“I  love this flat,”  we kept saying to each other each time we returned to our flat.  We were a block from the huge center square  Piazza del Signoria, where each day we walked past the replica of Michelangelo’s “David”  in front of the Palazzo Vecchio and smoothed our shoes over the spot where  the anti-Art Savonarola  was burned at the stake  in 1497.

In our living room we lounged on a huge red futon and comfy armchair.  A large table, covered with our books and papers stretched out under the crank mullioned windows across the room..  Antique tables and armoires were stuffed with supplies, and the walls were decorated with tasteful art, modern abstract to prints of Greek classical figures.  The galley kitchen was the start of a long hallway that led to an old, thick wooden door with an enormous switch lock that clicked five times whenever we turned the key.  We’d seen a similar lock at the Bargello Museum nearby.  Our bedrooms, decorated with Ikea type furniture and wall units were in the back.  Several times we did our laundry in the very modern little washer set discreetly off in a closet like room, and hung our clothes on the racks provided.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge, the main thoroughfare to the Oltrarno, the other side of the Arno, was two blocks away.  We crossed it many times, but also walked along the river to the less crowded bridges just east and west of it

We spent one quarter of what it would have cost for a standard hotel room, and the apartment came with so many perks

‘‘No, no,’’ I insisted. ‘‘Hotel barges are very different from river cruises.’’ I told her that they were just as luxurious, but had
far fewer passengers, averaging only eight to 10, while river cruises typically carry more than 100, and sometimes as many as
200.

‘‘I like hotel barges because of the tranquility they offer,’’ I said.

‘‘They usually travel on canals and can get into areas where larger boats cannot go. You see not only the remote countryside, but also visit small cities, castles,
villas, and wineries. In fact, you vacation the way royalty did several centuries ago.’’

Europe has had a canal system since the 12th century and until the 20th century it was the chief route for transporting cargo. Now most barges are recreational.

By the end of the week, we had walked through Mantua with its layers of Byzantine, Medieval, and Renaissance buildings; Ferrara with its 15th century frescoes at

Schifanoi Palace, and Castello Estense which dominates the town sqaure.  After the fishing town of Chiogga, we headed north up the Venice Lagoon and the Lido to

St. Mark’s Square where we began exploring art at the city’s many museums and churches.    Read more at http://www.emilieharting.com/articles/Po-Valley.pdf

The following article appears in Robb Report’s “Grand Openings” issue, January, 2011.

by Emilie C. Harting

Pera Palace, built in 1894 as a luxury hotel for travelers at the end point of the Orient Express, has reopened after a two and one half year, $29 million renovation. The hotel had fallen into disrepair in the last few decades.  

Every pipe and cable in the lavish Neoclassic, Oriental, Art Nouveau structure has been replaced. A new glass roof has been added to the high central dome room.  Marble has been refurbished and gold leaf decorations have been meticulously repainted by artists. A vintage bird cage wood and iron elevator now rises up and down without a sound.

Guests now relax in a modern spa, hamam (Turkish bath), swimming pool, and  bar.   German Chef  Max Thomae’s  restaurant Agatha, one of four eating places, serves a blend of Turkish, Italian, and French cuisine.  The 115 rooms, including six suites, have spacious bathrooms, antique furniture, and Oushak carpets.

Agatha Christie’s room, 411, can be rented for $600.  It’s rumored that she wrote Murder on the Orient Express here.  Ernest Hemingway, Jackie Onassis, Alfred Hitchcock, and a long list of  actresses, artists, kings, queens, and czars have also been guests.

Located in the Beyoglu section, the hotel has sweeping views of Istanbul’s historic sites, and is within walking distance of the Pera Museum, Galata Tower, Istanbul’s wide pedestrian street Istiklal, and many small streets with artisan’s shops and restaurants.  www.perapalace.com

October 15, 2010
In our October cover story, Pico Iyer writes of the wonders of Istanbul, the “City of the Future.” Writer Emilie Harting just returned from a visit herself, and delves deeper into the neighborhood of Beyoglu.

Photo: Tram in Istiklal Avenue”Stay in Beyoglu,” advised my Turkish friend Haldun when I was planning a trip to Istanbul, his hometown. The historic district quiets down at night. In Beyoglu you’ll be in the midst of restaurants, cafes, and shops.”

Haldun’s advice was perfect. For ten days we stayed in Beyoglu, which is in the center of the European side of the city, north of the Golden Horn, the waterway that separates the “old” from the “new” parts of European Istanbul (see a clickable map of the city here). Quickly, we learned that the above ground metro goes back and forth to the “Old City,” where top sites like the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Hippodrome, and the Grand Bazaar are clustered together. But with all that was happening in the neighborhood, we found plenty of time to explore.

In the late 1800s, Beyoglu was the city’s fashionable embassy neighborhood. It then fell into a decline, and is now emerging as Istanbul’s Soho (the New York version, that is). The wide pedestrian street Istiklal Caddesi runs southwest to Tune and is best explored by walking, entering churchyards, and noting the consulates with their spacious fenced-in grounds; it’s also fun to take the historic tram that runs up and down the street’s center. Chain stores are gradually moving in along the street, so many of the independent artisans, cutting-edge design shops, restaurants, and cafes are moving south. Some of the best fish restaurants are just north in a warren of alleys branching off to the northwest across from the Swedish Consulate. The fish market and jewelry markets are to the east, and can be reached via small streets.

