Greetings Leithers! This January I bring you goodwill for the New Year from our brand new European Capital of Culture 2010, Istanbul.

My festive escape began back in December and since then I have seen only one Christmas tree, a solitary inflatable Santa and a mere spattering of ‘2010’ scrawled awkwardly across shop windows in spray-on snow. Bliss.

A journey of hope, in freshly pressed suits, falls foul of a lonely shepherd...

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So what of the beginning of Istanbul’s cultural showcase? With its roots dating back to 1,000BC and legacies of Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman rule, the city certainly has plenty to work with. A boat trip on the Bosphorus will give you an idea of the sheer scale of the place – with layer upon layer of apartment buildings, art deco houses, waterside restaurants and high-domed mosques spilling over the hills on both the European and Asian sides of the city.

Projects running over the course of the Capital of Culture year span theatre, film and visual arts, of which the Istanbul Modern Art Gallery forms a central venue. With a permanent exhibition of contemporary Turkish art, largely produced in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and regular temporary exhibitions of internationally exhibited work, Istanbul Modern is most definitely up to the minute.

Pressed suits and shepherds
Its converted shipyard structure and waterside location draw instant comparisons with London’s Tate Modern in terms of its location. But the architectural similarity with its British counterpart is where the comparison ends. Inside it is clear that Turkish artists do not consider themselves fully part of the European scene. A hilarious film entitled The Road to Tate Modern makes the point. In it, the artist and his friend embark on a Don Quixote-style expedition to London through the rocky Turkish countryside on a donkey. Beginning their journey full of hope in freshly pressed suits, the explorers are soon left deflated when a lonely shepherd points them in the direction of the mountains and informs them that the Tate Modern is in fact “very, very far”.

Foreigners looking daft
It is also very, very far from the tourist centre of town, in the district of Sultanahmet. Here you will find many of the big sites one would be expected to ‘do’ in Istanbul – the historic and majestically beautiful Aya Sofia and its imposing rival The Blue Mosque, which sits directly opposite the church just a couple of hundred metres away. Behind this is the Sultan’s old house at Topkapi Palace and nearby is the carpet-haggling centre of the elaborate ceilinged Grand Bazaar. And if you fancy spending at least fifty quid on a slightly uncomfortable rub down in a hamam by a man in a loincloth, this area is your best bet.
During the day, Sultanahmet throngs with tourists and tour buses from Turkey and further afield. At night, however, it is clear that this area is not a truly living breathing part of the city. After about 8pm, if it weren’t for the repetitive entreaties from Turkish waiters for the “nice couple” to “come try Turkish menu very nice”, you could hear a pin drop, despite the bustling streets that snake down towards the water just ten minutes walk away.

Venture beyond the home of English menus and souvenirs and it is easy to discover parts of the city where people really live, work and relax. On the Galata Bridge, hoards of fisherman huddle together for a spot, selling the tiddlers from their catch to others as bait. Beneath the bridge identical restaurants serve identical fish dishes, and by the ferry ports, small stallholders fry fillets of herring in front of you, and then stuff them into crusty white bread. In the northern European quarter of the city is the fashionable shopping and drinking street of Itsikal Caddesi. Restaurants, bars and takeaway places are dotted along the mile and a half long street and the options include both traditional mezze and glasses of raki as well as European wines, pizzas and mojitos.

In Sultanahmet it would be easy to assume that Turkish tea and baklava are defunct delicacies for visitors only. But çay, a strong and tasty brew served in small glasses to which I am becoming addicted and the sweet nutty squares of filo pastry that accompany it are also clearly local favourites. Even bubbling, sweet smoky water-pipes, also known as nargileh, are not just for tourists.

In fact it seems to be only Turkish people who can make them look cool – even when reclining amid traditional woven cushions and carpets, us foreigners still manage to look a bit daft. I hope that as well as trendy arty projects and venues, Istanbul may also celebrate these more traditional elements of its culture in 2010, as the easy blend between old and new is what makes the city so appealing.
Finally, a word about kebabs, they are eaten sober, for lunch or dinner with chips and rice, bread, salad and chilli sauce. And do you want to know the best thing? Believe it or not, the doners are actually made out of real meat! Genuine fillets of proper flesh, compressed together on to a spit – now that, my friends, is culture.