Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Istanbul


Istanbul, in the rain. It's really only possible to get fleeting impressions of a city this big in the time we had, but I think I want to go back. It's a very male city, full of history and heavily politicised with a demonstration of some kind every day we were there, although that activity was mainly a protest against the Israeli action against a Turkish ship in the Gaza aid convoy. The 24 hour news channels, and I counted five on my little hotel telly alone, were inevitably full of this story. Infact they weren't covering anything else.

The more I experience Turkey the more I like it. The food is great for one thing, and the people almost invariably welcoming. And Istanbul is way more sophisticated than I'd been expecting. If you're there have a drink in the ultra chic bar in the city's Museum of Modern Art, overlooking the Bospherous with all the ferries and container ships passing as you sip your Efe's Pilsner.
Posted by Picasa

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice article but Istanbul is very much like a lady bcause you never know what to expect:) Check this out for more about this great city; http://www.best-of-istanbul.com/index.html

blessingsgoddess said...

Istanbul sounds good....shame it was raining.

Hendo said...

Lesson I learned is that you can't 'do' a city like Istanbul in three days - it's a week to do it justice...