"Constantinople! Constantinople!...C'est l'empire du monde!." - Napoleon I, 1807
Here's a very well filmed and produced 12 minutes documentary on one of the most interesting, historically and culturally, cities (or megalopolises) of the world...Istanbul.
Perhaps superfluous, but here's Istanbul's description from Wikipeida: It's Turkey's economic, cultural, and historical heart, and has a population of 13.5 million. It's a transcontinental city, straddling the Bosphorus between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies in Europe, while a third of its population lives in Asia.
The Film Artist is another of the Vimeo featured talented and passionate videographers, who's neither a professional or commercial film maker.
This documentary reminded me of my start as a part-time travel photographer in 1998 or so. My very first solo trip with only travel photography in mind was to Istanbul. A city I had never visited, and had no knowledge of except for what I had read in guidebooks. I marveled at the incredibly beautiful majestic mosques such as Sultan Ahmet's answer to the Hagia Sophia, the Suleymaniye, the Yeni mosque, the Eyup mosque and my favorite, Rüstem Pasa. I had become an "expert" in Ottoman architecture, and was utterly discomfited when no one in Istanbul understood me when asking directions, I'd pronounce "Camii", the Turkish word for mosque, as Kami instead of 'jami'.
And my best culinary experiences were its adana kepap, grilled hamsi, doner, lokum, Turkish coffee (I acquired a taste for this delightful sweet, as well as its bitter coffee in my native Egypt), and of course anything having pistachios in them.
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