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Be aware! Istanbul awaits you.
Being at the moment away from him (Istanbul is definitely a lover to me, thus a “he”) let his image once more crystallize.
A huge, rewarding challenge euphemistically called a mega city (which I’d rather bluntly name a populational metastasis). And yet this is but a soulless fact. To get the most out of him, you have to go beneath the surface.
According to your mindset you can see him like a sepia photo (as Orhan Pamuk so savoringly does which might require certain background knowledge/life experience in town though), a decent black and white shot or a vivid color Polaroid. Or, ideally, a collage of all of them.
A 2.600 years old settlement, Istanbul comprises countless overlapping, mutually annulling, enhancing, reinforcing, contradicting layers. The impressions you’d get would be accordingly, depending on your perceptional gear, so to speak.
True, he can push your limits (oh, yes, and how he can!), tries your patience (with his maddening traffic, among others, similar to a lava eruption still hellish hot that comes to a halt). Sedate or over stimulate your senses through his chaotic dynamism. He can hurt your eyes with his newer neighborhoods (that brutal violation of all sense esthétique). As well as fascinate with his uniqueness (just think of the Bosphorus, lacelike shoreline, magnificent historical landmarks) and, win your heart with his friendly people (although one cannot be prudent enough in a 13.5 million city).
But if you shift your approach from that of a tourist to the traveler’s (that is, leaving your expectations aside and opening yourself up to here and now) your resilience could be hugely rewarded. This is also when you begin going beneath the surface. And recognizing patterns, leitmotivs and the links between those layers that constitute this place.
Oh, not as complicated at all as it sounds –I just love sounding as an elaborately sauced meal, a personal weakness. Just sitting in a traditional “kahve” as my dear friend Katie loves doing when visiting the town, and watching people pass would give you a glimpse, for example, into the colorful human landscape.
So, my friends, what I would recommend to you so that you enjoy your stay at maximum is this: relax and be observant. Forget for a while all you do know, be like a fisherman who throws out his net ready to be content with what and how much he’d catch instead of attempting to push a shopping list to the sea.
Looking forward to your visit,
Yours truly
Some useful links:
www.atdaa.com
www.mymerhaba.com
www.ibb.gov.tr/sites/ks/en-us/Pages/Home.aspx
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