This is a gallery on my travels in Istanbul. Please keep coming back as I have not finished posting commentary. For any question about the place, please feel free to reach out to me.
The new Istanbul airport is far away but has a metro station a 5 minute walk away. The luxury and the Muslim, oriental sense of aesthetics is palpable.
The Blue Mosque. Anything but blue.
Hagia Sophia, could not get in as I instead did other stuff. Entering was then free, a year later it became $30.
One of my favourite things to do was just walking in the endless alleys, this one in Beyoglu.
This city is famous for its cats. They're everywhere.
Wanted to try this ever since I watched Narnia to see if it was that good enough to convince someone to turn on their siblings. Will have to wait as I want my first impression to be in Turkey. If you've tried it, let me know how good it is please.
I fell partly for a scam as I was visiting the Grand Bazaar. Strolling looking for the kinds of rugs they had in the Bazaar, I saw beautiful Turkish, Caucasian and Persian rugs, both industrially and handmade. Looking at one, a storeowner shouted at me to come over. He told me his best customers were from Mexico and that he had a perfect $3000 USD rug to sell to me while on the back of the store. After strong deliberation and unfolding ten rugs he looked at me with puppy eyes after I had told him as many times I was not buying anything that day.
They know who gives them good business. I was told by several sellers there that some of their best buyers are Mexicans. Even if merchants in these parts of the world are the world's best and funniest bullshitters, I was shown a framed certificate given as a token of friendship that was expedited by the Mexican Embassy.
Istanbul has to be the perfect romantic town. Forget Rome or Venice.
People who know me know I love 007's series of films. This features in Skyfall as the building where James exits from at the beginning of the film