Istanbul spending

Let it go
And here are the final figures of my budget in Istanbul. It was much cheaper than expected, even with the hick-up of the cancellation and rental of a new place after the little incident. Truth be told, the visit of my sister also contributed a lot to it, she not only paid a part of […] Read More

Yummy Kadiköy

Let it go
On the last day in Istanbul I decided to make it over to Kadiköy on the Asian shore. It’s supposed to have a great market on Tuesdays, although I did not make it there in the end. They have moved the market further from the ferry, so I just strolled through the Balik Pazari, the […] Read More

Underground (and over water)

Let it go
Istanbul’s public transport system is developing faster than they can print the maps. My books are useless when it comes to the metro/tram system. The otherwise greatly informative and amusing Gebrauchsanweisung Istanbul (Istanbul Manual) published in 2010 lists one (!) metro line in operation…. The maps in several apps for my phone are helplessly out of […] Read More

Golden Gate

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It turns out, not only San Francisco has a Golden Gate. Istanbul does, too. I wanted to make a walk along and on top of the city walls, the part that has been reconstructed… so I headed to the train station and hopped on a train in this direction (more on that adventure later) and […] Read More

Çukurcuma

Let it go
I think I landed in one of the most beautiful, buzzing, yet calm and relaxed neighborhoods in Istanbul. Çukurcuma is a little neighborhood in the Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, formerly known under its greek name of Pera, and has everything you could wish for… The little street down from my apartment alone has a hotel, several […] Read More

Asia

Let it go
It was sunny, and so I took the ferry from Kabatas to Üsküdar on the Asian side of Istanbul, following the last mail from my sister with stuff we didn’t do. The ferry system is great to cross over, you can use your Istanbulkart that works on Metro’s, Trams and buses, to hop on pretty much […] Read More

Quake

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It was around half past 11 in the morning and I was just about ready to get out, sitting on my bed in the back of my apartment, when I felt it. That slight rolling and rocking, what you first mistake for a heavy truck passing outside… Just that there is no street outside and […] Read More

Freedom of speech

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As usual, I wanted to get a mobile phone chip pretty fast after I arrived in Turkey. It’s really invaluable if you don’t have to hunt for a wifi and can quickly check something when roaming around all these streets. It was a pretty funny experience to get those chips in South America, and especially […] Read More

Istanbul Arts

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My neighborhood in Beyoglu has a great number of little galleries and two major museums, that I have visited in the past days First, Istanbul Modern. It sits at the foot of the hill, a bit hidden between a beautifully renovated mosque, the cruise ship quay and an empty parking lot, that soon will be […] Read More

Halbzeit

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Half time. It’s about seven months and two weeks. I was planning, saving and calculating for 15 months. So this is it. What is about to come will be shorter than what’s behind me. Weird thought. I have a very contradictory feeling about the past months… On one level, so much has happened that it […] Read More

Bar night

Let it go
After Sabine left, I spent the morning cleaning my files, writing some mails, continuing some planning for the trip in a café, and then met up in the early evening with Cihan, a reader of my blog! He wanted to show me a couple of his favorite bars, and as I haven’t gone out in […] Read More

On my own again

Let it go
Last day for Sabine today. We slept and had a nice breakfast at a close-by hotel, then we headed for the airport, skipping the taxi this time but using the tram and metro. She’s heading back to Paris and on to Spain tomorrow, for the second half of her holidays, with her husband and her […] Read More