuisine and an exotic landscape.
Please do not expect detailed tasting notes in this report, it is about nature, its inhabitants and its history.
Perhaps I can arouse a little curiosity in you about this green country far away from the usual mass tourism.

All the best,

Yours Mathias Guthmann

The Turkish Black Sea coast has recently turned into a fantastic travel destination.
While the Mediterranean hotspots are famous for their beautiful beaches, Istanbul cultivates its cosmopolitan flair, the West lures with the marvels of antiquity, the Black Sea coast is convincing with its generous nature.

Everywhere it grows and thrives, a green land with bizarre rock formations, gushing waterfalls, clear rivers, ancient monasteries and hidden mountain villages.
Çay, the Turkish tea, covers the mountain slopes and so it sometimes seems to the visitor that he is travelling somewhere in China or India, an enchanting fata morgana

We are in a wild nature largely spared from mass tourism!

In Trabzon, the major provincial capital, I meet colleagues from Belgium, Poland and Bulgaria.
Together, over the next few days, we want to uncover the secret of Çay, the favourite drink of all Turks.
An interesting and friendly group of journalists is meeting, invited by GoTürkiye, the large agency that strengthens and promotes local tourism potential together with the TGA.

Sümela

A colourful legend revolves around the founding of the monastery. Two angels are said to have carried an icon of our holy virgin mary painted by the evangelist Luke into the Black Sea Mountains (Turkish: Kaçkar Dağlar).
Barnabas and Sophronius, two itinerant monks from Athens, discovered the image and decided to build a chapel on the same spot.
The episode is said to have taken place in 385 AD, even then the area was sparsely populated.
The oldest preserved buildings date from the Comnenian period and date to the 14th century, the time of the Empire of Trapezunt under Alexios III.
Even after the Ottoman conquest in 1461, the monastery remains and becomes an important place of pilgrimage.

The interior and exterior walls of the rock church are decorated with frescoes from the time of Alexios III. Not everything has been preserved, these are the ravages of time!

The frescoes show biblical scenes, portraits of Alexios and Manuel were once present, but have not survived the ages.

It was in late Ottoman times, in the 19th century, when the monastery acquired its present appearance.
Sümela has maintained an extensive library over the centuries. Some of the manuscripts can be seen in Ankara.
Many so-called Tetraevangelia (the four evangelists) from Byzantine times are in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Tipp: Contact the reception desk directly at your hotel. In Trabzon, there are good offers for excursions to Sümela in different price categories. You can also book conveniently on the GetYourGuide platform, which has the advantage of being able to plan earlier.

Trabzon

The historic district of Orta Malhalle in Trabzon offers magnificent views over the city and the sea.
You can also visit a number of exceptionally beautiful houses built in the 19th century by wealthy Turkish businessmen. During the Russian occupation in World War I, the owners fled. In 1918, the Russians leave the city again, which leads to the Greek population coming under pressure. Turkish units secure control of the city.
However, they did not want to surrender completely without a fight and even founded a Greek independence movement, but the cards were finally reshuffled in the Greek-Turkish War (1919-1922), from which Greece emerged as the loser.
The Greek population was resettled, leaving only Greeks who had converted to Islam.

Today, the neighbourhood is urbanised, you stroll through the pretty alleys and recover a little from your exertions in one of the nice local cafés.

The photo shows Isgüzar Karagöz, an excellent artist whose work is known beyond the borders of Trabzon.
Some of her imaginative ceramics are truly spectacular. Karagöz not only enjoys a reputation as a master of her craft, but has trained over 3500 pupils and students in her long career.
She has received several awards and has participated in numerous international exhibitions.

The Empire of Trebizond and the Hagia Sophia

O city, city, eye of all cities, universal pride, unearthly wonder, nurse of the churches, leader of the faith, leader of Orthodoxy, beloved preacher, hoard of all good things.

(Choniates 576)

Reading these sentences, one involuntarily wonders what will happen until the reconquest in 1261, after all, the ancient metropolis is a centre of the religious world until then.
Is there a government in exile? What measures are taken to promote and maintain faith in a God-given kingdom?

John III Dukas Vatatzes, who organises the remnants of the Byzantine Empire, plays an important role in this context. He secures the eastern border through an agreement with the Seljuks.

In parallel, the empire of Trapezunt emerges, a tangible symbol of a different definition of Byzantium and Byzantine imperial power.

