Hi there,
As I told you initially, we were planning to base ourselves at three sites in Turkey. The idea was to go from Fethiye to Trabzon and then end up in Istanbul.
We were looking at what to do and accommodation in Trabzon, but we didn’t like any of them and since all the flights had a stopover in Istanbul, we decided to base ourselves there and we would go to Trabzon for a weekend.
We booked the whole month in the Airbnb that I already told you about last Thursday.
At the airport we took a bus that left us in Taksim and from there, we took a taxi to the accommodation. On this trip I told Diego that we were living like millionaires because we never take a taxi while traveling.
At first glance, Istanbul is dirtier and more decadent compared to what we have already seen. That Sunday that we arrived, what we did was buy food and take a walk along the Istiklal pedestrian street.
The first day we went to visit the Galata Tower and we already realized that they didn’t even wear masks there.
One curious thing is that Istanbul is full of stray cats and dogs. It caught my attention that people take great care of them and feed them. In fact, most dogs and cats were plump and healthy. Diego’s friend told us that animals are not killed in kennels; they castrate, mark, and then release them. A long time ago they killed them (as is done in the rest of the world), but the people demonstrated against it.
I liked to see that human side of the Turks to take care of the animals on the street. In fact, one afternoon we saw two cats fighting and all the people went to separate them; As the cats were still furious, two men each grabbed a cat and took them away so they would calm down.
People are very willing to give cats love and they are used to it. When we went for a walk on Sundays, we saw that people sat in the parks and cats came to sat on top of them.
Diego had been touching cats the whole trip despite being allergic until one day he caught a super strong allergy and his face turned like a tomato and he couldn’t swallow.
It is also true that since everything was full of food, pots of water and houses made of boxes, various parts of the city looked very bad.
I have to say that I imagined Istanbul and Turkey in general totally different. Diego had only been there one day when he made a stopover years ago and he also had a different idea because he had only seen the area around the two most important mosques. That area has nothing to do with what the city really is.
When we went to see the Süleymaniye Mosque, we mistakenly went over a bridge that is not the most touristy. We went through a part that you can’t imagine how horrible it was. First, through a street full of disgusting bars with old people drinking coffee; the worst thing is that the whole floor was full of goo. I almost vomited. That’s where “The Street of Spits” stayed. Then we continue along a street that used to be made of wooden houses from 50 years ago that were falling apart. It was all from a horror movie.
That’s the real Istanbul that tourists don’t see. In addition, the difference between tourist areas and those that are not, is brutal.
We visited all the urbanizations that we saw on the internet and the one I liked the most was Kadiköy because everything was clean, and the people seemed more civilized. I also liked the Nisantasi area; We went there because Diego’s friend’s girlfriend had recommended it to buy the Turkish eye earrings that I wanted.
We also enter the most famous bazaars, and my recommendation is to buy outside because everything is more expensive there. I took spices and bought them at the supermarket. Diego, who brought some souvenirs to his parents, bought them in Istiklal Caddesi. The two bazaars that are near the area of the mosques are very touristy and therefore more expensive. The last day we went to one that the Airbnb host recommended to us and that was typical. It was in an ugly area and not at all touristy; in addition, they had cheap clothes, accessories, household items and giant vegetables.
Last week in Istanbul the country went into lockdown from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. and returning from Cappadocia we saw how the police went by sending people to their homes.
We found wonderful and super cheap vegan restaurants. In Kadiköy there was one that made you a giant durum for less than 2 euros. We will always remember that place.
In short, Istanbul was not at all what I expected. From what people say, I was expecting something like from an Aladdin movie. It is an impressive city because it has many places of cultural interest (palaces, mosques), but dirty and decadent. People are smoking and littering everywhere. In that aspect, on the one hand, I liked it and on the other, I hated it.
Here there is more harassment towards tourists to sell you things.
The city seemed safe to me, there were few early mornings in which we were on the street due to displacements, and we did not feel unsafe at any time. There were quite a few patrol cars circulating everywhere (in that aspect it reminded me of CDMX), but nothing more.
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