8/27 Tuesday
We’re
advised not to drink the tap water in Turkey, so Evrim has a ten gallon jug of
water delivered for us. When the bell rings downstairs, I’m watching a tv show
about the jungles of New
Guinea. There’s a big parrot call, and Bob
says “Turn that down some” I do, but the squawk is still loud. By the third
time, we realize it’s the doorbell!
We
head out to get our bearings. We need to get cash and a map, and hopefully
figure out the public transportation. A Tourist Info Center would be helpful.
We’re on a hill above one of the ferry ports. We begin to realize that Istanbul
is a very hilly city. We’ll get our workout walking here.
There’s
a big, leafy park across the street from us, so we walk through the shade to
get to the port at the bottom of our hill. The place is full of feral cats. In
fact, there are cats lounging around all over the city, on the tile rooftops,
on car hoods, on park benches. People seem to really like the cats. They have
food and water bowls and little shelters everywhere. In one city square,
someone has laid out a paper napkin with food, carefully placing a stone on
each corner so the wind doesn’t blow it around. It would be nice if they would
spay somebody once in a while, though.
Turkish
people seem to make a park out of any available patch of grass. We see people
of all sorts laying in the shade, on the grass alongside the highway, in the
flowerbeds by the harbor, in the actual parks. Some look like out-of-work
types, few seem homeless. There are others just relaxing, women having a lunch,
some with children. They make themselves at home, bringing out chairs and
backgammon boards.
We
make our way along a very busy main street shaded with gigantic sycamore trees,
then up a challenging maze of side streets, to end up at Taksim Square, the
site of recent protests and police action. Today, it’s open and quiet. We find
a Tourist Information office where we are invited to “Sit, Relax, You’re on Vacation”
by a nice man who gives us maps and guidebooks and offers to provide tours for
us.
We
head out again, heading towards a café for a break. The waiters here are more
aggressive, trying to herd us into their restaurants as we pass. We sit at a
quiet spot and order some water and dolmodes. The waiter brings over the menu
and describes his dinner offerings, a nice fish, fresh fish, for 130 lire, for
two. This is about $60. The fresh grilled fish we had in Pomorie was about $6. Ah,
Pomorie. Those were the days.
We
continue on, trying to make our way back to the apartment without going back to
the bottom of the hill, which turns out to be a mistaken strategy. We’re going
up and down the ridges between Taksim Square and our place, instead of going
downhill once and then uphill to the apartment. It’s an interesting walk,
although some of the streets are scarily steep, and also hot. We do get a full
appreciation of the insane traffic at rush hour. The giant tour buses can
hardly manage. One bus tries to make a left hand turn into an intersection, and
gets stuck in full-blown gridlock. No one will let the bus go through. The
traffic backs up for blocks and blocks. No movement, excerpt for an occasional
small car that sneaks through, and the motor scooters driving up the sidewalks.
The bus makes a break for it after sitting for about twenty minutes. Things are
about the clear up some, when two cars get into a fender-bender. Amazingly,
they both drive into the intersection to park and sort out the accident. Who does
that? More gridlock ensues. We move on, making our way through the cars piled
up in the crosswalks, passing the sight-seeing buses with their tourists
roasting in the sun as they sit in traffic.
1 Video Included
Istanbul Walk
No comments:
Post a Comment