Monday, January 20, 2020
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Green With Envy
We all know Vienna is a green city. How green you only realize once you have lived abroad for some time.
Here’s the thing: if you’ve never lived anywhere else, you don’t know how good you’ve got it here in Vienna. You know the saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”? Well, Vienna is the other side of the fence.
The Vienna Woods near Cobenzl
Photo ©Wien Tourismus / Popelka & Popelka
Literally: more than half of the Vienna metropolitan area is made up of green space, including some 2,000 parks and 19,000-hectare Green Belt encircling the city. The Vienna Tourist Board did the math: there are 120 square meters of green space for each of Vienna’s 1.7 million inhabitants.
I’ve lived in lots of places — seven cities in four countries on two continents. All these places had their claim on natural beauty (except perhaps Cleveland, Ohio, a rusted-out old clapboard shell in America’s Midwest) but none had the readily accessible green space as we do here.
Trees, wine, and the good lifeVienna is consistently ranked as the world’s most livable city. Maybe part of this distinction can be credited to the city’s reverence for nature amid the city walls. The Viennese seem to know instinctively how to balance health and indulgence, marking the city’s the unique marriage of outdoorsiness and convivial party-time. The balance between work and play is so much more easily attained here because out every office door there is a park within walking distance.
A vineyard Heurige on Nußberg
Photo ©WienTourismus /Peter Rigaud
Not to mention the 700 hectares of vineyard that ring the city like so many grape vines. Famously, Vienna is the only world capital producing significant quantities of wine within the city limits. These vineyards and the 10-kilometer-long Vienna Wine Trail showcase the philosophy of Gemütlichkeit — friendliness, good cheer and peace of mind — that is cultivated here. Green space encourages both meditation and socialization, two halves of a mental-health whole. Where a quiet walk through the dappled forests of the Wienerwald can refresh a cluttered mind, so too can a boisterous get-together with friends over gespritzter Grüner Veltliner among the cultured rows of Vienna’s 320 vineyards.
There’s everywhere to go but nowhere greenSure, it’s possible to make a good life in a city with little or no green space. I lived in Istanbul, Turkey for three years, where our neighborhood version of a “park” was a concrete track converted from a wastewater run-off. There were no playgrounds or sidewalks in my district, let alone wooded walking traiIs. Don’t get me wrong; it’s an amazing city, full of charm, culture and history…just not a lot of places to go jogging. When you’re boxed into a city like Istanbul with no green space — like so many ancient over-developed cities — you start to feel claustrophobic. It can be hard, sometimes, to breathe freely. The stress of such a hemmed-in life can be overwhelming.
Praterallee
©WienTourismus / Popp & Hackner
New scientific research shows that green space makes us happier and that accessible natural areas may be vital for mental health in our rapidly urbanizing world. Researchers aren’t sure why green space makes us happy — maybe it’s all that fresh oxygen, the smell of budding trees, or the Gemischter Satz.
Vienna is eminently livable and, more importantly, enjoyable. The focus the city places on green space, and in turn, the promise of a cleaner, healthier more viable life, is enviable. What makes other cities so jealous is how easy Vienna makes it look, so effortlessly combining city life and country life. Because, by its nature and nurture, Vienna has achieved a life-balance, unparalleled.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Traveling: A Basketball Diary
Originally Published in Time Out Istanbul magazine, 2004
Darüşşafaka Spor Kulübü player John Whorton comes to Istanbul via America, France, Sweden, England and New Zealand. For this world-travelling basketball star, how does the Turkish game compare?
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
Twenty-five-year-old John Whorton isn’t easy to miss. At 6-feet 9-inches (2.1 meters) and 255 pounds (116 kilograms) he strikes an imposing figure in Istanbul. In this ancient city, he must duck to get through most doors and practically fold himself in half to ride in cars. Istanbul, strictly architecturally speaking, is not built to handle a man like Whorton.
But as the new center forward for the Darüşşafaka Spor Kulübü – a member of the 14-team Turkish Basketball League – Whorton gives hundreds of fans every week a reason to admire and accomodate his commanding frame. On the court, he is instantly recognizable. Indeed, not easy to miss.
The life accorded to a full-time basketball player in Europe is transient. Most find themselves hopping from city to city, following the playing seasons and signing with teams for a short time, often only a few months. It is a vagabond life, but one that is full: of new people, new places and new opportunities to become a living basketball legend.
Whorton counts seven countries, three continents and two hemispheres among his homes during the past four years playing professional ball. He has every reason to be tired, and even fed-up with the process, but he is just the opposite.
“Basketball opens doors for me to different places,” he says. “Basketball has allowed me to see things, to do things that people dream about. I have friends that have never left the States and I’m not one of those people because of basketball.”
In addition to allowing him the freedom to see the world, basketball has given him perspective with regard to the reputation of Americans abroad. There is some measure of pressure allotted to U.S. players in a Turkish league. “Often times you’ve really got to step it up,” he says. “If you win, you get all the praise. If you lose, you get all the discord.” A total of three Americans – the league limit – play for Darüşşafaka.
Some of the stress is lessened, though, because Istanbul is such a large city, where basketball is not the end-all, be-all event. When he played in a small town in Germany, he says, “everybody knew who you were because there was nothing else really going on. But here in a city of 15 million people, there is soccer and so many other interests.”
Istanbul was a move predated by years of constant travel. Immediately after Whorton completed his final season at Kent State University in Ohio he started receiving offers from agents. In January of 2001, he joined a semi-pro International Basketball League team in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Only five months later, he found himself New Zealand-bound to play four months of a successful season with the Canterbury Rams in Christ Church. Next, he chose a Swedish team, the Jamtland Basket, but broke his hand in a workout only five days before he was to begin playing with the squad. He returned home to Columbus, Ohio to rest, recuperate and coach his alma mater high school basketball team.
