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Forbes
13 hours ago
- Forbes
Four Iconic Istanbul Landmarks Will Be Open For Night Visits This Summer
Sunset Time in Galata Tower Beyoglu Istanbul Turkey getty Istanbul sees more than 18.6 million international visitors per year—many of which seeking out the biggest tourist attractions in the city, including the Galata Tower and the Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum. However, with rising summertime temperatures, waiting in line to get into the hot spots in the city is not exactly attractive, which is why the culture and tourism board has made the decision to allow nighttime visits to certain spots. 'This summer, our museums and heritage sites will stay open at night in 27 locations across Türkiye,' said Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, minister of culture and tourism. 'The program aims to welcome both domestic and international visitors who want to explore cultural heritage away from the daytime heat. Here are the Istanbul hot spots open for nighttime visits, as well as a list of the other attractions across the country that will remain open late this summer: The Galata Tower in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul draws over a million visitors per year and there's almost always a line snaking its way around the tower. Thankfully this year the tower will remain open to visitors until 11 p.m., allowing guests to catch a glimpse of the Istanbul skyline at nightfall. The group of three Istanbul Archaeology Museums will each remain open until 10 p.m. throughout the summer months. The museums collectively have over a million artifacts from nearly all periods of world history. You won't be able to visit the Hagia Sophia after dark—but you can visit the neighboring Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum. The recently opened museum companion to the famous Hagia Sophia will remain open until 10 p.m. all summer long. Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Sultanahmet Square was the first of its kind to display both Turkish and Islamic works of art together and is well worth a visit, especially if you're fascinated by calligraphy, tilework, and carpets. The museum will stay open until 10 p.m. throughout the summer months. The rest of the country will also see nighttime museum and cultural sites opened late, including the following cities and attractions: Ankara The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations will remain open until 9 p.m. The Ethnography Museum will also remain open until 9 p.m. Izmir In Izmir, the famous Ephesus will remain open until 11 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The Museum Izmir Culture and Arts Factory will be open until 9 p.m. Antalya In Antalya, the Antalya Museum will remain open until 10 p.m. The Alanya Museum will also remain open until 10 p.m. Aspendos, Patara, Side, and the Nekropol Museum will also accept guests until 10 p.m. Adiyaman Nemrut will be open from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. Mugla The Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology will receive guests until 10 p.m. Aydin Didim will stay open until 9 p.m. Denizli Samsun The Samsun Museum will accept guests until 10 p.m. Gaziantep In Gaziantep, the Zeugma Mosaic Museum will be open until 9 p.m. Sanliurfa In Sanliurfa, the Sanliurfa Museum is open until 9 p.m. The Haleplibahce Mosaic Museum will also be open until 9 p.m. Nevsehir In Nevsehir, Zelve-Pasa Baglari will be open until 9 p.m. The Derinkuyu Underground City, Kaymakli Underground City, and the Ozkonak Underground City will be open for guests until 9 p.m. Erzurum The Erzurum Museum will also be open until 9 p.m.
The Hindu
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Inside Orhan Pamuk's dreamscape
Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk has always dreamed of becoming a painter. In Memories of Distant Mountains, his recently launched memoir, he says, 'At 22, I killed the painter inside of me and began writing novels.' This book features a selection from the illustrated notebooks he maintained from 2009 to 2022. Alongside journal entries, translations and commentary are colourful paintings of landscapes, ships, roads and monuments. He talks about his country, the city of Istanbul, his travels to Jaipur and Goa and New York and many European cities, his relationships and his growing impatience with The Museum of Innocence, a museum he set up in Istanbul in 2012. Here, installations referenced the daily objects described in his eponymous novel. This was a productive period for Pamuk, when major novels A Strangeness in My Mind (2015) and Nights of Plague (2022) were published. The back story 'Between the ages of 7 and 22, I thought I was going to be a painter. At 22, I killed the painter inside of me and began writing novels. In 2008, I walked into a stationery shop, bought two big bags of pencils, paints, and brushes, and began joyfully and timidly filling little sketchbooks with drawings and colours. The painter inside of me hadn't died after all. But he was full of fears and terribly shy. I made all my drawings inside notebooks so that nobody would see them. I even felt a little guilty: surely this must mean I secretly deemed words insufficient. So why did I bother to write? None of these inhibitions slowed me down. I was eager to keep drawing, and drew wherever I could.' The house and daily life in Goa 'This is the room I've been steadily working in for the past three years, where I sometimes take naps in the afternoon, and where I occasionally go to sleep after midnight.' Pamuk spent several months in Goa from 2009 to 2011. He swam in the sea and continued to work on A Strangeness in My Mind in the mornings. In the evening he followed the events of the Arab Spring on TV and the uprisings led him to think about Nights of Plague. Beyoğlu and Hacımemi Street 'It was Hacımemi Street. Small, two- or three-story houses with bay windows. These types of houses have always felt smothering to me. Then again, to have come for the first time to a place that feels so familiar, so recognizable. To have stumbled upon a street like this for the first time after having lived in this city for sixty-eight years... I have noticed on this walk that Beyoğlu is actually very lively; even on this coldest of winter days, there is plenty in the shop displays and behind restaurant windows to keep the passerby occupied. I drew the bricks on this wall here one by one, and I'd like to think about that a little more. As I placed, drew, and coloured each brick, I was as happy as a child. But it also felt like filling in a colouring book. Istiklal Street, Yüksek Kaldırım Street, and the Galata Tower are just ahead.' It's a wrap 'As I've been too busy these past few days to write in here... I've drawn this picture instead. I finished Nights of Plague in this room in Cihangir, writing for 12 hours every day. At night I would sleep for three hours, then write for an hour, then go back to sleep for another hour.' William Blake and I Reasons I identify with the romantic painter poet WILLIAM BLAKE: * he likes flames and fires * he writes, and he paints * words and images mingle on the page * he sees the page as a whole * he uses the branches of a tree to split up the page * he envisions everything on the page * he sees words and images together Edited excerpts from Memories of Distant Mountains with permission from Penguin Random House India.
