The weather and Prague is getting colder and colder. The temperature is currently well below zero, which is not to my liking. To escape from this kind of winter weather, I planned a trip to Istanbul last weekend. On the way there I already found out that the weather in Istanbul was not as good as it was supposed to be. Even though the skies at my transfer station in Vienna were clear and the weather was sunny, my flight was delayed due to “bad weather circumstances” (as I later found out: a snowstorm) in Istanbul. With a delay of 2.5 hours I landed at Atat”urk Airport and after buying my visa and getting through the passport control it was time to find myself a place to sleep. I had been unable to arrange a couch to sleep on this time nor had I planned a meetup in advance with someone in Istanbul; I had tried to arrange something, but found out that it was impossible for me to make proper arrangements with Turkish people. So this weekend I would have to travel like a normal backpacker: stay in a hostel and explore the city by myself.
It was pretty easy to find a hostel in Istanbul: in the center there are at least 10 hostels in one square kilometer. In the end, I got myself a good deal at Istanbul Hostel. During my stay there I had one roommate: Stefan, a German guy who is currently traveling from Germany to India and will cross through countries like Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on his way there. We had some really interesting conversations about this topic and I will surely be following his adventures in the coming months. And, mom: please don’t read this next line, maybe I will do a similar trip one day, because it sounds like an awesome adventure.
Ok, now about the city of Istanbul itself. The city is of course known for the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Hagia Sofia and the famous bridge over the Bosporus. But also for the pushy salesmen on the streets. On Saturday morning I already became a victim of one of them. He came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy a book about Istanbul. I was prepared, so I told him "I already have a book" and walked by him. The salesman however, like all Turkish salesmen, did not give up and asked me where I was from. I replied and out of nowhere he handed me a book about Istanbul in Dutch.
He pointed at a sticker with the number 37 on it and said: "Normal price is 37 liras, but I give you for 20".
I said that I wasn't interested and tried to give the book back to him, but he refused to take it. All he said was: "15... 12... 10!"
I kept saying no, while still trying to give back the book, but he just wouldn't take it back."Ok ok, 5 liras!"
Now I started to doubt. 5 liras is only 2 euros and that's not at all expensive for a book. I browsed through the book, noticed it had lots of information about all the places I wanted to visit and also a handy map of the whole city in it.
"Ok," I said, "I give you 5 for it, but I only have 10 liras, do you have change?"
"Yeah yeah, I have change."
"Can I see the change?"
"Ok, I don't have change. But I will get it. Follow me."
"No, I'm sorry, I need to go now, goodbye"
Now the salesman almost started to beg for my money:
"Please please, I need money, I hungry! How much change do you have?"
I searched in my wallet and found 3.5 liras.
"Ok, 3.5 liras, it's good," the salesman said and I bought the book from him for 3.5 liras. And it even came in very handy later on, because I had only found a map of the real city centre at the hostel, I could really use the map inside the book.
I didn't buy anything else that I didn't want to buy for the rest of the weekend, but salesmen kept on harassing me wherever I went. At the end of the weekend I became so distrustful that when I saw a guy walking towards me with a new window under his arm I automatically started up making excuses why I wouldn't need to buy that window from him.
I spent most of my time in Istanbul just walking around the city. In my opinion that is the only way to get a feeling of what a city is really like. And even though I didn't really meet any locals in Istanbul and the weather was not as warm as I had hoped it would be, I did have a very nice time there. I ate all the Turkish food that I wanted to eat, visited all places in Istanbul that I wanted to visit and took some nice pictures, including these:
The rest of my pictures can be found on Facebook.
It was pretty easy to find a hostel in Istanbul: in the center there are at least 10 hostels in one square kilometer. In the end, I got myself a good deal at Istanbul Hostel. During my stay there I had one roommate: Stefan, a German guy who is currently traveling from Germany to India and will cross through countries like Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on his way there. We had some really interesting conversations about this topic and I will surely be following his adventures in the coming months. And, mom: please don’t read this next line, maybe I will do a similar trip one day, because it sounds like an awesome adventure.
Ok, now about the city of Istanbul itself. The city is of course known for the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Hagia Sofia and the famous bridge over the Bosporus. But also for the pushy salesmen on the streets. On Saturday morning I already became a victim of one of them. He came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy a book about Istanbul. I was prepared, so I told him "I already have a book" and walked by him. The salesman however, like all Turkish salesmen, did not give up and asked me where I was from. I replied and out of nowhere he handed me a book about Istanbul in Dutch.
He pointed at a sticker with the number 37 on it and said: "Normal price is 37 liras, but I give you for 20".
I said that I wasn't interested and tried to give the book back to him, but he refused to take it. All he said was: "15... 12... 10!"
I kept saying no, while still trying to give back the book, but he just wouldn't take it back."Ok ok, 5 liras!"
Now I started to doubt. 5 liras is only 2 euros and that's not at all expensive for a book. I browsed through the book, noticed it had lots of information about all the places I wanted to visit and also a handy map of the whole city in it.
"Ok," I said, "I give you 5 for it, but I only have 10 liras, do you have change?"
"Yeah yeah, I have change."
"Can I see the change?"
"Ok, I don't have change. But I will get it. Follow me."
"No, I'm sorry, I need to go now, goodbye"
Now the salesman almost started to beg for my money:
"Please please, I need money, I hungry! How much change do you have?"
I searched in my wallet and found 3.5 liras.
"Ok, 3.5 liras, it's good," the salesman said and I bought the book from him for 3.5 liras. And it even came in very handy later on, because I had only found a map of the real city centre at the hostel, I could really use the map inside the book.
I didn't buy anything else that I didn't want to buy for the rest of the weekend, but salesmen kept on harassing me wherever I went. At the end of the weekend I became so distrustful that when I saw a guy walking towards me with a new window under his arm I automatically started up making excuses why I wouldn't need to buy that window from him.
I spent most of my time in Istanbul just walking around the city. In my opinion that is the only way to get a feeling of what a city is really like. And even though I didn't really meet any locals in Istanbul and the weather was not as warm as I had hoped it would be, I did have a very nice time there. I ate all the Turkish food that I wanted to eat, visited all places in Istanbul that I wanted to visit and took some nice pictures, including these:
The rest of my pictures can be found on Facebook.
