Archives for “Art & culture” tag

Karga is not only a much loved bar, but also a much esteemed art and culture center.

On the first two storeys of Karga, there is a bar decorated with authentic soulful, mostly preused and/or recycled pieces, hand picked by the owners of the place. The atmosphere is always warm (not only because of the nice fireplace) and lively with an amazingly eclectic musical repertoire, which reflects the hard core policy of the bar of ‘not belonging to anything!’

Most of the customers are regulars who look like, and many are, old friends. The atmosphere is such an encouraging, accepting one, even if you are a first timer, or just a visitor, it is not difficult at all to blend in and establish new friendships. The more chaotic the better they like the place> again a powerful emphasis on not belonging to any categorization.

Karga has a nice, rich and reasonably priced menu along with especially cheap beer, and other drinks. Everything is facilitating customer loyalty, hence so many frequenters. They also have a small courtyard downstairs where you can enjoy a late-afternoon beer.

On the upper two floors, they have an art gallery called Karga Art. They host many different but all very engaging art organizations, and events. You can stumble upon a film production workshop, an internationally renown comics writer and artist, a dance studio, or some other activity.

On 26th October they celebrated their 15th year in business, which is a rare thing for such off the beaten track places in Istanbul.

While in İstanbul people always tend to ask me “what else could we visit/see”. If they are all through with the “classics”, I suggest they have a look at the Pera Museum.

The Pera Museum is very centrally located and with its periodical enticing exhibitions and constant collection exhibitions (i.e. Orientalist Painting / Anatolian Weights and Measures / Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics) it’s a must for me.

If you are into art where you can vision scenes of İstanbul and Daily Life in the Ottoman world between the 17th to the early 20th century you need to have a stop here.

The new temporary exhibitions in Pera Museum are as follows:

Manolo Valdes Paintings and Sculptures

8 May – 21 July 2013

Can there be a better combination? A museum, permanent collections, exhibitions, a quality restaurant, a peaceful garden, great looking building and even better bosphorus view. So it is easy to see why Sabancı Museum is the first thing I would do if I had only one thing to do in Istanbul (after the old town square of course).

The museum is named after the most famous business man of Turkey, Sakıp Sabancı. Sabancı family invested in the cultural development of Turkey with this museum and a top notch university. The location of the museum is convenient and beautiful: drive up north, passing under the second bosphorus bridge. It is by the sea, with a great garden that you can relax in.  

There are permanent art exhibitions owned by the Sabancı family, like historic hand written Qurans and books, paintings of world famous Turkish painters like Osman Hamdi Bey and İbrahim Çallı. Also, there are archaeological collections in the garden.

In addition to permanent exhibitions, there are seasonal exhibitions. They are announced on their website. 

On the summer Sunday mornings, there is brunch in the garden with jazz concerts presented by famous local jazz bands. Other than that, it is always relaxing to be in the garden and enjoy the view

There is also a magnificent restaurant called muzedechanga, which is awarded by many global newspapers and magazines.

The museum is open all year but of course the best time to visit is from spring to fall when you can enjoy the garden and the view.

In Istanbul you will get to see numerous mosques. They are the trademark of the silhouette of the city at dusk and dawn. For me the grandest and most beautiful of these structures is the Süleymaniye Mosque with its complexes. The mosque which was completed, after seven years hard work, for Süleyman The Magnificent in the year 1557 by his Chief Architect, and my hero the great Sinan (Mimar Sinan). This magnificent structure used as an edifice stands on the crest of the ridge above the Golden Horn to the west of the Istanbul end of the Galata Bridge.

The structure is so unique and rare that it dominates the skyline of the city. It’s obviously one of the most important symbols of the Golden age of the Ottoman Empire. Some also compare it with Haghia Sophia (Aya Sofya) which symbolizes the triumph in the days of Justinian.

This superb mosque complex dominates the third hill of İstanbul. It is said that Suleyman The Magnificent has spent 2.5 million gold on its construction. This is absolutely an architectural divinity where you can live the stones poured into poetry. Süleymaniye is absolutely Mimar Sinan’s best work in Istanbul.

When visiting the mosque, you first cross the grand courtyard, with its columns of porphyry, marble and granite and flanked by a great pylon. The lofty dome and the semi-domes gives a sense of immense grandeur. Observe how it’s amazing that the weight of the dome is supported by the outer walls.

Çiçek Pasajı is the L-shaped courtyard of a building named Cité de Péra, one of the first European-style buildings constructed in the 19th century. Its name refers to the flower shops that used to be there and have been replaced by restaurants today. It took on its present appearance in the 90s, after a restoration sponsored by Mey group (producer of Yeni Rakı, a well known rakı brand).

There are two beer pubs at the entrance and the rest is made up of restaurants serving as meyhane. Although the standards of the restaurants are more or less similar, my favorite one is Seviç. It is an old one where frequent visitors are still journalists, novelists and artists. Even if you don’t plan to dine, Çiçek pasajı is worth a visit for being one of the most stylish buildings of Beyoğlu.