voyager Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Just asking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cathy Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 I hear it's very crowded. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
omnivorette Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Wrong website. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rose Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Not recent, but I stayed at the Ciragan Palace about 10 years ago and our room(s) were in the actual old palace with 20 foot ceilings and a view of the Bosphorus from every gigantic window. It was the most amazing hotel stay of my life. For some unexplained reason they upgraded our reservation from a deluxe double in the regular part of the hotel to literally a palace. We were dumbfounded, believe me. We have a coffee table book with pictures of Turkey that contain a picture of our palace windows. The taxi drivers would tell us it was impossible and we must be wrong when we told them the address to take us to. PS We loved Istanbul although the air pollution was almost unbearable but we found the people to be very nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid1 Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Beware of the dancing bears. Seriously. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Adam Lawrence Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 simon smith too? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tuckerman Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 When I was in Istanbul in the 70s with a beautiful long blond haired blue eyed girl people bumped into us all right. That is men bumped into her. Women (who weren't conspicuous by their presence on the streets at that time) noticeably did NOT bump into me. Funny that Quote Link to post Share on other sites
voyager Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Beware of the dancing bears. Seriously. All I know about dancing bears I learned from John Irving, and I think that's not enough. Care to explain? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Behemoth Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I was in istanbul for an eight hour stopover from Beirut to Hamburg two summers ago. Met up with an old school friend for breakfast. Her apartment had this great view of where the bosphorus meets the mediterranean. We had bagels, and I found out the Turkish name for poppyseeds is afyoun, which is opium in Arabic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LML Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 When I was in Istanbul in the 70s with a beautiful long blond haired blue eyed girl people bumped into us all right. That is men bumped into her. Women (who weren't conspicuous by their presence on the streets at that time) noticeably did NOT bump into me. Funny that Aren't you dying to conclude from this that Turks are all groping peasants? Note: This post has been edited by the admin team on 4/26, after asking LML to address a violation of the guidelines and receiving a reply from him stating that he would not do so. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid1 Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 All I know about dancing bears I learned from John Irving, and I think that's not enough. Care to explain? Panhandlers with dancing bears. They will offer to have the bear dance for you, and you might - thinking it worth a couple of bucks - agree. In fact, even if you don't agree, they will probably make the bear dance. Then they will present you with a written sign explaining that you owe them a vast sum of money. When you demur, they will imply that the bear will fight you for the money. You then have to scarper. Give them a wide berth. Edit to add: I could say something about the food if this is a first-time visit, but restaurant recs would be way out of date. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tuckerman Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Aren't you dying to conclude from this that Turks are all groping peasants? As I said, I haven't been to Istanbul since the seventies and made no comment whatsoever about the city on the thread at the other place What I DID say was that there were aspects of the quality of life in poorer and third world cities which if they were dealt with would improve that quality of life for everyone. One should be able to say that and discuss it without a load of people getting defensive and telling you that certain things about London life, or life in the USA are shitty too because they have post colonialist guilt about anybody criticising devlopoing countries. Note: This post has been edited by the admin team on 4/26, removing quoted text that has been removed upthread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid1 Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 The dancing bears, especially. They are a menace. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
omnivorette Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I hear the kebabs are nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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