Impressions from Constantinople (now Istanbul)
I visited the city ~2 months ago, traveling by bus, and stayed in Fatih close to the historical area.
Entering the city
Entering the city from Thrace you will often see tall skyscrapers alongside huge roads which felt like a modern industrial city.
Very different from Athens (that has a height limit due to Parthenon) and every other Greek city. Considering the weather, London came to mind.
https://imageupload.io/ib/vpYD9jo1jX...1689582339.jpg
Next station was Otogar, a pretty big bus station.
Nothing extremely interesting but it was pretty epic to see that even the station hosted a bazaar.
https://i.ibb.co/BVQ8SDS/361173159-6...23001508-n.jpg
Fatih
The old city of Fatih was something special to see, this is where most monuments (Hagia Sophia, Topkapi, Hippodrome, etc are located). Walking on stone roads, circled by medieval walls, random medieval fountains in each corner, mini-markets housed in well-maintained medieval buildings, and of course a bazaar in every second corner.
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There were barriers in order to enter the historical buildings and police dedicated to Tourists, there were also many bins for trash for the area to be kept clean.
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia stood tall, somewhat butthurt that the non-Islamic friendly mosaics were covered but the building by itself was something special to see.
There was an inspection for weapons before entering.
https://i.ibb.co/1RnB5XT/339256408-9...113448-n-2.jpg
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A cool thing to see was that they were sharing free books inside, pro-muslim books ofc but a free book can never be anti-intellectual.
Topkapi Palace
Topkapi is a huge building where the Byzantine Acropolis and the palace of the Ottoman Empire once stood.
Grand and well-maintained and full of historical relics.
https://i.ibb.co/SsvM8kP/361569801-1...71079748-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/KF3M5Nm/361557970-1...52091757-n.jpg
I just have my doubts that this is actually Moesis's stick.
https://i.ibb.co/SwbLYg8/361535233-8...75631468-n.jpg
And these are the bones of John the Baptist.
https://i.ibb.co/z5zSmc8/361554709-8...40564294-n.jpg
Next to Topkapi, you find a big public garden which is pretty lit to walk.
https://i.ibb.co/1mwP8Sv/361161854-1...02965873-n.jpg
Facing Topkapi you also see the church of Hagia Irene, unfortunately not as well maintained and empty but it has its own antique vibe.
https://i.ibb.co/ZW3ZrjX/360056204-1...33417772-n.jpg
Other sights
Another interesting thing to see is the Basilica Cistern, a big antique Byzantine underground water reservoir.
It hides some ancient architecture, the Turks have added to this some led lights and modern art. Overall not a bad combination but it made it feel like some underground club sometimes.
https://i.ibb.co/G0P29Yy/361585676-2...78815278-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/LQ0sxsn/361161854-1...10493743-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Z2N90Dz/361557976-2...53576836-n.jpg
Facing Hagia Sophia was the Sultanahmet Cami (Blue Mosque) with pretty similar architecture and interesting colors, cool to look at it at night.
https://i.ibb.co/VqxD1Z3/361532550-7...63148188-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/bbHz05D/361543688-8...39744938-n.jpg
Grand Bazaar
Walking North and coming across multiple smaller bazaars, you end up in Grand Bazaar.
Huge building with a lot of diverse markets aiming to show the vibe of a medieval bazaar. Cool to walk inside and made some deals but overall overpriced due to its fame.
https://i.ibb.co/V2t8qv1/361557976-1...90140149-n.jpg
Impressive to see that outside the "medieval" Bazaar, there was an office to exchange cryptos.
https://i.ibb.co/swG5txZ/361506757-2...80323369-n.jpg
Spice "Egyptian" Bazaar was pretty much similar but smaller in size.
Fener and Ballat
Fener was the traditional Greek neighborhood where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is located, it used to be a rich neighborhood but nowadays it is somewhat degraded. You can still see the old colorful buildings nevertheless. Balat was the Jewish neighborhood next to Fener bearing the same vibes. The bazaar continues here with a less commercial vibe than the old city, many cool small cafes around the area. The was also weapon inspection before entering the Patriarchate, cool to see that the police give a fuck for us too.
Patriarchate
https://i.ibb.co/DWrwDKR/361565268-8...98415803-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/GkHVY7Q/361250492-9...13045985-n.jpg
Streets of Fener
https://i.ibb.co/nzYG45S/361506772-8...08348271-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/2yW5x9h/360073917-8...07688781-n.jpg
Bulgarian church of Saint Stephen around the area.
https://i.ibb.co/cQ81p7f/361506757-2...50705202-n.jpg
In a Ballat cafe, the owner treated me to his home delicacies which seemed very strange for a Jewish neighborhood. I made a DNA test afterward and I'm still not a serpent jkjk.
