#thingsisawturkey — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #thingsisawturkey, aggregated by home.social.
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Some more things that caught my eye in İstinye this morning on our last walk.
We're flying out this afternoon. Will be home in Cape Town by this time tomorrow. -
Cats spotted on our last walk in Istanbul, from Reșitpașa to İstinye.
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I thought I was done writing about street cats, but last night this young mother cat came into the garden and placed her five kittens inside a vertical pipe.
My brother in law was worried that they wouldn't be able to get out again so he removed them from the pipe and provided an alternative shelter (the crate in the background.)
The neighbours around here have an informal system of looking after the cats, giving them food and veterinary care. But some people are resistant to the idea of neutering the animals.
With some subterfuge and diplomacy these cats might be lucky enough to get neutered. I do hope so.
#ThingsIsawTurkey #Turkey #Istanbul #cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfIstanbul
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I've been resisting buying too much tourist stuff, but now I look at my meagre evil eye collection and I regret not buying some more.
Especially the soft toy evil eyes shaped like plump pink-and-mint-green unicorns 😭
🧿🦄🧿🦄🧿🦄🧿 -
Saying goodbye to PJ, my favourite Istanbul street cat. (We're leaving tomorrow)
I need to pack my stuff but he's fallen asleep in my lap.
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Things I saw:
A crow eating a pistachio in the forecourt of the Blue Mosque.
An old man, hands full of red peppers, looking wistfully at some discarded irrigation pipes.
A big plastic bottle full of live leeches.
A worrying plume of smoke that turned out to be a cloud.
A group of women in black niqabs sitting on the side of a ferry boat, feet swinging over the water.
A small bucket full of live fish being hoisted, suddenly, out of sight to the bridge above me.
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Got to see the Hagia Sophia at last.
I must admit my enjoyment was overshadowed by the fact that the ancient building has been designated an active mosque again for political reasons by the conservative, nationalist government.Non Muslims can only visit the upper galleries, and a lot of the byzantine artwork has been hidden behind screens, as its not deemed appropriate for a mosque.
The space doesn't look as if it's being looked after, with wires dangling across walls, and clumsily installed network cables.
But the building itself has so much presence. Brendon did a beautiful drawing of its exterior.
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Today's street cat:
This one caught my eye, relaxing on the stairs of an insanely crowded underpass in Eminönü. Every now and then a passer by would reach down to stroke its head.The photo doesn't really capture how crowded the space was. The cat was lying in this tiny island of not-being-stepped-on like it had its own forcefield.
#CatsOfIstanbul #cats #CatsOfMastodon #ThingsIsawTurkey #Istanbul
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Definitely sleeping on the balcony again tonight, although the call to prayer is way, way louder when you're out of doors, and can't be ignored at 3:30 am 😅
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Back in Istanbul. We're sleeping outside on the balcony tonight, nothing between us and the sky but the branches of a greengage tree.
It's too hot to be indoors, but it's lovely and cool out here. I can hear music playing, people talking, distant traffic, the muttering of the seagulls on the roof opposite us as they watch over their chicks.
The problems of the world can wait for a while. Look after yourselves, friends.
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Yes, those are actual storks nesting on an actual aqueduct!
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Artemis of Ephesus and her feet.
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At the village we're staying near, there's an enormous flag hanging on an apartment block: the three sickle moons on red of the facist Nationalist Action Party.
I find the ubiquitous red Turkish flags unsettling enough, but this one is truly chilling. In Istanbul I saw only the occasional facist graffiti. Here their presence is more confident.
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Some pet dogs for a change. I met these two at a café in Doğanbey. They are Fistik (the lively little one) and Artemis (the sad looking curly girl).
Fistik begged at our table the entire time, ignoring his full bowl of dog food, and Artemis watched dolefully from her spot under the table.
I suspect Artemis used to be an only dog, and is not entirely happy at this little upstart pushing his way into all the best begging spots.
(my sister in law tells me that fistik means a small piece of pistachio, and it's used to mean something like "small and neat" or "spiffing". Artemis, of course, is the goddess of the hunt. )
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Now that my stay in Turkey is nearly over, some random things I've noticed (obviously limited to the places I saw, Istanbul and Datça) :
Vegetables here are incredibly good quality and easy to get hold of.
So many people smoke!
Vegetarian food is much easier to find than in Cape Town.
Also easy to find restaurant / street food that's like a good, home cooked meal that I can eat every day.
So many people ride motorbikes, scooters and bicycles without wearing a helmet. I'm amazed injury rates aren't higher.
I saw hardly any runners, and very few cyclists.