Around 1255, the Hagia Sophia in Trabzon was completed. The church bears witness to various stylistic influences and reflects the will, power and politics of the ruler Manuel I (Trapezunt) Komnenos (1218-1263).

Nevertheless, the history of Trapezunt does not begin with Manuel I, but with Alexios I Komnenos, who built new churches and palaces from 1214.
The first of these was the redesign of Panagia Chrysokephalos as a coronation church.
Military failures force Alexios to formulate his claim to the empire differently; he consolidates it through ceremonies, festivities and opulent buildings.

His successors, Andronikos I Gidos and Manuel I, in principle simply continued their predecessor’s building strategy.
The Hagia Sophia in Trabzon tells us a lot about the cultural orientation of Trapezunt and which other cultures had an influence on its construction.

A beautiful church, an architectural gem with wonderful frescoes, a well-preserved dome and many interesting decorative elements.
The frieze on the south portal is of special significance, the absolute exception for purely Byzantine buildings.

It runs horizontally across the entire arch of the portal. The seven scenes on the stone blocks are read from right to left. In Scene 1 on the far right, God creates Adam and Eve. From a nimbus in the upper right corner of the broad rectangular block, the hand of God appears and transfers the blessing from Adam, who is lying on the ground leaning on his elbow among the plants of paradise, to Eve.

Scene 2 shows the Fall of Man as Eve, dressed in a long robe and looking to the right, reaches up with her left hand to pluck the forbidden apple. The next two stones of scene 3 are quite washed out: Eve and Adam face each other as she hands him the apple.

Tip: After a long sightseeing tour, we recommend Trabzon centre with its many restaurants, some of which are excellent. The köfte in the area are very good!

Hasan Tabakoğlu: Kazazlik

The Lydians first minted electrons and later gold coins with lion heads or lion and bull heads, they were experts in their field.
The reader is certainly familiar with one of the most interesting rulers of the Lydian people: Croesus, who went down in history for his legendary wealth.
The Lydian king drew his treasures from the natural wealth of resources in Asia Minor, and gold from the river Paktolos and in the mines between Atarneus and Pergamon!
The tribute payments from the conquered Greek cities and the tax payments from trade and commerce represented a further source of income.
Although Croesus was relatively rich compared to the number of his citizens, his fortune was not nearly comparable to that of the Persian kings, who could literally bathe in rubies and emeralds, certainly very refreshing!

So even back then it was said: Diamonds are a girl’s best friend!

In the meantime, however, there are only a few masters who are able to produce jewellery in such an elaborate way.
One of them is Hasan Tabakoğlu, who runs his atelier in the old town of Trabzon, well hidden in a passageway in the middle of the busy centre.
For over 50 years, he has been transforming precious stones, gold and silver wire into the finest jewellery, just like his father before him, who once taught him the craft.

Tabakoğlu explains to us how his sublime pendants, necklaces, rings and tiaras are created. Wafer-thin gold and silver wires are twisted into thousands of tiny knots. For every centimetre there are hundreds of these knots, until in the end a gold or silver chain is created that is second to none.
The goldsmith gives a guarantee of 100 years for the chains – that’s quite a claim.

We were allowed to see for ourselves that the structures are practically indestructible, only under the tyres of a 40-tonne truck could damage occur under certain circumstances, according to his comment.
Only silver with a fineness of 1000 and gold with a fineness of 24 carats are used for his work, the finest of the finest!

Each piece of jewellery takes about 7-10 days to make, Tabakoğlu emphasises, pointing out that once the sultans and their consorts in the Ottoman Empire proudly wore Kazaziye jewellery.

The master likes to draw his inspiration from his predecessors in antiquity; some of the elegant pieces can also be seen in the Topkapi and Dolmabahçe residences. Needless to say, the Turkish top jeweller has been showered with awards, but I find that he has nevertheless remained a likeable and modest person, which is not the case for everyone who has achieved such success.

Address:
Kemerkaya mah. Kunduracılar Caddesi Alipaşa Çarşısı no:37 Trabzon/Türkiye

His studio is in a small passage in the old town, not easy to find.