Old Byzantine walls
North of Ballat you can see the older Byzantine walls where the fall of Constantinople happened and the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus is now a museum (unfortunately I didn't manage to visit it). I managed however to climb the wall and see the old gates. The guy from the Patriarchate warned me that a lot of refugees with high criminality are hosted there which was true but nevertheless it was my duty to visit.
https://i.ibb.co/KyJC6Hc/361554681-5...47010286-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/vsGTGcG/361069171-2...58895371-n.jpg
Top of the wall
https://i.ibb.co/MNZhYDn/361008154-2...75367541-n.jpg
Antique cars inside antique walls
https://i.ibb.co/TBhZZc9/361547003-2...27681434-n.jpg
Galata
Walking the Galata bridge you would see Turks fishing and multiple fish taverns (I don't know what they are fishing since I was mostly seeing jellyfish but anyways), you will also get good view of the Yeni Cami before getting to the Galata tower. I didn't enter to see the museum from inside since it was crowded af but it was a tall tower.
Here the bazaar continues with more modern vibes (urban art versus the spices you would see in Fatih).
https://i.ibb.co/Gt1hj0w/361138507-8...58468926-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/6mJXcw5/361410504-1...84510183-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/StQH8KY/361509232-2...79258961-n.jpg
Taksim square
Welcome to Athens, here the vibe is more similar to Athens (especially Syntagma square, Thiseio, Ermou).
The Bazaar stops and its place takes bigger modern shops, a big square (3 time the size of Syntagma) with small taverns, and franchise fast food.
https://i.ibb.co/KLyLzGD/361563579-2...33196437-n.jpg
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Princes’ Islands
Finally, I took a cruise to Princes' islands where Ottoman and Byzantine nobles used to be exiled. Nowdays a modern resort for tourists (many Russian "oligarchs" in particular).
Overall the vibe was more Aegean with fish taverns featuring music (sometimes Greek) and some cool architecture and parks to see.
https://i.ibb.co/WpGWFjK/361142283-9...05593141-n.jpg
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Food
The desserts were similar to Greece to an extent, I mean Balkava was Baklava, Greek coffee was Turkish coffee, etc.
There are some special Turkish delight "lukum" combinations that you don't find in Greece, we don't use pomegranate so much but that's it.
Salep made a difference which I liked a lot and got powder to make it at home.
Now, Turkish kebab is very different than what you can either call kebab or souvlaki in Greece.
Turks use a lot of spices that don't exist in Greece, it's not the same savory dish with a lot of sauce and oil.
Even kokoretsi that it is supposed to be the same dish, tasted totally different.
It's not necessarily spicy in the American sense (burgers full of chili), the spices can be more neutral than totally hot. They had their own taste which I liked, plus safran, thyme and all are very healthy.
Around Taksim in a decent restaurant, they brought me a bottle of ketchup and a bottle of mayonnaise along with my kebabs.
You wouldn't do this in Greece.
https://i.ibb.co/NjC4Ych/361509235-1...736419-n-1.jpg
Cost
Cost was okay for a touristic area, lower than touristic Greece for sure. More or less what you can find in rural Greece and you can survive even cheaper by street food.
Not the value for money of your life but it is a huge touristic city.
Some good values for leather, silk, some rare spices depending on the shop.
Cigarettes and transportation were fairly cheap. Τhe same goes for petrol but I didn't visit by car, maybe I should in the recent future.
People
The people maybe weren't as welcoming/friendly in general as you will find in (at least in touristic) Greece but they were very helpful if you asked for something.
After saying that I'm Greek they were responding that we are close cultures and friends (kardas and "koci koci" or something). Didn't find anyone perceiving it in a negative way.
Maybe they were even scared to offend the Byzantine sigma, maybe not.
Some spoke some Greek words and made some jokes, others held political discussions...
There were some scammers in Otogar trying to offer expensive rides, but nothing scammy in restaurants.
Hijab was a standard in the old city (necessity to enter the mosques), not so much around taksim but it was there.
Arab tourist with Gucci hijab, a lot of Slavs (I think most of them Russians), some guzel beauties with silk dresses that deserve Christianization.
Many people that came to do surgery (Arabs, blondes, whatever), you will see covered noses like they had slept in some Topkapi stairs and red necks (because of hair transplants) like they belong to some special religious cult.
Anthrotardism
Vast diversity, they cover the Mediterranean range, I was always guessed a local before talking.
They obviously however are going to a more Iranesque or mongoloid direction.
The Kivanoid blonde Turk exists! Mostly in light-brown-haired dinaric version, resembling some Bosnians.
I also came across 1 or 2 tru blondes that I'm sure are locals.
The pure Turanic type also exists but not in the Finnish sense but rather browner than the med average and somewhat shorter.
