Starting at the point where looking up one would see the (excellent) Pera museum I made a rambling walk through parts of Beyoğlu and Şişli. I just “followed my nose”, a Dutch phrase indicating that I had no plan whatsoever. I did this because increasingly I find that I so far have tended to stick to the inner parts of Istanbul, and want to know what more there is. The result is a mixture of old and new, of houses about to fall apart and brand new roads and apartment buildings being built. At one point I ran into a film crew (don’t know what they were filming). And twice did I come across a graveyard, one Christian, another Muslim. I will add a few captions in a couple of days, but I have a backlog on other galleries in writing captions.

That the day was rainy and a bit dreary is obvious. And yes, I am aware that both neighbourhoods have thoroughly modern aspects. I got off the metro later at Şişli station and saw a very, very modern part of town. I just did not get there on this ramble.