Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [109]
Yet cheek by jowl with the grand mosques are dozens of little-known hans that served a large and flourishing community of foreign traders by offering both lodging and warehousing—and were amply provided with stout doors and massive stone walls for the purpose. Some hans provided for the spiritual well-being of the merchants as well, by including a small mosque. Istanbul benefited from being both at the doorstep of Europe and at the western terminus of the silk routes: it was at the hans that the caravans from Asia, laden with spices, silks and porcelains, were put up.
At one time there were scores of hans. Evliya Chelebi, the most peripatetic of seventeenth-century Turkish chroniclers and a man who wrote extensively about Istanbul, describes two dozen of the largest hans. Most were known primarily by the goods traded within: woolens, cloth, slaves, honey, furs. Still others were known chiefly by the peoples living there: Bulgarians, Egyptians and Persians.
The neat distinctions of commodity and nationality no longer apply, and those hans that survive are given over to many small and frequently unrelated industries. They are often in sad disrepair and somewhat ill used by the tinkers and merchants who tenant them. But the hans are loud with echoes of the past and, to any tourist determined enough to seek them out, convey a deep and indelible impression of the daily life of Istanbul as it was four centuries ago.
The old hans are situated for the most part on the slopes of the Golden Horn and all are within easy walking distance of the Spice and Covered Bazaars. They are quite safe but they are not often visited by tourists; hence the souvenirs and luxury goods so readily available in the bazaars are nowhere to be found in the hans. Trying to chat with the local people in English is apt to be futile, but French and German are useful.
One of the larger, the Vezir Han, is midway between the column of Constantine and the enclosure wall of the Nuruosmaniyeh Mosque. It is reached through a small passage on the right leading through a pair of enormous arched, iron-battened doors. For security, the outer wall has only small windows set with iron grills.
The courtyard is spacious and is surrounded by a two-story arcade. Many of the ground floor rooms, formerly stables and storehouses, have been converted to small living spaces each with its own door and windows. The arcade roof doesn’t exist in some places and in others is dotted with hardy tufts of grass. The Vezir Han, probably built in the 15th century, has an aura of venerable decrepitude.
The road in front of the Vezir Han descends and stops just outside the grounds of Mahmud Pasha Mosque. This is one of the oldest private mosques in the city, built in 1463 by Mahmud Pasha, a grand vizier who was calumniated by jealous officials, eventually lost the trust of the sultan, was denounced and executed in 1474. His mausoleum behind the mosque offers a consolation since it is entirely revetted in blue and turquoise Iznik tiles, named after the Turkish town in which they were produced from about 1454 onward. These are some of the oldest examples in Istanbul.
Just before the grounds of the mosque and leading off to the left is Kilichilar Sokayi, the street of the sword makers. It is teeming with small shops sandwiched in between the precincts of Nuruosmaniyeh and the Chuhagilar Han of the cloth merchants. This han is entered via a low, vaulted passageway midway down the street and on the right-hand side. The passage is apt to be choked with people, but with polite persistence one eventually emerges into a small, bustling courtyard.
Like the Vezir Han, this also has a two-tiered arcade. If one mounts the staircase on the left and walks to the back of the arcade there is a fine view to be had of the busy han in the foreground, which is dominated