The last decade has seen the development of a glamorous clubbing scene in Istanbul. Now the city also has a burgeoning alternative nightlife, and a new brand of indie music
By Simon Akam
ISTANBUL (Reuters Life!) – Turkey’s largest city is a 2010 European Capital of Culture filled with the treasures of a glorious past from the Roman and Ottoman empires, while straddling the Bosphorous Strait where Europe meets Asia.
As Turkey’s largest film activity, the International Istanbul Film Festival drew an audience of 162,000 last year. This year the programme is, once again, packed to the brim.
“A Revival in Istanbul
Carolyn Drake for The New York Times
Deniz Palas, new home of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, with its neon chandelier.
By YIGAL SCHLEIFER
UNTIL only recently, the 90-year-old Deniz Palas (Sea Palace in Turkish) in Istanbul?s Sishane neighborhood was a perfect symbol of the city?s faded glory. Originally a grand apartment building that catered to the area?s once large Greek-speaking community, the edifice ? and the surrounding neighborhood ? slowly slid into a state of decay over the decades, as political and economic turbulence drove the area?s original residents away. Now, though, the building symbolizes nothing less than the city?s cultural resurgence.”
La foule sur les quais de Constantinople | Crowd on the quays of Constantinople
found in Sur les quais de Constantinoplefrom Mavi Boncuk by M.A.M
Here are some of the upcoming concerts. All major bands will be in town!
07 March
| Destruction Istanbul konseri yer: Jolly Joker Balans Destruction, Electric Circus, Murder King, Kırmızı, SST, O.K. Band | Jolly Joker Balans İstanbul, Türkiye |
More photos can be found here.
Istanbul is under snow and life stopped in our European capital of culture. I decided to give a break to my life, and now camping in my parents’ place. Watching tens of episodes of How I Met Your Mother, reading, eating and napping. But this of course entails family thingies like watching food (in the morning) and marriage programs (afternoon) with mum….I hear that snow will be affective until Monday…
Another Istanbul 2010 video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C8xWl8dq1k
German Merian magazine has a feature on Istanbul. Nice photos thru Hürriyet.
An ironic wink and nudge come with the restaurant name Eski Kafa, which is also a Turkish term for ?old fashioned to the hilt.? This little eatery, with its Zen lodge décor and signage boasting ?all natural? ?organic? and ?without hormones? is also decidedly new age ? to the hilt.
İstanbul hosts 7.5 mln tourists last year
Today’s Zaman
More than 7 million tourists visited İstanbul, the capital of both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, last year, according to official figures.
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Started the day with brunch at La Mekan (I will definitely post about this place) with Can. It is just in walking distance to our apartment. To start the day there always makes me happy. It satisfies my quest for a good diner like I used to have in Houston. Then I moved to santralistanbul to my office and spent the day until evening there. Youth Studies Unit was having a hip hop workshop with high school kids, otherwise I haven’t seen any colleagues and I did hang out in my office alone. No one would complain of loud music. How nice. I got tired of longer hair and had an haircut in our campus hairdresser, now I am as if I have just come from the Service, then I had more coffee and did some more work and when it was around 8 pm as no body was left in the building, I began to feel self-pity and it was time to leave.
Then the second and more colorful part of my day began: Thanks to Çiğdem Buğdaycı, I first stopped by a small art galery in Cihangir: Çukurcumart. Not always but on some Saturdays there are Jam sessions there. We attended one yesterday. We were offered super quality wine, warm, cinnamon, juicy..
Here a few drawings exhibited in the gallery (more can be found in the Facebook page:
