Pera

Hmm
Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Beyoğlu (silent g - or rather, "soft" g)
The hood.
The district I am staying in, Besiktas, is not the place to be at night but it is conveniently close to Beyoglu.

Beyoglu is huge - it is also a place where I have spent a lot of my time in Istanbul - this calls for some explaining.

There are different sections of Beyoglu, we'll start with Taksim.



Taskim is the sqaure. It is where you can find all forms - buses, cabs, subway - the whole shabang. It is the most convenient location in the entire city to get you directly where you need to go. Taksim is at the top of Istiklal Avenue.

Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue)
There isn't an hour when you won't find this street bustling. Along the pedestrian street there are neo-classical, neo-gothic, and art noveau styled buildings from 19th cent/ 20th cent Ottoman days.





On the ground floor of these buildings there are boutiques, posh shops, galleries, book stores and cafes. Running between these stores is a classic red tram that goes from Taksim (at the top) down to Tunel (bottom).

About half way down Istiklal Ave there are the gates to one of the oldest high school in Turkey, established in 1481, Galatasaray Lisesi is a French school.



Tucked away in just past the lycee hides on of my favorite cafes. It is named after the man known as the eye of Istanbul, Ara Guler (who I presume to be the owner). The old grouch sits in the corner as some of his most photographs decorate the walls.
(A couple of his photos and one of the man himself)





Moving on down Istiklal there are street performers from blind accordian players, to old men playing traditional folk instruments, to bohemian hippies instruments that I don't actually know the names of. Sure, they accept money but they also accept cigarrettes which I find a bit amusing.





But it isn't just on this 3k long avenue where all the life is - it is on the side streets. You turn onto one street that leads you to another hidden corner where you find another. On these streets where only the locals have an idea of where they are going there are establishments which everyone has their preference to.
Outdoor cafes, pubs, drinking on terraces, underground clubs - night life is all there.





And when it gets to be around 4 in the morn and you find yourself starving after some olympic style drinking there is the street food that never sleeps. Meals like baby lamb intenstines, liver, muscles filled with rice, and the "wet" burgers await you with their tacky flashy lights.




But it's not just the structures that make this place, it's the people. You meet a person one night and you see them the next day and you feel like you've known him/her for years. I'm constantly running into familiar faces, and it makes this huge city feel a little smaller.



Once I was talking to a friend of mine, who lives in Cihangir (a hip/Euro area of B-town), and I asked what other parts of Istanbul he liked and he said, "I guess I'm kind of like Orhan Pamuk. I don't leave Beyoglu if I don't have to." And though I can get tired of being around all the chaos of the area myself, it sucks you back into its madness. Eventually, you miss it and you crave the crazies. Maybe that's the beauty of Beyoglu.

(Galata Tower - at the end of Istiklal Cad)



*Some pictures I took. Some I did not.*