ISTANBUL GOODBY
Sept 30
It is raining this morning so we are doing laundry and planning for the next leg that starts tomorrow. We have been very impressed by Istanbul. The people, the city and the weather have been perfect.
Our little neighborhood has been wonderful. Everyone has been helpful and kind. The apartment is really what has set this part of the trip apart. It is owned by a Turkish family two of whom are professors in the U.S. Coming home after a hot day of touring and setting on the balcony with the wind blowing and watching the boat traffic is heaven. There is a little traffic noise during the rush hours, if the balcony door is open, but it is just a two lane road, so it is not bad. In the bed rooms you hear nothing.
The apartment is just behind the white house in the middle.
This bridge and the one in the distance do fancy light shows all night long.
This side of the street I would call upper middle class, the other side is really rich. The houses do not appear grand but are several stories right on the water. One of the neighbors is chauffeured in his big BMW in the morning. The neighbors on either side of him are chauffeured in shiny boats.
Cats are highly respected in the Muslim world and there are many of them. The state picks them up, neuters them and tries to find homes for them. If they can not find homes they set them lose. We have seen a few kittens but no cats that look like mothers. Everyone feeds them and watches over them. It is cat heaven for Vicki.
We have seen many, many, many boats of every kind come by. Mostly ferries, small fishing boats, tankers and freighters.
This is Turkey's brand new naval vessel
This one needs a little injector work.
One night I even had to give a few pointers the local TV love story production.
Istanbul is working very hard to increase their tourist trade. The are redoing all the streets in the old town with pavers and closing them to traffic. Every area we visited was very clean, especially impressive in a city this size. There is a strong presence of Tourist Police in most areas though we never felt uncomfortable anywhere we went. Beggars and people chasing you trying to get you to buy a "carpet" in their store are almost non-existent. We encountered a few "carpet salesmen" around the major tourist attractions. Surprisingly, they had all been to Siesta Key when we told them we were from Florida. They are prohibited from approaching anyone in a tour group, but us freelancer are fair game. We actually enjoyed talking to a couple of them.
This is Mahmet, he was our favorite "carpet" salesman.
Not venturing far from home because of the weather, we went around the corner for lunch at our local restaurant. Marion wants to know what we are eating. Pretty much everything. This meal costs about $13 for both.
Everyday there seems to be a soup made from lentils or chicken but they are all different tasting.
I have chicken stew over rice. Vicki has a bowl of beans, fried chicken, rice, salad thing, and limp french fries. Oh yea, and he threw in a rice thing wrapped in grape leaf and small kabeb meat hot dog on my plate.
All meals are followed by tea.
The choices today, egg plant, chicken stew, kebab dogs, stuffed pepper, fried chicken, spinach, okra, beans, something else, rice, french fries, "salad" and the ever present Kebab meat served however you want. All very tasty.
It is very faint in the picture, but there was a beautiful rainbow right in front of the apartment. I set to long admiring it before it dawned me to take a picture. A great sign to leave Istanbul on!
