Klübbing in İstanbul - Reina, Murphy's & Mojo

So in case you were curioius about nightlife in Istanbul, it is all here... whatever your pleasure. I have only been out to clubs 3 times as I rather like the low key dinner parties in Beyoğlu at restaurants with live music. I also like hanging out at the salsa school. Anyway, my first club was nothing like "Halay" in Van... It was all glitter and glamour.

Reina!
This was the first club we (Peter, Ecco, Trish and I) went to. Seems it is a club that young beautiful people (like the host sister/brothers of the families Trish and Peter were staying at) liked to go here. WOW! It was fancier than the clubs at the 5 star hotels in North East Asia... and equally as strange. Located under the bridge it was open and afforded all a gorgeeous view of the Bosphorous.... and the other Reina go-ers. Everyone was dressed to the teeth; women in sexy, tight, flashy clothing (surprised they let Trish and I in. Likewise for the guys.... but they did give Ecco the head to toe. He is the "prettiest" of all of us, but he had on sport shoes). Anyway, there wasn't much dancing going on. Just a lot of posing. People wanting to be seen. The ones really dancing stayed with the people they came with and didn't have tables (like us) and were somehow "uncool". The entrance fee was 50 YTL and included one drink (25 YTL each), but a table would have cost several hundred Euros! As it stands, one time was enough for me.

Murphy's
The next club event was after Tuesday's salsa class. Sayeed (the teacher), his partner and 2 others, Trish and I went squished in Sayeed's car and drove a distance that felt like we were driving half-way across the country. In fact, it was just to Kadıköy on the Asia side of Istanbul. The club doesn't look like much in daylight, but at night you can see that all four walls are glass and allow you to watch the boats coming into the marina and docking. That's of you are bored with watching the dancers. Some of them are spectacular. There were at least 2 couples who were as good as any performing in NY and London. If I ever live here, I will definately go back (if only to watch... too intimidating to dance).

Mojo
This club was really really close to me. In a side alley off of Istiklal Caddesi. It was Trish's pick on her last night weeknight here (the Friday night before I headed to Ağva). It was noisy and smoky, but surprisingly good. There was a band that sang covers of a wide range of musicians... and most of them were good. We stayed for 1 and 1/2 sets and then the smoke was so bad I had to go. However, it was very comfortable. Opposite to Reina, it was so dark, you could have gone in your pajamas it's possible nobody would notice.