Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [69]
And as I sit alone by the tavern window I recall the words which Evliya Efendi wrote so long ago, speaking of the wandering minstrels of his time: “These players are possessed of the particular skill to evoke by their tones the remembrance of absent friends and distant countries, so that their hearers grow melancholy.” And Evliya’s words evoke for me the memory of the dear friends who once sat with me in the Passage, most of them now far away and some of them gone forever, and so I grow melancholy too. Then I think of Evliya himself, who for so long has been my unseen companion in my strolls through Stamboul, and I wonder what he would say if he could see his beloved town today, so changed but so much the same, and then I lift a last glass in his memory.
Thus the evenings pass and the years go by in the Passage of Flowers, a little alleyway in Stamboul.
My favorite Turkish restaurant in New York City is Peri Ela (1361 Lexington Avenue, 212 410 4300), which serves a lentil soup to swoon over, delicious warm bread studded with black sesame seeds, and superior sigara boregi, among other very tasty dishes. Owners Silay Ciner, a native of Istanbul, and his American wife, Jill, wanted to open a place that didn’t fit the stereotypical Turkish mold; starting with the name (which are the middle names of their two daughters), they’ve created an inviting restaurant of contemporary sophistication: dark wood paneling, a pressed tin ceiling, and bold artwork by California artist Andrzej Michael Karwacki. As Silay (pronounced Sly) says, “Peri Ela resembles hundreds of restaurants in Istanbul.”
As he is known as the “Turkish ambassador of the neighborhood,” responsible for dozens of his diners going to Turkey, I asked him for an Istanbul recommendation, and he told me about Bağdat Avenue, on the Asian side of the city, that is “one of the most iconic streets of Istanbul even though it is rarely mentioned in guidebooks.” I regret that I didn’t know about it, but as the French say, il faut toujours garder une perle pour la prochaine fois (it’s necessary to always save a pearl for the next time).
Bağdat Avenue lies between Bostancı and Kızıltoprak and is about three and a half miles long. It was named in 1638 after the city was recaptured of by Sultan Murad IV, likely because it was the road connecting Istanbul to important trade routes, Baghdad being one of them. For centuries the neighborhoods surrounding the avenue have been wealthy, and many mansions here have magnificent views of the coast. Until about thirty years ago, affluent families from the European side would still spend the summer months here in their houses in Fenerbahçe. This part of Istanbul has always been family and elderly friendly, and has never been as trendy as Etiler or Nişantaşi. The avenue is most vibrant on weekends, especially in summer with locals and visitors from other neighborhoods, and is a promenade street where you find elegant international and Turkish retailers and many mom-and-pop stores. Bağdat Avenue is also where Starbucks opened its first Istanbul outpost, and it didn’t take long for a second one to appear a few blocks down. It’s always fun to spend a Saturday afternoon here, immersed in the hustle and bustle of the avenue. Later you can have your five-o’clock tea at elegant Divan Pastanesi, knowing you are right in the heart of a very special place for the people of Istanbul.
Gönül Paksoy
One of my favorite, and one of the most distinctive, shops in Nişantaşı is that of designer Gönül Paksoy (Atiye Sokak 1/3, Teşvikiye / +90 212 236 0209 / closed Sunday). Paksoy, who has a background in chemical engineering and went