Powell - Days in Istanbul

For 91 Days in Istanbul is an adaptation of the blog For91Days.com. The prose has been polished, cross-references added, formatting adjusted and the best photographs selected.

A number of readers had made the request for a portable edition of the blog. You can bring this e-book with you on a reader or laptop, and you won't need an internet connection to read about our observations and explorations of this amazing city.

Like the website, the e-book is best read as a series of anecdotes, rather than a comprehensive guidebook, or a cohesive travel memoir. Links which lead to other spots within the e-book are highlighted in blue , while those which will open a browser window are colored green .

At the end of most of the topics, you'll find links that lead you to additional pictures we've taken, our YouTube videos, or external websites for further reading. We've also included both a of posts, to assist in navigation.

From the days of the Byzantines right up into today, Istanbul has long been one of the world's most important cities. It was an amazing opportunity to spend three months here, and we're thrilled to be able to share our impressions with you. Whether your interests lie in food, culture, history, art or religion, Istanbul doesn't disappoint. And although 91 days was hardly enough time to spend in a city of this magnitude, we hope that our experiences help enrich your own.

Istanbul, one of the world's great cities, was going to be our home for 91 days. Minarets, mosques, harems, hamams, kebab, coffee, Turkish delights, towers, castles, islands, whirling dervishes, Greeks and Ottomans, hills, ferries, markets and music... it's enough to make the experience-hungry traveler delirious.

It was a Tuesday evening when we arrived at our apartment in Cihangir, a hip neighborhood in the Beyolu district which is popular with artists and foreigners. After the long day of travel, we should have been content with an evening on the couch, but we bundled up and settled down at a cafe in Cihangir Square to do some people watching.

Trendy scenesters with tasseled scarves had occupied the table to our left, while a group of effusive American students were to our right. A couple guys were plastering posters for a rock concert onto a nearby wall, and the decidedly non-Turkish sounds of Depeche Mode were wafting out of the bar behind us. Everyone was smoking, and the liquor store across the street was doing steady business. Were we in the right country? All the preconceptions I had carefully constructed about Istanbul were lying in shards at my feet. (One of these broken shards was reflecting a man with a bushy mustache and a fez; embarrassed, I kicked it underneath the table before anyone could see).

But as the sun set, the calls to prayer sounded from the minarets which, I suddenly realized, were surrounding us. Along the sidewalk, a group of women in headscarves pushed impatiently by another, older group of women in headscarves. We were sipping on strong , and eating rich pastries of honey and pistachio. The kebab-seller on the corner had whittled his dner stick down to the last nibbles. Alright, were were definitely in Turkey... just not quite the Turkey I had been expecting

Istanbul has always held a special allure to me. The fascinating history, unique culture and world-class food are irresistible draws, and it was just a matter of time before Jrgen and I ended up here. We spent the weeks leading up to our trip dutifully reading about Istanbul and learning stock Turkish phrases (teekkr ederim!), and I felt prepared. Confident, even! But once we arrived... once we had seen Istanbul's size and density first-hand, and could feel the enormous weight of its past... only then could we begin to understand how completely overmatched we were. Istanbul in 91 days? Please. We wouldn't even scratch the surface.

But that doesn't mean we wouldn't try. By the end of our three months, our fingernails were chipped, and our fingertips bruised and bleeding from all the frantic scratching at Istanbul's surface. We would meet some Turks, visit both the big sights and less well-known neighborhoods, eat a lot of incredible food, and learn about both the city's complex history and its vibrant present. It was going to be a busy 91 days.

Standing 66.9 meters in height, the Galata Tower dominates the skyline of Beyolu and is one of Istanbul's most instantly recognizable landmarks. Anxious for a birds-eye view on our first full day in the city, we visited the tower, showing up just in time for sunset.

Galata Tower was built in 1348 during the twilight of the Byzantine Empire. In those days, the area presently called Beyolu was known as Galata, and was a colony of the Genoan Republic. Genoa had long-established trading ties with Byzantine and, in 1267, took advantage of its partner's fragile state to claim a prime section of real estate along the Golden Horn. The Galata Tower formed part of the defense walls which were built to protect the community of foreigners.

During its life, the Galata Tower has served many purposes: defense for the Genoese, a 16th-century astronomical observatory under the , a makeshift jail for Christian POWs, and a fire tower (until it was devastated by a fire). But most memorably, it was used as a jump-off point for one of mankind's earliest attempts to fly.

Hezrfen Ahmed elebi was an experimental aviator of the early 17th century. After strapping on artificial wings of his own design, he took a long look over his city, put his faith in Allah, and leaped from the heights of the Galata Tower. The flight was a success, and he landed unscathed on the shores of skdar, six kilometers away over the Bosphorus Strait. Sultan Murad IV was initially thrilled by the accomplishment, but came to view the flying magician as a threat. For his death-defying efforts, elebi was awarded with exile to Algeria (which, as far as Ottoman-era punishments go, was pretty light).

It was about a half-hour before sunset when Jrgen and I showed up at the ticket booth, and we couldn't have been happier with our timing. Here is a true 360 panorama of Istanbul, with amazing views in every direction. Beyolu and our new home of Cihangir to the north, the Bosphorus Strait with its steady flow of tankers to the west, the Golden Horn winding its way inland to the east, and most impressively, the mosques and sights of Sultanahmet directly to the south.

As the sun slowly set behind the Marmara Sea, the city changed color dramatically, from yellow to pink to purple to deep blue. The mosques which Istanbul has in such astounding abundance began to flip on their lights, one by one. And then the chanting started to ring out from the minarets. The sound of so many mournful songs, layered atop each other and echoing from every corner of the slowly darkening city... it was enough to give me goosebumps.

The beginning of our stay in Istanbul coincided with the beginning of March, and the slow onset of spring. The temperature was still cold, but blossoms were starting to appear on the trees and every day was milder than the last. And on the streets, we could sense the optimistic, expectant energy which always goes hand-in-hand with the end of winter.