One day during our vacation in Istanbul, we took a ferry to Heybeliada, one of the Prince Islands. It was a gorgeously sunny day, the water was clear and plenty of strangers offered to hold Darwin during the boat ride, leaving me free to photograph the Bosphorus. Once on the island, we admired the charming …
Tag Archives: Turkey
the worst thing about Istanbul
This isn’t quite so relevant now, considering all that’s happening right now in Istanbul. The worst thing about Istanbul is the unnecessary use of force by the police against protestors. But during more peaceful times, this is what made me seethe with rage during my time in Istanbul. The costumed ice cream servers. I have …
Street art in Istanbul
Posting is going to be a bit Istanbul-centric for a bit for a few reasons. First, I decided I need to be better about posting the photos I take (if they’re any good, duh). I take the photos and decide not to delete them because I feel they’re worth sharing, so (here’s the great logic) …
Soviet architecture exhibit
When I was in Istanbul, I had the opportunity to check out a photography exhibit on Soviet architecture at Salt Galata. It was a really interesting exhibit and was displayed in a creative way. I loved looking at the retro photographs and hunting for references to Kyrgyzstan (although it seems that Georgia, Ukraine, and [duh] …
the best Turkish coffee
This was my third trip to Istanbul and I was determined to drink as many tiny cups of Turkish coffee as I could get my hands on, so when I read this NPR article about Turkish coffee, I paid particular attention to the cafe mentioned in the first line, Mandabatmaz. The hotel we stayed at …
Istanbul is baby-crazy
I thought Kyrgyzstan was baby-crazy. I started an album on Facebook to share photos I snapped of waitresses and strangers (and some friends and family members) who would insist on holding Win when I’m out (usually to my delight if I was trying to have a nice meal without dripping lagman all over his head). …
Kirstin in Istanbul (again)
I’m heading to Istanbul (again)! Be back in a week.
Turkey, part 3; Istanbul…meh
My final days in Turkey were spent in Istanbul. Crowded Istanbul. Crowded, touristy Istanbul. I have to admit that I really wanted to like it more, but it left me feeling sour and grumpy. I’ll expand in a later post, for now, enjoy the photos. Inside the Hagia Sofia. Kitty. What a strange drink! Fermented …
Turkey, part 2: various old stone things
More photographic evidence of my trip to Turkey. After Canakkale, we made our way to Bergama (via the highly inefficient bus route through Izmir). It was charmingly small-town and stocked with plenty of ancient ruins to gawk at. And gawk we did. View from the balcony of our guesthouse. The owner of the guesthouse grew …
Turkey, part 1: old stuff, ferries, guided tours
I don’t usually do this much moving around, but I’m almost tempted to set up a little “Where is Kirstin?” badge. I do still technically live in Bishkek; it’s where my cat and most of my clothes/possessions are. For now I’m just doing a bit of traveling. First up, a week in Turkey. We landed …
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