Final 4 in Istanbul? Well… this was my first time I‘ve been to a Final 4 and of course I was excited from the very first minute I put my foot to Istanbul. Everything were organized as it should. Events of these four days were in amazing places like “Ciragan Palace”. This was a great experience for me, to see such places while working for the newspaper, to meet legends like Omer Onan or Joe Arlauckas, to meet people from many countries and to see those great matches and the Champions raising the cup in person and not by TV.
Turkish fans were amazing. I believe that Turkish fans are like Greeks, shouting the whole game for their team and they’ve supported Fenerbahce to the maximum. They created a very strong “home-court” that could cause big troubles mentally to every team. Olympiacos didn’t have much trouble away from court during the regular season, but at the final fans were the sixth player of Fenerbahce.
There was a problem, of course, and this was the traffic of the city. I was lucky to stay to a hotel near Sinan Erdem, so it wasn’t that trouble for me. Unfortunately, though, I didn’t have much time to explore this huge city. I only went to the old town for a couple of hours, which was really beautiful.
What I love the most, was the food! I‘ve ate many delicious food and sweets in Istanbul which I will miss them for sure! Though, I hope my friends from TrendBasket will give me some exclusive recipes from Turkey, so to try cook some of these tasteful food.
Nota Moustaka
Eleftherios Typos