When looking for a restaurant to eat at, staff will talk you through the entire menu of foods they offer, often mentioning “hamburger” first (as if we traveled halfway around the world to eat a hamburger!). During one of our many sojourns in search of a meal, we stopped to look at the menu of one particular restaurant. After deciding not to eat at that restaurant, my brother began to turn and walk down the street while the owner continued to rattle off food items they offered (seriously, he was working his way through a 6-page menu). Apparently the owner was not pleased with our decision, because he called after my brother, “I thought you were a gentleman. I am talking to you”. Needless to say, we did not walk past that restaurant the remainder of our stay.
Other than the cacophony of “Yes, pleases” and the one “I thought you were a gentleman”, we were not hassled…great news considering we had heard/read of enough scams, stories, etc toward tourists to make us wary. There was however, two incidents that has left us still a little dubious:
We were walking though the Old City with every other tourist in Istanbul, when a man approached us with, “Hello. You are Americans?” I am certain that all three of us eyed him suspiciously as we replied “yes”. He continued by introducing himself and his sister, saying that he was married to an American, lives in America, and is back visiting his homeland to purchase carpets to bring back to the US. He rattled off the numerous places where he had either lived or had houses…Miami, Ocean City Maryland, San Francisco, Washington DC, Baltimore…Umm, hello, are you following us?!! He then proceeded to ask us if we were planning to buy any carpets. Ah ha, the real reason you’re talking to us! But no, he claimed, “I am not trying to sell you anything. But if you were to buy a carpet, how much would you pay?” Well, currently we have no house, so a carpet, that we do not need at the moment. We must have still been eying him, because he then came out with, “You do not trust me. I am just being friendly.” The exchange continued on for a bit with us becoming more incredulous at how his life in the States seemed to overlap with ours, skeptical as to why he was being so friendly, and looking for ways to get out of the conversation and continue on with our sightseeing without giving away where we were headed next.
The next day, we were walking around when someone asked us if were from “I-95 state”. Us being conditioned to ignore people calling out to us, we all replied “no” before we each realized that Andy and I were, in fact, from “I-95 state”... Well, one of them anyway. Is someone following us?
Stories of stalking aside, here are some of the sights we visited in Istanbul:
Hagia Sopia. Originally a basilica built in the sixth century for Roman Emperor Justinian I, it was looted during the fourth Crusades and became a mosque in the 15th century when the Ottoman Empire conquered the city. Now however, it serves as a museum where you can see both Christian and Muslim influences.
Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque).
Basilica Cistern. The cistern was built by Roman Emperor Justinian I to provide water for the inhabitants of the city in case of attack.
Topkapi Palace. The palace housed the Ottoman emperors for four centuries. Inside the palace walls, you can visit the Harem (which roughly translates into ‘sacred place’ and is the quarters allotted to the women of the household, including mother, aunts, wives, concubines, etc. of the emperor) and the State Treasury (which had numerous relics of Prophet Mohammed and Moses’ staff).
kl.
No comments:
Post a Comment