during my short istanbul trip, i expectedly checked the newest, coolest places in there. probably the best place (but hardest to find) was santral istanbul. part of the bilgi university campus, it has a quite isolated location, so plan ahead (this is a good advice for istanbul in general…). but taking the time and effort to get there was so worth the trouble: the park is so not at all what you’d expect from instanbul, but a relaxed green area dotted with cool terraces/restaurants/clubs and modern sculptures which also features a former industrial building exquisitely turned into a double-museum.

entering the double museum coincided with a small but meaningful personal victory: they let me in with a press ticket when they heard about the blog. cute little score! :)

due to popular demand, the main/contemporary art gallery had extended 20 modern turkish artists of the XXth century until july the 31st. the show was more interesting than i expected but i admit that my knowledge of turkish art is very limited.  the museum of  energy was less my cup of tea but interesting nonetheless.

just outside the museum, there are ottosantral and tamirane, two multi-purpose venues (think restaurant/bar/concert venue/gallery, etc). we had a hard time choosing but finally decided on the wallpaper city guide-recommended, mismatch-chaired and overall very cool otto santral.

we had a pistachio profiterole in the vast space and enjoyed the young, relaxed decor as well as a nice selection of local magazines. i am very disappointed that i cannot show you the loo cubicle doors in the ladies’ room: they are hot pink, old-fashioned fridge doors! imagine two red sinks mounted in former cooking machines and a light bulb-lined mirror and you have the entire picture! that’s fun and impressive and eco at the same time! we couldn’t have made a better choice for an ice cream stop!

do not even consider missing santral if you are in town! it’s a great place for hanging out!

photo credits: trekearth.com and kirmiziminder.com

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