Food – part 2: delicacies, pastries and desserts

I can promise you that this post is guaranteed to be sweet. And furthermore, I can assure you that if you taste all these treats, you won’t have to feel a sweet craving for a while – Turkish treats are that rich. In this post, you’ll first see delicious options and assortments with photos, and finally, you’ll hear interesting stories about traditional Turkish delicacies.

Street animals in Istanbul – homes and food

I have already mentioned before that Istanbulites love and respect all animals – without limits. Even after years, I cannot help but be touched by the beautiful way Istanbulites take care of the animals living on their streets. In this post, you catch a glimpse of this compassion through photos of homes and food offered to street animals.

Freedom Park (Özgürlük Parkı) – a diverse and verdant oasis

The megacity of Istanbul is a green, active, sporting, artistic, and even child-friendly city, as long as you venture beyond the traditional historical tourist area. You can find all of this, for example, in Freedom Park (Özgürlük Parkı) located on the Asian side, where you can spend a fantastically diverse day, starting with a rich Turkish buffet breakfast on the terrace of the park’s restaurant.

Istanbul’s shopping malls – paradises for the modern shopper

While Istanbul is a unique city, particularly due to its location and history, it is by no means just about history. Istanbul is also a modern and international metropolis. One example of this is the city’s numerous splendid shopping malls, which are shopping paradises for trend-conscious shoppers. As we now go on to explore this luxury, you may be surprised to see how far we’ve come in nearly 600 years from Constantinople’s Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s first shopping centers – where you can still shop to this day.

Bazaars of Istanbul – exuding history and the colors of life

During your visit to Istanbul, the bazaars are, of course, an obvious experience that you must encounter. They are full of colorful, fragrant, variegated and energetic life – that is, everything that you cannot experience at all in, for example, my home country of Finland. But did you know how many different types of bazaars you can find in Istanbul? Or that the locals also go to the bazaars?

Bosphorus Cruise – experience the most beautiful Istanbul

If you only have the chance to explore one place during your visit, I definitely recommend this one: go cruising on the waves of the Bosphorus. The Bosphorus is the pearl of Istanbul, or rather the soul of the whole city, without which the magic of Istanbul would perhaps disappear completely. Every time I return to Istanbul, the most important thing for me is still to go first to breathe the turquoise winds of the Bosphorus.

The sandy beaches of Istanbul

I am often asked: “where can you swim in Istanbul?” This is a complicated question, to which you will probably get a different answer from every Istanbulite. In this post, I will try my best to gather basic information about Istanbul’s beaches, so that you can choose the beach that is right for you. And now we are talking specifically about sandy beaches suitable for swimming.

Kuzguncuk – ”The sweet delicacy of Istanbul”

In this post I’ll introduce one of my favorite neighborhoods, Kuzguncuk, for which I’ve given the nickname “sweet delicacy”. This neighborhood is reinvigorating with its visuality as well as its idyllicity, and it is guaranteed to make you smile. It’s best to let the photos speak for themselves, because words may not be enough to describe all the beauty and the unique atmosphere …