Street cats are so friendly!
Definitely going to get a bidet. Bidets are the best.
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Strange "swim" at a beach at Doğanbey last night.
Apart from the fact that the sun was a blood red end times disk (seriously, the photo doesn't capture it, it looked like someone had stuck a Coca-Cola-red sticker on the sky) the sea is too shallow to swim in.
Went so far out that all my safety alarms were pinging, but the water was never over waist deep, mostly like knee deep. Literally swam the crawl.
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I don't do well in the direct sunlight.
All that's missing from this picture are my headphones. But the sound in the amphitheatre was quite amazing. Little bird and insect noises.
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CW: Alludes to animal suffering not graphic
I've been carrying this little dog collar around with me, for some reason I'm having a hard time throwing it away.
I removed it from a street-dog-puppy on the beach. The pup looked about 5 months old, and a big breed, German Shepherd mix. Still small with huge paws.
He was playful and mischievous, stealing people's beach sandals and looking for pets. He collapsed against me when I stroked him, gnawing my arm with his sharp baby teeth.
His collar was much too small for him and the clasp was rusted closed. It was already constricting his neck on its biggest setting, and it would just get worse, puppies grow fast.
We were driving through, no shops nearby or anyone to ask so I made a judgement call and took the collar off completely.
There's no ID on the collar, so it seemed like the best thing to do.
He's a charming dog, I think he'll have someone looking after him.
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Two of the cats I met on this morning's cycle.
One hopped on my lap as soon as I sat down on a bench to rest. It had a lot to say too.
One hid in the branches of a prickly pear and disappeared when it realised it had been seen. -
The street dogs of Datça know how to cool down.
I've seen them absolutely passed out, deeply asleep on the edge of the sea with the waves lapping their paws.
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Knidos at sunset yesterday.
Once a great city. Easy to imagine ghosts grumbling about the state of the place.
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A unique parking place in Datça
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Things I saw:
A man next to the road, slicing open a mattress as if he's filleting a fish.
A street dog dreaming about barking.
A derelict hotel with peeling walls and an empty swimming pool, and a row of newly washed carpets hung to dry on a railing.
A school of fish so small I could hardly see them.
Two crows raiding a dumpster before sunrise.
A goose eyeing me carefully, checking whether I'm safe to approach.
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I was cycling before sunrise today. Had to slow at a turn on a patch of loose gravel.
An old man appeared with a dog that I'm pretty sure is a wolf hybrid. It had the narrow chest, pale eyes, fawn-brindle coat, and above all, no sense of connection as it stared at me, something I've encountered in wolf hybrids before. Big boy, it stood up to the man's hip.
The man had it on a rope looped round its chest and neck in a home made harness.
The dog stared at me, ears pricked, and I could see it was on the point of charging. The man thought so too and plucked at the rope, shouting in Turkish.
I did some quick cycling calculus and got off my bike. I'd never get away from a charging dog on my tiny fold up, not with my cycling skills, and not with taking off on loose gravel. And me cycling away would definitely trigger its prey drive.
The man shouted some more, after a moment more, the dog lost interest, and I was able to leave.
Oof.
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Went for a swim just before sunrise today.
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Beautiful light this evening.
Had a bit of a wobble the past few days. I have a plan to get myself in a better headspace tomorrow.
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Last night we saw a hare in the road we were driving along.
A hare!
It kept running down the middle road ahead of us, and at one point turned and ran smack into the (stationary) car. But eventually my husband was able to coax it off the road.My list of "creatures that seem to have stepped out of a story" is getting longer.
Chameleon, owl, praying mantis, raven, hedgehog, bat, hare.
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OMG I saw the small fish again!
I was swimming in the same spot in the very shallow water near the edge of the sea, and tapping pebbles brought the fish to me again.
There were two of them this time, both swam right up to me and were watching me closely.
And then! I saw! The BABY! Tiny almost translucent little fish! So they're parent fish, guarding babies!?!? Maybe?!?
I think it might be some kind of wrasse? About as long as my finger, and thin, with delicate ultra-violet-like patterns on the side of its head.
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I've been getting seriously disregulated by family stuff, people thinking I'm being passive aggressive when I'm just neutral, that kind of thing.
So this morning I got up before sunrise and went for a very long walk and a long swim, and colour-stimmed by looking at lots of beautiful things like flowers, and the rising sun making rainbow water patterns through seawater on pebbles.Patted lots of dogs and cats.
Spent 4 hours completely alone.
Am feeling so much better.
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Watched this small cat approach as soon as the fishing boat docked. It sat there, miaowing, until the fisherman threw it a fish.