To the City: A walk downhill to the Haliç

When we first got to Istanbul, we were so profoundly tired from our ridiculous summer workload that we collapsed in the house, venturing out only when hunger drove us to it. We took little exploratory walks right in Fener and the neighboring Balat, a formerly Jewish neighborhood. Vodina Caddesi (said ja-des-e, which means "street" - C's without the little squiggle under them are pronounced like J's...) runs parallel to the Haliç(said Hal-lich - C's with the squiggle are pronounced ch.) This street begins at the bottom of our hill in Fener and continues through to the village-atmosphere of Balat, where it is lined with shops, restaurants, bakeries and backgammon rooms. On Tuesdays we walk further down Vodina to the farmer's market in Lonca, the next little neighborhood, home to many of Istanbul's Roma. The photos below depict a winding walk down our hill to the Haliç, past the Red (or Greek) School, which is just a block from the house. Perched on the steepest section of our hillside neighborhood and visible from our bedroom window, the Red School is huge, and largely unused. We hope to find a way to see the inside at some point. Not a lot of pictures of people here... we haven't wanted to make our neighbors subjects of "picturesque" tourist photos, of which they have a palpable dislike, no wonder. The streets around here aren't crowded full of people day and night in any case, which is very welcome after coming home from the close-packed crowds around the major sites of the city.