EDITOR’S NOTE: Istanbul might be the most beautiful city on the planet. It has somehow managed to condense everything that’s awesome about the two continents it straddles — Europe and Asia — into a single magnificent metropolis.
Matador sent a group of filmmakers to hang out in Istanbul for a week and visit some of its most spectacular sights: the legendary Hagia Sophia, the waterside Ortaköy Mosque, the mind-bendingly intricate mosaics of the Blue Mosque, and the labyrinthine Grand Bazaar, not to mention the city’s beautiful parks, neighborhoods, bridges, and waterfronts.
You could spend entire centuries in Istanbul and still not see all there is to see, but this timelapse will give you some idea of what it feels like to scratch the surface. 