Images from Istanbul

I can’t wait for the day I get to Turkey. Great pics!

Gorgeous set! I can’t wait to see the place for myself.

Wonderful photos!!

Beautiful photos!
But I went to Turkey and I saw women and youth. Didn’t you see any ?

“As usual you capure a moment of beauty in each picture!

I have to agree with Zeynep and Philippe… your pictures are beautiful, but I’m not sure they necessary paint an accurate picture of Turkey. Turkey is by nature a secular country and in the five weeks that I spent there I saw lots of women, but very few in the full, black burqas. Istanbul, in particular the district of Taksim, is highly influenced by western culture and much more indicative of Turkey’s modernity.

The photos are amazing. I lived in Turkey for six years (4 in Istanbul) and those images beautifully show that one side of life (Turkey has a million aspects and you’d need ages to begin to show it). One thing though: in number 2, those aren’t the rice stuffed vine leaves covered in salt- they are just the raw ones soaked in brine for preservation, bundled up together and rolled for sale. I don’t want anyone to accidentally pick up a salt-encrusted roll and bite into it, thinking it’s a yaprak sarmasi!

Istanbul (and all of Turkey) is just brimming with interwoven history and modernity all together, there at the crossroads of the world. It is not possible to broadly portray the spirit of the city in a few photos. But these photos are visual delights and a compelling invitation to visit and experience for yourself ! We saw the Dervish dancers by candlelight in the subterranean basilica cistern and this visual combined with the acoustics to create an unforgettable experience. I visited Selimiye Kushlisa in Uskudar where Florence Nightingale (the lady of the lamp) had her hospital and where she and her nurses and doctors treated the British survivors of the Charge Of The Light Brigade across the Black Sea in the Crimean War. The cemetery (where those for whom her ministrations were in vain are at eternal ‘parade rest’ ) behind the fortress is most moving. and don’t forget dining at Ciragon Palace on the Bosporus and having salt-baked seabass at Korfez ! i am going to go buy my ticket ! NEXT TRIP !

Great photos. I love the one with the stuffed grape leaves. I have to correct a couple of things, though. Both men and women have to take “abdest,” meaning washing face, arms, and feet before praying either at a mosque or somewhere else. So it is not just men or just washing the feet. The columns in Basilica Cistern were built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.

I don’t agree with the comments about showing only the religious aspect of the city. That’s the photographer’s choice to make. Anybody can find out more about Istanbul by using internet, reading books/news or just visiting. And Turkey has been losing its secular character for the past 7 or 8 years and you see both pious crowd and the secular together only in a few places/neighbourhoods. They are not living in harmony, that’s why some sees only the pious and some the secular.

I am from Turkey and love the palimpsest city, Istanbul. I can’t wait to go back and have “balik-ekmek” in Eminonu and “cay-simit” in Ortakoy.