Listening for Forgotten Stories of Istanbul in Colorful Balat

<p>Like all great cities in the world, Istanbul is not a single city. It is a great confluence of neighborhoods. Each of these local communities, like villages coming together to form a great metropolis, have their own distinctive cultural flavor. So, an attempt to write a single overarching account of the city misses its diverse, local flavors and the stories that make it unique.</p> <p>One such neighborhood is Balat. Historically, Balat was the home of Istanbul&rsquo;s Jewish community. At its zenith, it also had a large Orthodox Christian community. But that fabric has since disintegrated. Both its Jewish and Orthodox Christian communities have now disappeared. Today, they have been replaced by colorful, quirky coffee shops and quaint alleys, which have sprung up along the remains of older histories.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/in-living-color/listening-for-forgotten-stories-of-istanbul-in-colorful-balat-4b06268fdde2"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>