Great Journey 🏍 Day 285
A thousand and one nights. And yet we were only in İstanbul for a week.
The city enchanted us, beguiled us, made us slow down and, even if you would expect otherwise in a city of 25 million people, made us calm down.
We had a long wish list for the city on the Bosporus. We first halved this list. And then we only did half of it. And then we did it extensively.
Meaning: we would like to come back again.
İstanbul is Europe and Asia, İstanbul is many and very friendly people, a fast street traffic. İstanbul seems to be a modern city despite the traditions. The public transport is top! The toilets are clean. We felt safe at all times. The tea (and also the Turkish coffee) was exceptionally good and present everywhere.
We marvel at the architecture, the many decorations on the buildings and the creative bazaar stalls. We rescue kittens, pet dogs, watch several weddings and I die tiny little heroic deaths crossing the streets. We sniff the scents of the spice bazaars, eat the famous gummy ice cream (ahem) and smile away the sales requests of the intensely friendly vendors.
The mosques are beautiful, from the inside they seem even bigger and more imposing. Some are closed for renovation (later we learn that this is because of Covid). We like the call of the muezzin (5 times a day), it is the singing, this human, which somehow pleases us. He wakes us up at sunrise (quite early!) and accompanies us through the day.
The atmosphere in the restaurants, cafés, tea houses and little pavement bistros is enchanting. We listen to the language, sink into the music, drink tea and taste our way through the pistachio bakhlava world.
Over the next few days, we will take you on a tour of İstanbul and share a few impressions here. Although we tend to avoid big cities, we immediately fell in love with this city.
#İstanbul #1000andonenight #enchanted
