Istanbul sits astride the Bosphorous strait. While such a large water body dividing the city is intimidating to desert dweller like us, for the Istanbul residents it is just another ferry ride from the mad touristy European side to the more sane and modern Asian side. Sudhir and I planned to spend half a day here hoping to find the waterfront promenades and the open art gallery: the street arts of Kadikoy.
We covered only half of the most famous works despite a very helpful map for all these arts. Not an easy task since one can only see the distances on the google map and are completely unaware of the steep inclines involved. Old knees have their limits 😞.
Having already gained some altitude we decided to follow the slope observing the everyday life of Kadikoy residents. Saturday mornings is not really the time to observe the local crowds who are more likely to be out in the evening.
We crossed a few fruit shops ( Lunch!) and another shop selling an unusual local specialty, the pickles --- of everything. What vibrant colours!
Eventually we reached the Kadikoy meeting point, the seat of the famous "Raging Bull" statue. The statue was created by the French but came to Turkey through Germany; Turkish support on the wrong side of WWII was somehow involved. Anyway the bull was asking to be taken by the horns and Sudhir did.
This was also close to the artists street which boasts of some boho cafes and the memorial to Ali Suawi, one of the first pan Turkists of the Ottoman Period.
Loved this unusual bookshelf at a cafe --- sought permission of the guy to take a pic. His kindness showed up by removing everything around.
Like almost all our trips, the last stop of this trip also was a Turkish sweet shop to enjoy one of the many different kinds of Baklava. In the evening we enjoyed the dance show at Hodjapasha... more on that later.
Subscribe by Email
Follow Updates Articles from This Blog via Email
No Comments