A typical shot of a street on the Asian side of Istanbul in Kadıköy, where I live. I didn’t want to feature this picture until I realized that this very every day scene for me might not be so ‘every day’ for the my many visitors from around the world. Click on the picture or here to get a larger and higher quality version of the photograph. In Holland we have a huge debate about the towers of the mosques, called minarets, spoiling the way the street/neighbourhood looks.
What do you think, would one (or a few) of these towers spoil the sight of your neighbourhood? Why (not)?
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Taken in a touristy shop along Istanbul’s famous Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue), this photo features the famous Turkish glass mosaic lamps. I’m not sure about the origins of them, whether they’re Middle Eastern, Central Asian or from other regions or just from Turkey, but they’re undeniably associated with Turkey. Every one of them is very unique and very beautiful and they make a great object for photography, don’t you think?
I see there are quite a bit of mosaic lamps on Amazon, what lamps do you prefer? The mosaic lamps there or the ones above? Though the ones on Amazon are true works of art, I prefer the more exotic ones.
Can anyone tell me more about the origins of these lamps? Can anyone tell me how to take these lamps on a long busride or airflight without breaking them?
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The following shot was taken at a big bazaar that’s held every Tuesday and Friday in Istanbul’s Kadıköy area, which is on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. You can find food like fruit, vegetables, spices, nuts and grape leaves there, but also clothes such as the headdresses below. I was walking around there with a blond girl and boy, do you draw attention if you’re a young, blond, European woman in Istanbul. People were yelling out “Obama, Obama”, “hoş geldiniz” (welcome), “hello!” and “buyrun” (come in please/come here).
I apologize for the recent lack of updates. I had a friend from Holland visiting me here, but will now resume my posting about life in Istanbul. 🙂
I plan on posting a lot more pictures and short stories like this one in the coming time, so if you’re not yet subscribed to updates from this blog, do so now either by RSS or through email updates.
On the 29th of October, Turkey celebrates the foundation of its Republic in 1923 by founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This goes together with Turkish flags hanging from every window in Turkey as well as some free parties in Istanbul and some amazing fireworks above the Bosphorus.
They spent quite some money on the fireworks, as you can tell from the video. Last year the show was even bigger and they also had a lasershow showing important images from Turkey’s history. This year the show was a bit shorter allegedly due to terror alerts. Still an amazing show and I bet it keeps the Turkish people in Istanbul proud of their nation for yet another year. 😉
It’s every year, so if you have the chance to be here around the end of October, seize the opportunity!
Just before dawn, Istanbul’s fishermen get in their boats and move onto the Bosphorus or the Marmara sea. If you walk or sit along the coastline, you can hear them talking or listening to music. A great place to visit in Istanbul, if you want to sit along the coast, is Kadıköy, which is also where this picture was taken. Inspired by the work of Michael Kenna.
There’s a lot of business coming through my street here in Istanbul. Men carrying big stacks of bread on their head, men with carts with second-hand junk, women selling flowers or tissues, but we also have street accordionists… Not sure if I mentioned them before, but it’s time to dedicate an article to them, since it’s a really unique thing about living in Istanbul.
First things first… The video! Click play. If you’re on a slow connection, like me, pause the video directly after clicking play and wait until the black bar becomes grey.
I’ve encountered this before in my neighbourhood, but didn’t think of making a video. Last time it was a gypsy father and his son, the father playing the accordion and the son collecting the money thrown from the windows. Yes, I was following the ‘ettiquette’. You’re expected to throw the money from the window as a reward. They then stay around your corner for a little while before they walk further down the street.
This custom of accordionists collecting money thrown from the windows might seem strange, but since a lot of business here happens in the street, as described in the first paragraph of this article, it’s completely logical. For instance, something else I’ve seen is people lowering buckets on a rope to receive vegetables from the sellers coming through the street with their carts. They then put the money in the bucket and lower it to give it to the salesman.
