Red beans

Loving the spotted red beans - looks very fiery! And why just have a pile of beans or potatoes if you could also decorate them with cauliflower, tomatoes, lemons or chilies?

Three doors

I often find that doors are some of the most interesting things to take pictures of - at least if they're as interesting as these ones, which I found in Istanbul! The one in the middle is definitely a favourite - it took me quite a while to notice the face, actually! The last door war far too small to serve as a normal door, it really looked out of place ...

Fruity!

These are the kind of pictures that inspired the name of this blog (along with the fact that I like colourful pictures)! Apparently the grapes sold really well that day ...

Along with the beautiful colours of the pears - just a hint of pink on the yellow in some of them, with the abundance of pink pomegranates in the background - I absolutely adore the "font" of the prices! You can really see that they make an effort to present their produce nicely. The average weekly market in my part of the city on a Saturday, along with the more fancy bazaars in the city centre, were definitely some of my favourite places to go while I was in Istanbul!

Bosporus Light

One of the best things about Istanbul is definitely the light, it's very soft and makes everything look very dreamy! This is most obvious on the shore of the Bosporus, with its sparkling water and dust-shaded Asia (or Europe) on the other side.

But even Istiklal Caddesi, the "main street" of Istanbul, looks almost as if taken from a fairytale!

Fun

A splash of colour ... and then an explosion.

Signs of a night out on Taksim, the centre of Istanbul's nightlife. Although it's actually just litter, this picture made me notice how nice and colourful crisp bags are, especially against the grey background ... the second picture is admittedly a little different:

Is it strange ...

... that some of my favourite pictures of all those taken in Istanbul are photos of dead fish? 

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/2306362/on-the-sweetness-of-colour?claim=8kcjr5jgye6">Follow my blog with bloglovin</a>

Goodbye Istanbul!

As I'm leaving Istanbul on Thursday, I decided by last post from this wonderful city should be about the thing I'll miss the most, and that's my view on the foggy, shimmery Bosporus  every morning:

Da ich Donnerstag Istanbul verlass, hier mein letzter Post über das, was ich am meisten vermissen werde - den allmorgendlichen Ausblick auf den in Nebel gehüllten, schimmernden Bosporus:

The boats, the huge ones and the tiny ones, on the turquoise Bosporus:

Die großen Boote und die kleinen Bötchen auf dem türkisfarbenen Bosporus:

Or the colorful illumination of the Bosporus Bridge at night?

Oder doch die beleuchtete Bosporusbrücke bei Nacht?

Triplets and a bird

I call these houses "triplets" - they look like they try to stick together as closely as possible. A bird is possibly the biggest possible contrast - always free, alone and high above Istanbul! The picture of the bird was taken on the Galata Tower, and the houses are in one of the narrow lanes around the tower.

Ich nenne diese Häuser die "Drillinge" - so wie sie sich aneinander zu schmiegen scheinen. Der Vogel bietet da wohl den größtmöglichen Kontrast - immer frei und alleine über den Dächern von Istanbul! Das untere Foto wurde auf dem Galataturm aufgenommen, das der Häuser in einer der engen Gassen in der Nähe des Turms.

Cold light, cold stones

These pictures were taken in the courtyard of one of the many mosques in Istanbul - the cold atmosphere is quite exemplary of what Istanbul is like at the moment! 

Einige Bilder aus dem Hof einer der vielen Moscheen Istanbuls. Die kalte Atmosphäre spiegelt das momentane Wetter in Istanbul recht gut wieder!

Blaugrau

Tiles are everywhere. While they are mostly blue, many have faded to grey. Their age is obvious - the following arrangement of tiles doesn't look quite as if it was intended this way:

Kacheln gibt es in Istanbul überall. Viele sind blau, doch andere sind schon zu grau verblasst. Die Zeichen der Zeit sind sichtbar - auch das folgende Muster sieht nicht so aus, als sei es ursprünglich so gedacht gewesen:

Although rather messy, these tiles do have a certain something! Who spots the red tulips?

Doch trotz der leicht chaotischen Anordnung - die Kacheln haben das gewisse Etwas! Wer findet die roten Tulpen?


<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/2168372/reisen-durch-die-welt?claim=425va9sqefw">Follow my blog with bloglovin</a>

The Golden Horn

View from the Galata Tower over the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn, to Sultanahmet, the old part of Istanbul.

Der Ausblick vom Galataturm über die gleichnamige, das Goldene Horn überspannende Brücke, bis zum alten Stadtteil Sultanahmet. 

December?

While everyone in Europe appears to be freezing in the snow, I'm still enjoying a warm fall in Istanbul, including lots of sun! It doesn't quite feel like december ...

Während Europa gerade im Schneechaos zu versinken scheint, kann man in Istanbul noch einen warmen Herbst mit viel Sonne genießen! Ein richtiges Dezember-Gefühl kommt da natürlich nicht auf ...

You can never get enough ...

 ... of the food in Istanbul! In addition to all those well-known sights - of which there really are plenty - the food alone is definitely worth the trip. See for yourself:

Start the day with some lovely simit ...

and then indulge in pomegranates (they're even healthy - and their juice is sold on the streets everywhere) or some Turkish delight, at least if you can bring yourself to eat these pretty things. And they look even better in real life!

Istanbul in schwarzweiß

In Istanbul ist die lange und bewegte Geschichte immer gegenwärtig. Und was könnte das Alter einer Stadt besser veranschaulichen als Schwarzweißaufnahmen? 

Hier, am Sirkeci Bahnhof auf der europäischen Seite Istanbuls, kam früher der berühmte Orientexpress an.

Ein weiteres Stück Geschichte: Blick über die Europäische Festung und den Bosporus auf die asiatische Seite der Stadt.

Bebek

Hier ein paar Impressionen aus Istanbuls schönem Bosporus-Vorort Bebek - in spätnachmittäglichem Sonnenlicht. Wie unschwer zu erkennen ist, ist der Bosporus selber hier der eigentliche Anziehungspunkt!

Galata

Der Gewürzbasar

Der Große Basar