Initial Reactions
- The streets in general seem to be much smoother than those in Rome. While there are some cobblestone streets, most are paved asphalt or concrete.
- The city feels much less organic than Rome. Buildings are more square and laid out in a grid-like fashion. Roadways are broad, often with sidewalks flanking them.
- Street vendors are everywhere. In particular, pastries, corn, chestnuts, and ice cream seem to be available at carts all around the city.
- The ring-shaped sesame bread/pastry (simit, I think) is quite good. It’s simple, and not sweet, so I like it. For about 1 TL (about $0.70), it’s not expensive, either.
- The Turkish education system sounds quite inflexible in forcing students to essentially determine their careers while they finish high school.
- I’m curious to see what kinds of classes are held at Bogazici University. They must be fairly top-tier to serve the selected students who were admitted to the university.
- The water is not safe to drink here, due to bacteria content. I wish we had a stove in our apartment to boil water in.
- The forum, while interesting, is nowhere near as impressive as the Forum in Rome. That said, there are definite similarities in the ruins (white marble, similar column design, etc.)
- It’s still a bit challenging for me to fathom the size of the ancient Roman, Ottoman, and Byzantine Empires. Thinking about Istanbul’s shifting past as Byzantium and then Constantinople and finally Istanbul is a bit boggling. This is such an important center across times, cultures, and religions.
- The dress of Istanbul citizens has undergone significant changes. In 1925, traditional fez hats were forbidden by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as part of a sweeping modernization movement.
- Turkey (at least the part we’re seeing) appears to be quite receptive to modernization. The synergistic architecture of the building across from the Theodosian Forum is evidence of this.
- There are advertisements everywhere in this part of town. They add to the bustling, urban feel. Some of them even cycle between different ads.
- The pedestrian street lights here are animated – the “walk” sign actually walks. Many traffic lights include a numerical display showing how long the current red or green light will last (we should get this in Seattle…).
- Burger King delivers here.
- The tea shop we visited was very different from anything I’d seen before. It has lots of low couches and small tables, and many men (no women) are smoking hookah. The place has a retractable roof (required by law in smoking establishments).
- Apple tea is very tasty. It’s like cider, but more tart and sour.
- The obelisks of the hippodrome are gigantic. I have no idea how the Egyptians were able to erect such towering structures, much less how they were moved across thousands of miles (same for the giant columns from Egypt).
- That said, the 50 m obelisk we saw was only the top third of the original obelisk. That’s ridiculous.
- All the minarets, low decorative fences, trees, and street vendors give this place a certain Disneyland-like feel.
- Roving street vendors are rather forward. Especially the young water sellers. We saw one pastry vendor who carried his pastries stacked on his head – that was impressive.
- Istanbul seems to have an aggressive driving culture (perhaps even more extreme than Rome’s). Traffic here varies wildly.
- Honking at other cars when no one has space to move is incredibly unproductive. There are 14 million people in this bi-continental city, and sometimes it is easy to see the manifestation of this.
- I like the trees and water around the city. I realize that I missed those things in Rome.
- There are interesting contrasts across streets in Istanbul. You can have an ancient building across from a modern shopping mall, or a sprawling complex of shops across from a wide forest. It’s definitely a growing city.
- The Turkish flag is everywhere. Its proliferation would suggest a very patriotic country.
- There is a constant breeze (very nice) which keeps all the flags billowing proudly.
- We’re being absolutely spoiled with the meals here. Prof. Kasaba knows the founder of the Istanbul Culinary Institute, so we had a lunch there.
- We had four courses. For lunch.
- (assorted breads)
- Cool yogurt soup
- My favorite, very light and refreshing
- Parsley salad
- Kind of strong – caught me off guard
- Eriste (noodles) with chicken
- Nicely seasoned and prepared. If not for the preceding dinner’s chicken, I would have said this was excellent.
- Lemon gelee (dessert)
- Good for a bite or two, but way too sour for my liking.
- The red wine here was actually decently enjoyable. It wasn’t too bitter.
- The service at these restaurants is impeccable.
- We were each given fresh peaches as we departed. Said peaches were extremely juicy.
- We drove right under an active aqueduct which runs through the city.
- There are four THOUSAND shops in this market. They are all tightly packed in an indoor space (which overflows into the surrounding streets).
- The shops themselves are just as crowded with products. Lots of intricate tapestries and scarves, leather products and designer clothes of questionable origins, and traditional lamps and tiles.
- The “evil eye” is a significant symbol here. There are keychains, dishes, and pictures with it everywhere.
- Bartering is an interesting game. I think I need more practice at it. It seems that you have to take either a stern approach (ready to walk away) or a familiar approach (shooting the breeze) with sellers. Female shoppers have the added element of flirtation with young male sellers.
- A number of the girls in our group got free pins as a result of their interactions.
- Walking along the water at night was very nice. One of the bridges across the Bosphorous (the waterway between European and Asian sides of Istanbul) is completely lit, and it changes color.
- We had a dinner of burgers at Dükkan Burger. The food was reasonably priced and high quality. The server was a nice guy; he provided us with lots and lots of fries and offered to take our picture.
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