The High-Rise Suburbs of Asian Istanbul

Much of the grand history of Istanbul happened in the very old Sultanahmet district, and the slightly newer Beyoglu district, both on the European side of the Bosphorus. It's always been an important city, but Istanbul today is also a truly HUGE city! According to the Time Out Guide, "in 30 years the population has swelled by some 30 times to about 15 million and its boundaries have swelled far beyond the original seven hills." Factors such as unrest in the Eastern provinces, the 1999 earthquake, and hard economic times in the countryside have resulted in an influx of people into the city. Many of these people have settled into vast areas of suburban poverty, where children play in dusty streets and everything seems unfinished and more rural than urban. Carts loaded with trash, drawn by very thin horses, are not uncommon.

In many other areas, such as Atasehir, the growth has taken the form of vast developments of 10-20-story high-rise apartment buildings. It seems like most people you meet live in such apartments; the idea of your own home is pretty much unheard of here. Atasehir is a very large, very modern (10-15 years old), and fairly up-scale development of colorful high-rises with attractive gardens and landscaping, and underground parking. We were told that this area became more expensive and attractive after the buildings and the ground below were determined to be very stable and safe after the 1999 earthquake.

The area does not have much character or history, but its got plenty of conveniences: modern supermarkets, pharmacies, fast food (McDonalds and Pizza Hut are less than a block from our building), and a DVD rental place. The McDonalds is right at the main entrance roundabout of Atasehir, and we've notice that it's always packed with Turks at all hours of the day! However, there is no bacon (pork is basically unavailable anywhere in Turkey) and they don't serve breakfast.

Our apartment is owned by the school, which owns a number of apartments in Atasehir for the school's foreign teachers (maybe 10-15?). The school runs service busses for teachers and students, and the ride takes about 20 minutes.

Our place is a spacious one-bedroom on the top floor of a 20-story red concrete high-rise, near the main entrance round-about of the neighborhood. The two views above are South-East and South-West, respectively. We discovered that on a clear day we can see the Sea of Marmara in the South, with supertankers and the Princes Islands. Our view West to the city is also nice (see below), except for the huge unfinished foundations of a bankrupt high-rise building project. On a clear day, we can see the Sea of Marmara where it becomes the Bosphorus (look carefully at the horizon of the picture below), and on a really clear day we can see the Blue Mosque.

Sunsets

We don't know if its been the weather or air polution, but its been hazy most days here. This has given us some nice sunsets. It's cool to realize that you're seeing the sunset on another continent.

Kadikoy and the Coast

Atasehir and high-rises are not all there is in Asian Istanbul. Along the coast, there are very vibrant, old town areas like Kadikoy, Uskadar, Moda and Bostanci. In these great old towns there are countless narrow old cobble-stoned streets of shopping and restaurants. Our favorite is Kadikoy, a short bus ride from Atasehir. You can also catch the ferry to the other side in Kadikoy. We have much more to explore in these areas, and we'll get some pictures sometime, too.