The Four Seasons Sultanahmet in Istanbul was originally a prison built in 1918. Photo / Supplied
Kate Wickers stays in a former Istanbul prison turned luxury hotel that’s surrounded by the city’s best attractions
I’m residing in a prison in Istanbul built in 1918 (no need to send money just yet), following in the footsteps of many renowned Turkish writers, poets, and political activists, although my lunch of Aegean herb pide (Turkish pizza from a wood oven) is undoubtedly better than prison grub, and which I enjoy on the flower-filled terrace of restaurant Avlu, once the exercise enclosure for convicts.
“It’s the only prison you’ll never want to leave,” the porter had joked as he guided me to my gorgeous room furnished with original artworks and hand-woven kilims. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what staying in a former place of detention might look like (the film Midnight Express had certainly fuelled my imagination), but the journey from dilapidated jail to the 5-star luxury of Four Seasons Sultanahmet is a remarkable story, and one that isn’t trying to hide its past.
“These tiles were taken from the prisoners’ bathhouse,” Busra Yazlik, the hotel’s resident storyteller, explains, pointing to the centrepiece of the tiled corridor. “Others were originally in the kitchen. You’ll see them repurposed all over the hotel.”
Keeper of the building’s secrets, she points out all sorts of details you’d be sure to miss. “Look here, this was an inscription from the prisoner, Sofor Niyazi,” she says, pointing to a name scratched into a marble pillar. Below is the date, 1935, and a heart with an arrow flying through it, touching in its schoolboy simplicity. What surprises me is that no expense was spared on architectural finesse: watchtowers are like fairytale turrets and there’s marble in abundance; in what was the warden’s quarters (now a luxury suite) the entire balcony is made of the finest stone, and then I learn it was designed as an opulent guest house. We wander under vaulted ceilings, through exquisitely carved doors to a small, tucked-away mosque decorated in tiles with floral motifs in cobalt blue and emerald green, where both prisoners and their keepers knelt in prayer.
Sultanahmet is the oldest quarter of the city, home to all of Istanbul’s top ancient attractions such as the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. The hotel’s rooftop bar has sweeping views of the latter, the crown of a neighbourhood that brims with mosques and buildings dating from Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods. On previous visits, I’ve stayed in Beyoglu on the other side of the Golden Horn — the 7.5km-long estuary that connects the Bosphorus with the Sea of Marmara — where you find the most restaurants, shops, and liveliest nightlife, but this time I’m happy to swap the beat of Turkish disco music for the call to prayer from vast minarets like slender asparagus spears.
Rise early is the advice to beat the hordes of cruise ship passengers still busy at their breakfast buffets. A five-minute walk brings me to the curvaceous Blue Mosque, built in 1603-17, named for the 21,000 blue Iznik tiles of its interior. Its purpose was to outshine nearby Aya Sofya, which was consecrated as a church in 537 and converted to a mosque in 1453. Both are unquestionably beautiful, but the feeling of time being suspended as you step into Aya Sofya’s ancient, faded interior is a special moment. A complete restoration will begin in 2024, but it’s unclear if the mosque will remain open in part during this time. Wild rumours are circulating that it could be closed for up to 50 years, but spinning yarns is in the Turkish blood.
The neighbouring Bazaar District brings a different scene: noisy, hectic, with the sweet aroma of freshly baked baklava hanging in the air of narrow streets dotted with historic hammams (bathhouses) and tea gardens, where local men gather to puff on nargiles (water pipes) and play backgammon, and stray kittens mew for scraps amid the hullabaloo. All roads lead to the Grand Bazaar, where I pull up a low stool at a hole-in-the-wall tea shop where mint tea is served with a flourish on silver trays and pistachio-filled baklava is offered for “just a little extra. Pay what you like”!
Pashminas, pottery, and carpets are the biggest draw here, along with expertly faked designer handbags, but it’s wise to barter hard because this is part of the culture. You’ll know if you’ve offered too little if they let you walk away. In the Spice Bazaar, I buy dried fruits (tasting all I purchase before parting with my lira) and home-made soaps of rose and pomegranate. Back at Four Seasons, I browse in Salim, its own curiosity shop filled with old books and maps, perfume bottles and jewellery, and covet a silver dagger-like implement made for writers on the go with a compartment to store a pen and an attached inkwell.
On a personal pilgrimage, I cross the Golden Horn to venture to the bijoux neighbourhood of Pera for a cocktail in the Orient Bar of the Pera Palace Hotel because some years ago, amidst the Anglo-Ottoman splendour of its gilded ceilings and Turkish carpets, my boyfriend (now husband, Neil) parked me in an enormous armchair here and went down on one knee to propose. Built in 1892 to accommodate passengers arriving on the Orient Express, it was the embodiment of elegance and luxury attracting guests such as Queen Elizabeth II, Alfred Hitchcock, Greta Garbo, Jacqueline Onassis, Ernest Hemingway and Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, whose favourite Room 101 is now a museum. Agatha Christie was a regular and said to have holed up here to write Murder on the Orient Express (you can stay in her room, complete with her books and antique typewriter). A three-piece band is in full swing, the singer crooning out nostalgic classics (“I get a kick from champagne …”) to a mixed-age crowd. Make sure to see the art deco birdcage lift (the first electrically powered elevator of its kind) that Mata Hari was sure to have travelled in, and to peek into the hotel’s elegant cafe, where cakes are served on original Christofle crockery, found in brown paper packaging in a storeroom during its 2010 restoration.
Closer to home, check out Melbourne’s former Pentridge Prison that’s now a luxury hotel
Of impressive new openings, Istanbul Modern, a showcase for contemporary Turkish art in restaurant and shop-filled Galataport — the city’s multibillion flagship for modernity in the waterfront neighbourhood of Karakoy — is a must-see, but after a few hours of exploring, it is the Topkapi Palace that draws me back to Sultanahmet. This was the court of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the 19th century, home to lustful sultans and their courtesans (the hareem, with its ornately tiled courtyards and pretty bathhouses, was said to house over 400 concubines), overseen by scheming eunuchs (it’s worth the cost of a local guide to hear the scandalous stories).
The Archaeological Museum has recently reopened after restoration (now royal sarcophagi and ancient sculpture are sensuously lit against a backdrop of deep purple), and houses the treasures of an Islamic superpower that, at its peak in the 17th century, ruled vast areas of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa. From here, I head underground to the Basilica Cistern, a subterranean cavern built in 532 to store up to 80,000 cubic metres of water and supported by 336 columns, many of which were salvaged from ruined temples (don’t miss the upside-down head of Medusa, requisitioned as a column base). The carved capitals and columns are illuminated alternately in moody mauves and seaweed greens, and as you wander the raised platforms look for the ghostlike carp that swim in the shallows.
With the 6 o’clock call to prayer swirling in my ears, I return to dinner at the Four Seasons via Kutlugun, meaning “happy day”, the street onto which prisoners stepped out to freedom.
GETTING THERE
Both Qatar Airways and Air NZ (with Turkish Airlines) fly from Auckland to Istanbul with one stopover.
DETAILS
A Double room at Four Seasons Sultanahmet starts from NZ$1325, based on two people sharing. The facilities include two restaurants, a patisserie, two bars, and the Kurna spa, signature treatments here include The Timeless Tradition of Hammam Ritual. fourseasons.com/istanbul
When there's nothing as far as the eye can see, you may appreciate the company.