Colorful Stairs

This guide to the Colorful Stairs in Istanbul's Balat district starts with Hüseyin Çetinel, a retired forestry engineer who repainted a grey staircase in 2013 using forty kilograms of paint. It follows what happened when city authorities painted the steps grey again overnight, and the online response that followed. Along the way it traces Balat's long history as home to Sephardic Jewish and Greek Orthodox communities. Listen for how the neighborhood's older façades echo the same palette.