Being Turkish

‘I wanna go back’ – the first words that came out of my mouth as soon as I arrived from Istanbul.

First thing – God, they’ve got so many shopping malls! I got there in the evening, around 18h, so there wasn’t much to do besides dinner and a walk – after all, I was on holiday 🙂

Aqua Florya – shopping mall near the sea. Perfect place to relax…

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul aqua florya pelit priveliste wonderful view

…and for something delicious (and sweet, ofc)…

Wet Heart-Shaped Chocolate Cake @ Pelit

Wet Heart-Shaped Chocolate Cake @ Pelit

…and for watching the incredible sunset.

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul aqua florya pelit apus de soare sunset

The traffic in Istanbul sucks. What it’s like in Bucharest, oh well – there it’s like dying bit by bit! And I was told I shouldn’t be too surprised, it was holiday – Kurban Bayramı – and everybody’s was out of town so the traffic was like 1/3 of the usual. I was that close to driving in Istanbul, but apparently I had a fairy who made me think twice. As soon as we left the parking, going on a narrow-one-lane-for-every-direction-up-hill-street, there comes this crazy taxi driver. I really don’t know how I made it out of there alive, I jut closed my eyes and hoped for the best, and I thanked God I wasn’t the driving and that had this great driver!

Oh, and don’t get me started about taxi drivers! Again, Bucharest is crazy but these guys are loonatics! Yeah, they’ve got great infrastructure, lots of highways to make the traffic better, but really, you just can’t keep calm when driving. At some point, we were close to having an accident at 120km/h, just because one taxi driver thought of racing when changing the lanes, and hitting the brake every 5m.

About pedestrians, yeah, well there’s not smarter either. Why use the effin’ zebra crossing when it’s so much easier to just jump in front of the car and ask for priority?!

But, one thing that I appreciated was the special lane in the middle of the highway – for buses. It looked so well thought of and……………useful!

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul highway bus traffic autobuz pe autostrada trafic infernal

Istanbul is a city of cats – like you see stray dogs in Bucharest and maybe other cities, they’ve got stray cats. It’s not a problem for them to find a place, even if it’s a store, restaurant, art gallery or car.

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul stray cat 3anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul stray cat 4anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey stray cat 5anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul stray cat 1anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul stray cat 2I was looking at their registration plates and I was asking myself why do they use that number – 34 – and what’s the connection with the city.

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul parcare placute inregistrare registration plate

And I found out that Istanbul is the 34th city of Turkey, in alphabetical order. The other numbers and letter are random or they can be personalized.

Oh, I almost forgot. The most delicious thing ever: it’s called Oreo Magnolia and it’s vanilla pudding and Oreo, from CookShop. It looks like this.

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul budinca oreo mangolia pudding cookshop

When it comes to sightseeing, well I’m not much into that. It’s not my style to stay in a line. And yes, Istanbul’s got a mosque everywhere you look. And honestly, they all kinda look the same to me.

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul suleyman mosque

Sultan Ahmet Mosque

But what really got my attention was Basilica Cistern, the largest covered cistern in the city, that dates back to the old Constantinople, built by Emperor Justinian in 537.

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul basilica cistern

And there I took advantage of the tourists corner and I got dressed up in this Turkish costume, letting myself be photographed 😀

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul basilica cistern turkish costume

And if you are there, you really have to try this thing – UludaÄŸ, I’m only gonna mention it tastes like bubblegum!

anamariapopa.com blog post turcia turkey istanbul uludag drink bubblegum aroma

In the end, here is a tiny dictionary with the words that I learned in my 5 days there:

Yakamoz (iacamoz) – Moon reflection on the surface of the sea

Harika (haarica) – Wonderful

AÈ™k (ashc) – Love

Çok yaÅŸa (cioc iasha) – Bless you

TeÅŸekkürler (teshechiurler) – Thank you

Rica ederim (rija ederim) – You’re welcome

Merhaba (meraba) – Hello

Günaydın (ghiunaidîn) – Good morning

Iyi günler (iii ghiunler) – Good day

Iyi geceler (iii gejeler) – Good night

Afiyet olsun (afiet olsun) – Enjoy your meal

Evet (evet) – Yes

Hayır (haiîr) – No

Efendim (efendim) – What? What did you say?

Yavaș (iavash) – Slow

Yıldız (iîldîz) – Star

Șerefe (sherefe) – Cheers

Su (su) – Water

Pasta (pasta) – Cake

Makarna (macarna) – Pasta

Satılık (satîlîc) – For sale

Kiralık (chiralîc) – For rent

Salak (salac) – Stupid

Havalimanı (havalimanî) – Airport

Canım (janîm) – My dear

And, because all of us wanna learn this stuff:

Sikecem (sichejem) – Fuck 🙂

Overall, it is a beautiful city, I’m gonna be back.

P.S.: You can find nicer and edited pics on my Instagram account.

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