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Tour date: October 2002.

City Portrait: Istanbul, Turkey

Thomas Driemeyer
2005-10-17 14:59:05

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Istiklal Cad is a long pedestrianized street on the north side of the Golden Horn, the waterway that splits European Istanbul into two parts. Its southern end is not far from the Galata Bridge and the Galata tower. The Galata tower has a gallery with a wonderful panorama of Istanbul.

Istiklal Cad leads north towards Taksim Square, a large and quite ugly square where many streets carrying lots of traffic meet. Istiklal Cad itself is pedestrianized, which means few cars, and has a historical trolley running in the middle. This street was the attempt of the last Sultan to rapidly modernize the country; there is a lot of Western architecture here. Today the street is lined with the usual Western upscale chain stores, fast-food restaurants, the occasional embassy, and lots of bazaar-like side streets. Always quite dignified though.

East of Taskim Square, at the Golden Horn, is Solmabahce Palace, another attempt of the Sultan to emulate Western royal courts. The Sultan left Topkapi Palace and lived here. We did not tour it because it's open only to guided tour, and it can be difficult to get in because space is limited.

ASIAN ISTANBUL

The Bosphorus, which connects the Marmara Sea (which is in turn connected to the Mediterranean Sea) to the Black Sea. It separates Europe from Asia, with Istanbul straddling it. THere are two ways to cross the Bosphorus: using one of the many ferries, or the bridge. We took a ferry that left between Topkapi Palace and the Galata Bridge, to Üsküdar on the Asian side. The ferry was quite dilapidated but made it across safely.

I took few pictures below, near the Bosphorus Bridge. The flags strung across the street are political party symbols; there was an election coming up. They choose simple icons and replicate them on countless flags all over town. The guys with the lightbulbs on a yellow field won.

There is a mosque right at the Üsküdar ferry harbor, but there are very few sights or tourists here. The Asian side of Istanbul is primarily residential. We walked around a little, and then followed the Bosphorus north towards the bridge. There are quiet and affluent neighborhoods here, with nice views of the water. Near the bridge there are many small shops and restaurants. It's not possible to walk across the bridge so we took a cab to Taksim Square; cabs are cheap here. This one even had a meter so we didn't have to haggle. English or German isn't as readily spoken there as on the more touristy European side.