Advertisement
Arrived well in Istanbul. Left JFK with Lufthansa after a hectic day shipping boxes . Quite good service and a happily not so memorable flight. The arrival into Istanbul stood out because of the ubiquitous head scarves. Turkey is a secular state, yet religion plays a daily role in everyone's life with the daily calls to prayer and beautiful mosques spread throughout the country side.
Brandon, my first travel partner, and I arrived in Istanbul on a hot Saturday afternoon. We made our way to the touristy, backpacker area of Sultanahmet. After a brief nap (and an upgrade from the Istanbul Hostel to Med Cezir Hotel), we were off to the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. The next day we visited the wonders of the Topakai Palace and the Harem. Off on a night bus to Cappadoicia.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0242s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
stella
non-member comment
headscarves?
I was in Istanbul about 7-8 years ago and don't recall ubiquitous head scarves at all - some, but certainly not all women were wearing them. I've heard that Turkey is becoming more religious, this seems to corroborate that. Also I noticed a big difference between the (non-touristy) parts on the left bank (if you're looking from the Med - I've forgotten all the names) and the right (the one with the little round tower), with the right being more 'western', i.e. less scary (a seventeen-year-old foreigner on her own got followed around a *lot* on the other side, only occasionally on this one...) - is that difference still there? Happy travels! s*