Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
been reinvented as Yemek Kulübü, a cafe serving cheap coffee and food. Still, the glori-
ous interior means that a stop here remains well worthwhile.
PERA PALACE HOTEL
OFFLINE MAP
| HISTORIC BUILDING
Tünel)
The Pera Palas was a project of Georges Nagelmackers, the Belgian entrepreneur
who linked Paris and Constantinople with his famous Orient Express train service. The
1892 building has undergone a €23-million restoration in recent years and claims to have
regained its position as İstanbul's most glamorous hotel. Its bar, patisserie, tea lounge and
restaurant are open to the public.
Nagelmackers founded the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et Grands Ex-
press Européens in 1868. The Orient Express service first operated in 1883 and Nagel-
mackers soon realised that İstanbul had no suitably luxurious hotels where his esteemed
passengers could stay. His solution was to build one himself, and he commissioned the
fashionable İstanbul-born but French-trained architect Alexandre Vallaury to design it.
On opening, the hotel advertised itself as having 'a thoroughly healthy situation, being
high up and isolated on all four sides', and 'overlooking the Golden Horn and the whole
panorama of Stamboul'. Its guests included Agatha Christie, who supposedly wrote
Murder on the Orient Express
in Room 411; Mata Hari, who no doubt frequented the el-
egant bar with its lovely stained-glass windows and excellent eavesdropping opportunit-
ies; and Greta Garbo, who probably enjoyed her own company in one of the spacious
suites.
PERA MUSEUM
OFFLINE MAP
| MUSEUM
(Pera Müzesi;
www.peramuzesi.org.tr
; Meşrutiyet Caddesi 65, Tepebaşı; adult/student/child under 12yr
10/7/free; 10am-7pm Tue-Sat, noon-6pm Sun; Karaköy, then funicular to Tünel)
Head to this
museum to admire works from Suna and İnan Kıraç's splendid collection of paintings fea-
turing Turkish Orientalist themes. A changing program of thematic exhibitions provide
fascinating glimpses into the Ottoman world from the 17th to the early 20th century. Some
works are realistic, others highly romanticised - all are historically fascinating.
The most beloved painting in the Turkish canon - Osman Hamdı Bey's
The Tortoise
Trainer
(1906) - is the stand-out work in the collection, but there's plenty more to see, in-
cluding a permanent exhibit of Kütahya tiles and ceramics, and a somewhat esoteric col-
lection of Anatolian weights and measures.
