Galata

My sister turns forty this year and to mark the occasion, we are doing a city break to Istanbul, starting today. I can’t remember much about my previous brief visit in 2013, and it promises to be an excellent few days. Istanbul is a fascinating and dynamic place.

We were making tracks to Manchester Airport by around 4am, so it was a bleary journey and day. But it meant we arrived in Istanbul by afternoon and could set out exploring one of the main commercial boulevards, İstiklal, which means independence in Turkish. As İstiklal peters into the hilly and medieval Genoese quarter, the Galata Tower emerges through the crowded streets. This was originally constructed as a watchtower and is now an exhibition space and museum. Galata provides an excellent reference point for milling about in the warm summer evening air, which is precisely what we did.