Hidden beach!

Enjoy the beautiful and uninterrupted scene...

Me and My Friend!

I know it feels like I am cheating because it has been a week again since I last posted but I got my mac back yesterday and had to lend my camera for some time! Anyway this picture is taken by a cell phone so quality is not perfect but a friendship is.... So here we are with my friend Esra, hangin' out... I am on the left with black sweater and Esra is on the right with white one!

Computer Problem

I coulnd't post this week because I had some computer problems. Hopefully I will have it back this week and keep up where I left!

Till then, lots of love to you all!

The Dead Shark

This shark got caught to fishermen's net in Sile- northern part of Istanbul-. When they noticed they caught a shark, it was to late for this poor thing because it was already dead. They didn't leave the shark there and decided to use it as a tool of getting attention.

I felt pity for this little guy and when the fishermen saw me sad, they offered me the shark. I refused them, of course. Do I look like a girl with a dead shark collection?

A friend and a building

You see one of my oldest friends in front of a beautiful building. It is just a regular scene on a regular day...

Amazing Sunset

Hi to all! I wanted to start the week with a beautiful sunset... I took this one on Saturday while watching birds flying over the sea. The sky was even better than this picture. It was bluish purple first, then reddish purple and then pink... It went from one color to another. It was really amazing. Unfortunately, you will just get a glimpse of it.

PS: When I showed this picture, some of my friends thought colors are amazing because of Photoshop or some like that. But I can honestly tell you that, this is God's doing not technology's!

St. Anthony Church

I really love the idea of having lots of very very old churches in Turkey although we are mostly Muslim populated culture. This is one of them. I didn't know its history very well so I searched a little and you can find detailed information below.

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The Church of St Anthony of Padua, one of Beyoglu's most important monuments, is located about halfway between Taksim and Tünel on İstiklal Street. The church is known among Turks as ''Sen Antuan'', the phonetic reading of its name in French.

A saint is born...
St Anthony was born in 1195 in Lisbon, the first son of a noble family. At the age of 15, he joined the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. He later continued his education at the Convent of Santa Croce in Cóimbra. He and became a Franciscan preacher and later Minister Provincial of Emilia. Anthony died on June 13, 1231 and was buried in the small church of Santa Maria in Padua. He was canonized by Pope Gregory IX a year later. His remains were moved to a church built by the Franciscans and the Paduans, and Pope Pius XII declared him a Doctor of the Church. St Anthony is the patron saint of fishermen, sailors and travelers, and his saint's day is June 13.
The Franciscans came to Istanbul in 1221 and built a church in Galata in 1230. This was the only Franciscan church in Istanbul for 350 years. The church was converted into a mosque under Sultan Mustafa II, and a new Franciscan church was built in Pera, dedicated to St Anthony. The stone church opened on October 29, 1763. However, in 1904, the church was torn down in order to make room for the new tram. The Franciscans began to look for a home on the same avenue for their new church, and chose the site of the former Concordia Theater, which had burned down in a major fire. The new church was designed by architects Giulio Mongeri and Edoardo De Nari. Construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1911.

PS: This article was taken from here.

Street Cats

You can see lots of cats in the city of Istanbul! I know street animals are not very welcomed in many cities but I adore them. And I also think that these cats are the reason for Istanbulers don't have rat problem. Anyway, these ones were just hangin' out by the beach. They were so cute and clean that I couldn't help myself but to take their pictures. They also looked like they enjoy getting all the attention.

Spring

I took a lot of pictures; however, I can't help myself posting spring flowers. Everything seems like flourishing and here you have some amazing flowers... I promise, next time I will try to post something different!

Daisies

I think daisies are the cutest flowers ever. They always make my day. These days, gypsies sell these kind of daises everywhere. I am not sure but I think it is the season because daisies are literally popping out of grass.

These are the ones that my husband bought for me. Don't you think they are adorable?

The Pink Bank

This building is pretty old and being used as a bank. It is very closed to where I live but I have never visited this bank. Looks very warm, doesn't it?

Visiting a museum in the city of Istanbul

Hi everyone! I know I am guilty of not being here. I cannot explain why, but I didn't feel like taking pictures, writing or posting. However, spring gave me the insight and motivation. I didn't take lots of pictures so it is going to take time to fully recover the times I haven't been posting but I will try my best.

Here you see pair of guns from World War I. Personally I am not very fond of guns but these ones look very ancient and I thought they can be interesting to share.

Close look to the ancient city walls

As we are in this brand new year, I hope everything will be much better this year. Thank you all for your nice comments and wishes... I have some persistent followers and those people make me always come back posting! Special thanks to you!!!

And let me start 2008 with a close look to the ancient walls of Istanbul by Bosphorus as a reminder of the past and hope of the future :)

The Ottoman Sultanate Boats

I wasn't allowed to use flash at all and the light was dim; that's why picture quality isn't that great but the boats are amazing :)