Thursday, April 23, 2009

ISTANBUL IN TULIPS

Not species tulips, of course, just the same old neon bright colors you'll find in any city park these days, but those tulip colors provide just about the only "heat" in the city right now. Instanbul is windy and cold! Good enough weather for walking, gaping, cinammon tea and grilled eggplant.

Couple observations: Turks are gorgeous, gorgeous people. My heart keeps skipping beats. No way to actually categorize their look, they come in a whole lot of delicious skin tones, eye colors, face shapes, hair types. Just generally beautiful women and jaw-dropping handsome men (I do try to be discreet).

They're also crazy friendly and helpful, a bit like Portlanders, most ready with a smile and genuinely warm banter. Even met a woman who hates the U.S. but was entirely non-accusatory, and went way out of her way to help me find an address.

Met another woman who was beside herself to meet me. Imagine that, a Turkish fan who listened to public radio while living in Seattle! The two of us, along with her green-eyed older cousin who owns a fabulous mostly vege restaurant in the Taksim area, ended up at a concert tonight. The music was totally forgettable, but the venue? The Topkapi Palace!

Now to sleep...should the street cleaning machines ever stop. A small price to pay for one of the best views you can have out a hotel window: the six-minaret marvel known as the Blue Mosque.

I snapped the above yesterday from the little cafe at the top of my hotel. More pix to follow, plus three whole days on my own before hooking up with the folks I'm touring with come Monday's 11-day botanical tour.
at 1:40 PM

6 comments:

  1. Dear Ketzel,

    It's so good to read that a fellow dog lover and plant person is thriving and discovering how kind, beautiful people live everywhere in this world. I have thought about you at times and hoped that all was going well for someone whose broadcasts would brighten my drive to school. Thanks for keeping us posted.

    Best wishes,
    Linda Nicholson, Richmond, VA
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  2. Speaking of dogs, and cats, I'm exceedingly happy to set the record straight about both in Istanbul. There are ample strays, yes, but all spayed, neutered, registered and looking pretty good. HELL of a lot better than most other places on the planet. Come to Istanbul and celebrate the humane treatment; we've much to learn.
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  3. Yes, it's a much better to time to be feline, canine, and human for many Istanbul residents!

    And I have to smile about the noise of street cleaners... There were some dicey times in the past when such services were unknown in the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Istanbul has really

    Glad you're having fun in my favorite megalopolis, Ketzel!

    By the time you take the ferry out of town and are under way with our gang, headed across the Sea of Marmara to the mountains above Troy, I'd like to post some quirky descriptions of the areas on each day of the tour. That way you really can take your fans along for the ride.

    So if you'd like to again put a link back to hollychase.com, I'll open a new page for you on my site and call it "FOLLOW KETZEL" or something like that.

    In the meantime, don't miss the artichokes which are everywhere right now!

    Cheers, Holly (at) hollychase (dot) com
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  4. Your view is the stuff of green-eyed (as in envious) feelings.
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  5. Hello sweet Ketzel! I'm happy you are happy. Turkey sounds fantastic. I'm green with envy. I got a call last week from the OW show about the Warrens. Are you up for a possible trip to Chicago when you get back? Keep posting! I'm loving this. xoxova
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  6. I came across you blog while trying to find a spay/neuter clinic in Istanbul. I just returned from a one month stay in Turkey, mostly in Istanbul. I came across desperate, sickly and starving cats and dogs many times each day. They are everywhere, often obviously not spayed or neutered, and one not need to look far to find them. The working class neighborhood where my in-laws live is overrun with homeless cats and dogs - sometimes seen battling each other for food. Among the most distressing things I encountered, were seemingly endless litters of newborn kittens and puppies at Mosques and graveyards (Sultanahmet, Kadikoy, Cihangir,and near Boagici Univ, etc.), clearly desperate for food and water, and a large colony of wheezing, sickly, starving cats at a Kadikoy graveyard. Or, perhaps more disturbing was witnessing teenage boys, or children under the watchful eyes of parents kick street animals (my Turkish husband stepped in to protect animals and admonish the culprits when we encountered this). I was shocked to see the comments about how well the street animals fare in Istanbul. This may be true in small, select areas of the city (Bebek, or select streets in Nisantasi, perhaps), but to make a blanket statement that they are well-cared is grossly inaccurate. The plight of these animals broke my heart a little every day, which is why I am searching for a organization to support in this area.
    ReplyDelete

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