Üsküdar for beginners (3): market and second-hand stuff
The problem with tourists is that they often want to ‘go somewhere’, whereas I usually prefer just to wander around in the streets. But actually, in Üsküdar you can get stuck on busy streets, not knowing where to turn left or right to find somewhere nice. So I’ll direct you to somewhere specific, where you can just wander around: the …
Üsküdar for beginners (2): Şakirin Mosque
Since last month, Üsküdar has had a brand new masterpiece of architecture. It’s a mosque, but not just any mosque: the Şakirin Camii is designed by a woman and is the most modern, light, open and female-friendly mosque I have ever seen. It’s an absolute must-see, as is the big, huge, immense graveyard that surrounds it….
Üsküdar for beginners (1): Kuzguncuk
The tourist season has started, and I always giggle a bit when I see them coming off the boat in my part of town, Üsküdar. They stand there with their travel guide in their hands, looking puzzled at the traffic jam and at the construction works going on for Marmaray, the tube under the Bosporus that is going to connect …
That I would ever come to love Harem bus station (the biggest bus station on the Anatolian side of İstanbul) is sort of a miracle. The first time I was there - on the way to cover this story – I was totally overwhelmed by the shouting of the guys trying to sell tickets, the people sitting …
So what do you do when you’re a small business man in a Turkish village, you’re not an AKP supporter, but the AKP candidate seems to be winning in your village and you need some favours concerning your business after the elections? Then you don’t support the AKP openly, because that would go too much against your principles, but you …
So off I went, to the Turkish Airlines crisis centre near Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport. Twittering some names from the passenger list that I heard on the radio while crossing the Bosporus Bridge in a taxi, and calling the news agency to tell them I had heard some Dutch names mentioned on the list that they didn’t yet have. Of course …
The audience went quite silent when the Turkish-Dutch literary translator answered the question: “Which Turkish book do you like the most?”. She replied: “That would have to be Istanbul, by Orhan Pamuk.” It turned out a majority of the audience of about thirty people had started to read Istanbul but only two had made it all the way …
For an average Dutch person like me, the (first) bridge over the Bosporus is just a bit too much at night. Too many lights in too many colous with too much flickering. On just any night you can see the bridge being yellow, green, red, blue and purple, in any order, and at the same time the coloums …
The bright light bulbs lighting the fish market make the little hamsi fish shiny as if they were made of pure silver. The levreks are placed in neat rows, their bright red gills turned inside out to show their freshness. The fishmonger praises the quality of his produce, shouting out Kalite Kalite Kalite Kalite Kaliteeee! Somebody …
I’m walking along the coast road by the Marmara Sea, alone with my thoughts, a fierce wind in my hair, the sun on my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a guy in a diving suit come out of the water, and another guy in a diving suit dragging a bag of mussels on shore. Then …
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