Sunday afternoon I skipped the guided tour to Istanbul after the Pre-Youth event to the Alliance of Civilisations Annual Forum. I went to Istikal Avenue instead, in the Beyoğlu district to head to the Galatasaray Hammam to clear up my mind and my body.The snapshot that you can see here probably cannot grasp the overwelming feeling I had walking in this street. Up to 3 millions people pass by here during the weekend!
Walking inside this human flow is one of the most impressive urban experience I have ever had. If the flow somehow resembled to the one that I experienced to some mass music festivals the disorientating thing was that everybody was there having their normal afternoon shopping walk. The other disorientating thing was the fact that the flow was going both ways. So at some points it was like salmon swimming against the stream.
Such a peculiar public urban space has also an amazing history. In fact the Beyoğlu district was known as Pera ('the other side' in Greek), in the Middle Ages, and this is where merchants from Genoa and Venice had their base, Marco Polo might have passed by on his way to China, Leonardo da Vinci as well had his period when the Sultan asked him to project a bridge over the golden horn (that was never achieved), and I like to immagine Corto Maltese walking on that street, before sailing off to some exotic adventures in Africa or in Asia.
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