Have a look at this site whose manifesto I quote here:
M A N I F I E S T O
We are currently working on an alternative city map for Istanbul. Our main aim is to make the different aspects of overall urban renovation processes clear, visualizing the major actors, motives, motivations and results of these processes on a map.
do not miss the istanbul street style page, created by the ISS Team. nice photoblog.
Just to say hello after a long while with a quote from a TDN article. After changing my address, i have been playing with my own blog and neglected others. Hopefully, i will be on track soon and as the news reviewer, let me quote this:
Ayşegül Akyarlı Güven says:
The 50 thousand foreigners living in Istanbul prefer to live in historic areas like Galata, Balat, Gümüşsuyu, Cihangir and Beyoğlu, but demand for Salacak and Fenerbahçe on the Anatolian side, and Ulus, Levent and Maslak on the European side is on the rise. Zekeriyaköy is the choice for those who prefer seclusion, while those looking for a secure environment prefer Kemerburgaz and Bahçeşehir….
This certainly enriched the cosmopolitan nature of Taksim and its environment and might do the same for other districts but the only negative consequence of this development, I can think of at the moment is that most of local people might not be able to afford rents and prices there. This is already what is happening in Cihangir….
Icadiye Caddesi and its side streets popped out of the March gloom into a few moments of sunshine this week. This old neighborhood makes for some incredible scenery and poking around. You can find it just north of the ferry terminals in Uskudar.
One of yesterday’s striking issues was a proposal that Ahmet Genç, the mayor of Eyüp, a conservative district of Istanbul that includes an area of the Golden Horn in question, proposed to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council last Friday to change the name of Pierre Loti Heights to the “Eyüp Sultan Heights.” Eyüp Sultan, a holy man and disciple of Prophet Mohammed, was buried near the site in 1458 and his remains are in a mausoleum there known as a “Türbe.”
The council made a decision late yesterday afternoon and determined the name “Pierre Loti Heights” should remain as it is and therefore rejected the proposal, reported CNN-Turk…..
Well, why one needs that? That name is there for years and why one needs threatened with that? Of course, there are ideological and cultural answers, i am not that naive (!)
As Istanbul bloggers, we could design a more personalized and detailed “map” but here is what we have. Today in Radikal, a short piece points out some cheap but good spots in Istanbul…
I guess, we haven’t seen Unkapanı Bridge like that before. This bridge is one of the three bridges over the Golden Horn and it was on the march route during Hrant Dink’s funeral…
Here is one more shot from the funeral. In front of the building Agos’ offices are…
(more…)
After several days break the fog has come back today.
In the meantime we had a mild and sunny Sunday, which I regarded as an opportunity to go to Islands.
Walking on the narrow, steep or stepped streets of Heybeliada while adoring those old, elegant wooden houses, sometimes losing myself in carvings of doors or windows of those houses, eavesdropping talks of chatty seagulls, talking with extremely well-fed, cuddly cats of Heybeliada, watching the clear blue sea and sky and also İstanbul at the distance through those wooden houses or pine trees, walking through the pine forest and smelling that pleasant smell of pines.
In one of my previous posts I wrote: “I love strolling on the Islands…during winter, I should add, during which I can hear my footsteps..during which I hear nothing except my own footsteps. Naturally far away sounds of waves can be heard… and the sound that wind creates among pine trees. Those are the times I meet noone, but cats and maybe dogs. Those are the times the Islands are deserted, but not dejected.”
Well…if you go to Islands nowadays, you can smell pine trees, see beautiful landscape and houses, hear talks of seagulls, dogs and cats, spend a few hours enjoying peace and solitude… and hear your own footsteps… Do you have any chance to hear your own footsteps on the streets of İstanbul? (Except the ladies who wear those exremely high-heeled shoes!) You will have all these plus ached legs because of climbing steep streets:)
The red church…well it is Agia Nikola Church, but since I was a little girl I kept on calling it as “Red Church” Do I have to explain why?
I suddenly came across a small tangerine tree loaded with its orange coloured fruits in a garden of a house… I clapped my hands in delight: because of İstanbul’s high latitude and its average weather conditions are much colder than usual citrus growing regions, citrus trees are rare in İstanbul. But still Istanbulites try to cultivate citrus trees for decoration purposes and coming across them when they are loaded with fruits makes ‘gloomy’ winter days shine…
Cuddly cats of Islands are not only chubby but also chose the weirdest places to sit!
I’ll be quite out of the topic now: when we will have the real winter? Rain and snow? It snowed at the beginning of November and from then on nothing! No rain, no snow…
Suzy Menkes in A futuristic mall is new Turkish playground says:
It does not have quite the cachet of the Hagia Sofia or the Blue Mosque. And it was not on the itinerary of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit last week to this city of domes, minarets and traffic jams. But the futuristic swoop of Kanyon’s arresting architecture is a landmark in Istanbul’s burgeoning consumerism. In a city that has become a hip destination for visitors and a magnet for its own country’s population, this shopping center for the 21st century is Turkey’s new playground….
I think as Ms Menkes says Istanbul’s malls might be a real attraction for Istanbul visitors in near future… Time to rewrite guide books:)
Vatan newspaper just announces that Kanyon was given the Cityscape 2006 Architectural Review award….
Thanks to Filmekimi (”Filmoctober” and/or “Filmcultivation” - our lovely, little, one week film festival) I’m on İstiklal Street every night (after the last screening, of course!).
Heyyo! Kestaneciler (chestnut vendors who sell fresh made roasted chesnuts) are everywhere:) And so the smell of roasted chestnut…
(Yes, I know chestnut vendors and so the delicious smell of roasted chesnuts have been around for some time, but for some reason roasted chestnut suits İstiklal Street more than any street.)
Aksanat was converted into TeknoSa.
It’s quite mysterious: on the one hand they arrange Picasso, Rodin exhibitions, on the other they convert the precious Aksanat building into TeknoSa - as if we have enough art centers but not enough technology shops, as if it is mandatory to have technology shops at every 10 meters! I don’t know what you’ll do, but I’ll never step foot in any of TeknoSa shops again.
Apart from usual souvenirs of film festivals, various, interesting little things are also being sold as film festival souvenirs now. For people like myself who collect things like ants and attach emotional value to them and so get emotionally attached to them, that’s a good news…
Today is the last day of Filmekimi…
It was the first festival after İsmet Bey’s death…
His absence was conspicuous. I had looked for his polite face among the crowd in Emek Movie Theatre’s foyer; he was a perfect example of İstanbul beyefendisi (İstanbul gentleman). He had administered Emek Movie Theatre for 30 years. Without people like him we wouldn’t have movie theatres like Emek or film festivals.
It was past midnight…
Coffee shops were filled with people…
Though it was cold, rainy and past midnight people were strolling down the street merrily… (Why am I talking ridiculous? All those people were Cinderellas who had to be back at home before the final stroke of midnight? No!… So let them ejoy the street till morning…)
