I simply love Istanbul!
It was the first city that I’ve been visited with a completely different culture from mine and this fascinated me above and beyond.
The history is amazing! Before being called Turkey, the country was called Constantinople, due to Constantine, the Emperor. This part of the history is very important, especially during the Crusades. I’d recommend you to learn about it, you gonna find a lot of interesting information about that time.
The first time I’ve been visiting Istanbul, I had a magical experience. Everything got my attention from a very special standpoint. The city is huge, more than 14 million people. Yeah, this is a plural city but the culture talks out loud, which is fascinating.
One of the things that I most liked, was when in the middle of the chaos suddenly a silence spread on the city in respect to the prayer’s time announced by the minarets of the mosques. This is so beautiful! Looks like the entire city stops to listen the Koran’s message.
In Turkey, bargaining is part of the culture. In some places could be offensive accepting the initial price offer for a product. This part could be funny!
The nightlife in Istanbul is as good as the nightlife in Sao Paulo, New York or Barcelona. There is a bunch of incredible places and party goes all night long.
The city also provides to the visitor some gifts as Grand Bazaar, Bosporus, Topkapi Palace, Spice Bazaar, Basilica Cistern, the experience of taken a Turkish Shower and so many other places to visit and experience that beautiful city!
Last but not least, I learned a lot about culture and respect in Istanbul. We tend to judge people and places without enough knowledge. There’s a lot of prejudice with their religion, habits, lifestyle, etc. Once in Istanbul, or any other city with similar culture, you figure that everything works even being out of the “standard” practices. At that moment, I felt so grateful to be there and understand that what is different is not necessarily wrong, neither right. Just different. And that’s fine.
Probably I’m going to write another posts about Istanbul. The city deserves it 🙂
If you have been there, share your experience!
xoxo