The colors of Istanbul

Saturday. Got up so early and excited for the new day. That day I decided to explore more of this beautiful city Istanbul. I sat on the bus and waited impatiently to arrive at the planned place. The bus ride took so long.. During the ride, I was thinking about the day and my expectations. Is that place going to be nice? am I going to like it?

And finally the time for the last bus stop came. I arrived in Aksaray and from there I started walking.. and I walked, I walked… up  to the hill, through the neighborhood of Fatih and after an hour  I arrived to the coziest and most colorful part of Istanbul.

There were so many tiny streets and I was wondering which way to take. Somewhere in the distance I saw some colorful buildings shining bright as if they were touched by the sun. I went that way and heard some voices of women fighting and a policeman standing there. I didn’t understand the situation, I just walked by and freaked out, because I didn’t have my documents with me… and going out without documents in a foreign country as a non-European can be a problem. Then I realized that I am in Turkey and problem yok!(no problem).

I took some pictures of course and continued my way. I was expecting so many tourists, but it was empty. I could just only hear the voices of the angry women and some children  yelling  anne, anne!(mom, mom).

After those buildings I got into one very empty street with no people living in the houses around. They were too old obviously. I was walking around for some minutes, trying to find more things and I finally arrived in front of one house for children which I believe was something like a small theater. It was really nice decorated, with drawings as clowns and dolls in different colors. Inside, it was very small, of course, made for children to fit in and it was full of toys. Around there were children jumping while getting excited about the next game they were going to play and there were even some of them selling books to the people passing by.

The other streets were filled with more of those cute houses which had many vintage shops and cafes above them. I got the desire to have a turkish tea in front one of them and to enjoy the relaxed and silent Saturday morning in this amazing area. I ordered my tea to the readhead waitress and I started reading my book. I could also feel the smell of peacefulness, hot turkish coffee and fresh simit in the air. From time to time I could also hear the laughing of the people sitting at the next cafe which was not destroying the atmosphere at all… instead, it was fitting perfectly.

After I drank my tea I walked a bit down the same street and I saw some tourists, so I decided to follow them. After many hours in this neighborhood, I heard some loud voices and I saw the crowd. There was a cafe full of people taking pictures on the stairs colored in different ways. To be honest, this impressed me a lot because it was made really good and the vibes were even better. There were not many empty tables, I just walked in to see and even though we are in early autumn already, in that moment I could feel the waves of the oceans and the summer breeze which mace me feel fine.

Next to it there was a street covered with red umbrellas and here is where I finished my wandering and ended up as in a maze since I couldn’t find the way which I came from. I took another one which was loooonger and tired me so much, but I won’t complain, because it was really good and worth spending one Saturday there. Balat is really warm, special and different.