Fantastic Istanbul- introduction

I had no idea...I did not expect it...I hadn't realized...

I had no idea Istanbul can be so beautiful...altough it was the capital of three empires...
I did not expect it to be so close to Romania...just go through Bulgaria and there you are...
I hadn't realized before that it is split into 3 parts and that it's so close to the Bosphorous strait...

In Istanbul you can find the same kind of sweets as in Timisoara...Ulker, Biskrem, etc. But the baclava I had there is not as good as the one I am used to have at Istanbul in the student complex :P The kebab is quite tasty though. They have their own kind of 'mici' and 'kefir'- only theirs (ayran) is much more salty than your average yoghurt and they drink it with every kind of meal they have. They drink a lot of tea and sell water everywhere.

They have a huge bazar...even more crowded than on Brancoveanu and they are just as resourecful as us...if not more when it comes to selling in illegal spaces. Everyone is selling you something...from yummy oysters with rice and fish sandwiches..to turkish sweets and shishas.
Example: as night time came one day, the kitchen boat pulled to shore and docked. People jumped out and startd placing little plastic chairs and tables on the side walk. On each table: a bottle of lemon juice. And even though the boat was wobbling all over the place and smoking like hell, the brave cook was still doing his job in a tranquil manner, continuing to fry the fish that would be the subject of one of the best fish sandwiches you ever had.


On the other side of the sidewalk salesmen pulled out sheets and lay them on the pavement. Before you knew it, all the merchandise was in place and even though it was pich dark..they had lanterns on their heads and lamps they would flash out every time someone interested would come along.

We arrived there some days before the grand prix, so the whole place was filled with flags. The flags impressed me the most at first: grand, very big, everywhere and waving in the wind in slow motion. I suddenly started to feel a connection with history..given by those flags and the image of Ataturk everywhere...

To be continued...