It was getting dark 6. Coronavirus impressions. Istanbul
Actually, the idea of celebrating the New Year 2021 in Istanbul is by no means a bad idea:
- a boat on the Bosphorus with a festive table, a show program and a disco;
- Christmas tree on the main square of Sultan Ahmet;
- salute, inferior, well, maybe only to Hong Kong;
- not New Year's Eve warm weather (up to +20 during the day);
- delicious street food.
It's all very tempting, but the fashion virus has made nasty adjustments:
- boats on the Bosphorus were banned;
- the Christmas tree was not placed on the square;
- fireworks have been cancelled.
On the other hand, even the fools who smash their foreheads cannot cancel the good weather! That's just from 01/01 to 04/01 introduced a curfew for the locals. The strictest ban on all Akhmetki to appear on the street without the most extreme necessity!
But mosques, palaces, museums and food stores are mostly open. Transport too. Street food with delivery or takeaway is also not forbidden. Some strange curfew. . .
In fact, all this clowning looks like this: yes, industrial stores are closed, but Akhmetka stands in front of everyone and actively invites them to go inside and buy something at a “very good price”.
Not only tourists, but also locals idly wander the streets, and some, (oh, Allah! ) even without masks.
Since there is no other entertainment during the lockdown period, Turks go to the mosque. There are many mosques in Istanbul. Too much. I would even say an overabundance! One has only to start the muezzin his song with a call to prayer - all from a low start - there. Except, of course, those who watch their interest at closed stores.
By the way, about muezzins. How loud they are! No, now they are not an example easier than before. If then you had to climb the minaret and broadcast from there at the top of your lungs, now there is a microphone and speakers.
The number of mosques per square meter exceeds all sanitary standards, therefore, in order not to shout over each other, the muezzins agreed to observe pauses. The adhan (call to prayer) consists of several formulas, and when one muezzin finishes his sentence and takes a pause, another takes over, followed by a third, and so on within earshot. And so five times a day (that's how much it is supposed to smear the faithful).
But muezzins are nothing, it's not scary. In our country, over there, they beat the bells, the Jews blow their pipes... What is really worse is the seagulls. There are many of them. More than mosques! On the first day of arrival, December 30, I was so slandered on the outskirts of the Grand Bazaar that I should have been a millionaire when I returned from Istanbul! My wife and passerby Akhmetka (kind soul) moved almost a whole package of wet wipes to wipe me with four hands.
Wealth, in connection with obser, has not yet won, well, yes, the year has just begun! I'll get more. Insha'Allah!
It makes you want to break into the language of cliché s and blurt out, they say, Istanbul is a city of contrasts. But no, it's all right. No differences and contrasts, except for the height of the area above sea level.
By the way, I counted 10-15 streets here that are suitable for filming the “shiort take it” scene. I know that the original was filmed in Baku, but it is very similar. The same slope, width. Almost all the streets here are sloped. Places with very cool. Sometimes I had to climb at an angle of up to 30 degrees.
My wife and I are not drinkers, but we drink a lot. In order not to disappear in a Muslim country for the New Year holidays, we thoroughly prepared, as it seemed to us. We took two liters of vodka. Naive. True, they also got a bottle of champagne in duty free, but this did not affect the balance of power.
Judge for yourself: on the one hand, four days of spree, on the other - two liters of vodka and champagne. Well, like children! Definitely the balance of power is not in our favor! It's like a rhino with a slingshot. And if we consider that one and a half liters of two were drunk on the very first day, then the question arises: “Why did you come here at all? ”.
The hotel is good. On the European side. In the center. To the Grand Bazaar - 10 minutes of leisurely walking, however, strongly downhill. To Hippodrome Square - 20 minutes of the same, leisurely move. On the roof of the hotel there is a terrace. On the terrace is a restaurant. From there, a beautiful view of the Sea of Marmara.
This restaurant offers a New Year's Eve program: music, a meager meal and one alcoholic drink. For everything about everything - $ 40 with hari. The same and unlimited drink - $ 75. Since almost all of our booze is mediocrely drunk, we agree on the 40 + 75 option. Those. both drink unlimited, but pay for one.
Hotel Akhmetki were not ready for such a turn. After all, all the other guests honestly paid 75 + 75, but drank little and only wine. Even the Russians! The staff did not bother and prepared just a couple of bottles of wine, a couple of beers and one (! ) liter of vodka. For everyone! What did they expect? What were their Muslim heads thinking about?
Understanding came when, almost without interruption, I demanded a second drink. Between the first and second. . . Well, you know. But the Turks did not know! They, seeing that the customers were serious about celebrating, naively thought that they would get out if they diluted the vodka. They brought her darling with a sprite in half. Aha! Right now!
He threatened the chief Akhmetka that right here, without leaving the table, we would write such reviews with my wife for a couple (thankfully there is Wi-Fi), that even seagulls would stop flying to them on the terrace.
As a result, so as not to blather, we received as a gift from the administration the same vodka we had already started (almost a liter), a chocolate bar and a towel in a gift box. Vodka, by the way, is local, but not bad. It's called IstanBlue. Recommend. Then the store managed - 84 lira for 0.5.
Just don't think that back then, on the first day, we consumed one and a half liters in two hari. Not at all. We're not that good at this. We also gave Marat Turkmen water to drink. He works in our hotel.
On a warm evening, after hard work, we settled on the porch of the hotel. Well, there, the minimum appetizer, because they are full, well, as usual...
