Salla VartiainenExploring Art in Istanbul! – day 0
Originally posted 20240426
Hej frens!
I got so inspired when I was writing my previous blog post about Turkish art that I decided to make a spontaneous trip to Istanbul!
Istanbul is big, infact it´s the 6th largest city in the world and there is 14.1 million people living there. That´s a lot for someone coming from small Stockholm which only has approximately 2.4 million people rushing around, trying to get to work on time.
I´m looking forward to experiencing what kind of vibes Istanbul has to offer.
I have booked a hotel in the Karaköy / Beyoglu area. I thought it would be nice to be able to walk to some of the sites and galleries. The CI:Bloom contemporary Turkish Art Fair is a bit further away though in an area called Osmanbey but I´m positive that I´ll find my way there one way or another 🙂
While researching I discovered that Istanbul has quite an extensive subway / bus network and that it seems to be very cheap to use it. To use it you have to buy an Istanbul-card and charge it with money. According to Metro Istanbul a one way ticket for an adult is currently costing 17.70 try which is approximately 0.51 euro.
I hope I don´t get lost in the Metro in Istanbul
Interesting venues in Istanbul
These are the sites / venues / galleries I´m hoping to visit. Looking forward to enjoy a contemporary art feest and learn more about contemporary Turkish art.
CI:Bloom
CI:Bloom is a quite new art fair focusing on bringing forward contemporary Turkish art. This years edition is the 3rd and around 27 different galleries / institutions are represented
Istanbul Modern Sanat muzesi or Istanbul Modern for short
Founded in 2004, Istanbul Modern is Turkeys first museum focusing on contemporary Turkish art.
Pera muzesi
Pera muzesi wasfounded in 2005 and has a primary focus on orientalism in 19th-century art.
Grand Bazaar
The grand bazaar has aproximatelly 4000 different shops! Thats a crazy amount. It also attracts between 250000-400000 visitors DAILY. It´s considered as one of the oldest shopping malls in the world. And consists originally from 2 different markets born in the 15th century.
Sultan Ahmed Camii aka the Blue Mosque
This big big Mosque was built between 1609 and 1617 and is a perfect example of Ottoman architecture. It is known for it´s beautiful Iznic-style tilework that I really want to see. It´s estimated to have a total of 21 043 tiles inside the Mosque.
Do you know any Must-See-Places in Istanbul? Please email me, write in the comments or DM me on Insta!
xoxo/Salla V
Originally posted 20240426