Impressions of Istanbul & the Bosporus, Turkey
Istanbul is a bit like Rome, in many ways. Not only Konstantinos the Great elevated the city to be the Roman Empire's new capital, the 'Nova Roma', in 330 AD; not only it played, like Rome, a crucial role in preading Christianity over the European continent; but, like in Rome, the visitor of today also finds in Istanbul a city of endless potential to encounter yet another little corner of historical significance or yet another colourful, surprising and inspiring scene of daily life. Do not even begin thinking that with a week's intense visits, you will have taken in Istanbul fully: years of living in the city still do not suffice. Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul? The choice is actually easier than one would think: the initially Greek colony of Megara was called Byzantium after the first local ruler Byzas; in 330 AD Konstantinos the Great transferred the Roman Imperial Capital to this place, and it was henceforth called Constantinople. And Konstantiniyye it remained also after Sultan Fatih Mehmet, Mehmet II the Conqueror had entered the city through the Adrianople Gate, the Edirne Kapısı, on that 29th of May of the year 1453. He did not waste time to convert more or less all Byzantine churches into mosques, and even built new mosques, and so did his successors. But the name remained, until well into the 19th century, when 'Istanbul' humbly became the common reference for the historical core of the city. It still took until 1930 for 'Constantinople' to be formally and fully banned and replaced by 'Istanbul'. What is more relevant today is that the city boasts with both Byzantine and Ottoman treasures of culture and architecture. Walking through Istanbul is a voyage through time, yes, like it is in Rome. But Istanbul has something that Rome does not have: the unique enchantment of the Bosporus, as a blue, curvy artery of life cutting through the landscape whirling with people, bringing together two continents into one single huge environment of diversity.... Only, it is no longer the diversity inherited from centuries of history, of Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Jews and 'Levantine' Christians; this diversity has disappeared quickly in the Republican 20th century, and is gone forever. Nowadays, Istanbul deals with another diversity, the one of a minority of genuine 'Istanbullu' families, rooted in the city since multiple generations, and a vast majority of ethnic Turks and ethnic Kurds and pockets of Assyrians who have all flocked together from the East to the Büyükşehir, the Greater Istanbul, accumulating into a population of millions. How many millions precisely, we really don't know. Like all cities, Istanbul has changed and will continue to change. And this is for me an extra reason to present 'my' impressions of Istanbul, as collected during a sojourn of five years, between 1997 and 2002. I know, in contemporary thinking that's a very long time ago, but the vendors of grilled mackerel sandwiches on the quay of Eminönü are still there, attracting patrons just like then, and the charm and divine beauty of the Blue Mosque, the Aghia Sophia and the Bosporus are probably even more timeless.
* 1998-2002 (incl. Scanned Slides 1998-2000)
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