East and West at the same time?
Welcome to Istanbul, welcome to the city of four empires. Their smells, streets, gastronomy, monuments, people, culture … When I walked around the city, I felt like I was in an ancient movie. Everybody should try their baklava and drink the fantastic tea while listen to the Imam preach his prayers to his faithful followers…It is an experience that everyone has to live at least once in his life.
You should visit its main monuments as Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, the Taksim Square, the Bosphorus, the Basilica Cistern, the Galata Tower, the Hippodrome of Constantinople, the Golden Horn, the Services Bazaar … a mix of cultures in which any person would be surprised.
The traditional turkish breakfast is something amazing to taste! It includes hard-boiled egg, cucumber salad with tomato and olive oil, green and black olives, various types of cheese, bread, butter, fruit jams, honey, some “börek” (pies with meat, cheese or spinach) and of course, the delicious çay, which is the turkish tea. Turkish cuisine, in general, is spectacular. They have many products similar to my cuisine. They use a lot of olive oil to make all their meals.
People are very kind and try to help you all the time. If you visit their bazaars, you feel that you’re with Aladdin and his genius, seeing all their spices and their most typical sweets. They try all the time to sell you any product ” haggling ”. I know that it’s a part of their culture. For me it was a fun experience to bargain the price of a product!
Byzantine, Constantinople or Istanbul I don’t have more words to describe you. It’s a place that I would like to come back again. In 3 days is impossible to know all its history. The Ottoman Empire has many secrets to discover. I invite everybody to go there. Knowing one of the most important ancient civilizations in the world opens your mind more than you can believe.
Thank you for everything and see you soon Istanbul !
