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ONLY BE ISTANBULITE
Only-Be Istanbulite
10 places to visit in Istanbul
As soon as you arrive in Istanbul, you’ll discover a world of magical colors, a blend of East and West, a very impressive Turkish city that will make you remember the Arabian Nights. Istanbul is divided into West and East by the Bosphorus, as well as by Golden Horn, where the Old City is located, place where we will focus most of our interest. 1. The Blue Mosque The Blue Mosque also known as the Sultan Ahmet Mosque is located in the Old City and has the largest and most spectacular courtyard anywhere in Turkey. Decorated with 20,000 handmade blue tiles, the Mosque has six minarets. When coming to the Mosque, remember to take off your shoes; women will also have to cover their head and shoulders. The sultan ordered the construction of this Mosque in front of the Hagia Sophia with the intention of outshine this Christian building. 2. Hagia Sophia Museum Right after the Hippodrome of Constantinople you’ll find the Hagia Sophia Museum, which is a formerly Byzantine basilica that was transformed into a Mosque during the Ottoman Empire time. Nowadays the building is a museum declared a World Heritage Site. It features several domes, the largest in the world, a Mihrab and several minarets. 3. Yerebatan Cisterns Do not forget to visit the Yerebatan Cisterns, which were built to supply water to the Great Palace of Constantinople. 4. Topkapi Palace After having a Turkish bath, you should go ahead and visit the Topkapi Palace, which is a walled Imperial Palace that illustrates the life of former sultans and their harems, as well as some of the...
From Istanbul to New Delhi on the Silk Road
It is said that Chinese Empress Hsi-ling-shi began to develop the culture of the domestic silkworm some 4,700 years ago. Associated with silk production, China soon became synonymous with wealth, and merchants traveled all over Asia and to the Mediterranean coast under strict prohibition of disclosing the secret of the sericulture. This is how the Silk Road, a road of multiple branches that connected East and West during ancient times and medieval times, came about. Although it took more than 1000 years for the sericulture to develop and expand through Europe, the coveted secret was finally revealed during Justinian’s reign in what is now Istanbul, a city which had always been an important stop on the route, when two Persian monks brought the first silkworm eggs hidden in their bamboo canes to the limits of the western world. The truth is that for centuries dozens of other valuable products such as linen, precious metals, opium, spices, coral, amber, ivory, and glass, among many others, were conveyed along the route and that with them came a set of religious and philosophical ideas without whose influence it would be difficult to conceive of essential aspects of Western thought and spirituality. Thus, for example, the Silk Road not only spread Buddhism from India throughout Asia but it also brought important scientific knowledge in fields such as medicine and astronomy to Europe. The route took on a symbolic character that may still be alive today, as evidenced by the fact that the stretch from Istanbul to New Delhi across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India remains one of...
Practical information: Things You Should Know Before visiting Istanbul
One of the most beautiful things about traveling is to learn about our destination. Every trip makes us better people, because we get to know new things including: history, customs, people, languages, etc, of a new place in the planet… Traveling is then one of the most interesting and useful ways to learn, grow and expand our horizons. However, every journey has to start with a prior “preparation” that includes gathering the basic information about our destination. If you plan to spend a few days in Istanbul, the following is the information you need to know to avoid unpleasant surprises: 1) Visa: Not everyone requires a visa and not all nationalities have to pay on arrival fees. Those who need a visa have to be that you can get it at the customs or ask at the Turkish consulate in your country. The best thing you can do is to check all details before traveling. 2) Money & Currency: Turkey’s official currency is the Turkish Lira (Türk Lirası). If you didn’t have time to change money in your country, you can do it at any exchange office at the airport or at any bank in the main streets of the city. 3) Electricity and phone: The electrical voltage in Turkey is 220 V 50. Power sockets are the same as in most European countries (type C and F). Telephone code is +90, for the European part +212 and for the Asian part +216. 4) Time zone: In Turkey there is a GMT +2 time zone; in summer it becomes GMT +3. 5) Working Hours: Banks are open from 9:00...
The mystic Asian side of Istanbul
First time visitors to the ancient city of Istanbul often miss out on the unique experience of the Asian side of the city. With all the stunning architecture and history-steeped sites on the European side, the time just passes too quickly, and before you know it, you’re on your way home. When you’re planning your trip to Istanbul, just remember to set aside a little time to take in some of the fascinating sights, sounds and flavors of the city’s Asian section. Life in the Asian section moves at a different pace, far from the bustle and crowds of the major tourist attractions. But don’t let the lack of tourists fool you – there’s plenty to do and see. Here are a few of our favorite spots. The Kadiköy Tuesday Market This should definitely be your first stop in Asian Istanbul, and you can reach Kadiköy by taking the ferry. The boat leaves every 15-20 minutes, so catching one should be fairly easy. After a leisurely 25 minute ride, you’ll pull into Kadiköy port. Head on over to Söğütlüçeşme Caddesi where the famous Tuesday open air market is hosted. If you don’t feel like walking the whole way, hop on the nostalgic tram which will take you right from the ferry dock to the Altiyol stop. From there, you can slip into any one of the many market entrances. Grab a pastry and a coffee, then just enjoy browsing the vibrant, colorful market scene. Moda This spot has obviously seen better days – and some folks turn their noses up at it because of that. I’d say that it’s...