In 2002, hand completely healed, he returned to New Zealand for a second season. Then, he moved on to the Wurzburg Xrays in Germany followed by third season with the Canterbury Rams.
In September 2003, he joined the London Towers. But unfortunately, he says, he didn’t jell with the team and his wife Angela told him: “For the first time in your life, you don’t seem to be enjoying basketball.”
He left the team after only four weeks and returned home only to be called back overseas in November to hook up with a team in Cholet, France. This time, he bonded immediately with fellow athletes but the head coach, who was in need of a smaller player, decided that the larger Whorton might be better suited for another team he’d worked with in Turkey. So Whorton hopped another plane in November to Istanbul where he signed with the Darüşşafaka Spor Kulübü.
Despite having switched allegiances so often early in his career, Whorton is philosophical about his role as a member of a lineup. “As a basketball team, you have got to be one unit, like a machine,” he says. “Everyone does smaller parts to make the whole thing go. If one thing breaks, nothing works.”
For his part, Whorton hopes his team goes all the way to the TBL playoffs this spring. After all, he enjoys Istanbul, its sights and its fans. There’s no better way to live a basketball life than among friends.
Darüşşafaka Spor Kulübü player John Whorton comes to Istanbul via America, France, Sweden, England and New Zealand. For this world-travelling basketball star, how does the Turkish game compare?
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
Twenty-five-year-old John Whorton isn’t easy to miss. At 6-feet 9-inches (2.1 meters) and 255 pounds (116 kilograms) he strikes an imposing figure in Istanbul. In this ancient city, he must duck to get through most doors and practically fold himself in half to ride in cars. Istanbul, strictly architecturally speaking, is not built to handle a man like Whorton.
But as the new center forward for the Darüşşafaka Spor Kulübü – a member of the 14-team Turkish Basketball League – Whorton gives hundreds of fans every week a reason to admire and accomodate his commanding frame. On the court, he is instantly recognizable. Indeed, not easy to miss.
The life accorded to a full-time basketball player in Europe is transient. Most find themselves hopping from city to city, following the playing seasons and signing with teams for a short time, often only a few months. It is a vagabond life, but one that is full: of new people, new places and new opportunities to become a living basketball legend.
Whorton counts seven countries, three continents and two hemispheres among his homes during the past four years playing professional ball. He has every reason to be tired, and even fed-up with the process, but he is just the opposite.
“Basketball opens doors for me to different places,” he says. “Basketball has allowed me to see things, to do things that people dream about. I have friends that have never left the States and I’m not one of those people because of basketball.”
In addition to allowing him the freedom to see the world, basketball has given him perspective with regard to the reputation of Americans abroad. There is some measure of pressure allotted to U.S. players in a Turkish league. “Often times you’ve really got to step it up,” he says. “If you win, you get all the praise. If you lose, you get all the discord.” A total of three Americans – the league limit – play for Darüşşafaka.
Some of the stress is lessened, though, because Istanbul is such a large city, where basketball is not the end-all, be-all event. When he played in a small town in Germany, he says, “everybody knew who you were because there was nothing else really going on. But here in a city of 15 million people, there is soccer and so many other interests.”
Istanbul was a move predated by years of constant travel. Immediately after Whorton completed his final season at Kent State University in Ohio he started receiving offers from agents. In January of 2001, he joined a semi-pro International Basketball League team in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Only five months later, he found himself New Zealand-bound to play four months of a successful season with the Canterbury Rams in Christ Church. Next, he chose a Swedish team, the Jamtland Basket, but broke his hand in a workout only five days before he was to begin playing with the squad. He returned home to Columbus, Ohio to rest, recuperate and coach his alma mater high school basketball team.
In 2002, hand completely healed, he returned to New Zealand for a second season. Then, he moved on to the Wurzburg Xrays in Germany followed by third season with the Canterbury Rams.
In September 2003, he joined the London Towers. But unfortunately, he says, he didn’t jell with the team and his wife Angela told him: “For the first time in your life, you don’t seem to be enjoying basketball.”
He left the team after only four weeks and returned home only to be called back overseas in November to hook up with a team in Cholet, France. This time, he bonded immediately with fellow athletes but the head coach, who was in need of a smaller player, decided that the larger Whorton might be better suited for another team he’d worked with in Turkey. So Whorton hopped another plane in November to Istanbul where he signed with the Darüşşafaka Spor Kulübü.
Despite having switched allegiances so often early in his career, Whorton is philosophical about his role as a member of a lineup. “As a basketball team, you have got to be one unit, like a machine,” he says. “Everyone does smaller parts to make the whole thing go. If one thing breaks, nothing works.”
For his part, Whorton hopes his team goes all the way to the TBL playoffs this spring. After all, he enjoys Istanbul, its sights and its fans. There’s no better way to live a basketball life than among friends.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Pera Palas: History’s Hotel
Originally Published in Time Out Istanbul magazine, 2004
The venerable Istanbul institution invokes the mystery and romance of its Ottoman roots
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
The Pera Palas is a century-old beauty, resting now, majestically. A stately matron, she sits quietly and keeps her secrets.
Once, she was a society hostess, and her grand halls welcomed the rich and powerful. Sister to the mysterious Orient Express, her name was world-renown, synonymous with luxury and indulgence.
During her long years, Pera Palas has been a confidant to spies and writers. Handmaiden to kings and queens. Patron to actors, singers and poets.
She has survived the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the founding of the Turkish Republic and two World Wars.
