This was a place I've wanted to visit for its exoticness, foreign culture and otherwise unfamiliar riches. We found all that situated in a very modern, enormous European-style city straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, the modern West and traditional Islam, the young and new versus the very historic and old. It was fascinating.
We hired a guide, Esin, to lead us around for two days, show us the main sights and also a glimpse of local culture. During the days we toured the Sultan's Palace, the Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market, the Bascilica Sistern, the Bosphorus, the Asian side and so on. At night we trammed our way across the Golden Horn to the neighborhood of Beyoglu where the city was as wide awake at midnight as Brussels would be Midday, plus a million. We tried trendy rooftop bars on top of office buildings and corner bars serving 40 proof raki. We found a beautiful store selling hand-woven blankets and walked in and out again from bars that didn't serve alcohol. We had boxes of baclava and Turkish delight and plenty of wine.
We spent our last morning in a coffee shop in Sultanahmet reading, avoiding Turkish coffee and enjoying the warm weather. It was a novel city, a true working melange that hopefully retains its unique character in the face of changing times.
