30 August 2009

Turkishly Delightful

Mosque, Istanbul

Istanbul is cool. Not London black-skinny-jeans-attitude-with-punkish-haircut cool. But cool in the style of a Uni student with funky clothes and bouncy enthusiasm. The place has a non-stop energy about it that we felt the minute we stepped off the hydrofoil from Greece. Totally different from the slow island pace of Greece.

I loved the shopping here. The Grand Bazaar is totally touristy but the men (and yes, it is almost entirely the men being shopkeepers) are particularly charming about it. I heard so many lines today, most of them beginning with "Hey lady!" My favourite was "This scarf will change your life." Lauchlin says they are silvery-tongued but I think it's genuine. I think these people, although they are of course trying to sell stuff, are just being... nice.

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul Topkapi Palace Tiles, Istanbul
Apple Tea and Borek (Pastries!), Istanbul Along the River, Istanbul

Other highlights of Istanbul for me have been: the pastries (SO GOOD), the apple tea and the tiles at the Topkapi Palace. Photo of one of said tiles above. My already rampant tile obsession (specific to Moorish tiles and Turkish Iznik tiles) has had fuel added to its fire.

On our way back to the hostel tonight we passed lit up mosques and sizzling grilled fish. We went back to the turkish delight specialist we went to last night. The man recognised us and greeted us effusively (helpfully informing Lauchlin that turkish delight is an aphrodisiac) and we spent the last of our Turkish lira on turkish delight. I couldn't think of anything I'd rather spend my last lira on, on my last night in Europe.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful shots. Enjoy your last day. Am off to the airport now to the snow. Look forward to seeing you soon. Jill

Bb said...

Some scarves can change your life :o)

I have a Toni scarf here, which is going to become a heat pack for my shoulders, which will provide me welcome relief and make me a nicer person to be around, and who knows what plans will be made under those conditions...

ps. sorry I fell off the radar, I have found your journal once more!

Francis Bell said...

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