The first day, we arrived at 11 in the morning and hit the ground running. We went to the Blue Mosque first and then to Haghia Sofia. On our way out, in spite of our best efforts at being alert, we managed to get suckered in by a rug seller. The experience wasn't bad, as we had our first Turkish coffee (yum!) and a nice chat. Not long after leaving there we were molested by another rug seller who was quite the con. Lucky for us the nice bits found is first. We later discovered through a fellow hotel guest that this last hit uses the same con on everyone, to the letter.
Later the first night we saw the Whirling Dirvishes, who were just amazing. Afterwards we had to dodge all the restaurant barkers while trying to find a place to eat without getting charged the special American prices. I have yet to figure out how to turn off that neon "sucker" sign that floats over my head. We scored when Clarice found a decent chap on the street to help us. He didn't speak English but we were able to communicate with a little French. He kindly walked us several blocks to a local dive off the tourist path where we had some local food and a very interesting wine from Cappadocia.
It was a great first day to be sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment