Istanbul stuff

October 3, 2008 | Filed Under Main |

There are no squirrels in Istanbul. Instead, they have cats. Cats everywhere! These cats are healthy looking and very pet-able – as opposed to the grimy, feral variety in Kuwait. But make no mistake – these guys are scavengers. They are there to con you out of that sandwich. (But they are sooo cute…)

I have come to the conclusion that – like Paris – you can’t really have a bad meal here. Everything is fresh, the bread is good, the tomatoes are excellent and the fish was caught today. Even the local beer is good. If you’re thirsty, get some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. It’s not fancy, but it IS tasty.

Sofia was nice to visit, but it is hard to have a spiritual moment when the place is PACKED WITH BLOODY TOURISTS!! I know – I’m a tourist, too. But there is something different between a few hundred of us passing through in a day and busloads of 50-60 German or Japanese (toss in whatever country) tourists descending like locust every 30 minutes! Every piece of major antiquity will be ground to dust under this stampede of little tourist feet. Then I watched them pile into the restaurant I had lunch in, following their leaders. I have never seen so many humans in herds before in my life. It was sad and terrifying.

Lastly, I think I have mentioned here that I am not a shopper. If you too are not a shopper, do not go to the Grand Bazaar. This place is for professionals only. There are a billion small shops stuffed into a labyrinth of old tunnels. Nothing exists in nature that you cannot buy here. My head spins when I go into Shop Rite. I damn near passed out before I found daylight once again.

share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us
  • digg
  • Furl
  • NewsVine
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
tags: none

Leave a Comment

If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.

Name

Email

Website

Comments

3 comments so far
  1. Tim October 6, 2008 7:53 pm

    hey carl. been a long time so i’m cathing up on gorky. saw chris working at bellas this weekend and he said you’re heading back to NJ soon! if you got the money honey i’ve got the time…we were at bellas for a send off for kevin sesny - he got a nice promotion to head to hotlanta and wear the branch manager’s pants. we sent him off in style at bellas and a “small” afterparty here. all the best. hope to catch up with you soon - tim

  2. Tim October 6, 2008 8:33 pm

    ps - diggin the hst quote!

  3. mburma October 6, 2008 10:19 pm

    Hey Tim! Yep - I will be back in the USofA for Halloween. A brief visit anyway. Glad to hear about Kevin. It is pretty messy over there right now.