Çay

First attempts to make tea native to Turkey fail because of the drought. In the 1930s, success was finally achieved in Rize on the Black Sea. The temperate climate of this region is mild and extremely rainy, and the Black Sea Mountains (Turkish: Kaçkar Dağlar) with their high peaks offer excellent conditions for cultivation.
Suddenly, tea is drunk everywhere, mainly black tea.
Today, tea consumption in Turkey beats all records, with an average of 2.8 kg of tea per person annually. As a tea exporting nation, Turkey is still in its infancy and cannot keep up with the huge quantities shipped from India, Sri Lanka and China worldwide.

Usually, the Çay is harvested with tea scissors before the complicated process of fermenting, maturing and sometimes roasting begins.
Particularly fine green teas are harvested and processed by hand until they finally reach the discerning tea consumer.

The tea is drunk from so-called tea tulips, by the way, and is prepared in the caydanlik, a two-storey tea kettle.

There are several harvests, the mildest is the May tea, somewhat spicier and slightly more bitter are the late harvests in July and September.

The region around Rize is not immune to climate change. The plants grow best when it is not too cold at night. In the last two years, the harvest has not been as optimal due to temperature fluctuations, but the tea industry around Rize is and remains the largest employer with about 400,000 employees.

Çaymer, a Tea Tasting

In entire Turkey, about 225-230 thousand tons of tea are produced per year, Rize alone accounts for about 85% of the total production, that’s a word.

A few years ago, there was even a “Tea Taster Training Project” financed by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey; at that time, young unemployed people were introduced to the subject, qualified jobs in the industry are highly wanted!
Such projects are meaningful and serve to promote understanding across borders.

We visit together the Tea Research and Application Centre (ÇAYMER), commissioned in 2018 with a funding of 10 million euros from the European Union and Turkey to keep the tea industry around Rize competitive.
Since then, the integrated, state-of-the-art research laboratory has been providing reliable figures and new knowledge about the Çay.

Muhammet Çomoğlu skillfully guides us through the individual steps of tea production, a complex process that requires precision and experience. The individual steps range from storage, heating, fermentation and roasting to packaging.

Finally, a wide variety of Çays must be tested for appearance, aroma, body, flavour and finish.
For appearance, we judge clarity and colour, for aroma, complexity, certain nuances should be present.
Body is about balance and sensation in the mouth. On the palate, for example, wood, smoke, tobacco, vanilla, metal, etc. should be recognised. And finally, the finish, short, long, lingering, echo, no echo, etc.

A good tea tasting and for some of us perhaps the only day on which raki was later preferred.

Enchanted places…

No one is around, a dog is barking somewhere. A pleasant shiver runs down my spine. The scenery is beautiful and creepy at the same time.

The perfect location for a mystery thriller. Who might be living here in the middle of the wilderness?
By the way, there are several hiking trails in the region, especially the paths on the famous plateaus like the Ayder Plateau are popular.
Hikers are best advised to join a group with a guide who knows the area.

Tip: Nearby are the Teona Bungalows with an attached restaurant. The wooden bungalows offer all useful comforts, the mountain river Büyük flows directly below the window.
You can also go on nice hikes there without a guide.

We ourselves stayed there. The young Aygül Kartal runs the restaurant and the hotel, she is doing a good job!
We had a nice trout in the evening. If I come to the area again, and if Aygül is interested, I will be happy to show her in the spacious kitchen that there are even finer ways of preparing fish, even with the simplest of ingredients.
Of course I recommend the restaurant, you can enjoy regional products, very good cheese, everything freshly prepared, great!

En route to the Gito Plateau

There is a popular phrase in Rize: it rains only twice a week, once from Sunday to Wednesday and once from Thursday to Saturday.
We don’t care and follow the Firtina River towards Zil Kale.
The river has been developed for tourism; if you want to go rafting, this is the right place.

Again and again, filigree arch bridges from Ottoman times span elegantly over the banks.
We pass the village of Şenyuva, where the popular telenovela “Sevdaluk” was filmed a long time ago.

Storyline:
A small community on the shore of the Black Sea has to deal with the problems of daily life, including greedy capitalists who want to take over the land.
Old and young, modern and traditional meet. The centre of the action is, of course, the village café where love affairs begin or end and infamous intrigues are devised along the way, just like in real life, wonderful, telenovelas are a fine invention.

We drink a nice Çay in this café. They serve hazelnut biscuits with it.

