Istanbul 2019 Photography - M1key - Michal Huniewicz

It's always been my dream to visit Istanbul in winter to see it covered it snow. Well, we saw it covered in rain instead. Our trip was in early February.

Buying a rug/carpet/kilim in Istanbul is no easy feat, as it's remarkably easy to get scammed. The carpets are pricey. After the trip, we created a document that describes how to buy a carpet in Istanbul.

Here's arguably the greatest of all Ottoman inventions - baklava. [1]
Eight years earlier, I visited Istanbul during summer.

What used to be a Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral was turned into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The conquest signified the end of the Byzantine Empire (also known as Eastern Roman Empire - Western Roman Empire being long gone by then). In 1935, it was turned into a museum, but as Turkey is becoming increasingly more Islamic, we could see this decision reversed. [2]

Inside, there are great panes with calligraphy that contain the names of Allah, Muhammad, and others, including the grandsons of Muhammad that we met in my Ashura gallery - Hassan and Husayn. The pane in the middle say Allah. The one on the right, Abu Bakr. In my other gallery from years ago, we visited the same place.

One of the entrances to the Süleymaniye Mosque - the second largest mosque in Istanbul, once used to store ammo. We though this door was very Prince of Persia.

Ammar inside the mosque.

There is a caravanserai within Istanbul, and while it's poorly maintained and it's no longer possible to go on the roof (known as Büyük Valide Han), we found this café run by a Persian girl.

Waiting for our coffee.

The café has nice views of Istanbul and the Bosphorus.

We were served coffee with rose water and Turkish delight. Ammar thought those little pebbles were edible - they were not. We called them rock candy to annoy him.

We travelled in an uber to the Black Sea. I found and saved this jellyfish.

This is a 14th century Genoese castle in Kumköy (aka Kilyos). The Turks restored it during the Mahmud II era, but now it's a closed-off military zone. [3] By Genoese, we mean the Republic of Genoa, one of the Italian maritime republics. It attracted artists like Caravaggio or Rubens as well as wealth, had colonies in the Crimea, rivalled with Venice, and was annexed by the French in the 18th century. [4]

Istanbul takes good care of its stray cats and dogs. The authorities look after them them providing not only food but also vaccinations and veterinary assistance. The animals don't fear humans - instead they quite shamelessly demand love & attention. We met these having a quiet evening by a fireplace in a little restaurant not far from the Grand Bazaar.

The cats were messing with the dogs who did not care.

Turkey was once an example of country that's both Muslim-majority and democratic. It's been becoming less democratic and more Islamic recently, and the new Istanbul airport has the so called "Turkish toilets" as opposed to "European" - meaning a hole in the ground.

We decided to visit the Grand Bazaar, where you can smoke shisha with the locals. We could only produce a pathetic amount of smoke from our lungs, but nobody cared.

In the trendy Çukurcuma neighbourhood.

A view of the Golden Horn from the Galata Tower. Far on the right, Topkapı palace.

So I did buy one in the end...!