Truly some romantic customs here, even though they might seem ‘uncivilized’ to some. I know a lot of people from all around the world visit this blog… My question for you is: do you have street musicians like this? Do you have customs of purchasing stuff right in your street?
If you have anything interesting to share, please do! And remember, what might be normal, or boring for you… migth be extremely fascinating for someone living at the other side of the world… and since my readers are from all over the world, you really have no excuse not to contribute. 😉
Last Saturday DJ Food‘s Strictly Kev was playing in a place called Babylon, here in Istanbul, as part of the Akbank Jazz Festival. DJ Food is a project by several turntablists (including Coldcut) creating jazzy breaks and is one of the best projects to come from the Ninja Tune label. Strictly Kev is the public face of DJ Food and travels the world playing their music. Below, a video I made with some of the highlights of the gig.
It was a nice night, with breakbeats blended with jazz, hiphop, balkan beats, latin house, classic britpop, oldies and more. The 1.5 hour set left many hungry for more, but a local DJ playing afterwards was able to satisfy most visitors’ appetites.
Stictly Kev played a phenomenal set. He used a computer with two digital turntables. Meaning he wasn’t playing with actual records, but loading tracks from the computer onto the turntables and then using those for his mixing. He easily switched from style to style, without anyone really noticing the difference. As I have some DJ experience myself, I was in awe at this guy’s skill and ease, although it’s possible he’s playing the same set throughout his whole tour.
A very funky, danceable night, which I’m sure you’re able to see in the video. The Turkish music fans are an ecstatic bunch, their dancing and hopping around being accompanied by frequent shouts and flailing arms.
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Right down Istanbul’s European and Asian side, runs the Bosphorus, which connects the Mediteraenean and the Black Sea. As I recently had a job on the European side, but live on the Asian side, I was crossing the Bosphorus a few times per week. The best way to see Istanbul is from the water, but what’s also great about these boatrides is the birds that accompany your boat. I tried to capture this in the video below and hope I succeeded. 🙂
If the video playback is iffy, just click on play, pause the video and let it load for a few minutes.
Today’s my girlfriend’s birthday. Look what I made for her! Since I live in Istanbul, and she lives in Sofia, Bulgaria, and we couldn’t be together for her birthday, I still wanted to make something special. So I gathered up some friends and acquaintances at my university and made this! 🙂
There’s many nationalities in there also… Italian, Dutch, Romanian, American, Turkish, Canadian, Greek, German and Czech. I thanked them for their help afterwards.
Hope you all like it as much as my girlfriend did. A little bit less is also okay also. 😉
I do, and that’s the reason why I haven’t been blogging so much (and dropping, for the EC readers). It’s a waiter job and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I make 12 hour days. Never did that before and it’s really tough since you’re standing all the time and since it’s a touristy restaurant it gets extremely busy, guaranteed! Here are some (clickable) pictures of my work:
The job’s quite fun. I get to speak many different languages. Today I’ve spoken Turkish, English, French, German, Dutch, and a little Bulgarian! 🙂
The pay’s not so great though. It’s 50-80 lira per day (about 30 euros) for 12 hours of work. You can do the math and calculate my hourly wage. It’s very hard work and I don’t think most of the visitors realize how hard the staff actually works for what kind of money. I wouldn’t expect it at least. Now that I know, I’ll be a little bit more considerate when tipping in touristy places. Also, some of the visitors thinks that “service costs” means that the tip’s included. Wrong. I don’t get an hourly wage, I get a “commission”, which comes from the service costs (10% of the total check). So next time you see “service” on your bill, TIP!
It’s great to be working in a bar/restaurant again and it’s a nice experience for now. Hard work, but it makes you sleep well at night… and wake up with an aching body the next day. 😉
Off to bed. Gotta get up early tomorrow for another 12 hour day.
, what lamps do you prefer? The mosaic lamps there or the ones above? Though the ones on Amazon are true works of art, I prefer the more exotic ones.