Zil Kalesi

The castle is pure Middle Ages.
It was probably built in the 5th-6th century on the edge of a high cliff, about 1200 metres above sea level, as was usual at the time for control and defence purposes.
In Byzantine times a bulwark against attackers from the east.
It is probable that the castle was still important as a checkpoint for caravans in Ottoman times.

The fantastic view alone makes it a great destination! Recommendation!

At some point the road becomes an adventure track, when we finally reach the famous Gito plateau it is raining and the fog obscures the view.

You never know how the weather will turn out in the mountains. While the Sümela monastery was at its best a few days ago, today the Gito Plateau is hidden in thick fog, just like the Ayder Plateau, which is also on the programme, but I will write about that another time.
There are much worse things, dear readers. Our driver personally prepares a wonderful Çay on the mountain and we are also treated to the friendliest of hospitality.

Just like during the whole trip. I have taken the people there into my heart; they know how beautiful their homeland is and are happy to give this feeling to the visitor. They are proud and reserved at the same time, which is charming!

Tips:

Flights to Trabzon are available from many German airports.
For example with Turkish Airlines.

Pegasus even offers some direct flights in the tourist season. However, the connections almost always go via Istanbul.

Hotels:

In the mountains there are beautiful bungalow resorts that emphasise sustainable tourism, like the Teona bungalows recommended in the report.

Rain gear and sturdy shoes are recommended at any time of year, especially when travelling in the mountains.

Burak from tamitur is an expert. It will take you safely to all kinds of interesting destinations around Rize.

You will find a lot of infromation at. GoTürkiye.
If you want to know more details, do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Reprinting, integration into digital media of all kinds, including excerpts, only with the express permission of the author. ©grandgourmand/Mathias Guthmann

Nachdruck, Einbindung in digitale Medien aller Art, auch auszugsweise, nur mit ausdrücklicher Genehmigung des Autors. ©grandgourmand/Mathias Guthmann

Selected guests, special wines and unique delicacies gathered once again at the Winemaker’s Dinner event by Lara Barut Collection. Becoming increasingly popular globally, the seventh of the Winemaker’s Dinner meetings, where Turkish winemakers gather with foreign visitors, was held on Sunday, November 13, accompanied by Selim and Pinar Ellialti, the Founders of Suvla Saraplari.

Lara Barut Collection, operating within the organization of Barut Hotels, one of the well-established hotel chains in Turkey, continues to hold unique gastronomic events. As part of these gastronomic events, the seventh of Winemaker’s Dinner meetings, where the selected Turkish winemakers gathered with the visitors, was held on Sunday, November 13, 2022.

This time, the guest of the event, which welcomes different guests every month, was Suvla Saraplari, which was founded on the Gallipoli Peninsula in the early 2000s. Selim and Pinar Ellialti, the founders of Suvla, which meticulously processes century-old local grapes such as Karasakiz, Kinali Yapincak and Agiorgitiko into world-class award-winning wines in their organic-certified family vineyards of 900 decares, conversed with foreign guests. Participants had the chance to taste nine different Suvla wines. The wines were matched with a gourmet menu of ‘Fine Dining’ by Secret Grill, the À La Carte restaurant of Lara Barut Collection offering premium delicacies.

Even as a young brand, Suvla received and added into its portfolio almost 450 medals, which are mostly gold and grand prizes, within a very short time. It has confirmed its quality and savor at the competitions including Balkan International Wine Competition, Mundus Vini, China Wine & Spirits Awards- Best Value, Les Citadelles du Vin, Berliner Wein Trophy Winter Tasting, International Wine Challenge, International Organic Wine Awards, International Wine Competition Bucharest, Syrah du Monde, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, Decanter World Wine Awards, AWC Vienna and Sommelier Wine Awards.

Turkey ranks 30th in the world with 64 million 400 thousand liters of wine made annually. Lara Barut Collection supports winemakers, who turn delicious grapes native to Turkey into wines with rich and strong characteristics and crown their success with numerous international awards. For this purpose, it has been holding Winemaker’s Dinner meetings on the second weekend of every month since May. For wine tastings, Secret Grill, the À La Carte restaurant of Lara Barut Collection offering premium delicacies, makes special menus matching with wines. With all the food being grilled, this restaurant creates selected delicacies for the event. The visitors get to know Turkish gastronomic culture closely and get information about its cultural and historical heritage.

