History breathes heavily in every street corner of Istanbul, and palaces pop up on random street corners. Ornately carved domes dot the horizon while skateboarders zip along to the tune of singing minarets. Under the October sky, the city in all its huzun, was bathed in languid blue light. 

From where we were sitting at the outdoor terrace of the Four Seasons hotel, a former ‘secondary palace’, overlooking the majestic Bosphorus, it seemed as though we were staring out from the roof of the world. As we sipped on our Turkish tea and ate our gözleme, we realised that this old Ottoman city has spawned numerous 21st-century pleasures, offering enough for historians and hedonists alike. 

Sugar and spice

And what better way than to start with food? Istanbul is one of those rare cities where you can get top notch farm fresh produce at affordable prices. We visited the local farmers market at Eminönü where we scoped out local cheese, olives stuffed with chillies, fresh honeycomb and yogurt. After a quick detour at the Yeni Cami mosque nearby, feeding pigeons and warding off charming 10-year-old pickpockets, we headed to the Spice Bazaar. While the bazaar is a gold mine of experiences, we walked unwaveringly to Ucuzcular Spices, a handy tip given to us by the hotel which procures all its spices and treats from here. We met a man who spoke to us with a distinct third world drawl. He let us sniff around some heady perfumes — with curious names like ‘Bad Boys’ and ‘Shahzadah’ — and helped us pick something that smelled like sugar and spice and all things nice. We left a million kilos heavier but not before noticing, strangely enough, a photo of Riteish Deshmukh at the store.

Next stop: the Arasta Bazaar, where even manhole covers are decorated with intricately painted ceramic tiles. This is what beauty going down the drain would look like, I suppose. We strolled around Arasta, a quiet antithesis to the touristy, crowded Grand Bazaar, with fat cats lazing around motionlessly on antique kilims.

Magic carpets and more

We were walking by when we heard a gentleman, who looked a bit too closely like a Sicilian Mafiosi, call us inside for a magical carpet ride. Why not, we thought? He then enticed us with beautiful carpets and once we were fully enamoured, he demanded $3,000 for a piece that was clearly worth a quarter of that amount. When we refused he brought down the figure a tad but by that time it felt less like bargaining and more like a hostage negotiation. Doors shut, carpets laid out, illuminated by just a faint yellow bulb… how did we get ourselves here? That was when a door opened, his minion entered, and we quickly darted out of the darkness and into the clear light of day.

In our hurry to get away, we clumsily fell onto a pile of stacked ceramic coasters but this happy accident led us to Iznik Classics, an iconic ceramic store in Istanbul. It left us wondering if it was a ploy to get people into the store — placing the ceramics in such a way that we deliberately stumble over them. We bought enough hand-painted bowls and plates we could use to serve, if not feed, an army.

 As we ambled on ahead, we found a similar carpet – to the one that the Mafiosi was trying to sell us – at another store called Ernemet. We asked the distinguished looking gent inside the price just out of curiosity, and he said $300. Ha! Apparently, he loved Indians and often supplied carpets to the designer JJ Valaya. Happy with our loot, we headed back to the Four Seasons, took the plunge for a good old scrub-a-dub in its hamam, and proceeded towards bedgasm. 

Supriya Dravid is the author of A Cool, Dark Place (Random House).

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