"So glorious as the panorama looks when the sun paints it over with gold and transforms the smallest shack into a palace: there is an hour where everything seems more wonderful, when in a warm oriental night the quiet boats sweep along the quiet shores. Blurred in the dark one sees the great, loudless city, the eternally locked houses, the so many unknown destinies, so much mysterious life...closed in upon". 

                                        Alexis de Valon

The following pictures were all taken the day before my trip to Kapadokya. My last stroll around the city involved watching the sunset at Süleymaniye mosque, then walking down the hill to Rüstem Paşa mosque, along Eminönü and crossing the Galata bridge to Beyoğlu.

These pictures are a collection of the inspiring views that marked my last hours in Istanbul. Perhaps they tell a story, or maybe it is the visual explanation of why I fell in love with this city. You see, I always wanted to photograph Istanbul, so when I arrived  I guess I just knew what I wanted to capture with the camera. It was like magic.

And that's all what I have left from that trip. A collection of memories, sensations, views. My walks along the Bosphorus, the sound of vapurs mixing with the chant of the muezzins' call to prayer, the gorgeous silhouettes of mosques and their minarets against the sun, the taste of Midye Dolma (aromatic rice-stuffed mussels), the incredible mysterious city that is so lively yet so melancholic that it takes over you.

Istanbul has that effect. It takes over you and stays with you. That's why I feel so identified with what Orhan Pamuk wrote in his book "Istanbul: Memories and the City":

"Because life, as does music, painting or stories will come to an end with all its highs and lows, but the visions of the city that pass before our eyes will be with us through the years as memories emerged from dreams".

View from Süleymaniye mosque.

L'indisputable charme de la vieille ville du Bosphore...

In love with the elegance of Istanbul's silhouettes.

Süleymaniye.

Eminönü boat restaurants.

Eminönü during sunset.

Galata Kulesi.

Old man on Galata Köprüsü.

Routine. Galata Köprüsü & Süleymaniye Camii.

Süleymaniye mosque, Rüstem Paşa mosque & Eminönü.

Memories of a dream...

 X,
Astrid