Today, Pera Palas trades on this storied past to ensure a future. Her heyday was in centuries past – in millennia past – and as with many aging icons, it is now her history that will determine her fortune.
The Guest Book
For antiquarians and amateur historians, Pera Palas is quintessentially Istanbul, a glimpse of traditional Turkey and a nostalgia seekers’ refuge. It’s a living museum where every wall and every floor echoes with long-gone voices.
Everyone who was anyone in the late 19th and early 20th centuries stayed there: the founder of the Turkish republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and subsequent Turkish presidents. Leaders from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, America, Greece, India, Russia and Japan. Royalty from Romania, Serbia, Italy, Zanzibar, Japan, Bulgaria, Macedonia, England and Libya. Hollywood icons Sarah Bernhardt, Greta Garbo, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Julio Iglesias and Alfred Hitchcock. Writers Agatha Christie, Pierre Loti, Ernest Hemingway, Frances Foster and Ian Fleming. Spies Mata Hari, Kim Philby and Cicero.
Each room in the Pera Palas bears a brass plaque commemorating the famous guest, or guests, who have laid their heads inside. What a party it would be to have them all together at the same time. What would Greto Garbo say to Hemingway over a tea in the Orient Express Bar? Would Agatha Christie choose to write instead about a spy named James Bond?
The Orient Express
Although the Orient Express began its trans-European trek in 1883, it would be five years before the route was extended far enough East to reach Istanbul. Once there, however, the first passengers found no modern accommodations suitably matched to the finery of the voyage itself. Thus, the Wagons Lits company, owners of the Orient Express, built the hotel and founded a subsidiary to run it. (Sharp observes will note that this is the reason The Orient Express and the Pera Palas both bare the same crest).
Construction on the hotel, designed by French architect Alexander Vallaury, began in May 1892 and was completed a year later. Horse-drawn carriages brought passengers from Sirkeci Station in Eminönü up the grand slope of Tepebaşı for the opening ceremonies in October 1893. Some accounts record Sultan Abdülhamit among the revelers who attended the festivities.
For nearly a century, the hotel was volleyed between a series of owners. It passed through several private proprietors in the early 1900s before the state took up management in 1923. That same year, a Lebanese immigrant and friend of Atatürk, Misbah Muhayyeş, was named manager of the hotel. He subsequently purchased it in 1928. Two decades later, Muhayyeş via his will passed stewardship of the hotel to several local charities, and asked that the Istanbul government be appointed trustee to the estate. But, in 1963, the state withdrew, leaving the hotel entirely under the direction of the charities, which rented the property to a consortium of businessmen and their company, Istanbul Hotel Management and Tourism Trading. Then, beginning in 1977, Hasan Süzer, a key member of the consortium, executed several business deals which within two years, yielded full ownership of the property.
Today, under Süzer’s leadership, the hotel has been completely restored according to government standards, both inside and out. It has 145 rooms, all with handwoven Turkish carpets and modern plumbing. The original pipes could not produce enough pressure to bring water to the upper floors, which were for decades stocked instead with pitchers and bowls. The ground floor has antique-laden meeting rooms that can be connected to create a grand space for up to 400 banquet guests. The Pera Restaurant, where Atatürk often dined, serves a buffet breakfast and menu dinner. The Orient Bar is a popular destination for tourists who wander in to marvel at the Ottoman relics and stay for a drink in the period-style pub.
The country’s first electric elevator still ferries guests oh-so-slowly to upper floors. The lobby, which once took reservations for heads of states the world over, is quiet on sleepy winter afternoons. Glass cases hold artifacts from the hotel’s finer days: wine lists, glassware, menus and bills are the detritus of a golden age.
Terror at Pera Palas
The Pera Palas remains perched above the Golden Horn with a spectacular view of the shoreline below. The grand entrance, so often pictured in history books, is on Meşrutiyet Caddesi. Just down the street is the British Consulate, where a car bombing in November 2003 resulted in the murder of the Consular General, among many others. This was not the first time terror, aimed at a British diplomat, lapped at the doors of Pera Palas.
In March 1941, at exactly 9:35 p.m., an explosive hidden inside a guest’s bag detonated in the lobby killing six and injuring 19. The target was a British Ambassador who had traveled to Istanbul to discuss Turkey’s role in World War II. The hotel sustained extensive damage: the force of the bomb blew out windows and doors inside the hotel and throughout Tepebaşı. Cracks caused by the explosion are still visible in the marble walls of the lobby.
Depending on sources cited, the hotel may also have been the location of a political assassination of an Azerbaijani diplomat in 1921. If indeed the crime was carried out at the Pera Palas, the story continues that an errant shot struck a man sitting in a chaise in the bar, scattering all of the patrons who left, quite naturally, without remembering to pay. The bartender was put out of business.
The Ghost of Agatha Christie
Despite all assurances to the contrary by hotel staff, the Pera Palas is surely haunted. The sheer number of famous guests alone would suggest a brisk trade in the ghost business, but the hotel has only one confirmed other-worldly stowaway.
It was during Agatha Christie’s visits to the hotel between 1926 and 1932 that she was inspired to write her famous novel “The Murder on the Orient Express”. A mystery far more compelling for local ghost hunters, however, is the 11-day period during Christie’s life when the writer disappeared without a trace, only to return with no recollection of the events or no desire to speak of them. After her death, a Hollywood production company contacted a psychic to finally put to the question to rest.
On March 7, 1979, a séance was conducted in Christie’s former room, No. 411. According to reports, Christie’s spirit communicated to the psychic the location of an old key, hidden in the floor boards near the door of her room. The key, found exactly where the psychic had described, was to have been used as a talisman during a second séance when experts hoped to locate Christie’s diary, thought to contain the answer to the writer’s missing days. This second séance never occurred, though, and the key remains hidden in a bank vault under the guard of hotel proprietors who say that “new attempts (to contact Christie) shall be made when the time is ripe for it.”
Seeds of the Republic
During the Allied Forces occupation of Istanbul between 1920 and 1923, while his mother was kept under observation in his home in Akaretler, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk often chose to stay at the Pera Palas. He met with colleagues in his first-floor room, No. 101, where they evaluated daily the country’s dilemma. Hotel historians say that “the seeds of the Republic of Turkey were planted there.”
In the salon rooms, Atatürk faced Allied Forces Commander in Chief Gen. Harrington. The story goes that Atatürk refused the general’s invitation, saying, “Tell them it is our custom for the host to do the inviting.” If Harrington removed his troops from Turkey, only then would he be free to extend the courtesy.
Today, Atatürk’s room is preserved as an appointment-only museum. The space has been left virtually untouched since the leader’s days in residence, off and on between the years 1915 and 1937. Some 32 items in the room are personal effects acquired from Rıdvan Gürari, who was employed as a member of Atatürk’s security team for 10 years. Among these items are: military field goggles, reading glasses, a toothbrush, tooth powder, a fork and knife, tea and coffee cups, spurs, monogrammed underwear, hats, pajamas and slippers. A bedspread that was presented by Atatürk’s adopted daughter, Ülkü, still rests on his bed. A display case also holds a letter in French by the Greek President Elefterios Venizelos written in 1934 nominating Atatürk as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Perhaps the most shiver-inducing piece is a silk tapestry which was presented to Atatürk in 1929 during a state visit by an Indian Maharajah. It features a clock stopped at the time of 09:07 surrounded by 11 elephants and 10 candles. Followers say the tapestry foretold the exact time and date of Atatürk’s death, which occurred nine years later at 09:05 on November 10, 1938. (Believers say, the tapestry clock indicates the time of his true death since the brain continues to function for two minutes after the heart stops beating.)
The Golden Years
For four decades, Cevat Bayındır has made his living at the Pera Palas. He started working as a reception assistant and is now head of public relations. Staffers routinely defer to his expertise in all-things-Pera.
“I’ve worked here without interruption since 1964,” he says. “We’ve had many very important people stay here. I’ve enjoyed in every small way helping them somehow.”
His favorites are film star Jackie Chan and former American first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Her Pera Palas adventure is detailed in a book he helped write about the history of the hotel. Apparently, Mrs. Onassis was beset by eager news reporters upon her arrival in the summer of 1983. With the help of an sympathetic manager, she was able to slip out the back fire escape and tour the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus until her furtive return, via the same back door, in the evening.
It is clear that Bayındır is enchanted with his former guest, and perhaps with all of the former guests of this, his second home. He is a man of few words when it comes to his feelings for the Pera Palas.
“I love the hotel,” he says simply. He is guardian over the story of her birth and her prime. He came to her in their middle age. Now, they are sharing their golden years, grateful to have memories that last a lifetime.
The venerable Istanbul institution invokes the mystery and romance of its Ottoman roots
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
The Pera Palas is a century-old beauty, resting now, majestically. A stately matron, she sits quietly and keeps her secrets.
Once, she was a society hostess, and her grand halls welcomed the rich and powerful. Sister to the mysterious Orient Express, her name was world-renown, synonymous with luxury and indulgence.
During her long years, Pera Palas has been a confidant to spies and writers. Handmaiden to kings and queens. Patron to actors, singers and poets.
She has survived the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the founding of the Turkish Republic and two World Wars.
Today, Pera Palas trades on this storied past to ensure a future. Her heyday was in centuries past – in millennia past – and as with many aging icons, it is now her history that will determine her fortune.
The Guest Book
For antiquarians and amateur historians, Pera Palas is quintessentially Istanbul, a glimpse of traditional Turkey and a nostalgia seekers’ refuge. It’s a living museum where every wall and every floor echoes with long-gone voices.
Everyone who was anyone in the late 19th and early 20th centuries stayed there: the founder of the Turkish republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and subsequent Turkish presidents. Leaders from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, America, Greece, India, Russia and Japan. Royalty from Romania, Serbia, Italy, Zanzibar, Japan, Bulgaria, Macedonia, England and Libya. Hollywood icons Sarah Bernhardt, Greta Garbo, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Julio Iglesias and Alfred Hitchcock. Writers Agatha Christie, Pierre Loti, Ernest Hemingway, Frances Foster and Ian Fleming. Spies Mata Hari, Kim Philby and Cicero.
Each room in the Pera Palas bears a brass plaque commemorating the famous guest, or guests, who have laid their heads inside. What a party it would be to have them all together at the same time. What would Greto Garbo say to Hemingway over a tea in the Orient Express Bar? Would Agatha Christie choose to write instead about a spy named James Bond?
The Orient Express
Although the Orient Express began its trans-European trek in 1883, it would be five years before the route was extended far enough East to reach Istanbul. Once there, however, the first passengers found no modern accommodations suitably matched to the finery of the voyage itself. Thus, the Wagons Lits company, owners of the Orient Express, built the hotel and founded a subsidiary to run it. (Sharp observes will note that this is the reason The Orient Express and the Pera Palas both bare the same crest).
Construction on the hotel, designed by French architect Alexander Vallaury, began in May 1892 and was completed a year later. Horse-drawn carriages brought passengers from Sirkeci Station in Eminönü up the grand slope of Tepebaşı for the opening ceremonies in October 1893. Some accounts record Sultan Abdülhamit among the revelers who attended the festivities.
