A tag of sorts - Pencereler

I was tagged by Madhuri quite a while back. The tag goes something like this: All you have to do is select and upload one photo that you have clicked this year that is special to you. Could be anything…aesthetic, technical or personal. Also, put in a short note why it is special.

This has been quite difficult; partly because I travelled so much last year (which is when I was tagged - eight countries, by the way), and also because I have taken so many pictures that I love dearly. A lot of them I have already been put up here! As it happens, the one that I kept going back to has already been uploaded - it's the lovely green door in İstanbul.

Still, I decided to use the tag as an excuse to post two pictures I took in İstanbul that haven't made it here. My fetish for doors (especially green ones) has already been documented, so this time its all about the windows. If İstanbul has lovely doors - and it does - it also has lovely windows. And just like everything else in the city, you can look at its windows and imagine all sorts of stories and marvel at the contrasts.

The old districts of İstanbul further west of Fatih don't really figure on the tourist maps as such, but I adored them dearly. A lot of the old Turkish houses survive - but just. Some of them look like a gentle prod would reduce them to a heap of rubble and splinters. Like this wooden house in Edirnekapı. Catching a glimpse of it from the side I was convinced that it was abandoned ... it looked too dangerous for someone to be living in. And then, one look at the front and I couldn't help but smile. No matter how unsafe or unstable this was clearly someones beloved house. You can just tell just looking at those lovely flowers that adorn the windowsills, can't you? It might not be much, but home is always home.

So, passing the tag on...and since many of you continously post lovely photos... which is (are) the photo(s) that you have clicked over the past year that are special to you?