Review: Pera Palace Hotel Istanbul review

Pera Palace is to Istanbul what The Savoy is to London – a grande dame of the Belle Epoque, favoured haunt of old Hollywood, royals and literati whose high heels and polished correspondents have clicked, clacked and Charlestoned across its chequerboard marble floors ever since it opened in 1895. Queen Elizabeth II, Greta Garbo, Jackie Onassis and Mata Hari have all stayed, along with various emperors, kings, and shahs – and, it goes without saying, Ernest Hemingway. Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express in Room 411 – and indeed the hotel was built to accommodate passengers of the iconic train at the end of their journey. Rooms are trad, polished, and much-beswagged, with views of the Golden Horn or of Pera, once known as Little Europe. Afternoon tea in the sugar-pink patisserie is more English than the Savoy itself.