A couple of Days in the Life: Istanbul

Sitting on the patio of the Istanbul modern museum, with expansive views over the confluence the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn. To one direction, the picturesque bridge that connects Asia and Europe, while to the other a veritable sea of minarets guard the old city, with various architectural gems from different periods of Byzantine and Ottoman rule. Just about perfect.

Old city of Istanbul, seen from Galata tower

Mu enjoying topkapi palace

What a stunning city, a great mix of cultures, eras and people. We havegreatly enjoyed Istanbul Modern (http://www.istanbulmodern.org/en), with excellent photography, a huge exhibit of street influenced art and some cool multimedia works and will be heading out here in a bit to a few more cool spots.

Sums up the city well, old and new all in a bunch

We arrived here 2 nights ago, after a couple of flights that took us from Amman to Istanbul, via a stop over in Cairo. Even though we never left the airport, nor would have if our layover was much longer, it still was a bit unsettling to look out across the edge of the city and think about the last week and the violence within the region that had its initial flashpoint a few miles form where i surfed the net and waited for our plane. I was not sad to have our plane take flight out of Cairo.


When we got to Turkey and navigated the lines in immigration and collected our bags to head to the light rail that capably connects the city. Our destination was the top of the 2nd oldest underground trolley in the world, in the Galata neighborhood. We had sorted out an apartment via Arbnb and are so happy we did, it was cozy, very nice and in the coolest part of the city that we have seen yet. Little cobblestone streets, tucked with markets and galleries and bars/cafes. Very charming, be it midnight or 9 am.

Galata neighborhood

In a very happy coincidence, Mu's colleague/boss from Dechert was in the city as well traveling with his girlfriend, so we huffed it over to meet Matt and Kathy on a rooftop bar. They are doing great, really enjoying Turkey as well, and we had a perfect evening with the city glittering below us. It was great to see friends from back home, always a nice reference point to our adventuress. Hoping to see them one more time in the next day or two in Cappadoccia.

Then, we had an action packed day of site seeing, my personal favorite was a massive underground cistern. The Byzantine water system brought water from 19k away, and the space was 70m by 140m. The marble columns are in basically the same pristine shape as they were 1500 years ago.

Basilica cistern

Beyond that, the Ottomans' palace was cool, the Blue Mosque stunning and the Grand Bazar a fun time (i even picked up a knockoff Barca jersey for a less than $2.50). Then we headed back to our hood to walk around, stopping for a beer at one spot and then holing up in a cute cafe on our street. All in all, a pretty much perfect day (minus that one argument we had, of course).

 

Topkapi palace

Blue mosque as seen from Hagia Sophia (both are amazing and enormous)

Now, our lunch is here and we have to run. Lots of love!

Note: we have been traveling and going quite steadily for the last several days, hence the delay in posting. We have ones in the works for Jordan proper and Petra, so bear with us. With a couple very long bus rides upcoming, i have a feeling that these will get written in short order. Thanks for all the positive feedback on the blog, by the way, it really helps us write and feel connected to all of you.