For nearly a century, the hotel was volleyed between a series of owners. It passed through several private proprietors in the early 1900s before the state took up management in 1923. That same year, a Lebanese immigrant and friend of Atatürk, Misbah Muhayyeş, was named manager of the hotel. He subsequently purchased it in 1928. Two decades later, Muhayyeş via his will passed stewardship of the hotel to several local charities, and asked that the Istanbul government be appointed trustee to the estate. But, in 1963, the state withdrew, leaving the hotel entirely under the direction of the charities, which rented the property to a consortium of businessmen and their company, Istanbul Hotel Management and Tourism Trading. Then, beginning in 1977, Hasan Süzer, a key member of the consortium, executed several business deals which within two years, yielded full ownership of the property.
Today, under Süzer’s leadership, the hotel has been completely restored according to government standards, both inside and out. It has 145 rooms, all with handwoven Turkish carpets and modern plumbing. The original pipes could not produce enough pressure to bring water to the upper floors, which were for decades stocked instead with pitchers and bowls. The ground floor has antique-laden meeting rooms that can be connected to create a grand space for up to 400 banquet guests. The Pera Restaurant, where Atatürk often dined, serves a buffet breakfast and menu dinner. The Orient Bar is a popular destination for tourists who wander in to marvel at the Ottoman relics and stay for a drink in the period-style pub.
The country’s first electric elevator still ferries guests oh-so-slowly to upper floors. The lobby, which once took reservations for heads of states the world over, is quiet on sleepy winter afternoons. Glass cases hold artifacts from the hotel’s finer days: wine lists, glassware, menus and bills are the detritus of a golden age.
Terror at Pera Palas
The Pera Palas remains perched above the Golden Horn with a spectacular view of the shoreline below. The grand entrance, so often pictured in history books, is on Meşrutiyet Caddesi. Just down the street is the British Consulate, where a car bombing in November 2003 resulted in the murder of the Consular General, among many others. This was not the first time terror, aimed at a British diplomat, lapped at the doors of Pera Palas.
In March 1941, at exactly 9:35 p.m., an explosive hidden inside a guest’s bag detonated in the lobby killing six and injuring 19. The target was a British Ambassador who had traveled to Istanbul to discuss Turkey’s role in World War II. The hotel sustained extensive damage: the force of the bomb blew out windows and doors inside the hotel and throughout Tepebaşı. Cracks caused by the explosion are still visible in the marble walls of the lobby.
Depending on sources cited, the hotel may also have been the location of a political assassination of an Azerbaijani diplomat in 1921. If indeed the crime was carried out at the Pera Palas, the story continues that an errant shot struck a man sitting in a chaise in the bar, scattering all of the patrons who left, quite naturally, without remembering to pay. The bartender was put out of business.
The Ghost of Agatha Christie
Despite all assurances to the contrary by hotel staff, the Pera Palas is surely haunted. The sheer number of famous guests alone would suggest a brisk trade in the ghost business, but the hotel has only one confirmed other-worldly stowaway.
It was during Agatha Christie’s visits to the hotel between 1926 and 1932 that she was inspired to write her famous novel “The Murder on the Orient Express”. A mystery far more compelling for local ghost hunters, however, is the 11-day period during Christie’s life when the writer disappeared without a trace, only to return with no recollection of the events or no desire to speak of them. After her death, a Hollywood production company contacted a psychic to finally put to the question to rest.
On March 7, 1979, a séance was conducted in Christie’s former room, No. 411. According to reports, Christie’s spirit communicated to the psychic the location of an old key, hidden in the floor boards near the door of her room. The key, found exactly where the psychic had described, was to have been used as a talisman during a second séance when experts hoped to locate Christie’s diary, thought to contain the answer to the writer’s missing days. This second séance never occurred, though, and the key remains hidden in a bank vault under the guard of hotel proprietors who say that “new attempts (to contact Christie) shall be made when the time is ripe for it.”
Seeds of the Republic
During the Allied Forces occupation of Istanbul between 1920 and 1923, while his mother was kept under observation in his home in Akaretler, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk often chose to stay at the Pera Palas. He met with colleagues in his first-floor room, No. 101, where they evaluated daily the country’s dilemma. Hotel historians say that “the seeds of the Republic of Turkey were planted there.”
In the salon rooms, Atatürk faced Allied Forces Commander in Chief Gen. Harrington. The story goes that Atatürk refused the general’s invitation, saying, “Tell them it is our custom for the host to do the inviting.” If Harrington removed his troops from Turkey, only then would he be free to extend the courtesy.
Today, Atatürk’s room is preserved as an appointment-only museum. The space has been left virtually untouched since the leader’s days in residence, off and on between the years 1915 and 1937. Some 32 items in the room are personal effects acquired from Rıdvan Gürari, who was employed as a member of Atatürk’s security team for 10 years. Among these items are: military field goggles, reading glasses, a toothbrush, tooth powder, a fork and knife, tea and coffee cups, spurs, monogrammed underwear, hats, pajamas and slippers. A bedspread that was presented by Atatürk’s adopted daughter, Ülkü, still rests on his bed. A display case also holds a letter in French by the Greek President Elefterios Venizelos written in 1934 nominating Atatürk as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Perhaps the most shiver-inducing piece is a silk tapestry which was presented to Atatürk in 1929 during a state visit by an Indian Maharajah. It features a clock stopped at the time of 09:07 surrounded by 11 elephants and 10 candles. Followers say the tapestry foretold the exact time and date of Atatürk’s death, which occurred nine years later at 09:05 on November 10, 1938. (Believers say, the tapestry clock indicates the time of his true death since the brain continues to function for two minutes after the heart stops beating.)
