After a fun and stressful conference in Athens, I took a quick hop over to Istanbul where I got to hang out with my best buddy from high school who moved back to his hometown!

To cover my week-long Istanbul trip, this will be split into 5 posts:

Part 1: Day 1/2

Part 2: Day 3/4 + Misfits

Intermission: Catstanbul

Part 3: Day 5/6

Part 4: Day 7/8

Day 1

After arriving at my friend’s apartment and lathering up with sunscreen, we begin the weeks’ exploration by crossing the Bosphorus and wandering around the streets of Üsküdar. The first couple hours I spent in this district set the tone for the awesome culture in store for me this week.

Firstly, the cats…they’re everywhere and they’re adorable. From this entire Turkey trip, I kept 468 photos…of those, 184 of them are of cats. That’s why the cats get a dedicated post. In the meantime, however, I’ll just show the first few cats I encountered. Most cats were either just napping, chilling, playing, or eating the kibble left out by locals and shopkeepers.

Secondly, the people here are storied, friendly, and proud. As I walked up a narrow street, this older man, seeing this very out-of-place Asian guy stalking stray cats, approached me speaking in Turkish. Not knowing a lick of Turkish yet, I quickly gestured for my friend to come save the day. This complete stranger was trying to tell me three things: 1) he, too, liked photography, 2) he owns the cafe behind him, and 3) he has lived on this very street since he was born. He then proceeded to pull out his phone and began showing me pictures of the very street we were standing on from different eras of his life. He showed me what this whole block looked when he was a teenager. He showed me a picture of his very first motorcycle, proudly parked in front of his cafe. He showed me his first few cars along with a black and white photo depicted his bustling cafe from still more than a decade ago. At the end of his wholesome ramble, he asked me to take his photo, which I obviously obliged. Who knows, he might show this photo to a future traveler…

After that pleasant encounter, we kept wandering through narrow roads filled with cats until something caught our eye: a beautiful white-marble and emerald-glass mosque perched on hill. Climbing the hill gave us beautiful views of the mosque, its feline guardian, and the many bridges crossing the Bosphorus.

Next, we took the subway to Kadıköy, a chill residential area on Istanbul’s Asian shore, for a nice dinner with my friend’s family + a seaside walk.

We ended the day looking out into the marina, where Kınalıada Island can be seen out in the distance.

Day 2

As I would find out every morning, there is a little chimney right outside my bedroom window where gulls like to perch. I think we’ve all been there…

Today, we begin in the Nişantaşı district, which has some more upscale boutique stores mixed in with art nouveau architecture.

From here, we meander our way towards Galata Tower. I don’t really like paying to go up to these crowded vista points, so we instead hung out at a rooftop bar nearby and got an equally good view of the historic mosques in old Istanbul.

Next up, we head into my favorite area of Istanbul: Karaköy. This area is pretty hip with awesome vibes, great food, and a super photogenic atmosphere. It’s also next to this huge mall/cruise ship port called Galataport. I spend the rest of the day just exploring all of this.