Journey to Kars – Philip Glazebrook – An entertainingread, mostly for the sections on the author’s trip through Turkey in the early1980’s.
It’s interesting to compare his descriptions with the current conditions to see how much has changed in just 20years. Most striking is his description of the backwater tourist status of Istanbul at that time
Mass tourism makes no inroads into Stambul. The old town of khans andcobbled alleys is too baffling and dismaying to be sacked by tourists enmasse. Ranks of coaches wait in theouter courts of the Topkapi Palace, more ranks are drawn up outside SantaSophia: upon them are concentrated allthe peddlers of souvenirs and ices, who line with their stalls the short walkwhich is all a coach-party is encouraged to take, the few hundred yards betweenSanta Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Inthe environs of one or two other mosques, and in the Grand Bazaar, you meetwith parties of tourists, but in the streets and lanes of Stambul … I rarely meta single tourist walking alone like myself.
Earlier he’d lamented the lack of cafes and other sittingplaces. Far different is the realitytoday, with a cosmopolitan atmosphere everywhere in the city, particularly inmore modern areas like Taksim with its modern boutiques and fancy restaurants,or the Kumkapi area , the fishing market area with it’s streets full of alfresco restaurants lighting up the night. He describes ramshackle old wooden houses, many now renovated in theSultanahmet district to become stylish small hotels and B&Bs.
Glazebrook does an excellent job of inserting details fromthe many, mostly British, travelers who preceded him in the 19thcentury. Excerpts from their journalsspark the otherwise spare descriptions, especially in the eastern Turkeysections. One has to pity the authorin not being able to defeat the bureaucratic and military restrictions onvisiting the medieval Armenian city of Ani, which at that time was a much morecontentious border. It now forms thehighlight of any trip to Kars.