The Golden Years
For four decades, Cevat Bayındır has made his living at the Pera Palas. He started working as a reception assistant and is now head of public relations. Staffers routinely defer to his expertise in all-things-Pera.
“I’ve worked here without interruption since 1964,” he says. “We’ve had many very important people stay here. I’ve enjoyed in every small way helping them somehow.”
His favorites are film star Jackie Chan and former American first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Her Pera Palas adventure is detailed in a book he helped write about the history of the hotel. Apparently, Mrs. Onassis was beset by eager news reporters upon her arrival in the summer of 1983. With the help of an sympathetic manager, she was able to slip out the back fire escape and tour the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus until her furtive return, via the same back door, in the evening.
It is clear that Bayındır is enchanted with his former guest, and perhaps with all of the former guests of this, his second home. He is a man of few words when it comes to his feelings for the Pera Palas.
“I love the hotel,” he says simply. He is guardian over the story of her birth and her prime. He came to her in their middle age. Now, they are sharing their golden years, grateful to have memories that last a lifetime.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Books Section Editor -- Time Out Magazine
Feature and all reviews by Aubree Galvin (Caunter)
Originally appeared in Time Out Istanbul in October 2004
Originally appeared in Time Out Istanbul in October 2004
Books Section Editor at Time Out Istanbul
Originally appeared in Time Out Istanbul in December 2004
Feature and book reviews all by Aubree Galvin (Caunter)
Saturday, January 02, 2010
WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY STUDENT EARNS TOP FIELD HOCKEY HONORS
Athlete Named Among Top 15 Players in Ohio
HUDSON, Ohio – Western Reserve Academy student Emily Clegg was named an All-Ohio field hockey player for 2009 by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The 17-year-old varsity Pioneer player was also selected as this year’s Most Valuable Player by the Northeastern Ohio Field Hockey League and was awarded the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Best of the Best Award for the second year in a row.
Clegg, who was recruited by Division I schools, plans to play field hockey in the Ivy League when she graduates from Reserve next year. “My favorite thing about playing field hockey is that it is not just a game that requires athletic ability but a game which requires a lot of thinking. This makes it both a challenging and fun sport,” she says.
Clegg also plays for a club team based in Columbus, Ohio, for which she travels to several tournaments a year. For the past six years she has participated in the USA Field Hockey Future Program and was selected for the U14, U16 and U19 National Future teams.
Clegg began playing field hockey in the seventh grade at Hudson Middle School. A club soccer player, Clegg at first didn’t have any interest in field hockey. But a try-out for the school team led to a lifelong passion. “Honestly, I never thought I would end up playing field hockey in high school, but I fell in love with the game,” she says.
Reserve’s field hockey coach Marie Fiedler has coached Clegg for four years, beginning freshman year when she played varsity. She says it was clear right away that Clegg was “a natural” who “quickly translated previous soccer experience into an awareness of field sense.”
Voted the Reserve team’s Most Valuable Player this year, Clegg “can beat most opponents to the ball and move quickly out of their space with great agility,” says Fiedler. More importantly, Clegg was team MVP “because she controlled the mid-field, initiating most attacks by finding holes in the opposition’s defense and placing the ball in a position so that the forwards could mount a swift attack.”
This year the Pioneers faced down early uncertainty – with only four returning players – to post a winning season. Clegg, one of three captains, provided experience to a young, inexperienced team. Members quickly gelled to form a formidable squad.
“The key to our field hockey team’s success this year was the special bond we had as a team on and off the field. We truly were each other’s best friends. This created a good chemistry on the field and allowed each of us to play our best,” says Clegg.
Athlete Named Among Top 15 Players in Ohio
HUDSON, Ohio – Western Reserve Academy student Emily Clegg was named an All-Ohio field hockey player for 2009 by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The 17-year-old varsity Pioneer player was also selected as this year’s Most Valuable Player by the Northeastern Ohio Field Hockey League and was awarded the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Best of the Best Award for the second year in a row.
Clegg, who was recruited by Division I schools, plans to play field hockey in the Ivy League when she graduates from Reserve next year. “My favorite thing about playing field hockey is that it is not just a game that requires athletic ability but a game which requires a lot of thinking. This makes it both a challenging and fun sport,” she says.
Clegg also plays for a club team based in Columbus, Ohio, for which she travels to several tournaments a year. For the past six years she has participated in the USA Field Hockey Future Program and was selected for the U14, U16 and U19 National Future teams.
Clegg began playing field hockey in the seventh grade at Hudson Middle School. A club soccer player, Clegg at first didn’t have any interest in field hockey. But a try-out for the school team led to a lifelong passion. “Honestly, I never thought I would end up playing field hockey in high school, but I fell in love with the game,” she says.
Reserve’s field hockey coach Marie Fiedler has coached Clegg for four years, beginning freshman year when she played varsity. She says it was clear right away that Clegg was “a natural” who “quickly translated previous soccer experience into an awareness of field sense.”
Voted the Reserve team’s Most Valuable Player this year, Clegg “can beat most opponents to the ball and move quickly out of their space with great agility,” says Fiedler. More importantly, Clegg was team MVP “because she controlled the mid-field, initiating most attacks by finding holes in the opposition’s defense and placing the ball in a position so that the forwards could mount a swift attack.”
This year the Pioneers faced down early uncertainty – with only four returning players – to post a winning season. Clegg, one of three captains, provided experience to a young, inexperienced team. Members quickly gelled to form a formidable squad.
“The key to our field hockey team’s success this year was the special bond we had as a team on and off the field. We truly were each other’s best friends. This created a good chemistry on the field and allowed each of us to play our best,” says Clegg.