Photo: Beyoglu, Cat in bookstoreHere’s a way to explore the new, hip Beyoglu. Go south on Kumbaraci Street near the Russian Consulate. Peek into the first floor of artisans’ quarters in centuries-old homes, and then wind back up to Istiklal Caddesi on small streets. Then walk south starting at Postacilar Sokak and down to Tomtom Kaptan Sokak, passing some of the oldest houses in the city. Italian and French families came here to settle after the Crusades. Be sure to stroll on Yeni Carsi Caddesi to check out the many new restaurants and cafes opening up. Find the “Algerian Street of Desire,” Cezayir Sokak, a steep, winding alley of nightclubs and shops east of Yeni Caddesi.

There’s a lot more to see if you have time, like the Museum of the Whirling Dervishes, being renovated and set to reopen in 2011; the French Cultural Institute; many small mosques and churches; and the Pera Museum, which happens to be next to the Istanbul Culinary Institute and its excellent restaurant Enstitü, noted for outstanding contemporary food with seasonal ingredients and cooking classes for travelers. Wandering around, you begin to feel attuned to the neighborhood: the lines of the architecture, the buzz of conversations in outdoor cafes, and the energy of shoppers and residents as they walk about.

And of course you must eat: Try Haci Abdullah, a centuries-old restaurant with an Ottoman-Turkish kitchen just off Istiklal Caddesi. Mikla is situated at the top of the Marmara Pera Hotel, and offers Mediterrean cuisine created by the talented young chef Mehmet Gurs. Asitane is just a short taxi ride outside the city, near the Chora Church; it’s known for its classical Ottoman recipes. Refik, an old fashioned meyhane (Turkish tavern), is popular with journalists (and has the best eggplant appetizer in Turkey, I swear). And Max Thomae, the award-winning German chef at Agatha (as in Christie), serves up tastes of France, Venice, and Istanbul at the Pera Palace Hotel, which has been recently restored to its Orient Express-era opulence.

Photos: Top, Riding the streetcar along Istiklal Caddesi in Beyoglu. Bottom, A cat lounges on a bookstore’s offerings in Beyoglu. David Yoder/ NGS for the October issue of National Geographic Traveler. See more of Yoder’s photos in our online gallery.

Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s presence lives on at the Whitehall Inn in Camden, Maine.  In 2011 it will be one hundred years since the waitress recited her famous poem “Renascence” before enraptured guests in the dining room.  A New Yorker with connections at Vassar College put Edna on the road to a scholarship and an illustrious writing career.  Eleven years after her performance in the dining room, she won a Pulitzer Prize.  She died in 1950 in Austerlitz, New York.

The Edna St. Vincent Millay Room is just off the front entrance.  Many stop by to look at the photographs, handwritten copies of her poems, and  the scrapbooks of Millay memorabilia, and are pulled in by atmosphere.  The piano has a book of music set up, and often guests slide into the set and begin to play.

The Whitehall is is old Maine, with expansive porches for reading, reproductions of nineteenth century wallpaper, and rolling lawns with gardens.  The dining room serves an eclectic menu of traditional American and international cuisine.  On a recent impromptu visit we got the only room left because the U.S. Treasury Department was having their annual conference.  The next day a wedding party arrived, and were well taken care of by the innkeepers.

Though Edna no longer recites here, guests can experience the “three long mountains and a wood” and the “three mountains of a bay,” lines from “Renascence.”  The trails of Mount Battie, Penobscot Bay, and the town of Camden, arguably the prettiest town in Maine are within walking distance.  Guests can walk to the Shakespeare performances at the Bok Amphitheater or the Opera House, or drive a few miles to concerts in surrounding towns.   www.whitehall-inn.com

Want to know how immigrants fared when they came through the river in the 1900s?  Read Andrea Barrett’s  Ship Fever.

I recently took the “Crossroads of Civilization Tour,” which started in Istanbul, where we spent the first four days visiting such major sites as the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, and took a boat trip on the Bosphorus.  We then traveled to such ancient cities as Troy, Ephesus, and Pergamum, and spent three nights in Cappadocia, the area of cave-churches, before flying back to Istanbul.  Many places had a overlay of Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Christian influences. 

Modern Turkey is a combination of European, Middle Eastern, and Asian cultures.  In fact, Istanbul, one of the world’s most magnificant cities, is on two continents.  The Bosphorus separates the European and Asian side.  

We stayed in Istanbul for a week on our own after the tour of Western Turkey, and loved it!  Istanbul has lots of excellent, small restaurants, easy to navigate public transportation by tram and boat, and many fascinating streets and alleys to explore.

The double decker, hop-on-and-off Turibus is one of the best ways to get a sense of the city’s grand layout. From seats on the open second floor you look down to wide tree-lined avenues graced with fountains, sculptures, and squares, many of the older ones with Italian or French influences. It takes a route east and west from the Zocalo, the main square and center of the historic district, passes through the Zona Rosa and Polanco–the newer hotel, restaurant, and financial districts–and begins circling back at Chapultepec Park with its museums and lakes. On its return, the bus dips south into Condesa, a newer Art Deco neighborhood with many galleries and cafés. Continue reading the article at www.emilieharting.com