My daughter Donna came to Istanbul with the Middle East Studies Program (MESP) foreign exchange group in 2016. She asked me: “There was a bombing on Istiklal Avenue. We were told that the Asian side was where we mainly stayed for safety. Have you heard anything about that incident or about any attacks?
No one has mentioned the Istiklal Avenue bombing. I’m sure that we walked by that spot without knowing it. On the Bosporus cruise the guide pointed out a nightclub in the photo along the shore that was bombed in 2017. He said that the number of tourists dropped by 90% for a while after that bombing. Our first guide early in the week said that English-speaking tourists are just starting to come back. We were her first Americans this year.
Today we went to an interesting 360-degree museum that depicts the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmet II in 1453. It shows how they breached the walls with cannons.
See Mehmet in the center facing the walls with thousands of troops behind him.
This painting illustrates Mehmet’s childhood sketchbook.
After leaving the museum, we walked along the shore. Grilled corn is a common street food here in Istanbul.
We took a ferry across the Bosporus to the Asian side. Here is one of their “beaches” in the harbor. Not competition for Virginia Beach.
After disembarking the ferry, we walked up Camlica Hill and looked back toward European Istanbul. Expand the photo to see the hundreds of ships anchored in the Sea of Marmara.
European Istanbul has a significant area of large buildings. The historic area with Galata Tower is to the left (west) of these buildings just out of the photo.
Then walked around the top of Camlica hill and looked in the opposite direction to the east toward Asia. What a stunning discovery to see a completely different section of the city with it’s own huge buildings.
In the evening we arrived at the airport. It’s time to go home. I was impressed by the variety of destinations listed on the departures board.
Hoşça kal to Istanbul (good bye, stay well). Görüşürüz (hope we meet again). To my family – see you soon.
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