City between Asia and Europe

Oleg Slesarev writes: “Allahu akbar-ul-Lahu akbar! Ashkhadu al la ilaha illa-l-Laah!” This alarm clock is set for the pre-dawn time somewhere around half past six. “Prayer is better than sleep! Prayer is better than sleep!” the muezzin sings hoarsely and, coughing, turns off the microphone. The minaret of the nearest mosque is very close, and there is little chance of not being awakened by the morning azan. After struggling with sleep a little more, I get dressed and go out onto the terrace. Over Hagia Sophia, the sun had just painted the clouds pink. The tram passed down the next street. From the Golden Horn, the whistles of the first ferries are heard. The owner of the nearest souvenir shop with a roar opens the shutters on the windows. While still leisurely and sleepy, after a while Istanbul will throw off the veil of morning slumber and take on the appearance proper to a huge metropolis. With hurrying people, traffic jams, street food vendors and persistent barkers, in every language they know, inviting numerous passers-by to go into their establishments.

(Total 29 photos)

Source: Journal/trttptm

1. The central streets of a big city wake up quickly. The morning has just begun, and here life is already in full swing, there is a stream of people in both directions, they are carrying something, unloading something, selling Semitic sesame bagels from stalls, frying meat in numerous kebabs.

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3. But it is worth turning into the alleys of the old residential areas, and the bustle of the city instantly disappears.

4. Only the flags of drying linen flutter on the rope extensions.

5. To match the sleepy realm of old lanes and trade in tourist knick-knacks. It's already noon, and there are practically no buyers in the labyrinths of the Grand Bazaar. You will often meet a tea peddler, and sellers, bored among the garlands of fabulous lanterns, mountains of bags, scarves and plates, are ready to immediately offer a discount, because you are their first and earliest customer today.

6. However, in the first half of the day, the demand for goods with a Turkish flavor is small, not only in the Grand Bazaar.

7. There is also little interest in carpets ...

8. Best of all, this is for cats that no one is chasing, and you can sit on the soft goods laid out in the windows, basking in the sun.

9. Cats in Istanbul are numerous and ubiquitous. They play with the guards...

10. ...sleep in the windows of souvenir shops...

11. ... they beg for a piece of meat from a kebab, climb into open windows at night and bask in the beams of spotlights in the altar-mikhrab part of Hagia Sophia.

12. In the meantime, the day has passed far beyond the middle. Melodious calls for afternoon prayer are already being heard from the minarets of the Ahmediye Mosque.

13. This time remarkably coincides with lunch. A good lunch is facilitated by the good location of the terrace of one of the restaurants.

14. After lunch, you can walk to the Eminonu piers, where, sitting on a ship or bus, if there is no ship, go along the Golden Horn to its very end - to the Eyup area. There, if you climb the path through the cemetery of the Sultan of Eyup up the hill, there is an old street cafe with the French name "Pierre Loti" and a picturesque view of the surroundings, which is supposed to be a cup of aromatic tea. Here are just tables near the parapet here like hot cakes.

15. On the way back I make a small detour along the old city walls, which is still remembered by the Basileus of Constantinople.

16. And returning to the piers of Eminonu, I take a ferry to Asia - to Yuskyudar.

17. Along the Bosphorus here is a long embankment.

Having passed it from end to end, on a minibus, the driver of which is reckless and despises the rules of the road, I get to respectable Kadikoy. Now you can take a walk to the Sea of Marmara, where you can have a cup of coffee in a coastal cafe under the splashing of the waves, and then take the ferry again and go back to Europe.

18. As soon as you go ashore in Eminonu, the smell of fried fish hits your nose, from which your appetite immediately disappears. Fish is fried here almost on an industrial scale.

19. Here they catch fish nearby.

20. From early morning until late evening, the Galata Bridge bristles with a forest of fishing rods.

Beyond the Galata Bridge on the northern bank of the Golden Horn lies Beyoğlu, an area that has been called the most secular in all of Istanbul. Since Byzantine times, foreigners settled here, under the Ottomans the area remained the most European, and today here is the center of the party life of the city. Istanbul devout Muslims still call Beyoglu "the city of infidels."

21. A narrow street climbs up from the bridge, every second shop on which sells musical instruments.

Climbing up to about half of it, you get to the Galata Tower - the legacy of the Genoese who lived here in ancient times. From its balcony, good panoramas open up.

22. To the north - the roofs of Beyoglu.

23. To the east - the Bosphorus and Yuskyudar.

24. To the south - Fatih with spiers of minarets.

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26. And to the west, where the Golden Horn runs, curving.

27. The central street of Beyoglu is the pedestrian Istiklal. In the past, it was the Grand Rue de Pera, the main thoroughfare of European Constantinople, the district of embassy mansions, European fashions and customs. Today, here, between Taksim and Tunel squares, there is most of the bars and nightclubs in Istanbul. In the evenings, Istiklal is not overcrowded.

28. Evening is getting closer, and how much more crowded it becomes in Beyoglu, it becomes just as quieter in Sultanahmet.

29. It’s better not to stay up late, because tomorrow at around half past five in the morning from the nearest minaret the life-affirming “prayer is better than sleep” will be loudly stretched out again and thus they will not leave the slightest chance for sleep ...