Wanderlust is going to be one of the venues of the upcoming Mahalla Festival 2021.

This unique café is located in Yeldeğirmeni, Kadıköy. The main concept of the place is “wanderlust” – a strong desire to travel, explore and wander.

The space’s interior design is original and unique. Menus that look like passport, world maps, visa stamps and airport signs make you feel part of the journey. The place has two floors and a garden, which makes it spacious. It is an ideal venue for creative activities – to use it as an art and film projection space.

Wanderlust is run by a friendly and welcoming staff. The place is ideal for everyone – both travellers and those who dream of travelling.

In the short interview, the owner of the place – Haktan Rençber, describes his concept and ideas that enabled him to create such an original space.

Where did an an idea about opening this place come from?

Travelling is my passion and running this Cafe is my job. I wanted to mix my passion with my job. So that is how Wanderlust was created. We opened this cafe in 2019.

What does “wandering” mean to you?

Wandering is an ideology for me and a hobby that pretty much sums up my life. Since we opened “Wanderlust”, I thought it was some kind of sponsor to me, of course until the start of pandemic.

Were there many travellers that came by?

Yeldegirmeni, the place we are located in, has been a place that attracs most of the backpackers lately. The reason for that is it has an easy access to all around the Istanbul. There has been people who met here and continued travelling together and thanked us.

Were the decorations of the place collected by you?

Over 50% of the decorations were bought from the places we have seen. The other ones were owned by us. In our garden, there is my pack from my first travel ever.

On September 10th, in the frame of the Mahalla Festival under the title Murmuration, there will be a screening of a short film about a Maltese taxi driver from Eritrea (“Taxi Malta”).