Predawn Shoot

Enjoying my interactions with the Turks. I think I expected them to be like the Greeks I encountered in Greece. I found them to be generally unhelpful. But there's a sweetness about the Turks, and I feel completely safe in Istanbul, confident to go about before dawn to take photos. The only thing that does scare me is barking dogs, which I encountered yesterday morning.

I was walking to the waterfront from the hotel before dawn, when a taxi stopped for me and dropped me where he said I could take good photos. I walked down a little hill to the water and two great dogs lunged at me from out of the shadows. The dogs' handler appeared from nearby to quiet them. They were chained up, but they were big and I wasn't going to trust the chains to hold them. The dog whisperer waved me on down the street, but a fence was blocking my view and I wasn't sure about the safety of the industrial setting. I went back to the main road and followed it--Kennedy Caddesi--and my nose to a tram stop. Such a delicious smell in the air: baking. I was hungry.

There was no movement at the tramstop. So, further up the road I wandered, taking photos of a beautiful hotel. Still following that delicious smell. Ah yes, a bakery, with lights on. Could I buy what was baking? A cat sitting out the front. (Cats are everywhere in Istanbul.) The baker was moving about inside, but the doors were quite firmly locked against me. I wasn't able to go in and have coffee and biscuits, but I got a killer image--the best shot of that predawn shoot.



A few shots of the New Mosque (Yeni Cami)--completion between 1660 and 1665-- in Eminomu, and then I spied movement at the tramstop. Those fishermen must know the timetable.

Back at Sultanahmet, I found an open cafe. The young waiter invited me to sit down under the heater, and then went off to get a blanket which he draped around my shoulders. First breakfast of lentil soup and cafe latte. A full bowl of baguette hunks rounds on the table.

More photos around Sultanahmet and Ayia Sophia, and then back to second breakfast at the Grand Peninsula.



We decided to hit the museums, as our three day pass would expire, so we followed the hordes into Topkapi Palace. After that we segued into the Archaeological Museum. Lots of cups of tea and pastry to sustain us.


Today we go to the Asian side of town: Beyoglu, Galata, Tunel, Karakoy. I want to visit the Museum of Innocence (a museum created to illustrate the novel "Museum of Innocence" by Orhan Pamuk).

Location:Çetinkaya Sokak,Cankurtaran,Turkey