Many visitors to Istanbul are those who were passing by the city as they were on a cruise, or those who had to change planes in Istanbul as they were traveling from east to west or west to east. They usually have just a few hours and thus spend their time to see a major monument, a mosque, eat the world famous kebab at possibly the most wrong place and then depart for their next destination; when in fact Istanbul itself has its west and its east, from which travel to the other takes at least 2 hours by car.
Naturally no city would like to be considered in a “nutshell.” However, for Istanbul, doing so would really be a major assault on the city. In Istanbul, one needs to cross the bridge with the minibus, feed birds while riding on the old vaporettos, take the Europe’s most modern, but shortest metro to be overwhelmed by the city’s multifaceted modernism coupled with classicism. One should also walk from the Taksim square all the way down to the tunnel, where cars are not allowed to pass through, and be amazed to see a yellow taxi pushing its way through the crowd; rent a car and drive along the Bosphorus, be stuck in the traffic only to realize that there is an abandoned car whose owner decided to step off to buy street bagels from a street vendor, do the “runway walk” in Bagdat Caddesi, sip a glass of Corvus wine in Nisantasi, have raki&balik (a.k.a fish&chips) on a fisherman’s rocking boat in Sariyer, go to a meyhane (tavern) in Asmali Mescit after a gallery opening, visit a church during Christmas to be dazzled by the voice of the muezzin coming from the mosque next door…
Even then, one would still have room for kebab…
Here are some links to some of our posts on Istanbul:
Food:
Diners’ Fish Spots in Istanbul
Diners’ Spots in Istanbul for Carnivores
Cultural Districts:
Istanbul Diaries: Beyoglu Neighbourhood
You will find on Donuz, everything that is unique to where we have been and where you would want to be. Be it food, be it lodging, be it a special feet massage, a bottle of wine, a person… Be it for 7 days, a day, a week, 36 hours or a single moment. On Donuz, is everything, you will need to make your holidays special. We hope you share with us your experiences.
Fri, Dec 26, 2008
Istanbul