From Basket Shop to Press
Room
This is one of my favorite Istanbul scenes:
The Sepetçiler
Kasrı, or Hall
of the Basketmakers, prominent
on the shore of the Golden
Horn, with the spires of
the Topkapı
Palace Harem rising above
it and a restored kayık (traditional
wooden coastal freighter) moored
on the quai.
It's one of those scenes straight
out of the 17th or 18th centuries
that you come across in Istanbul every
now and then.
The restored Basketmakers' Hall
is now the Istanbul headquarters
of the Turkish government's Directorate
of Press and Publishing.
I know, I know: it wouldn't
have looked exactly like this.
But so many people come to this
great city in search
of nostalgia and look
for it in the wrong places that
it's nice when a nearly-authentic
scene appears by itself. |
