In a meeting with an Estonian diplomat last night, I noticed something once again: The chaotic panorama of Istiklal Caddesi, Taksim.
He told me that he was really scared when he walked the street first time.
Yes, comparing to an average Central European city, it is really crowded. Actually I can even suggest that the busiest street in -let's say- Berlin on Saturday night is never as crowded as Istiklal Caddesi even on Sunday morning.
For a person like me, who prefers any thronged avenue of New York to the most peaceful seclusion near a Swiss lake, it might be OK, even great.
But I'm not making a big deal of it...
Though, years ago, I had a girlfriend who had literally sobbed while staring at the flood of heads afloat Istiklal, saying, "Imagine the next century that all these people would all be dead."
Her words were very weird and somehow scary to me, but artistically inspiring...
Below is a nice depiction of Istiklal Caddesi by the pen of Bahadir Baruter, who was one of my favorite cartoonists once.
You can click it to enlarge.
