Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi, the Grand Bazaar: these emblematic monuments are of course the must-sees of a stay in Istanbul. But they are no longer the only attraction, far from it. The rehabilitated suburbs of the old city have taken over. Once described as a maze of muddy streets populated by frustrated characters and stray dogs, they represent the new heart of the city.
This image of a city with two faces is now obsolete, "incomparable in its decrepitude". as it was long presented under the influence of the stories of Théophile Gautier, Pierre Loti and others... The splendour of the domes and minarets, combined with the light and the Sea of Marmara, form delicate tableaux".worthy of fairy tales The Thousand and One NightsAs Gérard de Nerval would have put it, there is no longer any contrast with the darkness of the leprous wooden houses.
For some time now, Turkey has been one of the world's most dynamic economies. And its economic and cultural capital is teeming with mega-projects: a 50km-long canal linking the Black Sea and the Mar- mara Sea in a straight line, a third airport, a new bridge over the Strait, a port, another ring road, a giant mosque, two new towns, an artificial island with a capacity of 300,000 inhabitants... Not to mention the gigantic malls springing up here and there with their processions of residential towers and office buildings...
Crossroads of contemporary art
Housed in a vast warehouse in the former goods port of Karaköy, Istanbul Modern - whose beautiful terraced restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus is open to the public - symbolises the city's artistic renaissance. What's more, with its high-quality programme of events, the museum is fully committed to becoming part of the world's cultural circuits. Its opening in 2004 stimulated a whole movement to convert the city's disused industrial heritage into chic, trendy venues. Santralistanbul, for example, an electricity factory disused since 1983, has been transformed into a space for contemporary art and an energy museum. Today, these rehabilitated wastelands are being snapped up by incentive groups, just as much privatised as the Ottoman palaces, which are obviously sublime but more conventional. "For an event, luxury brands tend to favour disused factories and other offbeat locations".says Anthony Doucet, Marketing and Communications Director at The House Hotel.Dialogue between ancient and modern
The Esman Sultan, the former residence of the ?lle of the monarch Abdülaziz, once a tobacco warehouse and then a carpenter's workshop destroyed by fire, is representative of these reinvented spaces. The four walls of the ruined building have been preserved, with their regular arrangement of wide windows. But they also conceal a protective glass case for events throughout the year. The dialogue between the old bricks and the glass walls is matched by the magic of the site, which is adjacent to the Ortakoy mosque and on the front line of the Bosphorus, overlooked by its famous bridge, one of the longest suspension structures in the world.
Booking this type of place is guaranteed to surprise guests, as the most widespread image of Istanbul is that of a city still in the past. "All you have to do is see Skyfall, the latest James Bond film," smiles Anthony Doucet. "The sequence shot in the bazaar shows stalls the like of which have not existed for ages. You can see donkeys and even a camel: it's like being in Cairo at the beginning of the 20th century! The city offers an explosive East-West cocktail," says this Frenchman who has lived here for five years. The ambiences telescope: the hammam with its old-fashioned atmosphere, the rooftop restaurant with its very New York style, the club where you can dance the night away...".
A thousand and one feverish nights
In fact, Istanbul, a megalopolis where more than half the population is under 30, lives to the rhythm of its youth, with no shortage of restaurants and private party venues. On the Bosphorus, near Ortakoy, the Suada occupies a small island in the strait and is home to several restaurants and an Olympic-size swimming pool... Techno music, wild jetsetters and champagne baths: from June to September, while it's tea time on the Asian shore, it's like Nikki Beach in Saint-Tropez. The area around the Bosphorus Bridge is also home to some of the city's most famous clubs, such as Reina, a glamorous institution celebrating its tenth anniversary: five restaurants, bars and a dance ?oor welcome visiting celebrities from Gisele Bündchen to Uma Thurman. Equally attractive are the ?nless nights at Sortie - 3,500 m2, seven restaurants and three bars - or at Nomads, which revisits the atmosphere of the "A Thousand and One Nights with Oriental dancers and deep sofas.Popular and creative neighbourhoods
Istanbul's economic prosperity can be gauged in the streets of Nisantasi, a residential district that is home to the boutiques of the big names in luxury and the cream of Turkish fashion designers such as Atil Kutoglu and Asli Güler. But it is in the south-eastern part of Beyoglu, on the bank of the Golden Horn opposite the tourist district, that its cultural dynamism is felt. Facing the old town, these working-class districts, which were once little frequented, are now the lungs of the city. Contemporary art spaces are flourishing here, particularly around the Genoese tower of Galata.
"The public of art lovers here shows a real curiosity, an open-mindedness and a desire to exchange ideas that is no longer to be found in Paris, where collectors seem to have become jaded", notes Steven Riff. This Frenchman chose to close his galleries in Strasbourg and Paris to set up in this district. He recently exhibited works by the American Frank Stella and the Frenchman Bernar Venet, and is now showing images by Ahmet Ertug from Istanbul. Internationally renowned for his work on Europe's libraries and opera houses, Ertug has applied his art to the changes that are sweeping the city.
