The memory of a great view: Pierre Loti, Istanbul

A few days ago I spoke with a colleague who, on my recommendation, visited Pierre Loti in Istanbul. I will use this Thursday and #TBT to remind myself of the photos I took during the same tour 15 years ago.

The tours of some attractions in Istanbul, during my stay of those 10 days, were different from any subsequent ones, as well as from the future ones, which I will have when I have the opportunity to visit for a few days. Because in those 10 days, I was almost like a local, I visited some locations, less known to tourists, and that's when I discovered the true soul of Istanbul.

Riding a water taxi, a boat on the Bosphorus Bay, I did not disembark at the last stop at the Galata Bridge and from the deck I watched the coast of Istanbul in the Golden Horn Bay.

The cable car caught my attention. I asked where she drives and got the answer: Pierre Loti.

OK, let's see... We waited in line for a free gondola cabin and after a few minutes, the gondola cabin transported us above the monument of the Turkish cemetery on the slopes of the hill that the gondola was climbing.

Out of respect for the eternal inhabitants of that place, we did not enter the cemetery so as not to disturb the peace and tranquility of that place, but I took the opportunity to take pictures of several monuments from the gondola cabin. The cabin of the gondola passed above the graves, and in some part even at the height of them, so it was possible to read the names or the years in which the deceased persons moved into their eternal homes.

And at the top, when we left the gondola cabin, we stepped into a timeless space. Only a few details of modern architecture, for example, glass in restaurants or on the fence of the terrace with a fantastic view of the Golden Horn, remind you that you are in the 21st century.

But when you look at the cobbled streets, the well-kept park, the stone wall of the fortress or the uniforms of the waiters in one of the places where you can drink fantastic mint tea, you can easily be fooled and think that you are in the 18th or 19th century...

Drinking sweetened mint tea from small glass cups, with a great view from the terrace next to tables with checkered tablecloths, made my stay at this discovered gem unforgettable, so much so that in the following years, I recommended the same to anyone who headed to Istanbul for more than three days. Because only those who have been in Istanbul for more than three days can wish, like me, to discover another interesting location, outside of the standard tourist tours. It gives me pleasure when those to whom I have recommended places to visit in Istanbul return from their trip and tell me what their experience of the places I have been to...