(click to enlarge photos)

BB shares luminous photos with us from her five days in Istanbul with spouse Denis and son Jean-Baptiste. She writes:

… Istanbul was such a marvel, a revelation, that I am still wondering why I didn’t go there before…  The art is so rich, so impressive…  We can feel the influence  in our own art and architecture, in the roman churchs,  the “Orientalists” painters love, I feel amazed for life!

Let’s begin with a brightly-colored sampling of life on the street.

  

  

(Those in the know may recognize Jean-Baptiste in the last thumbnail.)

Now a few marvels of architecture, beginning with Santa Sophia, the astonishing Byzantine cathedral, later mosque, and current museum.

And of course, BB’s view of the coupole, about which she writes:

It has been under restoration for the last sixteen years, just enough time to learn and practise Turkish…

Below, thumbnails of the Blue Mosque throughout the day and evening.

  

…and at night:

Click on the thumbnail below for a view of the Blue Mosque’s coupole:

And what visit to Istanbul would be complete without dervishes?

 

But the last image is reserved for Haïdar, the owner of the lovely Hôtel Ararat where BB and her family stayed, directly across from the Blue Mosque, pictured here with his son.