I'm Amra.
If I told you I always wanted to go to Istanbul, I'd be lying. I actually didn't want to at all. BUT that Istanbul now sits at the very top of my list, and no city in the world can beat it for me — that much should be clear to everyone by now.
Istanbul isn't a city or a metropolis to me. Istanbul feels like coming home, as if the city simply lifts the weight of everyday life off my shoulders. When I'm on the ferry on the Bosphorus, I need nothing more than those few minutes to say: I'm good. Tears of joy run down my face when I'm there. I'm a different person there.
Running late? Doesn't exist, it'll work out. The bus is my buddy anyway — I don't know why, but whichever bus we're waiting for simply never comes, so by now we take every mode of transport except the bus, but hey, that's fine too. When people there see a child, they say something kind and stroke its head. When a child looks at a toy and I immediately say no, leave it, the shopkeeper tells me, no, just let them look, not with the expectation that we have to buy it. Not everything has to go to plan, not on the minute — and if anyone disagrees, fine, but please take a look at Deutsche Bahn first, thanks. And when something doesn't work out, it just works out a different way.
Istanbul — the noise, the scent, the people, the millions of people — it's a city that's alive, that has captured my heart. Whenever I leave Istanbul, I always tell my husband it feels like breaking up with a person, but when I come back, it feels like the city takes you in its arms and says, well, you're back.
That's why I share so much knowledge here with you, without you having to research everything yourself online or ask some AI for its opinion — because a human being has feelings, and I hope I can pass on my feeling and my inspiration to you. And so you also know whether 400 metres really just means 400 metres or 400 metres steeply uphill, there's my app Istanbulessence, currently with around 93 places you have to see, and I'm constantly expanding it, including the bazaars with their opening days and addresses.
And because I'm simply crazy about Istanbul, I also created a Turkish YouTube channel with Turkish music — maybe you'll like it too. Oh, and I'm Amra, married, two kids who love Istanbul almost as much as I do — well, they find my love for Istanbul a little strange sometimes, but they say they can live with it. So, have fun, and dive in here with me.
