Charm isn’t something you can manufacture. It has to evolve. It comes about when every single thing in a place matters to someone. Kybele is probably the most photographed hotel in Istanbul, with a wall of rave reviews culled from hundreds.

Kybele’s famous hanging lamps inspired lookalikes all over the city, lamp shops on every corner.

As those of you who follow my personal blog know, last month I got back from an expedition of a sort from Budapest to Romania to Turkey in search of following the footsteps of one of my favorite historical figures, Vlad Țepeș, known better by his modern knockoff, Dracula.

Passing through Istanbul on the way to the ruins of Eğrigöz in Western Anatolia, my two traveling companions and I came across a hotel in the Old City called the Kybele Hotel.

With lamps depending from a hundred chains on the ceiling, it was immediately visually arresting, but the real gem of the place came from the discovery of a pair of sketchbooks in the lounge from an artist by the name of Trici Venola who has spent a ton of time in Istanbul drawing its many spaces and many places.

Here, then, is a little taste of what we found in those sketchbooks. I definitely recommend checking out Venola’s site for more.

Top photo mine. Everything else the amazing Trici Venola.

Via Drawing on Istanbul.