Istanbul: A City You Can't Understand in One Trip

Some cities reveal themselves immediately — you arrive, see the sights, and leave. Istanbul isn't like that. It's layered, like baklava: simple on the surface, but inside — endless layers of meaning, history, and contrasts. Here, mosques neighbor bars, fishermen cast lines beneath Byzantine palace walls, and in Balat's alleyways, hipster coffee shops hide behind century-old doors.

Istanbul is the world's only metropolis straddling two continents. The Bosphorus divides the city into European and Asian sides, and this isn't just geography —...