Discover Pierre Loti's Home in Istanbul Turkey

From the slope above the cemetery of the Eyüp district it’s possible to overlook the entire city. On the other side of the Golden Horn Bay, the Beyoglu district belongs to Europe. Pierre Loti was a well known French writer of the last century who traveled the world a naval officer had became the creator and master of modern exotic literature. He was a member of the French Academy and besides novels he also published travel logs. He was captivated by the fabulous and wrote several guide books and novels on Turkey.

His house in Istanbul is a pleasant café today. Its contemporary furniture was partly inherited from Loti and is partly the furnishings of a traditional Turkish café. The tourists visit this place not only do they homage the writer or to enjoy the excellent coffee but because there’s a beautiful panoramic view from the terrace.

Beautiful new subdivision were developed using replicas of traditional wooden houses. The name Bosphorus means cow shallows. According to the legend Io, the love of Zues was turned into a car by the jealous Hera and this was the place were Io swim across. The 32 kilometer long Bosphorus connects the Black Sea and the Marble Sea. It’s with ranges from 660 to 3300 meters. The Persian King Darius had troops at Rumelihisari where the water is the shallowest. This is where in 1096, the soldiers of the first crusade crossed.

It’s surprising that while the European side is busy and noisy suffering from traffic jams and smug, the Asian side is abandoned in green areas, it’s quite calm and intimate. The European old town is the center of the economy, industry and commerce and most people only come here to work. The fresh air, residential areas and family houses of the Asian side are much better to live in.