Thoughts about Istanbul, Turkey

I'm in a town (Selcuk) close to Ephesus right now after being in Istanbul for a little less than a week. It's such a relief being out of that city; not to say it doesn't have it's strong points, but constant pestering from everyone gets on your nerves after a while.

The sights are phenomenal, the food is amazing, but the people are driven by tourism... which for me kills the atmosphere. Touts are everywhere... all you have to do is look in a direction, and someone owns that spot. You look at a kebab stand, restaurant, juice stand, etc... and they start yelling at you to come eat, drink, etc... at their place. Some of them rush over to hassle you... and it's always the same little bit of English... "Where are you from my friend?" And even if you reply, you always get a "ah" response and that's it. I would be proud if I knew that much English too, but you have to imagine how annoying it is for someone to hear that phrase repeated all day. I started playing a game where I try to say a different place every time I was asked, but it started getting difficult :)

I haven't had too much luck with restaurants too... I haven't been able to find a single place with "set" menus, or a place where I don't have to whip out my negotiation tactics to order a mixed meze (appetizer) plate. Don't get me wrong... the food I've had is 1st class... from the bakeries (least amount of hassle), kebab shops, to the nicer "white tablecloth" (as they call them here) restaurants. But the hassle takes much of the enjoyment out of it. Plus the prices (at least compared to the Balkans) are extremely high.

It sucks that a place with such rich history, sights, and mix of people has to be so difficult... I hope it changes :) Then again... maybe it's just me... and I was hanging in the wrong parts of town... can the blue mosque be moved?

Now that I'm in "rural" Turkey, things are very different. It's quite more relaxed here... food is still great, without the pressure. Way less people pester you, and when they do, they feel much more genuine. And less people speak "English"... which right now seems like a very good thing to me. I'll get bored of it soon enough.

Sorry for the rant. Tomorrow, I'm off to see one of the 7 wonders... Ephesus.