Thursday, November 22, 2012

Terracotta Warriors in Istanbul !

The Terracotta Army, a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, is coming to Istanbul’s Topkapı Palaceon Nov. 20. Five terracotta soldiers will be on display at Topkapı Palace as a part of an exclusive joint exhibition approved by the Chinese government, as the terracotta soldiers are rarely sent overseas for display.

In addition to the soldiers, artwork from the Shanghai Museum and Beijing’s “Forbidden City” will be shown. A terracotta horse, which has never left China, will also be at the exhibition.

The exhibition team, which took special measures to protect the precious pieces, said a highly-priced insurance agreement was paid to bring the terracotta soldiers to Turkey. While it generally takes two or three years to prepare an exhibition of this caliber, the team said Turkish and Chinese representatives were able to prepare the display within one year.

The exhibition will bring Turkey and China closer together through cultural exchange, as Topkapı Palace is a very important museum for Turkey and welcomes some 10,000 visitors each day, the China Art Exhibitions Association vice-manager An Yao said. The museum will host the terracotta exhibition for three months as well as a display on the Dunhuang Caves.

About the Terracotta Army


The Terracotta Army, also known as the “Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses,” is a form of funerary art that was buried with Qin Shi Huang in 210–209 BC for the purpose of protecting the emperor in his afterlife. The figures, dating from the third century BC, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in the Lintong District of Xi’an in Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals, and include warriors, chariots and horses. In the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there are an estimated 8,000 soldiers and 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried near the Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum. Other non-military terracotta figures were also found including officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.




Hurriyet Daily News.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

We're renewing our website!

Hello again,

We've been quite busy with the sidecar project and we got it! We need to update our website, so during this period you can reach us via our facebook page , The House Hotel  and info@locallyistanbul.com. Coming Soon!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Madonna MDNA Tour - Istanbul

Last Thursday, we went to Madonna MDNA Tour.

To be honest, i was much better than i expected.. Seeing Madonna on stage was amazing.

On the way to the arena, 


It was a lovely, sunny Thursday afternoon

Passing by Historic Haydarpasa Station

Subway was a real mess..

The arena & The tickets

Before Madonna,

And here she is..







Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Last Weekend

Last Weekend with Mr. & Ms. Bunford;

On 28 & 29th of April, we had a great weekend with Mr. & Ms. Bunford,

We picked them up from THH Bosphorus, and drove to the Old City. Had a quick tour at must see sights like Saint Sophia, Blue Mosque, Arasta Bazaar & Grand Bazaar.

Then we went to Beyoglu - Pera area, walked through the bohemian neighborhoods at Cukurcuma & Galata.

Had a nice stop just next to the Galata Tower.







Next Day, on Sunday, we went to the Asian Side of the City, we started with Sakirin Mosque, considered to be the most modern mosque..

To experience and feel the local life, we went to Kadikoy. The cultural & commercial center of the Asian Side. 







We walked to Moda neighborhood with a few stops at Antiques shops, lunch at Ciya Restaurant & desserts at Baylan..



Thursday, March 22, 2012

Monday, February 27, 2012

Locally Istanbul is on GuidePal City Guides!


          Now you can reach Locally Istanbul via GuidePal! It's free, easy and fun! 
          GuidePal is a mobile and web-based application that provides free-of-charge city guide apps via iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone. Their city guides currently cover 50 destinations. As of December 2011, GuidePal has had approximately 2.5 million downloads.
          GuidePal’s city guides are created by collaboration between locals and travel journalists, and are targeted towards weekend travellers. In the guides, GuidePal aims to offer an unbiased selection of each city’s highlights, with all tips, and advice, provided by city locals.
          The content is broadly divided into six sections: Welcome to our City; Know the City, See and Do; Restaurants; Nightlife; Shopping. Subcategories: include Transportation, Airports and Useful Tips.

          

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

          Best Turkish Films of 2011 will be at Istanbul Modern! Don't miss Nuri Bilge Ceylan's awarded movie " Once Upon a Time in Anatolia!" 
           Screenings at the Istanbul Modern Cinema Center are free with museum admission!
For more information; www.istanbulmodern.org


          2011'in en iyi filmleri Istanbul Modern'de! Nuri Bilge Ceylan'ın ödüllü " Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" filmini kaçırmayın!
          Film gösterimleri müze ziyaretçilerine ücretsiz!
Detaylı bilgi için; www.istanbulmodern.org

Sunday, January 22, 2012




          During my first visit to Istanbul, I was lucky enough to spend a day with Erk Erkaya as my personal guide while I was researching upcoming Turkish designers. Erk has been invaluable to my research. And he just plain made my work fun. I hope to be lucky enough to have him as a guide in the future and I recommend him wholeheartedly to any visitor to Turkey. We took some time out to stop by the showroom / studio of menswear designer Hatice Gökçe to check out her collections and I was very glad we did.


Best,
Matthew Zorpas
www.filepmotwary.com

Saturday, January 21, 2012


Bohemians rejoice!

          Locally Istanbul will tailor a flexible itinerary for you which is truly individual – offering a level of immersion in aspects of the city according  to your personal taste/interest, and insights which would be difficult to achieve without insider knowledge.
          The gents are so very pleasant and keen to assist, and they take the matter of whether you have a good time personally.
          I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone who wishes to experience and be a part of the “real” Istanbul. A very cosmopolitan, “on the pulse” approach is adopted, which made this trip far more memorable than otherwise it would have been”.

Susan Cockayne – Independent Legal Consultant, Australia.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Ioana & Sam, writing from Tokyo

          My fiancé and I arrived in Istanbul hoping to find a unique place where we can have an interesting but relaxing experience before heading to Romania to spend winter holidays with my family. I have to say that our expectations were pretty high from the very beginning as we never heard anything bad about the place from any of our friends who visited before. And I have to also say that Istanbul completely lived up to our expectations.
          There were two important factors though that I have to mention as without them I am convinced our experience would have never been the same. First is my lovely Turkish friend Ozlem who introduced us to The House Hotel right on  the Bosphorus. And secondly is the hotel staff who introduced us to Erk and Umit ( Locally Istanbul ) when we asked for a tour guide.

          When you research about Istanbul travel you easily come across numerous websites with information regarding things to see and do but from the very first click they breath a very touristy flavor. We really wanted to avoid being part of a big group, walking around the town following a ultra-detailed guide with a flag and ending up stuck in the restaurants that only target foreigners. We wanted something more customized and personal. And this is exactly what we got with Locally Istanbul!
          We liked Erk and Umit from the very beginning. They listened to what we wanted to do and what was important for us and they came up with a schedule that would match our preferences.  They picked us up at the hotel every morning and dropped us off wherever we asked them to which is always very handy in a huge city like Istanbul where all the street signage is in Turkish only.
          We opted to see the “must see” Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar and Spice Market. And the information we got was very comprehensive but not at all locked up into millions and millions of details we would probably remember only for a few minutes. 
We love Turkish food and we were very much looking forward to try this cuisine in Istanbul. Erk and Umit showed us some amazing placed where only the locals (and lucky foreigners like us) get to go. Places which have no name outside at the entrance. Places where you don`t even need a menu – you just need to say how hungry you are (and we were always hungry) and if there is anything you don`t eat or don`t like. And then enjoy. And we definitely enjoyed every single bite of it!
          In a nutshell, let me just put it this way – we felt like visiting and experiencing Istanbul with two good friends! Thank you very much guys, you made our time an unforgettable one!

Ioana & Sam