HISTORIC PERA PALACE TO REOPEN

IT WAS THE LAST STOP ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, A GRAND HOTEL WITH ISTANBUL'S FIRST ELECTRIC ELEVATOR WHERE ARTISTS AND ARISTOCRATS SIPPED CHAMPAGNE BENEATH CHANDELIERS AS THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE DISSOLVED AND THE WORLD DRIFTED TOWARD TO WAR. MATA HARI, ACCUSED OF SPYING AND EXECUTED IN FRANCE IN 1917, STAYED AT THE PERA PALACE HOTEL. AGATHA CHRISTIE IS SAID TO HAVE CRAFTED 'MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS' IN ROOM 411. THEN, LIKE THE EMPIRE IT OUTLIVED, THE HOTEL SLID INTO DECAY. ON 1.SEPTEMBER, THE STATE-OWNED PERA PALACE WILL REOPEN AFTER A TWO-YEAR RESTORATION THAT COST OVER $30 MILLION, SEEKING TO CAPTURE THE LOST SPARKLE OF WHAT WAS ONE OF ISTANBUL'S MOST PROMINENT LANDMARKS. IT IS NO LONGER THE LONE LUXURY HOTEL ON THE HILL ABOVE THE GOLDEN HORN INLET. THE FORMER OTTOMAN CAPITAL TEEMS WITH HIGH-END ACCOMMODATION, SOME IN RESTORED IMPERIAL MANSIONS ALONG THE BOSPORUS STRAIT THAT DIVIDED THE ASIAN AND EUROPEAN CONTINENTS. PINAR KARTAL TIMER, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE PERA PALACE, BELIEVES THAT THE FABLED GUESTS OF THE PAST WILL BESTOW NEW GLORY ON THE HOTEL, WHICH HELD ITS OPENING BALL IN 1895. THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THE PERA PALACE WAS COMPAGNIE INTERNATIONALE DES WAGONS-LITS, WHICH OPERATED THE ORIENT EXPRESS LUXURY TRAIN LINE. A TURKISH CONGLOMERATE, THE BESIKTAS GROUP, NOW MANAGES THE HOTEL. IT HAS A MODERN SPA AND AN INDOOR POOL, AS WELL AS NEW ELEVATORS TO SUPPLEMENT THE ORIGINAL WOOD AND CAST IRON ONE. THE BUILDING IS A MIX OF STYLES DISTINCTIVE TO THE 19th CENTURY ISTANBUL, NEO-CLASSICAL, ART NOUVEAU AND ORIENTAL. ROOMS HAVE HANDWOVEN CARPETS AND ANTIQUE FURNITURE MIXED WITH THE NEW. SIXTEEN ARE SUITES NAMES AFTER GUESTS INCLUDING BRITAIN'S KING EDWARD VIII AND AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH I. BASIC ROOM RATES START AT $240, INCLUDING TAX AND BREAKFAST, BUT GO HIGHER IN PEAK SEASON. NOBODY WILL SLEEP IN ROOM 101. MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK, A FORMER ARMY OFFICER WHO FOUNDED TURKEY IN 1923, ONCE USED IT AS A BASE. THE ROOM WILL HOUSE A MUSEUM OF ITEMS BELONGING TO ATATURK, INCLUDING HATS, SLIPPERS AND DIGNITARIES' GIFTS.