Will Speck ’88: Alumni Spotlight
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
It’s a common fantasy: you’re walking down the red carpet, parting a sea of A-list stars, at the Academy Awards. But, for one Reserve graduate, that dream became a reality.
Will Speck ’88 was nominated for an Oscar in 1999 for the short film Culture starring Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Speck co-wrote and co-directed the piece, which was nominated for the Best Live-Action Short Film award.
Speck, now a well-known Hollywood director, says the experience was enlightening. “It was really great, but odd also, because it was a short film so you kind of felt like a sophomore at senior prom.” Though, the then-newcomer did have a chance to rub elbows with the industry’s elite, even if they didn’t know who he was. “The best part was the nominee lunch, where I sat between Steven Spielberg and Gwyneth Paltrow, who had no idea why I was there.”
Speck has since gone on to co-direct, with his business partner Josh Gordon, hundreds of projects, including award-winning commercials and Hollywood films. He is currently in production on The Baster starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman about a 40-year-old woman’s unconventional attempts to become pregnant. The movie began shooting in early April and is due for release in 2010.
It is not the first major studio comedy for the duo. In 2007, the team of Speck/Gordon directed the ice skating movie Blades of Glory for Dreamworks/MTV Films. The film stars Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, and was produced by Ben Stiller, who the team is planning to work with on another project.
“It was an incredible first experience,” says Speck. “I was always a huge Will Ferrell fan and it was great getting to work with him day in and day out.”
Between larger projects, Speck and Gordon have directed hundreds of commercials, which were short-listed at the Cannes Film Festival for three consecutive years from 2003 to 2005. Two campaigns are in the permanent collection of Excellence in Advertising in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The team also has won numerous awards in the United States and Europe for clients like Levi’s, Coke, Pepsi, Visa, Samsung and Geico, including creating the Cavemen and Gecko campaigns. The Cavemen commercials became so popular that Speck sold the idea to ABC as a television series, which the Speck/Gordon team directed and executive produced.
Speck enjoys the freedom afforded by the commercial format. “It’s great to take on smaller projects. Movies take so long to come together so it’s a great learning curve in the interim,” he says. “I also get to work with amazing crews and try all new genres.”
Speck began his career just after graduating from Reserve. “I spent a winter internship working for a producer and after that I knew that I wanted to work in film,” he says. Speck then began attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts film program, where he met Gordon. Together, they wrote and directed their senior thesis film Idyllwild which was a finalist for the 1995 Student Academy Award.
Following their nomination for the Oscar for Culture, the two joined the Directors Guild of America as a directing team through uber-producers Ridley and Tony Scott’s RSA/USA Productions. Tony Scott, in fact, was a signature on their original application for membership in 1998-99.
These days, he is hard at work, living between New York and California for production meetings and giving direction to America’s sweetheart Jennifer Aniston. Although Hollywood is a long way from Hudson, Ohio, Speck looks back on his time at Reserve as a stepping stone to success. “I had a great experience there,” he says. He even credits some of his production habits to the school. “I still dress the same – it’s a little disturbing.”
By Aubree Galvin Caunter
It’s a common fantasy: you’re walking down the red carpet, parting a sea of A-list stars, at the Academy Awards. But, for one Reserve graduate, that dream became a reality.
Will Speck ’88 was nominated for an Oscar in 1999 for the short film Culture starring Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Speck co-wrote and co-directed the piece, which was nominated for the Best Live-Action Short Film award.
Speck, now a well-known Hollywood director, says the experience was enlightening. “It was really great, but odd also, because it was a short film so you kind of felt like a sophomore at senior prom.” Though, the then-newcomer did have a chance to rub elbows with the industry’s elite, even if they didn’t know who he was. “The best part was the nominee lunch, where I sat between Steven Spielberg and Gwyneth Paltrow, who had no idea why I was there.”
Speck has since gone on to co-direct, with his business partner Josh Gordon, hundreds of projects, including award-winning commercials and Hollywood films. He is currently in production on The Baster starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman about a 40-year-old woman’s unconventional attempts to become pregnant. The movie began shooting in early April and is due for release in 2010.
It is not the first major studio comedy for the duo. In 2007, the team of Speck/Gordon directed the ice skating movie Blades of Glory for Dreamworks/MTV Films. The film stars Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, and was produced by Ben Stiller, who the team is planning to work with on another project.
“It was an incredible first experience,” says Speck. “I was always a huge Will Ferrell fan and it was great getting to work with him day in and day out.”
Between larger projects, Speck and Gordon have directed hundreds of commercials, which were short-listed at the Cannes Film Festival for three consecutive years from 2003 to 2005. Two campaigns are in the permanent collection of Excellence in Advertising in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The team also has won numerous awards in the United States and Europe for clients like Levi’s, Coke, Pepsi, Visa, Samsung and Geico, including creating the Cavemen and Gecko campaigns. The Cavemen commercials became so popular that Speck sold the idea to ABC as a television series, which the Speck/Gordon team directed and executive produced.
Speck enjoys the freedom afforded by the commercial format. “It’s great to take on smaller projects. Movies take so long to come together so it’s a great learning curve in the interim,” he says. “I also get to work with amazing crews and try all new genres.”
Speck began his career just after graduating from Reserve. “I spent a winter internship working for a producer and after that I knew that I wanted to work in film,” he says. Speck then began attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts film program, where he met Gordon. Together, they wrote and directed their senior thesis film Idyllwild which was a finalist for the 1995 Student Academy Award.