06 iDans Istanbul
Turkish artists, especially dancers, musicians and videoartists have difficulty creating new productions. The scarcity of grants and subsidies from institutions, have resulted, that artists independently has sought a way out of this problem. In this framework iDans was born in Istanbul, and has been organized for the last 6 years by the Bimeras Cultural Foundation. The International Festival of Contemporary Dance and Performance of Istanbul is one of the best in Turkey, and now one that is among the 14 best in Europe since iDans has been accepted, for their professionalism, in the European Culture Commission´s program . This sixth edition will be held from October 2012 to May 2013, under the name of “Silk Road of Dance”. So iDans 06 will be structured around the metaphor of the Silk Road. Recall that the Silk Road was a network of trade routes between Asia and Europe that stretched from China, Syria and now Turkey (formerly Constantinople) to Europe. So it was a huge network of exchange of goods, but not only that, but its ramifications had other exchange, crosses between cultures, religions and people … This is precisely what we want to convey in iDans 06. In addition to established artists and young talents in Europe and the Mediterranean coast, also contemporary performing arts of East and Southeast Asia take part. Thus, different styles, movements, expressions, will converge, to cross, to mix and be influenced in a contest dedicated to an intercultural mix, taking as its theme or main thread, the Silk Road. In parallel, iDans also develops Critical Endeavor Turkey, journalistic criticism workshop performing arts as...
The 15th International Doc Film Festival 1001 in Instanbul
The International Festival 1001 is, and has been since it was started, a meeting point and a platform of expression for directors from around the world who have seen political changes occur, especially in theMiddle EastandAfrica, and who convey these through the media, from the point of view of documentary filmmaking. Since its first edition, the Festival has received hundreds of films from around the world. It creates an atmosphere that allows different societies to get to know and understand one another through the documentaries and international language of film. Of the some 400 documentaries received this year, 120 have been shortlisted to be screened during the festival. These have been chosen by taking into account not only the strength of the styles used but also the human values transmitted, the defense of different cultures, the supporting values that contribute to the future of men, and the presentation of different views. The shortlisted films will now be evaluated during the festival by industry professionals, including academics, directors and actors. During five days, documentaries fromSpain,Iran,GermanyandGreececan be seen for free at different locations throughoutIstanbul. The documentaries will be divided by color according to their theme. Black will feature stories about war, violence, social depression and people who have lived and suffered these experiences; red will show working conditions and the situation of workers in the global order; orange will present current stories from around the world; yellow will taken on history through cinema; blue will explain the common stories of extraordinary people and extraordinary stories of ordinary people; purple will present stories of women in different spheres of everyday life...
International Poetry Festival in Istanbul
Poetry has arrived in Istanbul and, I must add, this is the best time for poetry in this part of the world because this magical city has been carrying out the biggest poetry festival in Turkey. However, this festival has crossed frontiers and has become an international event of the highest level, with the presence of poets from around the world, which makes it an attractive poetic event of international prestige. This will be the seventh edition of the festival, which will go on for four days this year due to the huge success that it´s had in the past, not only in terms of audience but also participation. Forty poets who attended the first edition of the festival, a number which has risen to around 60 today, from famous award-winning poets to young poets who are starting to get published and want to be part of this poetry festival. This way, the literary wealth that can be listened from the words of the writers themselves is huge, considering that during these four days you can get to know a considerable number of contemporary poets of all ages, nationalities, styles and fame levels. However, above all, you can enjoy poetry, an ever-fascinating discovery for the lovers of this beautiful art. Regarding the poets that will be part of this new edition of the festival, the whole information package has not yet been disclosed. However, taking the past editions as a precedent and the fact that this year it will be four days instead of two dedicated to poetry in Istanbul, there will surely be some welcome surprises for all...
Leonard Cohen in concert
On the 19th of September, the Canadian musician and singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen will be performing live at the Ülker Sport Arena in Istanbul, with his best songs to give the summer a good send-off. Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montréal in 1934 in a Jewish family, spending his childhood between Montréal and Westount. Singer, songwriter, poet and novelist, at a young age he knew that he wanted to become involved in music, creating a country band in his teenage years called Buckskin Boys. In the early 50s, Cohen entered McGill University in Montréal and the University of Columbia in New York City. During those years he released his first poems called Let Us Compare Mythologies, under the edition of McGill Poetry Series. In the early 60s, he settled in Hydra, Greece, and published Flowers for Hitler in 1964 and the novels The Favourite Game a year earlier and Beaitiful Losers in 1966. At the time of this latest publication, he went to live once again in the United States and began to participate in folk music festivals and to compose music. The first album by Leonard Cohen appeared in 1967 under the name of Songs of Leonard Cohen, with a cover of Suzanne, a song that the famous American singer Judy Collins 1977 saw the appearance of Death of a Ladies Man, with a very different style than the one Cohen had showed until then. Two years later he releaed Recent Songs, now with a more classic sound and more similar to his other records. In the 80s, he released two albums: Various Positions (1984), which contains the famous Hallelujah, which Columbia refused to release in the United States,...
Discover the Bosphorus through a boat tour
Istanbul is a city that seduces very much; this is partly due to the enticing blue color of the Bosphorus, which is the strait that separates Europe from Asia, the same that has served to unite two cultural worlds. It is for this reason that travelers can’t miss the opportunity to go on a historic tour and enjoy second to none views of Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, making Istanbul a city located on two continents; one part is in Asia and the other in Europe. This strait measures about 30 km, the narrowest part is 700 meters and at the junction with the Black Sea it reaches 4 km wide. For you not to spend more than you should and discover the enchanting secrets of the Bosphorus, we’ll give you some useful information so you can get the most out of your holidays. The first thing to know is that there are many different tours, some of them last about 1.5 hours, some of them last more than two hours, and some others last six hours. Also there are some companies that offer a guided tour to learn particular history details of the area. All tours are very nice, but you should try to find out very well the price details, because some companies charge their fees in Euros, regardless of the exchange rate with the local currency, the Turkish Lira. Tours usually start at 10:30, you should get there at least 15 minutes early to buy tickets. During the warm months, it is better to wear light clothing and bring...
