24. Still in Istanbul - 1970

Yücel Hostel about 1970

Ottoman Luxury Hotel Courtyard

Staying at the Yücel Hostel was a treat.  It was a stop in Istanbul along the Hippie Trail.  It was across the street from the Aya Sophia Mosque and around the corner of Yenner's and the Pudding Shop.  Yenners was a small restaurant that had gone to seed and was only patronized by hippies n the road or staying in the area.  It was an information exchange place where you could find where to go in any country and leave messages for your friends and read messages from your traveling friends all on notes attached to a hanging rope by clothespins.  Remember, internet did not exist in those days.  The Pudding shop was much the same, except it was cleaner and had a larger customer base covering all the traveling social castes.  Here, along with many types of scam artists and more people selling  hashish were undercover cops looking to find buyers they would either jail or blackmail.  The saving grace was that you could always get an inexpensive good and tasty meal.  Also, there was the rich almost black chocolate pudding that was talked about all along the Hippie Trail.  The backpackers who did not have any money spent their nights in a tent on top of the roof of the Gulhane Hostel.  Those with a little money stayed at the Yücel Hostel.  Very little money was needed.  In the year 2005, The Yücel Hostel was redone and became an expensive luxury boutique hotel named The Ottoman Luxury Hotel.  Above is a photo of the courtyard redesigned for the new hotel.  During  the 60's the courtyard also existed but was mostly all concrete walls with brick decks.  When you walked out of the back lobby, you were on the top deck.  This deck usually had a few people sitting around at tables reading and making plans.  The lower deck was much busier.  Across the common area was a small building with a few tables and chairs crowded inside on the right as you went in.  On the left they had a small glass food counter that held various candies for sell along with fresh fruit, cheese, and bread.  The young attendant was stationed at a small table on the immediate left as you went through the door.  On both sides of the door were large windows.  The window by the attendant was always left open to let out the smoke that he produced while using a hotplate to fry the worlds best tasting omelets.  Because of the smoke produced in the small room, most of us ordered through the window and ate at tables in the courtyard.  On the left of this building was a small L shaped room that was opened as a small lounge where all the guests went to socialize during the cold rainy season.  This was mostly in the evening when one got tired of the scene at Yenners or the Pudding Shop.

Yeni Cami (The New Mosque)

The hostel was located ideally.  It was in the old district of Istanbul (the Sultan Ahmet district).  When you walked out the front door and crossed the street you were at the beautiful Aya Sophia mosque.  Now a museum with both a strong early christian and islamic heritage.  Turn left and walk five minutes through the Gulhane Park you came to the Topkapi Palace.  If you turned right and walked up the street for five minutes past Yenner's and the Pudding Shop you arrived at the covered Grand Bazaar, a place where you could spend weeks without seeing it all and it would be worth every minute spent there.  When you came back out and continued up the street for a few minutes you came to the famous Blue Mosque.  Turn right coming out of the Yücel and then take your next right and walk down the hill you will come my favorite, The Yeni Cami (The New Mosque) and the famous covered Spice Market on the mosque grounds.

The Yücel Hostel was open 24 hours a day and was where I stayed whenever visiting Istanbul.  One would find a veritable treasure of different types of characters. The hostel was host to a wide diversity of guests from all over the world.  You could possibly meet a young group of Germans there for a couple of weeks.  You could meet an elderly group or couple there to see the sights or a young french girl that just wanted to be alone and read.  Another time it was a group of elderly and young nuns there to see all the christian sights.  One time I met a young Israeli woman that was entertaining us with her knife skills.  We later found out that she learned those skills while training in the Israeli army and she was visiting Istanbul while on leave.  Another time we met a young (American/Australian) couple traveling from Australia on an extended honeymoon.  One time there was a young naive Brit who was suffering from a case of diarrhea and would take any advice that he could get.  People were telling him to eat plenty of soft juicy fresh fruit like peaches, figs, grapes, and star fruits.  This went on for about four days until he finally realized that they were stringing him along.  On my last visit to Yücel's I met a person who had left the investment world and was writing a novel while on his travels.  He was into his second month in Istanbul because he had "writers bloc".  I think it was a case of too many of the wrong chemicals.  He was attempting to be the first person to write a novel with no characters!

Büyükada Surreys

On this last trip through Istanbul I met an older American man at Yücel's that was giving his sixteen year old daughter the trip of a lifetime after graduating from high school.  They had started the Hippie Trail in India and were traveling east back to London.  Daddy was a true Dad and no men got close to her, and she was having so much fun I do not think she noticed that the young ones flirted with her only up to a line that the father allowed.  He was ever present.  The girls father, to  provide company for his daughter, treated a small group of us to a day on the island of Büyükada in the Princes Islands.  Of course, he came along too!  After a short ferry ride, we got off the ferry and he bought us lunch at the kiosks by the landing.  The first one  offered a regular or a heavy dark bock beer on tap.  The next attached kiosk had nothing but scrumptious fresh oysters on a stick that were deep fried right there.  Then we spent the day riding all over the island in a light blue surrey with fringe on the top.  The Groom spoke English  and gave us a fantastic tour of the whole island.

The next week, I met a another traveler that had a Volkswagen van and was heading east.  I and four others decided to join him and share in the gas money.  I was on the road again and headed towards home.