Istanbul’s Skyline

i m turkish but i have  never been in istanbul.(hiç ayağım düşmedi:)) )i accept that istanbul is very nice city but i always  prefer to lve a small anatolian city mugla bcs istanbul is very crowded and  life is  very expensive and hard in istanbul.

I spent five months in the city but for me is was way too big and crowded. I love the historic district but a lot of that had to do with my Byzantine roots and my late Greek Papoo was born there. Some parts of the city, especially by the sea, are very pretty. I also loved the forest parks since I love nature and it gave me a brief escape from the city but still does not compare to the wild forests that surrounded my former city on the East side of Washington State.
I am sure New York City is like Istanbul when it comes to crowds but I could not walk on the sidewalks without dodging hordes of people. Then there were the gypsies who you had to watch and all the poor beggars I saw. If I saw a crippled women I would not give money but I would buy her a bottle of water or maybe a bit of food but my Turkish friends discouraged me from doing this. I also thought, in the summer, the smog was as bad as Los Angeles, California but it is also bad in Athens. The museums were fantastic and I went to most of them but the place I went to the most was the Basilica Cistern to have coffee with a Turkish (Kurd) friend. Throughtout most of the city most people thought I was Turkish and even some of the students would ask other teachers how come I look so Turkish???? But, not in the historic district!! I would be walking through and I would here, "hey are you a Canadian or American and then came the sales pitch. "Come to our carpet store and have some tea. I won't try and sell you a carpet but I just want to have some tea with you and talk"- right!!! Whenever I was with a Turkish friend they did not bother me but I tried to speak my limited Turkish to say no thank you!

The one thing I can really say positive about Istanbul is, on the most, the people are great and very honest and friendly. I can sense when someone is lying to me but I really saw Istanbulites go out of their way to assist me and I made friends faster there than I ever have in the USA. I would say most of its citizens have a heart of gold. Of course, you have bad people everywhere including my new home in Arizona. I was warned about the bars and if someone comes up to you and invites you there to meet beautiful Russian women, just ignore them and walk on. I heard once you sat down a Russian women will sit next to you and have a drink and when you get up to leave they want $3,000 for the drink or else you get knocked around by a big Russian or Turkish bouncer. I had this happen once and took the advice and walked on. Overall, most of Istanbul is safe but some of my Turkish friends and students told me there were places they even avoided. This can be true of any city around the world though.

I would love to go back someday and see other parts of Turkiye and out of respect I try to spell the Turkish way. Alaska is next on my agenda though-



I was on that same ferry many times but have to got the new ferry fleet yet? I heard these ships were 40-45 years old in 2006.



Edited by eaglecap - 13-Mar-2009 at 19:55

i live in mugla-milas for 15 years but my origin came from erzurum (east anatolia)

Originally posted by eaglecap I was on that same ferry many times but have to got the new ferry fleet yet? I heard these ships were 40-45 years old in 2006.

Erkut, are you Cypriot or mainland turkish?

Btw, I watched Boorman's "By all means" and I really would like to take a turkish Dolmus one day