30/06/2025
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐮̈𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐲𝐞, 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐥. A city as ancient as time and as modern as now, Istanbul was first settled 9,000 years ago. Once Byzantium. Then Constantinople. Then the heart of the Ottoman Empire. For centuries, it stood at the crossroads of East and West — where emperors ruled, traders bartered, and entire civilizations left their mark. What a staggeringly layered place to be.
And we noticed something quickly: travelers arrive here eager to check off landmarks and capture the most Instagram-worthy views. In Istanbul, you can’t draw people away from the monuments because they’re larger-than-life stories carved in stone. The Blue Mosque. Hagia Sophia. Topkapı Palace. The Basilica Cisterns. So we looked for experience makers who are storytellers: not the kind who recite from a script, but those who help you imagine the rise and fall of empires. Those who help visualize the many lives these spectacular places have lived.
And yes, as always, we also found less-frequented but truly extraordinary places and stories that deserve to be seen.
One morning, you might accompany a master photographer to capture fishermen casting lines from the Galata Bridge at sunrise. Later, you’re in the Grand Bazaar, sipping tea with a textile expert who reads centuries in weaves and motifs, and tells you about the traders and their caravanserais.
You'll cross from Europe to Asia — travel on foot, by ferry, by minibus — and taste migration in the dishes of Kadıköy. You sit at a Meyhane table layered with mezze, surrounded by friends, strangers, families — and soak in the stories and joyfulness passed around with each sip of rakı. You’ll walk the neighborhoods with your lens — and your senses — wide open, capturing the light, the layers, and the life unfolding on every corner.
The Fernwayer collection in Türkiye is now live.
Explore it at fernwayer.com under “Shop Experiences.”
