Istanbul
SHOT WITH THE FUJIFILM X-PRO3, XF27 F2.8, XF18-55 F2.8
We’ve been home a month now. Plenty of time… maybe too much time actually, between the trip and and being settled back to life in Toronto and writing this.
Istanbul was memorable. I’d say it was one of my favorite trips. It had a bit of everything; wonderful, warm people, delicious and flavourful food, a taste of at least two, maybe three seasons (from snow, to spring) and a sense of adventure that comes from being just a little out of one’s comfort zone.
Why Istanbul? It’s funny, when Alice and I are sharing (debating) cities we’d like to visit over the Christmas holidays a few cities came up. Some were too hot, or overcrowded and some were too cold (I’m not going to a place that’s actually colder than Toronto… although some days Istanbul was alarmingly close). Istanbul seemed to fit the bill for us, a little bit of an adventure but maybe (hopefully) not too much, a different culture and food. Sure, I’d always wanted to visit and this seemed like as good a time as any. Before I knew it, the flights were booked and that was that.
What did we see? Well, there were too many places and sites for this post and as much as I try as a photographer to “capture a moment”, the truth is that a lot of site seeing shots are nothing special to look at. Most of them are probably on my iPhone where they will stay for a very long time.
Istanbul is nothing if not a city of contrasts. The modern and the ancient. The very poor and the very rich. The hungry and the well fed. The smokers (just about all of the men) and the non-smokers (most of the women and children). The secular and the non secular.
It’s hard to imagine a city that is so overrun by shops selling decadent sweets, from baklava to Turkish delight. I didn’t get a handle if this was all for the tourists or a split with locals, but my gosh, the sweets were everywhere… a dentist and an Ozempic salesperson’s dream. Beside the assault on your taste buds and stomach, the visual beauty was really something to behold. The sweets are all geometrically lined up to show off their perfect shape and glistening “come hither” appeal. To say it was hard to resist is an understatement.
Istanbul is also a city of artisans. Whether it’s the guy in the window making delicious stuffed flatbread (Gozleme) or “dough with meat” (Lahmacun), the gorgeous ceramic shops or the hand made carpets hanging in the windows, Istanbul thrives on it’s traditional crafts. For a tourist, it’s as much eye candy as the actual eye candy.
Of course we played tourist and visited the Hagia Sophia Mosque, the Blue Mosque as we as the Grand Bazaar and the Basilica Cistern. The real highlight of Istanbul though was taking the ferries and getting lost in the streets that didn’t seem to end with fascinating architecture and neighbourhoods. The Ara Guler Museum was also a highlight with the Robert Capa exhibit. I’d say it was particularly well done.
So that was it. Eleven days, more km’s walked than I thought possible. We were strengthened by the never ending hill climbing and cat watching (yes, they are everywhere). There was so much to see, so much to experience and so much to eat. Turkey in the summer may be next.