Until now, the brand owners including Mustafa Camlica (Chamlija), Burak Ozkan (Lykia Wineyards), Sibel Kutman Oral (Doluca Saraplari), Enis Guner (Sevilen Saraplari), Cevza Basman (Kavaklıdere Saraplari), Akin Ongor (Selendi Saraplari) have participated in these meetings, introduced domestic and imported grapes in Turkey, and told about the inspiring journeys of their brands.

Chapter 1

Istanbul Airport was built in a record time of only four and a half years and opened almost on time, something many other large projects can only dream of.
Long moving walkways lead to passport control, where hundreds of travellers are waiting to be checked out.

The process is quick, the face scan is passed and I reach the baggage carousel.

With my trolley I go to exit 13, where someone is waiting for me.
I have travelled to Turkey at the invitation of a large agency. Together with colleagues from all over the world, I am there to report on the Beyoğlu and Ankara Culture Route Festival.

Exhibitions, concerts, events of various kinds and culinary receptions will take place simultaneously in various cities and landscapes.
The costs, including flights, hotel stays and meals for this trip, are paid for by an agency.
Now the reader knows who he is facing.

It is difficult to raise funds for research. That is why I accept such offers.

One hand washes the other!
Colleagues who shout the term “whitewashing” into the journalistic clean room in this context are welcome to throw stones at me, I don’t mind. If I would be a political journalist, the facts would also be different.
In difficult times, I prefer to write about aesthetics, culinary arts, art and music to please myself and you, dear readers.

A medium-sized crowd gathers at the exit, the guides are waiting there for their guests. A mild breeze welcomes us.

Guides and guests gesticulate wildly and talk loudly. Displays are held in the air.

A refreshingly amusing chaos, I love it.

In the crowd I spot a young man holding up the logo of my agency, together we wait for a colleague. When he arrives, we load the luggage into the minibus and drive on the motorway towards Istanbul.

Istanbul

Suddenly, this wonderful city rises up in front of my eyes.
The journey takes us along minarets, magnificent buildings from the 19th century, the Beşiktaş football stadium in the middle, and again and again the view opens up to the sea, which today shines in a blue-silvery colour.

The evening sun casts a golden, airy silk blanket over the landscape.

Large and small ships cruise on the waters of the Bosporus.
The streets are full of people. And full of cars.
Unfortunately, there are far too many of them, which means that our arrival is delayed; this will happen again and again over the next few days. I will get used to it.

Nice to meet you…so happy to be here…I am so excited about this city…

We greet each other warmly, but a little anxiously, in the lobby of the hotel. Today, at dinnertime in Istanbul – not far from Taksim Square – a small, international society is meeting.
Japan, Azerbaijan, Romania, Moldova, Poland, Germany. An interesting mixture of nationalities that promises a lot of excitement for the next few days. Our friendly tour guide leads us straight to the bus, a delicious dinner in an excellent restaurant smiles at us, there the ice should break.

Mürver

Virtuously the driver navigates the bus through the now nocturnal Istanbul, there is still a lot of traffic. Finally we reach the Mürver restaurant, very close to the newly built Galata Port in the Karaköy district.

The restaurant is on the roof top of the Novotel, from where you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the historic peninsula, the Topkapi Palace and, of course, the sea. At night, the lights of the yachts, ferries and cruise ships reflect on the dark sea, a magnificent image that makes you think of Istanbul’s history.

Already when the city was still called Constantinople, harbours were built on the coast to the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara to supply the city with goods. Even then, before about 1700 years, the Bosphorus was a much-travelled passage. Whoever controlled this waters also controlled the Black Sea and thereby secured power and wealth.

A very good meal awaits us. Almost all the dishes are prepared on the wood fire, I personally like the taste of smoke and glow, it is an art to handle it properly.
The aroma has to be carefully modelled. Today, the kitchen has mastered this virtuously.
As always, it depends on the right temperature and the right time. If one of these two factors is not correct, the entire creation is for nothing. Such cooking processes require a lot of experience. You have it here!

It’s only fair to anticipate: The restaurant made it into the new Michelin Istanbul the next day, bravo!

The open kitchen sends us various hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, accompanied by sourdough pita, olive oil and goat cheese of a very good quality.

The dishes are all very well seasoned, they have mastered the play of acidity, texture and the sensory.
Wafer-thin slices of courgette complement some fava beans quite excellently. For the main course, there is a choice between a lamb and a sea bass, both cooked on the fire.

