4.13.2013

Picnics by the sea


One of the most appealing things about Istanbul is the sea that splits it. It’s the one stretch of calm in a city full of noise and revelry and agitation. With the onset of the hedonistic Istanbul summer,  it provides the perfect venue for city picnics. 

At thriving food market just around the corner, we filled a bag with humus, freshly grilled octopus, red pepper and ricotta paste, olives wrapped in anchovies, stuffed vine leaves and bakery bread still warm from the oven.

We took all this down to the water and laid our spread on one of the wide, flat table-like rocks next to a group of Turkish men contentedly singing old Turkish songs into the night. There we stayed and gorged ourselves until the last of the light faded and the iconic mosques of Sultanahmet glowed luminescent across the dark expanse of water.

4.11.2013

Tophane on a sunny afternoon...


On a balmy Sunday afternoon a group of us gathered in a roadside park in Tophane to soak up the city (exhaust fumes and all). Our attention was soon being demanded by an ostentatious pair of male interpretive dancers who had made their stage on a neighbouring patch of grass. We all wondered at first if they had taken something, so childishly shameless was their prancing and frolicking, but it eventually became clear that their inhibitions were so low that no narcotics were required. 

This double act was not long without competition, however. As the sounds of a scuffle punctuated the steady drone of the notorious Istanbul traffic, our heads collectively swivelled to take in the latest spectacle. On first seeing the thrashing and struggling of a group of young men, we thought perhaps this was a rival dance troupe. However, when the knotted brawl dispersed to reveal a teenager with blood streaking from a knife wound in his arm, we realised that this wasn’t quite as benign as the performance to our right. In true ‘westerner’ fashion, we all started to make noises about calling an ambulance. This (in our view) seemingly obvious course if action seemed not even to occur to the small clutch of men surrounding the victim. In fact, he was saved by a passing dustbin man who, as casually as if he were tying his shoelaces, dropped his load from his shoulders, swept off the victim’s belt and fastened it firmly around his upper arm to stall the bleeding. He did this within about 30 seconds, after which he hauled his load back onto his shoulders and went on his way. Clearly this was not the first knife wound he’d dealt with. Still not an ambulance in sight, the boy was eventually bundled into a taxi.

Always something to see in Istanbul.