#istanbul — Public Fediverse posts

Observations of #Istanbul after three or four days here (lost count...)

1. Truly many turks smoke like trains. Some even do it near the “no smoking” sign at the airport.

2. Many times I was told I look Chinese. This is big news to me! But I guess I do, for people who don't see many Tatars. Still, very unexpected.

3. There's a specific archetype of middle-aged male turks who are on a 3-day business trip (it's their first day here), speaking very good English, asking me to drink beer with them at midnight. One day I might even agree. It's not some scam, right?

4. It's not as cheap as I was told. In fact, it's quite expensive.

5. Loving the ubiquitous mosques. There's even more of them than in Kazan!

6. I was told that tea would flow rivers in cafés, and for free. Not true.

7. I was told that Turkish tea is quite basic. True.

8. Cats. True.

9. Nobody really speaks Russian here beyond здравствуйте and привет other than other tourists and volunteers in mosques.

10. Choosing what to eat is very hard. And I have to do that thrice a day! It's not specific to Istanbul, I struggle with that everywhere but hometown where my parents cook.

11. Being a solo tourist is less fun than traveling with somebody.

12. My sleep schedule is beyond repair.