This city reminds me of...

Something I've grown to love about travel is that the more places I go, the more places I have to compare and contrast, making them increasingly easier to describe. For instance, when we visited Istanbul I was struck by its similarities with San Francisco (incidentally, the city in which Sam and I honeymooned nearly 10 years ago, the first of our travels as a married couple), with its sharp hills and cable cars, suspension bridges covered by fog, and hip vibe.

But it also made me think of Cairo, because of its colorful markets and plethora of really old mosques.

I would add a bit of Zurich as well, both for the integral role of the river in the life of the city and for the way the tram weaves through immaculate city squares dotted with cafes and fashionable youth ...and then suddenly you spot a castle.

 

Yet even with this San Francisco-Cairo-Zurich combo as a point of reference, Istanbul, like all cities, holds a quality that cannot be compared with anything else. It is uniquely Istanbul. The fun part is knowing that at some point in the future I'll look at my surroundings and think, This kind of reminds me of Istanbul. And I'll have a new color for my palette.