If I say I always wanted to go to Istanbul, I'm lying. Actually I didn't want to at all. BUT that Istanbul is in first place for me today and no city in the world can surpass Istanbul must be clear to everyone by now.
For me Istanbul is not a city, not a metropolis. For me Istanbul is like coming home, as if a city simply takes the burden of everyday life off me. When I'm on the ferry on the Bosphorus, I need nothing more than these few minutes to say: I'm fine. Tears of joy run down my face when I'm there. I'm a different person there.
Too late? Doesn't exist, it will come. The bus is my buddy anyway, I don't know why, but whichever bus we wait for, it simply never comes, by now we take every means of transport except the bus, but well, that will come too. When people there see a child, they say something nice to it and stroke it. When a child looks at a toy and I immediately say, no, leave it, the seller tells me, no, let him just look, not with the intention that we have to buy it. Not everything has to go to plan, not by the minute, and if someone contradicts me there, fine, but please just look at Deutsche Bahn, thank you. And if something doesn't work, then it works in another way.
Istanbul, the noise, the scent, the people, the millions of people, it is a city that lives, that has locked up my heart. When I leave Istanbul I always tell my husband it feels like parting from a person, but when I come back it feels as if the city takes you in its arms and says, so, you're back now.
That's why I share so much knowledge with you here, without you having to research everything individually on the internet or ask some AIs for their opinion, because a human being has feelings, and I hope I can pass on my feeling and my inspiration to you. And so that you also know whether 400 metres really means only 400 metres or 400 metres steeply uphill, there is my app Istanbulessence for that, currently with around 93 places you must have seen, and I keep expanding it, including the bazaars with their opening weekdays and addresses.
And because for me Istanbul doesn't consist only of paths and sights but equally of a feeling, a sound, a mood, there is Lunatolia alongside Istanbul-ID: my music and lifestyle world, with Turkish music on YouTube and designs that carry this Istanbul feeling onto shirts, hoodies, posters and phone cases. Istanbul-ID is the head โ guide, travel blog, everything practical that helps you before and during the trip. Lunatolia is the heart โ music, sound and style. Both come from me, both belong together for me.
And because I am simply crazy about Istanbul, I have also created a Turkish YouTube channel with Turkish music, maybe you'll like it too. Oh yes, I'm Amra, married, two children who love Istanbul almost as much as I do, well, they sometimes find my love for Istanbul a bit strange, but they can live with it, they say. So have fun, and dive in here with me.