Street Scenes

What we see just walking around...

Ecumenopolis: If you want to get depressed about out of control growth in Istanbul

Ecumenopolis (trailer)

Istanbul(s)

Today Alex and I took a Bosphorus boat trip north from Beşiktaş to Sarıyer, which demonstrated how huge and varied Istanbul is... So much that it's hard to think of it as one city. 

Views from the terrace of the Kafka Cafe in Beşiktaş

The name plate of our boat travelling north to Sarıyer

 The second Bosphorus bridge near Rumeli Castle 

 The waterfront of Kanlıca

Church (?) on the waterfront of Sarıyer

Walking around Sarıyer

 Across the Bosphorus from Sarıyer

Welcome to Istanbul, Alex!

Happy happy joy joy! Alex arrived in Istanbul last night after a loooooooooong bus ride from Ayvalık. I was following the progress of the bus journey on the company website ("Where is My Passenger") and Alex's text messages, including "45 minutes on the ramp to the bridge." When he got to the Alibeyköy bus station, he still had to find (and wait for) the shuttle bus to Taksim. So, instead of meeting up at 9pm as expected, he got to Taksim around 11pm. Then we played the "Where are you really" phone game when I went to Taksim square. Once we finally found each other, there was still the hike back to the apartment with the heavy suitcases. At least most of it was downhill (except for the flight of stairs to the apartment itself)...
Today, after a slow morning, we walked around Istiklal, stopping for bookstores and coffee, and down past Galata tower to the SALT gallery that I love so well to see the Ottoman Bank museum.

Alex reading Ottoman text on old banknotes 

 Fancy banknotes

Say cheeeeeeeeese! 

The SALT Galata building was once the central branch of the Ottoman Bank

Istanbul Modern Art Museum

The Istanbul Modern Art Museum is one of my favorites. Here is the sculpture garden that looks out on the Bosphorus. The poles lift and lower with the wind, and the disks create a curious range of vibrating sounds. On the other side, there are glimpses of the Nusretiye Mosque from the early 19th century. 

This visit I saw a major retrospective of Erol Akyavaş, whose work has inspired me in terms of the detailed design and barely in balance composition. The examples below are from a series called Hallac-ı Mansur done the late 1980s and they are quite large pieces (about 6 feet tall). 

 

 After the museum, I found a shady place to have tea, and I was joined by a representative of the cute kitten committee.

I pass this wall every day on my way back the apartment. It finally occurred to me to take a photo.

 

It's hard to see, but there are some interesting arches hiding behind that wall...

In the details

I'm always looking for details, decorative or not. Here is a selection from today and past visits...