Blogs from Sultanahmet, Istanbul, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East - page 21

Many people wondered what Val and I would find to do in Istanbul for 10 days. The question should be how can you do all of Istanbul in only 10 days? Today we took a ' Hop on- Hop off' bus all around Istanbul. It is called here the 'Ho-Ho' bus. I had wanted to go over to the Taksim Sq. area (on the Asian side) to return to a restaurant that I remembered from when I was last here in 2,000. We were a little apprehensive about the Taksim Sq. area as it was the site last week of a suicide bomber who attacked the police. The bus is a double decker bright red vehicle. Upon entering you are handed a set of head phones which can be plugged into a device in front of ... read more

“Where are you from?” “Pakistan.” “Ah… Pakistan… Kaardish!” “Kaardish?” “Yes… Kaardish… Brother. Brother Country. Long time ago, Pakistan helped Turkey.” “And now Turkey is helping Pakistan in floods.” “Pakistani. Thank you and God bless you.” Pakistani… God Bless You. If a Turk taxi driver thanks you and gives you his blessings, it’s not because you are too bloody big and have done him some favor. It’s because you are a Pakistani and you are Kaardish. Since my first day in Turkey, wherever I went and whoever I told that I was a Pakistani, the other person had one word… Kaardish. In a time of extreme universal refutation of the term Pakistani, in the time of ‘You Pakistani You No Good’, in the time of ‘You Look Like a Terrorist’… Kaardish was a big pleasant surprise. Beautiful ... read more

Respect “May I hassle you today?” At least the man is honest about his intentions. Walking about past any shop is without some interaction. Everyone want your money and I think the words “American sucker” is tattooed across my forehead. I had one vendor follow me for two blocks wanting me to buy a scarf, or two. I made the huge of mistake of actually being kind to him by making eye contact. In the end, he won. I bought a scarf and it’s not even purple. I wore my black scarf wrapped around my head into a Mosque. Men and women must be covered and can’t be wearing shorts. Before we went in, I had been wearing shorts all day but changed into my skirt. Well, turns out there is a clothing monitor before you ... read more

The Grand Turkish Currency Bazaar Monk, who considers himself to be very organised when it comes to currency matters, finds himself getting very frustrated and annoyed at the currency situation in Istanbul. The Turks seem to have some kind of misapprehension that they are already part of the EU. When booking hotels on the Internet, all prices were quoted in euros - not Turkish lira. Monk naively assumed that this was an 'indication' of price for the convenience of Europeans so that they don't have to convert Turkish lira to compare prices. Having spent time in Istanbul, Monk now realises that the euro, and maybe even the dollar, is actually a 'shadow' currency prefered by the Turks. That's fine with Monk except that, actually, when it comes down to paying, everything then gets converted back to ... read more

Today we tackled the bazaars. The Grand Bazaar was really good. Bigger than I expected and certainly a lot to look at. We browsed around and made a purchase although we were offered many more. After a coffee stop, we continued indirectly (unintentionally) to the Spice Bazaar. All the roads leading up to the Bazaar were also filled with stalls so it's certainly a shopping mecca if you like this kind of shopping. The Spice Bazaar smelled great with lots of teas as well as spices, nuts, fruits, Turkish delight and honey. Simon got some jasmine green tea to try back at home. We had lunch near the Galata Bridge and enjoyed the local tradition of a fresh fish sandwich. In the afternoon we caught the tram back round to The Blue Mosque which was very ... read more