The meat melts in your mouth, a very crispy, paper-thin crust makes for a refined mouthfeel.

Mürver Restaurant:
http://www.murverrestaurant.com/?lang=en

Galata

In the evening we pay tribute to Morpheus.

From my small suite, I only have to look out to the left and the Bosphorus shows its most beautiful side! This magnificent panorama always releases bound energy in me during these days.

The next morning is no exception.

A look at the programme promises an exciting day.
A visit to the Galata Tower, followed by some exhibitions including a biennial in the Pera Museum.
Lunch is at the Muutto restaurant in the trendy Galata Port.

The highlight of the day is the awarding of the first Michelin stars to Istanbul restaurants in the evening.

Our guide Yavuz takes us to Beyoğlu, a popular district in Istanbul. From there, we continue on foot in the light of the morning sun. The district used to be called Pera, which means “opposite” (of Constantinople). We walk along the former Grande Rue de Péra (today İstiklâl Caddesi, the Independence Street) and pass various embassies and luxury hotels.
Even at this hour, the many streets fill with life.
There are still some magnificent buildings in the French style, some of them pure Art Deco. Enterprising urban redevelopers have tried to restore some of these gems, often robbing many villas of their character in the process. Bad architects are the mortal enemy of aesthetics.

The Galata Tower dates back to the time of the Genoese, who built the structure in 1348. A little over 100 years later, the Ottomans took control. From there you can enjoy the best view of the city and the sea. I definitely recommend a visit to Istanbul tourists. It’s best to get there as early as possible, because long queues quickly form at the ticket counters.

We take the lift and walk to the viewing platform, where on this sunny morning the Bosphorus presents itself to us in all its beauty. There is a lot of photographing and filming. A radiantly beautiful morning.

Pera

We make our way to the Pera Museum. The Pera Palace was opened in 1882 as a luxury hotel for guests arriving by Orient Express. A fin-de-siècle villa that somehow survived the decades between building mania, demolition and haphazardness. It had the second lift ever installed in Europe, only the Eiffel Tower had one before.

The dining room was in baroque style, and next to it was a lounge with a delicate glass dome through which the evening light gleamed dark blue when the gentlemen met for a cigar.

After the First World War, the Pera quarter was populated with spies, soldiers, prostitutes, writers, reporters, thieves, murderers, deserters and refugees.

Mustafa Kemal also moved into a room in the Palace in November 1918. The occupying powers were doing splendidly; quite a few representatives had made themselves immensely rich during the war, which they enjoyed to the full in Istanbul. The city was once again completely reinventing itself.
Mustafa Kemal knew that the Pera was the headquarters of the Allied occupation forces. There he contacted the British to find out to what extent they were prepared to make concessions.

At that time, he, later a popular hero and founder of modern Turkey, did not yet hold any office of power or influence, but it would not be long before his nationalist movement eliminated the last remnants of the Ottoman Empire and the Allied occupation.

Through the decades, the Pera and the surrounding establishments remained the meeting place for Istanbul’s hedonistic society, even under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

After the Second World War, jazz made its way into the lively metropolis. And European classical music, international ensembles came together, and the first ambitious orchestral projects were created in the city itself.

Two exhibitions are on the programme at the Pera.

• Intersecting Worlds: Ambassadors and Painters
• The Art of Weights and Measures
• Osman Hamdi Bey

I like the old masters, impressionism and contemporary painting, with Gerhard Richter at the top of my list of favourites. In my youth, I earned a nice extra income as a guide through Cologne’s Museum Ludwig.

I am not convinced by the exhibition of Ottoman paintings. With one exception: Osman Hamdi Bey! The eldest son of the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Edhem Pasha studied law in Paris, while discovering his talent for painting and receiving lessons from Jean-Léon Gérôme, Louis Boulanger and Fausto Zonaro, a good school!

Particular symbolic power is attributed to his work “The Turtle Educator”. It was painted in 1906, when the Ottoman Empire was in the final stages of decadence.

According to historian Edhem Eldem, the image is interpreted differently in today’s Turkey depending on the political partisanship of the viewer: The Turkish traditionalist sees in it the beauty and dignity of the Ottoman Empire. For the new Kemalists, on the other hand, the picture shows that the turtles, i.e. the traditionalists, must be forced into modernity; for them, the picture is an “icon of standstill”. (Source: Wikipedia)

Link to Pera Museum