Istanbul – leave all your skirts at home!!!

My mum always likes to keep an eye on flight ticket sales, discounts and promotions. There is a big competition between low fare flight companies in Europe and we sometimes get offers that cannot be refused. So, one day my mum bought a 3in1 ticket or buy 1 get 2 for free. Three of us got return tickets and we paid only for one person. Isn’t it great??? We went to Istanbul.

The first thing I realized was that I packed only summer skirts and dresses, which was a big mistake. The majority of Turkish people are Muslim and in their culture woman should cover her body, mainly the lower part. Well, at that time I was a silly teenager who did not care much about stuff. I got punished in a way… While wandering around the city some of the men were staring and commenting on me which felt quite uncomfortable. Also, I was not allowed to visit mosques. Talking about mosques, they have one more rule - women must cover their hair in order to be able to go inside. I learned two things. Firstly, people should care and respect other cultures, beliefs and traditions. Secondly, if you want to visit their country just adjust to the customs.

Apart from having trouble with my clothing we really enjoyed the long weekend abroad. Our main interest was to see mosques, drink tea and smoke water pipe, eat and just wander around markets. Turkish people have the great tradition of just sitting in a café, drinking teas, smoking pipe, talking and simply relaxing. This was our favorite activity. We have tried so many different tobacco flavors and smoked so much that it made us really dizzy time to time.

Eating was another part of our recreation. Kebab is probably the most famous dish and you can find kebab restaurants and take away shops everywhere…it seemed like they do not eat anything else!!! Apart from that, we enjoyed seafood dishes and baklava desserts.

Markets in Istanbul are just great. You can find there everything from clothes and jewelry, home ware, food and spices to plants and animals. Each stall is colorful and seems to be completely overstocked. Owners of the shops stand outside and hunt for potential customers in a way that they shout at you to come and see what they have or simply grab you inside. The whole complex of stalls, little ‘streets’ and exits is so confusing that each time we got there we were always lost…but maybe it is made on purpose so you just stay there longer and spend more money. I have only one warning they will try to rip you off so badly. You cannot even imagine…the best way to try to reduce the prices is to bargain unashamedly. Because of being a tough customer you can get a great discount, but trust me you will still pay too much!!!

Apart from restaurants and markets you can find a number of people trying to do the business on the street. And they are just everywhere!!! Some examples are food stalls, shoe polishers and trinket stalls. We have tried them all…How about you?

Let’s go to Istanbul for kebab, shopping and pipes :o)!!!