I was 2 years old the first time I visited Istanbul with my parents, I don’t remember much but whenever I see some of the pictures they took on that trip I find it very nice. It’s very true when you hear or read that Istanbul is a magical place where East and West meet. This city is one of the most amazing places I’ve visited so far. It has an amazing history that goes back to thousands of years, a very rich culture where modernity and tradition blend in so beautifully. Sometimes you hear of these Disney movies or you read fairytale about sultans and princess, but when you visit a place like Istanbul, you come to believe these stories were true.
Istanbul is a huge city, it has a population of 15 million, almost half of the population of Canada. The city is spread across 2 continents, Asia and Europe. It’s very easy and very convenient to take the public transportation, they have subways, tramways, funiculars, ferries and buses. I bought a card that can be recharged, the trip in any of these mode of transportation costs around one dollar.
There are plenty of things to see, Ancient mosques, churches, and synagogues. There are also plenty of palaces, bazaars, islands, parks and bridges, many of these places go back in history to more than 1500 years.
One of the places I visited was a Sultan’s palace (Topkapı Palace) that had a kitchen staff of 1000 who worked to cook for a banquet every night to serve more than 5000 guests. Or the Aya Sofia, which was originally a church when the old Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire had its capital in Constantinople and then it was converted to a mosque and now it’s a museum. Or the grand bazaar, a public market that has thousands of shops selling everything, from spices, sweets, crafts and many traditional items. The atmosphere was amazing and so beautiful.
The Turkish people are very friendly and very helpful, it was very hard to encounter locals who spoke English, but they tried to help no matter what. One day, I was looking for a hostel but I didn’t feel people knew where giving me good direction. When I arrived at the hostel I told the manager I found hard time finding the hostel although I asked many people. He started to laugh, he said if you didn’t ask anyone you could have found the place easier, he said there’s 2 reasons for that, it’s considered impolite for the locals not to respond when you ask for direction. I was told the other reason, the locals would consider themselves ignorant if they didn’t know the direction of something. Still, Turkish people will go into great length just to assist, I was asking someone for direction and he didn’t speak English, right away he took out his cellphone and called his friend who spoke English, in order to assist me and him with the translation. I also liked the hospitality of the Turkish people, every time I would go down to talk or chat with the owner or the workers at the hostel, they will offer me a little glass of Turkish tea.
With the exception of the bad weather, there’s nothing I could say negative about Turkey and its people. The food also was so delicious, it was enough to take some pictures once you see how they display the delicious traditional desserts like Baklava or Kunafe, and to go inside and try some. I also tried a lot of traditional food, which you could get anywhere, and when I say traditional I don’t mean the Shawarma or donair, but more something like a traditional meal of okra with tomato sauce and rice, or a potato with tomato sauce and rice, very delicious and it only costs around 4 dollars, unless you go eat in the tourists area you could end up paying the double.
I really enjoyed my time in Istanbul a lot, I had only 5 days to visit and it’s not enough, I hope that I will get a chance to go back to Istanbul to spend more time and to travel and visit the rest of the country.
çok güzel!
I didn’t know we shared the same desserts. 🙂