As I left the apartment yesterday morning, Istanbul police had cordoned off Taksim Square and Taksim Mosque with metal barricades. This was because of May Day “Global Workers” protests by Turkish civil society associations and trade unions. Raucous protestors chanted the slogan, “Bread, Peace, Freedom”. _____________ “Global May Day protests were reported in major cities worldwide, including […]
This first week back in Istanbul has been a blur… So far, I’ve explored Beyoğlu district and its endlessly-entertaining side streets! Since 2013, Istanbul has been on my travel itinerary, and I’ve visited several times. The last visit, June 2021, was during covid, so of course the atmosphere was entirely different. With a population of […]
The uneventful trip from Thessaloniki to Istanbul was short but tiring, mostly due to airport taxi pickups on both ends. I found taxi pickups in Thessaloniki problematic, primarily because the drivers seemed short-tempered and spoke minus-zero English. Since my apartment was on a sidestreet not open to auto traffic, it was difficult communicating the exact […]
