Reader Susan Heller sent me a bunch of photos from her recent (April) trip to Istanbul, a city I’ve visited three times and absolutely love. So did she. Her are her “wildlife photos” from that fabled town. I’m not in the habit of posting travel photos, so keep on sending me wildlife , but these were special, and also reminded me of a place I adore. Istanbul is also loaded with cats; you see my own felid photos here.
I just got back from a terrific trip to Istanbul and wanted to share a few sights with you, like the obligatory Hagia Sophia, FOOD, and cats. Cats everywhere – in hotels, the Hagia Sophia, window boxes – your kind of city! Apparently Obama is sending money to feed one of the Hagia cats, a cross-eyed moggie. The food was wonderful, the sights amazing, and I was certainly surprised to find Dawkins in a book stall.
I hadn’t heard about Obama and the cross-eyed cat, but here’s a video showing the President petting some Turkish cats. Note that the photos I took also include my petting a tabby, probably in the Hagia Sofia.
JAC: The mosques are full of cats, many in good condition. I presume that the faithful feed them.
JAC: This is a typical lokanta, or “workingman’s restaurant.” You get in line and choose among an array of tempting dishes; it’s hard to avoid ordering too much! And the prices are very low.
I highly recommend a visit to Istanbul if you’ve never been. There’s no city like it. The architecture and history are stunning, The food is fabulous, you can take ferries all around the Golden Horn, and to Asia, and it’s loaded with cats. And did I mention the pistachio-filled baklava topped with whipped cream, or the loukum (Turkish delight)?
The Dawkins book is The Ancestor’s Tale. I’m impressed as well!
I did notice there’s one called ‘Human Design’ in the same display though.
Istanbul is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit. I’m very envious! Thanks for the pics. 🙂
I lived in Istanbul for 4 years, and still visit once a year. I bought several of Richard Dawkins’s books while there. There are some amazing bookshops with a wide variety of similar material. Spectacular place.
And is that a translation (I cannot read the Turkish description) of Aristotle’s Metaphysics I see? [Rather than a commentary] Wow. (Obsolete, but still …)
Food looks great too.
My sister tells a nice story about the winning modesty of Turks. In a restaurant in the south, she complimented the waiter on how wonderful she thought Turkish food was (and I agree). Her table attendant responded that the Turks considered themselves to have the third best cuisine in the world, after France and China. Bon appétit. Afiyet olsun. x
A fair amount of wildlife in those pictures, what with the cats, the fish for sale, and the array of recently growing vegetable matter.
Wow! Nice! That brought back fond memories. Aside from Tanzania, my wife and I rate Istanbul at the top of our best trips ever scale. We were there for a week and didn’t come close to experiencing all it had to offer. We can confirm that cats abound – to very pleasant effect!
Exactly my comment. Fantastic city. And cats galore.
I must say, I’d never considered Istanbul before but the pictures and the recommendations are doing it a lot of favours…there’s something otherworldly about that style of architecture, with all the symmetry and the nods to childhood visions of the Arabian Tales. In the Alhambra in Spain the designers of the wall patterns managed to discover 16 of the 17 mathematically possible two dimensional symmetry groups, presumably simply by trial and error. You can take a deeply nerdy tour that’ll point them all out.
Very nice pictures and what a place of history.
I was in Turkey many years ago but primarily in Ismir, about 200 miles from Istanbul on the Aegean. Turkey was probably more secular back then but you can only do so much in 30 days while working. Just a note – Turkey has been part of NATO since 1952.
Ms Heller:
Throughout the venues of these lovely pictures, did you traverse through them alone (at least, some of the time) or only in the accompaniment of several other people known to you?
Blue
The Bosphorous is a major crossing point for migratory birds. Large birds such as storks and many raptors migrate using thermals to rise to high altitude and then soaring – a very efficient way of travelling but it doesn’t work over the sea (no thermals)so they are obliged to pass around the eastern or western ends of the Mediterranean where the sea crossings are minimal.
The last time my wife and I were in Istanbul was in the Spring-time and whilst we were visiting the Blue Mosque the sky was suddenly filled with dozens of White Storks – a wonderful sight against the backdrop of the Mosque and the nearby Hagia Sophia!
It should also be mentioned that the Turks have a rich musical tradition.
Thanks for the splendid Turkish tour. Those jars of pickled veggies made my stomach gurgle. 🙂
Turkey is high on my list of places I need to go.