There is a distinctive intoxication in arriving in a city for the first time: every sound is new, every scent unfamiliar, and memory tries to record everything at once. The French writer Pierre Loti, who came to Istanbul in the nineteenth century, noted down these first moments — and the place he described is the very slopes where our hotels stand today.
A Beyoğlu in August
The scene Loti recounts unfolds on a summer day. A noisy Taksim quarter high above Beyoğlu; European attire “assailing” the clothing of the East; great heat and brilliant sunshine. A warm wind, raising dust amid August’s yellowed leaves; the cries of fruit sellers; streets piled with grapes and watermelons... The writer says that these scenes from his first moments in Istanbul were etched into his mind.
On closer attention, Loti is not describing a monument or a view; he is describing the crowd, the scent and the sound. The city welcomed him not with its buildings, but with its vitality.
Why does it still feel familiar?
These lines come from nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, yet they feel strangely familiar. Even today, a guest arriving in Galata first encounters sound: the tram bell, the call of a street vendor, conversations multiplying through narrow streets. Summer evenings are still warm and dusty; fruit stalls still spill onto the pavement.
When Loti was writing, these slopes were in the midst of a complete transformation: the walls had been demolished, Tünel had opened, and the first apartment buildings had begun to rise. The writer had arrived during one of the city’s most vibrant decades — the façades we now call “historic fabric” were brand new then.
Your own first glimpse
A suggestion: during your first hour in Galata, put your phone in your pocket and simply look around for fifteen minutes. Notice the slope of the hill, the sound of shutters, the aroma of coffee, the queue climbing towards the tower. This is what Loti did — and then he wrote.
We always tell our guests the same thing: this neighbourhood is understood not by planning, but by walking. Settle into your room, leave your bag behind and head outside. Your first impression is every bit as precious as that of a French writer.
Source: “Barnathan Apartments” (Çiğdem Oğuz, Nar Yatırım, 2016). To stay in the heart of Galata: Meroddi Hotels →
