Living on the Edge of Asia
The greatest and most difficult city on the planet
Today makes almost three months living in Istanbul. We booked a month and a half in Kadıköy, the trendiest part of the Asian side, and then another one over in Europe so we could get a taste of what the city’s like on both sides. And while I can easily say it’s one of the greatest cities in the world — and my favorite I’ve ever been to so far — Istanbul has not been without its challenges. This city is one of many contrasts, of great beauty and great difficulty,
Everywhere you look there’s something beautiful: an old mosque, boats roaring across the Bosphorus, cats lounging lazily at a cafe. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. And it works logistically, too. The metro is easily one of the best in the world. It’s easy to use, cheap, clean, and covers the entire city, water included. Tokyo is the only city I’ve visited with a public transport system that comes close to rivaling it.
The trouble of this incredible city lies in the little things, the technicalities that stack and combine and make up the majority of your day-to-day life. These are the tips of things you don’t even notice as a tourist, but when you’re living somewhere and making a life, even if it’s only for a little while, compound and begin to wear on you.
We paid 20–30% extra to get an AirBnB in Kadıköy with “verified fast wifi” that in reality was capped at 5mbps upload speed and impossible to work out of, and when the host graciously fixed it we found out our street has internet blackouts several times a day. Then the hot water went out for sixteen hours on the coldest day since we’ve arrived, then the heat. It wasn’t fun but we got through it.
Still, this city is undoubtedly my favorite. If I could stay six months or a year I would without even thinking about it. Three weeks have passed and we’ve barely even scratched the surface. Exploring one neighborhood means finding three more just as cool. Every alleyway or side street offers five or six new restaurants or cafes we want to try.
Istanbul really feels like a city that never ends. It’s a city that could consume you for a lifetime if you let it. Massive, imposing, equal parts beautiful and ugly in the best way possible. It’s exactly how I’d imagine New York City to be, though I’ve never been. Weirdly, it’s made me want to visit NYC much more than before. We might have to add it to the end of our trip around the world later this year.
