Istanbul: First Impressions of the Gateway to Asia

John has never been to Istanbul before. Laurel has, twice, for fairly short periods. She loved it both times, which is part of why we live here now. Laurel is also doing research for a soon-to-be bestselling series of historical novels about the Ottoman Empire. But more on that anon. For now, we thought we’d capture our very first impressions of Istanbul. They are necessarily influenced by the fact that we’ve just spent three months in the Nordic peninsular countries (here’s our considered opinion on them). Things are very different here. Istanbul is a city of 18 million or more, spread over a huge area. Norway is a country of 5 million, spread over a huge area.

Street Life

We notice waaay more cats here (familiar also to us from spending time in Greece). They are technically feral, but exceedingly friendly and mostly well-fed. One jumped onto our lap yesterday when we were sitting outside. Dogs too, but there is a Muslim belief that dogs are unclean, so not as many (and not as well-cared for). We see all of the things that come with big cities: people everywhere talking many languages, and lots of trash and dirt. And vendors walk down our street selling stuff, and women lower baskets from their windows to buy it. (Laurel remembers this as a a beloved feature of spending a college semester in Athens, and is delighted to see it still happens here.)

Unlike in many big cities, there is also an item of historical interest everywhere we turn in Istanbul; we discover an unexpected inscription or an aqueduct or a column graveyard pretty much every time we leave the house.

People

The people of Istanbul, so far, are friendly, even in super-touristy areas. We have found them willing to help even when they know no English at all. Which is surprisingly often; the woman in the pharmacy didn’t speak English, and that is often a place where you can communicate easily. And one of the biggest differences we’ve noticed from Scandinavia is that people in Istanbul smoke, seemingly all the time, including indoors.

Transportation

There is great public transportation – metro, trams, busses, ferries – getting us everywhere we need to go. We have more to say about this too, like the fact that the trams run every five minutes at least, and are STILL always packed. We gave directions to some South Africans on the tram yesterday who had recently been mugged in the tram. Which is a good reminder to us to take up our city ways: bags closed, stuff in front pockets, thuggish looks on our faces.

Food and Drink

We travel on our stomachs, so we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t love Turkish food. We’re only just discovering its nuances – for us, lamb is lamb, but restaurants here specialize in one kind of thing (e.g. kebap, or kofte, or lambacun – all of which will receive lots more attention from us soon). And the food is amazing and plentiful: even on our very first day, when, overwhelmed, we accidentally had lunch in a touristy restaurant. The food was great, if overpriced. (Also, overpriced is still not very expensive.) Although we’ve only been here a week or so, we’ve already had at least three very memorable meals.

Society/Culture

This is John’s first trip to a predominantly Muslim country, so he’s noticing that especially. First of all, there are a lot of mosques. John thought he could use them as reference points, until he discovered that they are everywhere. So that’s not working very well. (It’s like trying to navigate Rome by churches.) Turkey is officially Muslim, and nearly the whole population identifies as Muslim. But unlike some other Muslim countries, it is fairly secular (especially in Istanbul). We’ve been outside when the call to prayer happens (five times a day), and plenty of people head right to a mosque, but plenty don’t. And the women dress in a wide range of styles, from belly-exposed tank top to full abayat (draped in a loose black garment from head to foot, sometimes with a niqab covering the majority of the face). There are also, perhaps obviously, many fewer bars here. Their loss is amply compensated for by the dozens and dozens of places where you can have tea and a pastry. This has already become our new thing.

In general, so far so good: there’s a ton to see here, and also to eat. So, even though we’re here for three months it will be a stretch to take it all in. And we haven’t even crossed over to the Asian side yet!