Here I am in one of the ancient capitals of the world. The city is old and historic, modern and buzzing, riverside, mountainous, European, Asian. Istanbul is wonderful.

The interior of Hagia Sophia, unfortunately undergoing renovations during my visit.

A little history is needed to start. Istanbul, , called so only since 1930, was founded in the 330th century. av. AD under the name of Byzantium, then renamed Constantinople from the year XNUMX. It was successively the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (the "Byzantines"), then the capital of the Ottoman Empire until 'at the end of it following the first world war.

It was of Roman, Catholic, Islamic religion, and this is reflected in its architecture. The most striking example is undoubtedly the very symbol of Istanbul: the Hagia Sophia museum. Built as a church in just five years, and completed in the year 537 (!), It was transformed into a mosque when the city was captured by the Ottomans, nearly a thousand years later, in 1453. Like the Muslim religion forbids the representation of Allah, saints or prophets (including Jesus), these images inside were then replaced by Arabic calligraphy. Minarets were also built outside.

The minarets of mosques are used to call to prayer several times a day. Literally call. At specific times each day, a man starts chanting incantations for a few minutes. The goal of having four minarets was to be able to sing in all directions. Today, the minarets have been modernized and are equipped with loudspeakers.

The Blue Mosque, seen from Hagia Sophia.

The Hagia Sophia Mosque was later turned into a museum in 1934 by the founder of modern Turkey, Atatürk. Wishing on the one hand to please Catholic Europe, and his 98% Muslim country, he decided that the historic building would be neither a church nor a mosque, but a museum with elements of the two great religions having contributed to its construction.

From Hagia Sophia, one can see another great symbol of Istanbul: the Blue Mosque. This incredible construction was also completed in a record time of seven years, between 1609 and 1616. It seems that building a mosque is much faster than building a Montreal hospital.

Located between Europe and Asia, and between two seas, Istanbul is the most cosmopolitan mix there is. In its large bazaars, we meet as many young women with very short panties, as others wearing the niqab, where we can only see the eyes.

What astonished me, however, was to see that several women, especially the younger ones, had their eyes nicely made up under their niqab. Their nails were also often colored and manicured. I would very much like to take pictures of them but unfortunately this was not possible.

I make my tourist

During my four days in the city, I accumulate a total of zero kilometers on my bike. However, I like to play tourist by wanting to see as much as possible. And like a real tourist, I am accompanied.

After my brother left, I found the charming and learned Héloïse, a French friend, I met in Canada, currently residing in Bucharest in Romania, and who was visiting Istanbul. And since she often moves for her work, this information may not even be up to date!

In short, Héloïse and I see Turkish hospitality as we visit the spice bazaar. She is buying tea in a stall when suddenly the lights go off and a dozen people start singing happy birthday to an employee. We are the only customers in the store, but a minute later we have Coke and cake in our hands and I am singing happy birthday in Turkish. Or at least sounds that sound like Turkish words!

The new town

Istanbul is so old that it allows itself to call a new city a district where the most famous building was built in 1348. But besides the superb galata tower, this new part is as buzzing with people as the surroundings of the bazaar ... but with a nightlife much more intense than my nights in a tent!

I also note that fishing is practiced on all the water points, on all sides of the city, and on all the bridges ... and this, at any time of the day or night. At least, every hour I spent on the waterfront!

The good people

On my last day, I also had the chance to meet Celil, a university friend of Heloise ... while they were studying in Germany. I have the impression that these Europeans travel a lot more than us poor North Americans.

Cecil works for the Turkish government in Ankara, the country's capital, and was in Istanbul for the weekend. I thus met a very knowledgeable and interesting man with whom we spoke about Turkey, Europe, history, politics ... In short, my kind of nightlife!

Istanbul undoubtedly has a long and rich history, but I cannot ignore the fact that it has also unfortunately marked modern history for some time. The past year has seen Turkey suffer several terrorist attacks, including a few bombs in the very heart of Istanbul. In fact, just 24 hours after I left, a new bomb exploded in the old town, causing 11 deaths and 36 injuries.

Unfortunately, this creates insecurity for tourists and for the inhabitants of Turkey itself. This has consequences for people like Zapher, a restaurant owner who kindly gave me his phone number in case I needed help in Turkey. This also affects our happy birthday singers and cake givers, and Turks in general who all feel a bit responsible and sad about this situation.

I don't want to tell you where to go or when. Istanbul is however one of the beautiful cities that I have seen in my life, and if you ever have the chance to go there one day, don't miss it, it's full of good people.