FABULOUS ISTANBUL

[Music] [Music] Some cities are masculine in character. Some towns are little old ladies. But there are cities that can be compared with a beautiful woman. And there is one that combines the world we westerners know well with all the allure and mystery that is summed up in the word Asia. That city is Istanbul. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Everyone has been to Istanbul, only not recently. Most of the major civilizations have sort of washed over it during the past 3,000 years. They've made it into a fantastic tumble of new and old, of myth and magic. Perhaps it's because of the restless harbor. But with the possible exception of New York, no place in the world seems so busy and bustling. It's not an oriental tapestry. It's a motion picture. And like a motion picture, it comes with sound. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] This is a city of mosques. There are 500 of these houses of worship in Istanbul. Some of them the most beautiful mosques to be seen anywhere. It is also the only city in the world where you can visit both Europe and Asia without leaving town. For like Venice, Stockholm, Hong Kong, it's a city on the water. 2/3 of it is in Europe, one/3 in Asia. And a beautiful strip of water called the Bosphorus is sort of the main street. Right now you're looking across the Bosphorus, which is only a third of a mile wide in some places. That is Asia right there. And you're in Europe. [Music] For a thin dime, the commuter ferry can give you the least expensive intercontinental sea trip in the world. [Music] An attractive woman. Not too easy to get to know, but uh well worth the effort. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Bzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul, all the same city. You find yourself thinking of the past a lot here. [Music] And now we are really face to face with history. When you look at this building, you look at an architectural triumph of the sixth century. This is Santa Sophia. In its time, the greatest church in Christrysendom built a thousand years before Columbus discovered America. The emperor Justinian called it the eye of the universe. Now a museum, it has a remarkable collection of Byzantine mosaic art. In this picture, you see the Empress Zoey on one side, her husband on the other. If you look closely, you'll see that the husband's picture doesn't quite match the original mosaic. Zoe had a number of husbands, three but who counts, and had the mosaic changed every time she got married. [Music] It is difficult for us now to understand just what this building, then the largest and most beautiful cathedral in existence, meant to the world centuries ago. One way of gauging its importance is to look across the way. When Turkish rule began, the reigning Sultan wanted to build something to challenge the glory of Santa Sophia. Directly opposite, he created one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, the famous Blue Mosque, built at the beginning of the 17th century when the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire extended from North Africa to Vienna. Though of tremendous size, its proportions are perfect. [Music] [Applause] But why do they call it the Blue Mosque? The name comes from the bluish haze which is reflected off the 20,000 blue tiles covering the inside walls. And it is in the cool interior that you can appreciate the size of the structure. That dome is 109 ft wide which makes it 8 ft wider than the dome of Santa Sophia. In the blue mosque, the eye listens. Sultan Ahmed attempted to outdo the builder of the ancient church. He succeeded. The only mosque in the world with six minetses. This is one of the masterpieces of Turkish architecture. [Music] Let's talk for a moment about the Turkish language. Some people say it's hard to learn. Actually, it's simple. Since it's a member of the Finn Ugric family of languages, you'll find it no trouble at all to learn if you happen to speak fluent Finnish and Hungarian. Otherwise, uh, but you know, in a way, this works for you. Have you ever felt a bit put out when traveling in Europe? Because everyone seemed to speak several languages. Well, here you all start out together. But it's a source of never ending delight to see what happens to the language you do know once it's been given a Turkish bath. For example, an automobile is an auto just like back home. And it's no trouble to find a buffet where you can enjoy a delicious sandwichler. A Turkish businessman stops by his club for a tall cool drink on a warm day. Perhaps a screwdriver or white lady. Maybe a whiskey sour. For night life, he's got his choice of the Mulan Rouge or the Fully Beer. What other language could take an ordinary merchant ship and turn it into an adventure hero? Batman, by the way, is the name of a town in Turkey. Discs are a big thing here. They're all over the place with music, as they say, played by a disc jokie. But the important thing is that so many people here speak English. You go to the movies, you often find they're an Engle issue, which makes things a lot easier all around. Gastronomic connoisseurs, in other words, people who like to eat, say there are three great world cuisines: French, Chinese, and Turkish. You will get a chance to see for yourself. Just be sure to visit one of the fine restaurants in Istanbul. The Turkish system of dining works like this. Waiters bring a half dozen or so dishes and place them in front of you. You help yourself sampling each. And when these give out, they bring another round. This time of different dishes. And don't worry, they won't run out of ideas. Not with a style of cooking that can feature 40 different delicious ways of making just eggplant. Some things are familiar, some exotic. Are you ready for buffalo yogurt? And of course, there's the world famous shish kebab. There's an interesting theory that this method of cooking on skewers comes from the old camel caravan days. When the old camels complained about having to carry pots and pans. Another theory about Turkish cooking is that back during the Ottoman Empire, religious reasons kept women in the house all the time. So they got to be expert cooks and developed a national cuisine of fascinating variety and ingenuity. You may have noticed that many of the dishes are filled. When a Turkish cook comes face to face with a vegetable, green pepper, eggplant, grape leaves, what have you, he will not rest till he stuffs it with rice and various spices. These are called dolmans in Turkish. Remember that word dolmans for out in the street. You find that Istanbul has all kinds of modern transportation. Buses, [Music] trolley buses, taxi cabs. It also has stuffed automobiles. This is a Dolmush. The little tail on the S gives it the sh sound. And it's actually a very lowpric taxi cab that runs through the streets like a bus. This way you can take a cab everywhere for just a few pennies. The real taxi has a checkered line around it. The dolbush has a plain line. It can get a little crowded like uh riding around inside a stuffed eggplant, but the system has its advantages. Look at the people you get to meet. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] And perhaps this way as a couple is the right way to see Istanbul. A city reminiscent of the Thousand1 Nights. A city that is not at all like the other places where prices are skyhigh and things are just like home. The high spot of everyone's visit to Istanbul is Topcappy, the palace of the sultanss. There are no more sultans in Turkey, no more herams. You're stepping into the past when you see top cappy. And what a past. This was the nerve center of the empire of the Ottomans. And it's a staggering complex of buildings, residences, herums, servants quarters. You get an idea of the size of the place when you learn that there were 115 kitchens and the daily working staff numbered 12,000. The sultanss lived in almost unbelievable luxury. And now, just recently, the herum of Top Capy Palace has been open to the public. [Music] It's not a popular subject in these days of women's liberation, but what man has not thought about having a herum. What would it be like to be a sultan wearing the little pointy shoes surrounded by wallto-wall women? Outside of exhausting, what would it be like to have a hundred wives and several hundred close friends? But the herum is not really a subject for humor. The women here were real people, and when their stories are told, they dazzle the mind. It takes just a little imagination to see a lovely young herum girl of several hundred years ago, often surrounded by luxury, but confined to her quarters. A visit to the Herum brings forth such stories of happiness and misery, of intrigue and voluuptuousness, that it is no wonder that the herum, formerly one of the world's most jealously guarded secrets, creates unforgettable impressions for even the most jaded tourist. Museum authorities in Turkey have restored the herum as a tribute to the thousands of residents, notably the women, who spent their lives here, who never set foot beyond the confines of this palace. The other thing to see in Top Cappy is the treasury. For here is stored the wealth of the Ottoman Empire. One of the most fabulous jewel collections in the world. And it's a little like stepping into Aladdin's cave. Every possible item covered with diamonds and other precious gems. Literally millions of dollars worth. a wine vessel of the 16th century. [Applause] Many of these treasures were gifts to various sultans. This is a small statue of a sultan. And the thing that makes it special is that his body is one huge pearl. If you were a boy child hundreds of years ago and you were destined to become a sultan, you had to have a jewel encrusted cradle. And this is the famous emerald dagger, star of the motion picture top cappy. It seems quite normal that you find here one of the largest diamonds in existence. 86 karat surrounded by 49 lesser diamonds. We introduce a human hand to show dimensions. Now that would make some engagement ring. After that, how about a coffee break? Not just coffee, Turkish coffee. It's in the form of powder. They've got a philosophy in this part of the world. Whatever you do, do it right. If you're going to shine shoes, set yourself up in style, and do a job you can be proud of. If you're a young fellow just starting out in the business, you make yourself a simple wooden box. As time goes by and you become more firmly established, you add various cans of polish, brushes, and so on, and you begin to put decorations on the box. Soon, you've got a going concern. The decorative effects become more elaborate, the hardware more sophisticated, until finally you've become a sort of corporate giant. Your plant is in the center of town, and it's a veritable pleasure dome of shoe shining. These remarkable stands, some representing small fortunes of work and expense, are found everywhere in this area. [Music] Back in the days when Istanbul was famous for its intrigue and mystery, when spies were chasing each other around town, it was known as quite a place for night life. It still is. Heat [Music] [Applause] up [Music] here. [Music] Have you noticed the way travel has changed? Tourists these days have so many options open to them. They can travel in style and in Istanbul that means they can stay in hotels which match the finest the world has to offer. Or they can stay in tent cities for a dollar or so a night. For young people, this has become one of the must-see places. East is east and west is west, but Istanbul is something else. Meet you at the pudding shop. The center of town always has a collection of vehicles from all over. Many with their own elaborate artwork. Some of them with their own philosophy. [Music] But it's true. There's a new attitude toward travel. People want more than just to look and see. They want to know and to share. In other places, you should have a schedule. Here, go as the spirit moves you. From a major tourist attraction to a stroll about the back streets of the city, or take an afternoon off and go swimming. Istanbul has excellent beaches nearby. Meshmet II, the conqueror of Istanbul, built a beautiful castle on the Bosphorus. And here we can see another reminder of a fabulous past. The oldest military band in the world. A military band recreating the time centuries ago when the Ottoman Empire covered a large portion of the known world. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Another thing that Mechmic the Conqueror did was create a shopping center, a covered bazaar. This is really a city within a city. Some 2 million square ft, almost 4,000 shops under one roof. The shopping here has fascinated tourists for centuries. It is possible to lose yourself literally and even financially in the bazaar. The items range from inexpensive novelties to examples of the serious work of artists and craftsmen. Nothing comes across with that stamped out or machine-made look. [Music] And of course, bargaining is the national sport with its own ground rules. All you as the purchaser have to remember is that you start at around 50% of what is asked and slowly work your way up while theoretically the shopkeeper is working his way down. [Music] One of the best bargains is in leather goods. For a moderate size traveler's check, you can pick up a stunning coat with a fur lining that would cost three or four times that amount back home. And the carpets for sale approach perfection. There is quality here. All you have to do is look for it. The covered bazaar, another fabulous feature of Istanul. In the top Cappy Museum, there's a series of prints of old Istanbul. A 100 years or so ago, serving a cup of coffee was even then an elaborate ritual. Then as now, shoppers were giving shopkeepers headaches in the Grand Bazaar. [Music] Turkish sweets were already the many splendered thing we know today. And you realize that this city has always been a fabulous bridge between Europe and Asia. Has always been regarded by the rest of the world as exotic, mysterious, romantic. [Music] As far as vacation travel is concerned, all the great holiday regions of Europe have been discovered for a good many years. Turkey today is one of the few areas where word filters back that there are still fascinating and fabulous things to be seen. We've pointed this out before, but Istanbul is like an attractive woman, a sophisticated European woman of today who at the same time has the allure and mystery of Asia. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat.