Better Late Than Never

I often have reason enough to place blame on my ever time consuming job for the lack of consistent blogging, among other things. It's ironic because the majority of my time is spent in an office pretty much hitting all corners of the internet on a daily basis and occasionally drifting off from one place to the next.

I have been lucky enough however to be able to take a few amazing trips whenever I have time, even if it means stretching out a long weekend to visit Istanbul, which is what my gf and I did just a couple months back, and it was definitely worth it.

Despite being a massive urban area, the core historic areas of Istanbul, "The Golden Horn" in particular are relatively central and compact in their location. We stayed in the Beyoglu neighborhood at a cool place which was right near Taksim Square, directly off the Istiklal Caddesi, the most famous and prominent street in the city. The excellent metro, tram and funicular system made everything completely accessible and easy to see. Note to the Tel Aviv municipality, effective mass transit is worth it!

The Basilica Cistern in the Golden Horn. Feels like entering an Indiana Jones film

Istanbul truly is a city where East meets West, and it is clearly evident depending on where you are. Beyoglu is without a doubt the most Western oriented area of the city, standing in contrast to neighborhoods further south, especially around the Grand Bazaar and the more historical areas that were formerly the ancient part of Byzantium and later Constantinople.

Istiklal Caddesi. The heart of Beyoglu and modern Istanbul

Bosphorus cruising

All in all, we spent just five days in the city, yet still managed to see all the most interesting historical sites, as well as make some cool explorations on our own. The side streets off of Istiklal Cadessi are especially interesting, with many small book shops and boutique and vintage shops. I guess you could call it the hipster area of the city, because at night it comes alive with some nice dive bars playing good music. A nice balance to the tacky techno and dance music at some of the bigger clubs nearby. Note to  prospective visitors also, the Grand Bazaar is the most intense place I can possibly describe. It's entirely too big to navigate and If you're like minded and already semi-wary and worn out over the the experience of shopping at Middle Eastern souks, spare yourself. The neighborhood around the Bazaar is very nice however, and the main campus of Istanbul University is right around the corner. If you're looking for a destination that infuses history with a dynamic contemporary culture and is somewhat  outside the mainstream of Europe, yet a bit tamer than the intensity of certain Middle Eastern countries. Istanbul is definitely the place to go.

Hagia Sophia, formerly an Orthodox basilica, and later a mosque