First Impressions: Istanbul
Back to a bustling city! After the relative calm (or isolation) of South Africa, it's sort of cool to be back in a city with a lot of people, a lot of energy. It's the first city on my trip so far, that I've been able to take a metro straight from the airport into town. And it turns out, a lot of the tourist sites are within walking distance to one another in the Sultanahmet neighborhood, or a quick tram ride away.
This is a picture of the Blue Mosque, but really from the moment you land there are mosques that look similar (to me) everywhere. Literally, just beyond the runway I could see domes and spires.
Today I took a walk along Istiklal Caddesi, a big shopping street in what people would consider "modern Turkey," vs. the old, traditional Turkey of Sultanahmet where the Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Aya Sofia, etc. are.
The one thing that makes me feel a bit uneasy about Turkey so far is the nagging sense that someone is about to swindle me. I haven't had this feeling so far on this trip, which is actually a nice surprise now that I think about it. But everywhere you walk, even in a park, someone will be saying, "Hello, how are you" behind you, or to the side, and you know it's not just to be friendly! And for the first time ever, I was "walked" from one hotel to another (i.e. first hotel double books a room, so you get sent to another). And it happened on two consecutive nights! Not that it's a problem, but when you pay in cash at the first hotel, and no one here seems to give receipts, and you have to get into a discussion in the second place...
