Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [199]
Aysal is a modern-day “Sultan of the Bosphorus,” and she hired local interior designer Zeynep Fadılloğlu to furnish Les Ottomans in true Sultan style: handmade Turkish furnishings are paired with Venetian, Indian, and South African decorative touches to create a look that is wildly imaginative while being simultaneously Ottoman and contemporary. (Les Ottomans is the first and, apparently, only hotel in Turkey designed according to the principles of feng shui.) The public rooms on the ground floor include a great bar area and sitting room and the indoor restaurant, Yali Hatun, which serves Ottoman and international dishes. The red-paneled ceiling was inspired by a box in the Topkapı Palace collection, and the chandelier in the restaurant is in the shape of tree branches. In warm weather, dining and drinking moves outside on the terrace at the Suyani Restaurant and Bar; the pool is here, too, as well as the hotel’s beautiful wooden yacht (seating twelve), exclusively for the use of hotel guests.
There are only ten suites in this hotel, each completely different from the other and each quite spacious; a few are split-level rooms with spiral stairways. Just as in the public areas, suites feature modern conveniences such as flat-screen TVs that can be raised or lowered with the press of a button, fax machines, and computers, as well as richly upholstered furniture, antiques, and flowing velvet curtains with swags and tassels. Each suite, named after a gemstone, is unique: one has a view of both the Bosphorus and the pool; two have full Bosphorus views; one has a partial view of the Bosphorus; and six have garden views. A “garden view” here, though, is the only disappointing feature of the hotel, as the garden is not particularly beautiful or large, and does not hide the coast road just on the other side of it. As nightly rates range from 800 to 3,500 euros, I would advise requesting one of the four rooms with partial or full water views—pricey as they are, these rooms represent a better value than those facing the garden (unless the garden grows significantly or if the rate for the garden rooms is lowered). One of the best ways to take full advantage of Les Ottomans is to plan a once-in-a-lifetime reunion of family or friends and reserve all ten suites! (In fact, the hotel’s press officer told me that is precisely what some guests, including Kevin Costner, do.)
As remarkable as the guest rooms are, the Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa may top everything in the hotel. Vraiment, it is extraordinary. The facilities are incredible, and the treatments offered are too numerous to list here but include private sessions, sauvignon and vigneron massages, sport and Swedish massages, Bordeaux stone massage, Turkish hamam massage, facial treatments, wooden barrel baths, mud treatments, liquid sound pool, oxygen therapy, solarium, and on and on. But here’s the wonderful thing of it: Les Ottomans welcomes outside guests to the spa for the day for the cost of just one treatment. Yes, you may stay all day in paradise for what is really a very reasonable fee. There is no question that Istanbul can be exhausting, but you can rejuvenate your body and your senses by heading up the Bosphorus for some major pampering. Daily spa fees are 130TL for weekdays and 150TL for weekends; but if you’ve booked a massage or other treatment, the daily fee is voided and you pay only for the treatment(s) of your choice.
It’s difficult to accurately describe Les Ottomans, so be sure to visit the Web site (the music’s great, too!) to see for yourself. The hotel isn’t for everyone—it’s incredibly swish, and over-the-top for some. But it definitely raised the hotel bar in Istanbul and it won the top prize at the World Travel Awards in 2007 (World’s Leading All Suite Hotel and Spa). As Aysal says, “I lived in Belgium for twenty-five years and whenever I came back here, I thought to myself that