İyi akşamlar….

Taksim Square and İstiklal Caddesi are the hubs of Istanbul on the European (Avrupa) side. All day and all night, the area is alive with people, mainly Istanbulites, but many visitors as well, who shop, eat, gather, and just walk up and down the pedestrian street. It is a great place to be, and down any small side street, you will find bars and restaurants with tables and chairs set up to enjoy a tea, a beer or rakı, and maybe a stuffed mussel or a meze of labne, peynir, zeytin, and melon. The evening is wonderful, and a nice break from the jostling of the busy street just a block away.

The rest of the photos are from my seat at a small bar, where a large beer (0.5 litre) is about $2, and comes with a bowl of fresh cucumbers sliced in lemon. That plus the vantage makes for a very nice way to send off the day.