On Tuesday, a big wind was blowing, coming right up the Bosphorus from the Black Sea. This brought a welcome change in the hot weather. The sky went from a rather unattractive, monochrome haze to a nice blue with fluffly clouds; conditions more favorable to, walking around and picture taking ,(really our primary activity). There are apparently MANY names for the types of winds that pass through the city, describing direction, intensity, season and what they bring. If we only spoke Turkish. I am sure the winds' names are beautiful and culturally insightful.
May 19th is a national holiday here that celebrates Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. The date marks the start in 1919, of his movement to establish the Turkish Republic and a modern secular state. Though the Turkish flag is beautiful, leading up to the holiday there seemed to be a scary amount of flags raised but many of the huge flags have already been taken down. This past Sunday a large demonstration took place in Ankara (the capital) calling on the government to respect the secular state and not erode it by introducing Islamic Laws. Currently an rather conservative Islamic leaning government seems to be in power. The abundance of flags could just be a symbol of the desire to maintain a secular Turkey and not necessarily nationalistic frenzy.
We watch our satellite TV at night, there are many demonstrations around the country, in fact police closed the metro and the whole Istiklal Caddesi on May Day because of the demo in Taskim Square. The police here seem to be pepper spray happy, lucky thing they don't have Tasers, and are always in trouble for unnecessary spraying of civilians.
The Street Dwellers: Cats and Dogs
The rise of the winds made our cats very playful. We look into the walled, church grounds from our window where a community of cats rule. "The Silent Millions" someone has called them BUT I would say not so silent but definitely millions. Playing "I spy a cat" in Istanbul is a full time occupation. Along the Golden Horn by the Galata Bridge is a fish market. A live sardine escaped from the vendors barrel and a cat sprang from nowhere faster than the seller could retrieve his little fish into the cats jaws and away. Everyone around laughed , one for the cat. People are so kind to the animals, I have seen no cruelty, just kind words, offers of food, pats and gentle coaxing if they happen to be somewhere where they shouldn't be.
There is a street vendor stationed in Sultanahmat, just outside the hotel where Suzo and Emma stayed. Suzo thought she was hearing a very persistent cat; but no, the vendor sells awful, battery operated cats that make a constant meowing noise, I guess so you can take home some genuine Istanbul sounds.
And the dogs, they are mostly asleep by day in sunny spots on the streets and in every green space and square. They are vagabonds that no-one bothers, periodically rolling enjoying the recent heat and sun. Every street and neighbourhood has its' dogs and they are protected, fed and given old blankets or pillows to lie on. They are sweet and quite passive. The municipality inoculates the dogs with a rabies shot and a red tag on the dogs ear proves the shot has been administered. There are a variety of opinions about the street animals and periodically administrations try and do away with them BUT this is always met by public outcry. The street animals are part of the fabric of the city.
For us one of the sounds of the city has been the band "Alatav". This hardworking band plays regularly in our square at Tunel and their folkie, worldly sound is always welcome on arrival at the square. Yesterday, we finally bought their homemade CD and have now been playing it at home.
What things cost?
Today one Turkish Lira is worth .74 cents Canadian, (Today 1 Euro is worth 1.58 Canadian).
There seems to be no fixed price for anything here. Prices change and we have gotten used to just paying whatever is asked for. At our corner store we point and ask for things, piling them on the counter and our friendly store owner , who tells us the Turkish word for all the products, adds them up on his little calculator and just shows us a total. Sometimes we say: "wow that was cheap" and other times we say, "wow, that was a lot." Souvenir buying, now that is where prices wildly fluctuate. On Monday, we visited the Grand Bazaar and a retired man who hangs out at his nephew's jewelry store befriended us. After determining we were not interested in jewels we told him we were looking for a man's leather belt. (Gift for Yvonne's dad's birthday). Horrified that we would even consider buying anything in the bazaar he lead us though a labyrinth: up stairs and around back ways until we were out of the market on the street and into another whole collection of shops apparently the leather wholesalers to the bazaar stalls. We bought our belt at "the best price ever" I guess, and our friend returned us to the bazaar. He left us once we assured him that we would not be buying anything else.
-1/2 pound Espresso (not so good but the best we can find) - 7TL
-Lunch for two at the roasting meat spit near Galata Tower:
(Two wraps with meat, 2 mineral waters (sodas) - 8TL
-Five bananas - 5TL
-8 bananas 4 peppers, an onion, some little green sour fruits, 2 apples, tomatoes, - 11 TL
-mailing the post card race winners prize - 13TL
-17 ounce can of beer - 2.50
-all matter of beautiful pashminas - 10 - 70 TL
Simit - .50 or 1 TL
-Excellent pizza, 2 beers and a cappuccino at the House Cafe; in the lane-way of many bars and restaurants and graffiti (Firuzaga Mah. Bostanbasi Cadessi #19) - 55 TL with tip
-2 orders of damat pacasi at our new favorite restaurant on Timarci Sok called after the specialty "Damat Pacasi" along with 2-4 sodas -25 TL with tip (see pic: chicken wrapped in filo type pastry with yogurt and spices sauce)
-Lunch at the beautiful Kybele Hotel in our private salon: chicken kebab plate (me) clubhouse (yvonne) sodas, beer and cappuccino -47 TL
-really delicious homemade lemonade- 4.5 TL
-glass (sizes vary) fresh squeezed juice (depends on what fruit combo) 1- 5 TL
-taxi ride from Sultanahmat to our house in Galata - 12TR when neither taxi driver nor us knew where we were going to; supreme rip off ride of 30TL when the guy didn't even take us to our door but left us near Tunel Square and played the trick of saying we gave him the old obsolete currency (No taxis since).
-Our apartment for a month with drives to and from airport - 1480 Euros
Our hair has never looked better or so we think.
(A small commercial)
We needed shampoo and conditioner and bought the greatest stuff ever! The shampoo has laurel oil and olive oil and the conditioner a paste of bay leaf. All hail DFN Garli , can someone import this to Canada?
And speaking of hair and fashion:
Anything goes fashion wise here. Many men in our neighbourhood, particularly the ones frequenting the lane-way bars, long haired, scruffy yet elegant, smoking looking like sixties revolutionaries. The suit wearing men are sporting pink shirts or at least a pink or purple ties. The women's fashion is all over the map. Most interesting and very different than what I am used to is the variety of headscarfs. At this juncture; politically women are not required to wear or not wear headscarves. Headscarves are NOT allowed in learning institutions and women who for religious reasons or family pressure must cover their hair wear wigs in those places. It may not be choice but tradition, family pressure, practical protection on the street in some neighbourhoods, chastity, belief or simply fashion. But the variety of headscarves, the colours and designs are just beautiful and make people watching all that more fascinating.
In some cases headscarves seem just another marvelous accessory to match long buttoned coats that go well below the knees, matching handbags and heels. All and all they are super colourful and very fashionable.
What we are reading:
It is so great to have reading time:
yvonne:
Exiles in America - Christopher Bram
Pomegranate Soup - Marsha Mehran
Three Cups of Tea - Greg Martenson
2666- Roberto Bolano
rachel
The Lonely Planet guide to Experimental Travel
Pastoralia - George Saunders
Tales of Protection - Erik Fosnes Hansen
both
The Bridge - Geert Mak
Becoming Istanbul - various
The Postcard Race Round 3 (STILL NO WINNER)
Tomorrow marks a week since postcards were mailed from Istanbul still no winner!
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