We didn’t have time to pour it into the third, when Marat appears and begins to subtly hint that he is not a fool to drink either.
- You can't, you're a Muslim! What will Allah say to this?
- With Allah - order, - the Turkmen answers. - He just doesn’t order to drink wine, but you can drink vodka!
I agree with the argument.
I do not have time to finish, and he has already rushed for a glass. He also brought some snacks.
So the three-day norm was eaten up in the first evening.
Describing standard Istanbul sights (Blue Mosque, Sofia, Topkapi Palace…) is a thankless task. All this is in guidebooks and numerous reviews. It is much more interesting, in my opinion, to tell something that has not yet been covered in thousands of languages.
Here, for example, cats. There are hardly less of them in Istanbul than seagulls. It's some kind of cat cult. They are caressed, cuddled and fed. On the "uti-way" with them are both locals and tourists. There are improvised feeders on every street and they are never empty. And if, God forbid, some cat falls ill, any Turk immediately calls the special cat-ambulance. They come, take the sick person, treat them for free, then deliver the sufferer to the place where they took him (you never know, maybe he has a family or sidekick left).
Street dogs are also available, but there are much fewer of them, because they are sterilized, as evidenced by the tag on the ear. Also full and happy. Lying everywhere in the most depraved poses. People go around them, cars go around.
It is well known that Turkey in general and Istanbul in particular is the capital of fakes. Even the center is full of handicraft workshops and mini-factories that produce and immediately sell textiles, clothes, shoes and all sorts of haberdashery trifles. Everything is cheap and good quality. And all this proudly carries any well-known brand. Moreover, the same handbag model, for example, can be branded with five different logos. I don’t want to buy an outright fake, but it’s difficult to find anything without a label at all.
For example, in a shop near the hotel, we liked a light backpack for 20 lire. The Turkish seller asks:
Would you like Adidas, Nike or Reebok?
– Come on Adidas.
- What is the emblem (shamrock or three columns)?
… In a word, any whim!
There are also good, branded stores with original goods. Also relatively inexpensive. But here is an interesting pattern: for one store with clothes or shoes for women, there are ten for men. It's really hard to find expensive, high-quality women's products. Probably, it is assumed that Muslim women do not need anything other than hijabs...
However, Turkish women are good, progressive and relaxed. And, well, very short skirts, as for a Muslim country. Where they dress so well is a secret for my wife and me.
But goods for men are in abundance. Everything is of very high quality and worth the money they ask for.
It is understandable: if you are entitled to four wives according to Sharia, you must comply!
In the bazaars, everything is sold the same, but much cheaper. In places it is indistinguishable from the original. But here one of the most important laws of the universe comes into force: “A fake can be confused with the original, but you can never confuse the original with a fake”! Well said! BUT? !
Another very annoying feature of Istanbul is the street Ahmetki selling perfume. Quite often, as they usually do, well-known brands and certainly for a "very good price" (it is known that if you bargain, this same price will be halved). While walking, you run into them every ten steps. Sealed, properly packaged. I bet the smell is right. However, everyone knows Turkish perfumes. . .
On the last day, January 3, an excursion to the Suleymaniya mosque is planned. This is where the mausoleums of Suleiman the Magnificent and Roksolana are. From the hotel 20 minutes walk. The road passes through the square in front of the Grand Bazaar.
Curfew. All shops are conditionally closed. Before the lockdown, there were many racks of gold trinkets in this square. Now no.
But chu! What is it? A chain of yellow metal is lying on the pavement. Beautiful, with pendants. I looked around, there was no Akhmetka the owner, so it was mine! Beloved said that such a chain would be useful to her.
Deja vu happened after 15 minutes. We went to the toilets at the mosque. In the men's on the shelf - another chain! Thick, heavy! Is this some kind of Istanbul joke? It's so customary here, and we found out only on the fourth day? Quarantine bonus?
There are six men's toilets in total (each in a separate cell). Walked around everything. But no, the chains were no longer handed out.
I do not accept these chains as compensation for seagulls on the first day. It was too big then obser! You will be rewarded for this. But as a bonus - nice!
What's really disappointing is that they didn't hit the Basilica Cistern sung by Dan Brown in Inferno. We can say that we went for it.
According to local authorities, bazaars, museums and mosques are safe for gentle tourists, but as soon as they get into the Cistern, an evil virus attacks defenseless visitors and begins to torment how much in vain!
Your will, gentlemen, but something is wrong with this notorious virus. The advertising campaign and bright packaging do not match the wretched content. No, I understand that some people get sick and die, and even from the virus, but, please, where is the epidemic?!
When we were going on a trip, all the media called that Istanbul is the second Italy, that the number of infected exceeds all conceivable norms! Hence the curfew and the hard lockdown (stupid word, by the way).
I declare responsibly: there are no corpses on the streets; ambulances do not lilac; military trucks full of polished coffins don't drive in columns!
The organizers of this entire performance should be held accountable for deliberately false advertising. And advertising, meanwhile, is not cheap. I think the most expensive in the history of mankind! No joke, any news block is one third of the information about Covid (another stupid word).
Well, okay, let's leave it on their conscience. . . I don't want to stray into conspiracy theories, but let them already vaccinate those who wish, but close this topic as soon as possible. With the missus, as people infected with the bacillus of travel, this fuss greatly interferes!
Istanbul is a big topic and far from being disclosed yet. We dream of returning in the summer, to see everything we missed. There are beaches here, which means sightseeing can be diluted with a fraction of a beach holiday. So, see you again. Insha'Allah!
