Istanbul: Kontraster og rejseoplevelser

Istanbul; the place where Europe sits next to Asia, the poor next to the rich and the ugly next to the beautiful, the piece next to the noise and the sophisticated next to the simple. So many expressions and contradiction meets me when I’m walking through the beautiful streets of the city that carries a so significantly and considerable history.

If I take a walk down memory lane is the major thing there comes to my mind the attention from the Turkish people, not only the men. It surprised me that it seemed like they had never seen a whiter human than themselves. The starring and the yelling never seemed to stop no matter where we went. It was overwhelming and exciting when school kids wanted to take photos with us because we apparently were beautiful but at the same time feeling like an animal in the zoo.

In Istanbul there are people – many people everywhere. Shoeshine boys, porters who humps as donkeys, men sitting outside the mosques washing their feet, men sitting in coffee houses, traders, women in very different outfits, men who whips around the streets and serving tea for businessmen and men as well as boys fishing from the Galata Bridge. No matter where you look there is a different kind of life. It was amazing to experience that kind of life and walking through the small side streets and see the Turkish culture in an everyday life like when men held business meetings with Turkish tea both in cafes and on the streets and women walking around with shopping bags and children. What also crosses my mind is that the Turkish men always sit outside their shops like when women are gossiping on the streets. Maybe they want to attract costumers or maybe they just want to relax. Something about Istanbul that amazes me is the huge security everywhere. When you go to the shopping centre are there always security guards in the door and when you go to a museum you must scan your bag through a machine. The biggest security check came first in the airport. The suitcase should be scanned and we had to go through several security checks or maybe it was just two but it was still a bit annoying. Even though sometimes the people were a bit aanoying is one of the main things I noticed the friendliness. Even though we went to different places were the people the same. Always ready to help. I can't imagine walking around the streets in Denmark and experience the same kind of friendliness.