Of elephants, elegance and Istanbul

An air of waitful menace hovers over traffic snarling from the airport, through industrial sprawl and on into mighty Istanbul. Here is a city that never sleeps, existing at the very axis of east and west. Melding disparate cultures, the traditional and the modern, it is a city forever on the go, from the moment you arrive.

But there could hardly be greater contrast with my arrival in the cosmopolitan designer district of Nişantaşi, where liveried doormen are lined along the marbled entrance of Vakko Hotel and Residence as if expecting royalty. 

Samil Sahin steps forwards. “Allow me, madam,” he says, white gloves whisking away suitcases. 

“Ask me for an elephant and I will ask you what colour,” he chirrups, gesturing towards a plush ivory lounge. “Coffee?” he suggests, and it appears on a silver tray with chocolates. Tar-black granules are swirling at the bottom of my tiny cup as he materialises again. “Your room?” he offers, ushering down dark, club-lit corridors to a door that opens into a 1950s-inspired cream-toned suite with a black marble kitchen and a soft-lit bedroom adjoining a terrace.

Samil is the sort of man who can whip up an espresso martini blindfolded while calculating the precise amount of time it takes to sail across the Bosphorus Strait. 

He is my butler. And he doesn’t look at all like Carlson in Downton Abbey. As the symbol of modern Turkey at Istanbul’s first fashion branded hotel, Samil is a fresh-faced lifestyle manager in an impeccable navy suit, who won’t be polishing silver below stairs. 

Instead he will be carrying a tray with dried figs and champagne flutes while planning my itinerary. There is much to do in Istanbul. 

No other city in the world straddles two continents – Europe and Asia – with the Sea of Marmara to the south and the Black Sea to the north. Unpacking this city might begin with the historic peninsula – easy walking distance from Vakko Hotel – incredible with the multi-domed Blue Mosque, the mythical Hagia Sophia and the cavernous Basilica Cistern.

From my terrace, I can see the silhouette of pencil-thin minarets piercing a pale sky, so I know that I cannot spend my entire visit to Istanbul inside this hotel. I’ve heard about the mysterious harem of the Topkapi Palace. 

And then there’s the sensory overload to be experienced in the magnificent Grand Bazaar – a one-stop shop said to be the largest covered market in the world – with more than 4000 sellers of silks, satins, spices, stones, everything human produced and nature-made. 

There are so many treasures in this city but I’m being diverted by Samil. He is talking about the French-inspired Vakko L’Atelier bistro downstairs for guests who do not choose to partake of the private ‘Chef Chez Vous’ service in their suite (with sommelier-curated wine selection chilling in the fridge). There is an expansive spa menu with marble stone massages, and traditional Ayurvedic healing, but these are riches fading to insignificance with one promise. 

Samil will unpack my suitcase.

I would change the habits of a lifetime for this service about to expose my scrumpling of t-shirts and smalls that have seen better days. 

“I might have to unpack my own unmentionables,” I hesitate. Samil is mute. What the butler sees, is unseen, as he lifts my shambolic no-names onto the bed like they are new-born kittens. Layers are folded into squares, dresses colour-coded on hangers, socks tucked into pretty rows; a signature artwork of such ephemeral beauty appears in the wardrobe.

And it’s the thin-end of the wedge. It seems almost churlish not to adopt the Vakko way of life now by taking full advantage of the in-room personal shopping service. 

Next morning, exquisite Gunay Kalmaz wafts into my room in a cloud of scented jasmine, and behind her, a rack of new clothes summoned from the Vakko luxury fashion and lifestyle store beneath the hotel on Abdi Ipekci Avenue. 

Gunay is bird-like in physique but powerfully efficient in crafting an emporium of exotic splendour. 

“Let me help,” she says, lifting size-perfect contemporary attire over my head. She buttons, zips, adjusts, enhances. This heel? That belt? Prosecco? Pistachio? 

Wardrobe service is not like fast fashion bursting at the seams with cheap items that hold no meaning. It’s a carefully curated thought-process speaking of personality, taste and opinion. The figure in the mirror is magnificent. It is me - reimagined - as race-horse owner, board member, gallerist, party-girl, poet and, yes, princess.  

Gunay has been tending to the word’s elite for the last 17 years - fashionistas sometimes take three hours to decide upon selections – so her abridged wisdom is welcome. “Not too much young,” she says. “Modern elegance,” she approves. “Lifesaver,” she affirms.

“I’ll take the lot,” I respond, heady with excitement. Then reality sets in. The thing that makes me a journalist, makes me ask the price, and the cost of these fashionable fusions comes to about $23,000. Better to choose one outfit, the diaphanous goddess with cut-out waist perhaps, about the same as my return airfare from Sydney to Istanbul?

Gunay glides out of my room with her rack restacked. Samil closes the door noiselessly behind her. “Do you think you could pack her into my suitcase?” I ask.

Vakko Hotel achieves something that all luxury hotels aspire to attain, with every detail tailored to guests made to feel special. Samil meets every challenge ‘at the drop of a hat’. Hats are important at Vakko because Turkey’s leading luxury fashion brand started in 1934 as a small millinery shop. The business transformed over decades into a cultural juggernaut with footholds in retail, media and entertainment, arts and culture, and now this first venture into hospitality with  31 residential suites in the district known as ‘Little Paris’. 

Time to pause. I know I should be peeling back the layers of the holy places where gravitas gathers in prayers accumulated over centuries. 

If I could choose just one of the 3000 mosques built in this city, one of the lesser known Islamic wonders without the crowds, it might be the 16th century Ottoman imperial Sehzade Mosque commissioned by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in memory of his eldest son. This is a breathtakingly beautiful blend of influences designed by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.

Winding through the bustling boulevard of Taksim Square, the colossal Dolmabahçe Palace is a jaw-dropping specimen of Ottoman excess on the Bosphorus, the largest palace in Turkey. It was inhabited by six sultans from 1856 until the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924 and contains an astonishing 285 rooms, 44 halls, 68 bathrooms and four Turkish baths. The world’s largest collection of French Baccarat crystal chandeliers shine through the private residence of the sultan with his delicious harem of wives, concubines and mother. The mind boggles.

The opulence of this glorious past is on display in a long history of lavish living but Istanbul is strikingly modern as well. Take Galataport, a shiny shopping centre further along the waterfront, where the Renzo Piano-designed contemporary art museum Istanbul Modern needs no introduction.

On the opposite bank, the Asian side of Istanbul, Ottoman palaces and waterfront mansions are a wonder to behold while gliding down the Bosphorus on a boat. A bewildering variety of luxury trips are on offer here but, without a private yacht, an authentic local perspective can easily be gained by taking a 15-minute ferry from Eminonu terminal in Europe to the Kadikoy district in Asia. 

The knockout views of the medieval Suleymaniye Mosque and the fairy-tale Galata Tower won’t be easily forgotten but it is Samil who lingers longest in memory. He is standing beside my suitcase. I am leaving for the airport. 

“I have this gift for you,” he says, sweeping something ceremoniously from behind his back. It’s a mystifying fluffy ball of joy. 

“It’s an elephant,” he says. “They are not so easy to find in Istanbul.”

Vakko Hotel and Residence: Rates in a Premiere Suite start from €750 and include butler/wardrobe service (and shoe polishing service).