View from the Top

That little building next to the Camii is my apartment.

Sapphire Grand Opening

After a year of living next to it, I finally got to go inside/to the top of it.

The mall is fairly ubiquitous slightly bigger/nicer than Astoria though certainly no real competition for such super-malls as Forum and Isteniye Park. However the greatest appeal, besides the only Moe's in Istanbul, is the observation deck on the 54th Floor. It's pretty over whelming to have the complete panorama- the Black Sea, the Marmara, the financial district, both bridges, and on a clear day like today, even the Prince's Islands. I expect it will soon make Çeliktepe must-see stop on the tourist check list - not sure how much I like that, but it's fun to live in the middle of the action.

View from the Sapphire's Observation Deck from Michael Butterworth on Vimeo.

(pictures coming soon)

Grand Opening

One of my first blog posts here in Istanbul was about the Sapphire, the skyscraper that's being built in my front yard. Anyway, it looks like they're almost done, cuz this popped up on the jumbo tron. It's still looks bomboş (empty) on the inside- so I'm a little skeptical this grand opening is for reals.