Following their nomination for the Oscar for Culture, the two joined the Directors Guild of America as a directing team through uber-producers Ridley and Tony Scott’s RSA/USA Productions. Tony Scott, in fact, was a signature on their original application for membership in 1998-99.
These days, he is hard at work, living between New York and California for production meetings and giving direction to America’s sweetheart Jennifer Aniston. Although Hollywood is a long way from Hudson, Ohio, Speck looks back on his time at Reserve as a stepping stone to success. “I had a great experience there,” he says. He even credits some of his production habits to the school. “I still dress the same – it’s a little disturbing.”
WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY STUDENTS INTERN AT
CLEVELAND CLINIC RESEARCH LAB
Student Research Seeks to Contribute to Medicine’s “Translational Research”
HUDSON, Ohio – Three Western Reserve Academy students interned this summer at the Cleveland Clinic’s Learner Research Institute. Joseph Marmerstein of Beachwood, Ohio, Sarah Foster of Ashland, Ohio, and Oliver Curtiss of Hudson worked with renowned researcher Dr. Vincent Tuohy in his lab which is part of the Clinic. Under the guidance of Touhy and Reserve science faculty member Robert Aguilar, the students worked on research that seeks to make contributions to the practice of medicine sometimes known as “transitional research.”
“If students can see that science is alive, meaningful, and if we can immerse them in this culture, it will change them forever,” said Tuohy, an adjunct faculty member at Reserve.
This is the second year that Reserve students have interned at the clinic. The program – now dubbed the WRA Cleveland Clinic Molecular Research Internship – became formalized after last summer’s successful test year. The internship is a for-credit course designed to expose students to a hands-on research experience in a state-of-the-art National Institute of Health-funded laboratory involved in cutting-edge research on a variety of immune-related human diseases.
Currently Tuohy is working on a prophylactic vaccine that has succeeded since 2002 in keeping female mice from developing breast cancer.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to work with scientists who were working on goal-driven research,” said Foster, who was paired with a researcher investigating the breast cancer vaccine. “Seeing work like hers, which has the potential to do so much good, adds a whole new dimension to science. It is very different than simply doing projects in a classroom just for the sake of seeing how something is done.”
Each student was formally partnered with a post-doctoral researcher who supervised day-to-day work. “We were made to feel like active and integral members of the staff,” said Curtiss. The intimate research experience may have influenced Marmerstein’s future. “I had not considered a career in medicine before this internship,” he said. “However it is a huge possibility now.”
Aguilar has been a part of the science faculty at Reserve since 2006 and is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in regulatory biology with a specialization in molecular medicine through Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Clinic.
Tuohy, who was honored this year with Reserve’s Knight Fellowship, also teaches at the Lerner College of Medicine. He earned his own lab at the Clinic following an initial breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis research. His lab is receiving $1.3 million to further fund his cancer research.
Founded in 1826 and located in historic Hudson, Ohio, Western Reserve Academy is a private, mid-sized coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 to 12. Reserve draws its 385 students, attending from 24 states and 23 countries, for its fine academic, art and athletic programs, and for the school’s commitment to a set of fundamental values: excellence, integrity and compassion. Reserve’s online media gallery is available at www.wra.net.
CLEVELAND CLINIC RESEARCH LAB
Student Research Seeks to Contribute to Medicine’s “Translational Research”
HUDSON, Ohio – Three Western Reserve Academy students interned this summer at the Cleveland Clinic’s Learner Research Institute. Joseph Marmerstein of Beachwood, Ohio, Sarah Foster of Ashland, Ohio, and Oliver Curtiss of Hudson worked with renowned researcher Dr. Vincent Tuohy in his lab which is part of the Clinic. Under the guidance of Touhy and Reserve science faculty member Robert Aguilar, the students worked on research that seeks to make contributions to the practice of medicine sometimes known as “transitional research.”
“If students can see that science is alive, meaningful, and if we can immerse them in this culture, it will change them forever,” said Tuohy, an adjunct faculty member at Reserve.
This is the second year that Reserve students have interned at the clinic. The program – now dubbed the WRA Cleveland Clinic Molecular Research Internship – became formalized after last summer’s successful test year. The internship is a for-credit course designed to expose students to a hands-on research experience in a state-of-the-art National Institute of Health-funded laboratory involved in cutting-edge research on a variety of immune-related human diseases.
Currently Tuohy is working on a prophylactic vaccine that has succeeded since 2002 in keeping female mice from developing breast cancer.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to work with scientists who were working on goal-driven research,” said Foster, who was paired with a researcher investigating the breast cancer vaccine. “Seeing work like hers, which has the potential to do so much good, adds a whole new dimension to science. It is very different than simply doing projects in a classroom just for the sake of seeing how something is done.”
Each student was formally partnered with a post-doctoral researcher who supervised day-to-day work. “We were made to feel like active and integral members of the staff,” said Curtiss. The intimate research experience may have influenced Marmerstein’s future. “I had not considered a career in medicine before this internship,” he said. “However it is a huge possibility now.”
Aguilar has been a part of the science faculty at Reserve since 2006 and is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in regulatory biology with a specialization in molecular medicine through Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Clinic.
Tuohy, who was honored this year with Reserve’s Knight Fellowship, also teaches at the Lerner College of Medicine. He earned his own lab at the Clinic following an initial breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis research. His lab is receiving $1.3 million to further fund his cancer research.
Founded in 1826 and located in historic Hudson, Ohio, Western Reserve Academy is a private, mid-sized coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 to 12. Reserve draws its 385 students, attending from 24 states and 23 countries, for its fine academic, art and athletic programs, and for the school’s commitment to a set of fundamental values: excellence, integrity and compassion. Reserve’s online media gallery is available at www.wra.net.
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