Friday night at the Hilton and a dance performance

We returned to the apartment and Darius and I enjoyed some Ayran which is the local yogurt drink. Fariba had some of her Grey Goose and Troy had some of the ubiquitous local beer, called Efes. We then walked a short distance and caught a cab to our dinner reservation at Dragon, a Chinese restaurant located at the Hilton Istanbul. This was our first encounter with fairly heavy security. The guard at the gate had a rolling device that would stop a car with spikes. We stopped and he checked underneath our car with mirrors and checked the trunk and waved us through. We got out and went through metal detectors and a bag screen to get into the hotel.
The hotel is an example of the 1950's vision of modern opulence in a time when empires still commanded respect and countries had rulers like "Shahs" and places like Turkey were coming into an era where there was a desire to be westernized. The hotel architecture, though dated to a modernistic style for its 1954 opening, has also been updated and refreshed and is truly a luxurious experience for its guests. There is a Japanese garden courtyard. There is a large long balcony for enjoying nargile and tea and overlooking the city. There is another long bar and balcony for enjoying alcoholic beverages and overlooking the city. There are meticulously landscaped grounds with an incredible view of the Bosphorous. There is a huge swimming pool with a view of the surrounding upscale neighborhood.
Dragon is an outdoor Chinese restaurant where soft breezes flow underneath large umbrellas and the sprawl of Istanbul beckons below. The food is outrageously overpriced and yet, after a couple of hours relaxing, it seemed worth it.
The Hilton had a great historical display in its lobby that traced its construction and tied it in to the westernization of Turkey. We saw Chinese businessmen and regular wealthy folks on vacation.
We walked from the Hilton to our next destination, the Harbiye Muhsin Ertugrul Stage to see the Nederlands Dans Theater that is in town for a two night performance. This was in an ultra modern space seen in the accompanying pictures. The performance was modern and enjoyable. The crowd was young and more bohemian than the crowd we saw at the classical music performance.