One Thousand & One Nights: A Beautiful Trip to Istanbul by Carina Muse

Istanbul, a place filling a young photojournalist with inspiration and emotion.

Carina Muse takes us along her journey through Istanbul.  She captures the simple beauty of the place and the people who inhabit it.  “Recently I was in Istanbul. It was a lovely trip with lot of inspirations and emotions.  I visited several landmarks; Topkapi Palace, which is located behind the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.  The structure and city in general is filled with amazing and beautiful Ottoman architecture, treasure, culture and relics.  From their we witnessed a beautiful view of the Bosphorus entrance to the Marmara sea.”

0 1 2 7 6 5 3 8“The Blue Mosque, also called Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is located in the heart of Istanbul Old town. The name of the mosque is blue because its magnificent interior decorations of blue Iznik tiles.”

11 11a 9 10 11b 11c“Istanbul also has a lovely and small SPICY bazaar, known in Turkish as Misir (Egyptian) bazaar.  As the name suggests, the shops have hundreds if not thousands of different spices and types of food, from caviar to pistachios.  If you like spicy stuff and tea, perhaps this is the place to visit.  Also different colours provides a lot of inspiration and different view of the orient.  It’s like being in a fairy tale, one from orient stories.  It is just a magical feeling.”

10a 11d 12a 12b“Turks love to drink!  They drink tea and Turkish coffee mainly throughout the day.  But when the sun sets, even though Turkey is a Muslim country, Istanbulites are not shy of a few alcoholic beverages.  Rakı– the national drink – obviously claims the first spot, closely followed by (Efes) beer.”

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“So many different cultures blended into the Turkish history, different religions, lots of international people even today.  There are a tremendous amount of artists, musicians and creative individuals all over the city.  Istanbul become a hybrid of past and present.  It is constantly in a state of flux as the old culture preserves itself along the path to modernity, both pushing through side by side.”

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