- Ortakoy Area
Our last day in Istanbul was pretty cool, albeit in a very laid back kind of way. After lounging around for a while we decided to go walking, stepped out of our hotel, and found ourselves in a little cobblestone area on the Bosphorus, blocked from vehicular traffic, with some of the most spectacular views in the world. Look left, there’s Asia. Look right, Europe. Look anywhere, coffeehouses, cafes or restaurants. Look at the Bosphorus, a bunch of old men fishing from the cobblestone boardwalk. Words don’t do this justice, so I hope the pictures will suffice. After wandering around a while, we headed back to the hotel to attend to TBJ’s needs and I realized that the kid’s life may be better than that of a rock star. Think about it – he gets to poop whenever and wherever he wants and someone cleans him up and tells him he’s awesome. Because he’s not yet on solid food, his shit literally doesn’t stink and we tell him that on a regular basis. I mean, seriously. Life is going to be good for the little man if he can keep this up.
More Ortakoy
In any event, after taking care of TBJ Tiger Mom somehow parlayed the fact that it was raining into a trip to a ginormous shopping mall that was at least as luxurious as anything I’ve seen in the States or Western Europe. She bought some boots. Since he was there, your Blogger attended to some shopping needs as well, but whereas Tiger Mom bought some awesome boots from a cool Turkish store, your Blogger bought some jeans from the Gap. So much for exotic foreign fashions, but at least it was a trip to the mall that was different enough to keep me interested for more than half an hour.
Yet More Ortakoy
After our shopping excursion we met a friend of Tiger Mom’s for dinner at an excellent fish restaurant then headed back to pack and get ready for tomorrow’s journey home. Somewhere in all of this I realized what it is that makes Istanbul so amazing, and right up there with Saigon as the two coolest cities I’ve been to. The first thing is the people. Turks are amazingly friendly and seem genuinely pleasant to most everyone. That may be because of their ridiculous love for babies, and perhaps we were piggybacking off of TBJ-induced good will, but I think that just as a general rule people in Istanbul are a more pleasant bunch than you encounter in most cities of this size.
And One Last One
The second, and probably most unique, is that I’ve never been anywhere that so seamlessly blends the ancient and the modern into a harmonious whole in which everything contributes. In most Western European cities the truly ancient, or just really old, is partitioned off from the functioning modern city life. Sure, you might find a pub or something in a 400 year old building in London, but anything much older is held separate. Venerated, certainly, but outside the daily flow of life. In other places the very old and ancient may not be held separate, but they get no respect either. They may be used for building materials, but that’s about it. Somehow Istanbul manages to work the ancient right into daily life. The Blue Mosque is a perfect example – a remarkable historical structure and a great tourist attraction, but also a working place of worship. Even ordinary buildings might incorporate a 1000 year old wall on one side with steel or concrete on the other, and driving from point A to point B you’re likely to pass an old fortress wall with cafes built into it next to an ultra-modern building housing a car dealership. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s one of the most charming things I’ve encountered in my travels.
Well, Dear Reader, this ends your Blogger’s report on our trip to Turkey, Macedonia and Serbia. It is fitting that as I write this I’m at a table on cobblestones, overlooking the Bosphorus, while a bunch of Turks at the club next door are dancing to Sex Machine, Raining Men and Hit the Road Jack. Somehow that sums up this trip nicely. Until next time, I hope your life is well and your travels are smooth.
