No need to remind it, Istanbul is a City suspended between two worlds, sitting on both sides of the Euro-Asia, or Western-Muslim, worlds.

What strikes the western traveller,  the two worlds are not clashing, at least on surface, rather they are creating overlapping layers (perhaps talk ing of blending is wrong).

The Nobel Prize winner Ohran Pamuk tells us the layers are not only a social or cultural phenomena, they are  deeply rooted in the individual feelings and in the self-representation of a non-negligible share of the Turkish leading class.

Human touch

Istanbul.

 The pedestrian underpass (yaya alt geçidi) at the southern end of the Galata Bridge is crowded (really, it is very crowded!see the picture below).

But even in the mess the Human touch emerges.

Definitely Turkish

Istanbul, Tunel Meydani.

in front of the tram stop. While You wait for the tram You are under the scrutiny of a typical european glamorous fahion model in the ad.

But she is just glancing at You behind a Turkish flag

A Place in the Sun

Istanbul,

the garden between the Egiptian Bazar and the Yeni Camii.

A young man with three ladies wearing a chador. One of them, it is the youngest in my imagination, sits apart.

But she is in the sun!

Young men shopping

Strolling around for shopping at weekends is common among young people. One could argue it is a consequence of modern times when shopping places are the main socialising loci.  However, this picture recalls me of old times when boys and girls did not walk in the streets an squares separately.