Right after a morning that followed a snowy night, in front of Taksim Sular… Around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. On a small rectangular tin plate attached beneath the sign reading “Mandatory Tram Stop”—which is affixed to the pole on the left—the word “Kıt’a” is written. In other words, that spot is a fare-jumping point for the tram lines. From this point onward, for trips continuing in both the Harbiye and Galatasaray directions, an additional twenty para will be added to each ticket. That is, half a kuruş…
As for the trams using the transit stop along the route, they depart from the Tunnel direction and further back, from various points within the Old City, proceeding via Köprü-Karaköy-Voyvoda-Okçumusa-Şişhane-Meşrutiyet route to the Galatasaray four-way intersection, then reach this station via İstiklâl Street, and from there either enter Cumhuriyet Avenue via Taksim or return along the same route—a valuable station where passengers board and alight…
From here, you can reach Kurtuluş, Maçka, Harbiye, and Şişli all on a single mode of transportation. Even the Mecidiye Köyü trams, which began service just a short while ago, pass through here. Although their schedules are still infrequent for now…
If you cross to the other side of the street, the trams are ready to take you all the way to Sirkeci, Eminönü, Bayazıd, Aksaray, and Fatih… If you board the trams heading toward the Tunnel, you can reach Karaköy in just 115 seconds without any detours. At the very least, it’s an extremely fast and ideal alternative for connecting to the ferry…
Right across from us are the restrooms. The door on the left is for women, and the entrance on the right is for men… They’ve hung a modest wooden curtain at the entrance to both doors. This is a necessity—especially in a central location like Taksim…
The wind is blowing from the direction of İstiklâl Avenue and Sıraserviler, and it’s quite strong. The wind billowing into the ladies’ coats and the gentlemen’s pants is lifting their clothes in the direction of Gezi-Mete Avenue. The direction of the wind at that very moment is from the west-northwest (blowing from the Balkans), and its intensity is probably a three… If it were to start raining again at that moment, the wind would cause a significant amount of snow to settle on the ground, but the sky is clear and cloudless… Perhaps it’s meant to be for this evening.
The gentleman walking toward us with a cigar in his mouth has both hands tucked into his coat pockets, putting himself at risk. The air is quite cold, biting, and icy. The poor man has a point, though—it would be better for him to at least keep one hand outside his coat. Because the herringbone mosaic pavement is wet and slippery enough to make the heels of his shoes slide quite violently… If he loses his balance, it’ll end badly. He might end up at Taksim First Aid—God forbid… He isn’t even wearing a hat. He’s so confident that he’s practically inviting a stroke in this cold out of the blue…
As for the burly gentleman walking toward the restrooms: either he’s a local shopkeeper who set out for a routine bathroom break without even putting on his coat, or his financial situation is a bit dire. Middle class. He’s greeted snowy Istanbul with nothing but a thin coat. … May God help him—what else can we say?
The officer in the steel-brimmed cap in front of Maksem was a traffic cop of that era—one of the personnel responsible for the safety and traffic flow on Cadde-i Kebir. The central buildings were right behind the square, in the Yellow Building in front of the Opera House construction site: the Taksim Police Headquarters…
The sun, rising after dawn, quickly melted the snow on the domes and rooftops. Judging by the nature of what remained, it’s clear the snow fell not as a result of a heavy, hard snowstorm, but rather as part of a light, fluffy snowfall. The snow appears relatively soft and is highly prone to melting into water by the afternoon…
Heavy snowstorms and rapid, bulgur-like snowfall occur in Istanbul during December and January. These leave a very dense and compact layer on the ground in a short time. In February and March, however, the intensity of the precipitation decreases; it falls in large, fluffy flakes, resulting in a plump, voluminous yet loose accumulation on the ground. So, it seems we’re now in the transition period between late January and early February…
I’ll leave it to our fellow enthusiasts to figure out the exact year of the photo.