Istanbul - We love it!

I stupidly read some popular history book on Instabul before going there. It gave gorey details about the deviant sexual lives of the sultans and a blow-by-blow of the ways in which the sultans had members of their families killed. You see, if you become a sultan, you need to kill off all of your brothers in case they decide to kill you and become sultan. The problem with this has to do with logisitics. If your father was a particularly virile sexual deviant he might have had 50 plus kids with his wives and concubines, so that is a lot of sibling rivalry to put a bloody end to. Then there is also the off chance that your mother might be in need of killing because, oh I don't know, she perhaps tried killing you once, who knows. All I do know is that they seemed to like to kill people and the closer the blood relationship the better. There is one touching tale of a sultan, Ahmet, or Mahmoud or Sulyeman, who knows, they like to re-use names and I lost track after a while, anyway, he didn't have one of his brother's killed because he was mentally retarded, therefore didn't pose a threat. What he didn't count on was someone or something else killing him and the feeble minded brother did, in fact, become sultan, not once but twice.

Enough of the history lesson, the point is that I had condemned the people of this fair country before having arrived. And why not? The whole of the European Union had as well, what with their talk of human rights violations.

So I was not surprised when the passport control man inspected my passport as if it was covered in something unpleasant and said something to me that I am sure was not Turkish for 'Enjoy your stay'.

My mother and I found a cab, wary, as we had been assured that they would try to rip us off. It was during this cab ride when I began to realise that the picture that the rest of the world is trying to paint of Turkey is very much incorrect. The cab driver did not try to rip us off, although he might have been considered a homicidal maniac by "western" standards in terms of his driving, he seemed pleasant enough - for a cab driver.

However, what impressed me straight away about the Turks was how industrious they were. All along the freeway, on either side, were merry makers, fishing, lighting fires, napping, and just generally enjoying their evenings along the Bosphorous. Even if this included walking on the freeway itself, casually ignoring the speeding taxis and lorries. It was nuts, if there was a patch of grass on the shoulder of the road it was being used, blankets spread out and bodies having a pre-dinner snooze. Areas of land that I had never thought of as an ideal picnic spot were all being used. The city is alive and this life is running through every collorary of the city - heaving with people doing, well, things.

When we arrived at the hotel, stereotypes continued to be quashed when we were greeted by a most handsome young consierge, who recommended a nice street to find something to eat. We set out in the evening to discover that Istanbul is one of the cleanest cities in all of Europe. There were no creepy, lurking men to make us feel afraid, and there were families out having meals (with children!).

Istanbul is obviously beautiful and there are so many interesting buildings of historical significance that it is overwhelming, you are tripping over the things. The food is fantastic, fresh and healthy and the people are nice. Unlike the carpet sellers I was warned about who would abduct me in their shops until I viewed every carpet ever made and purchased the most expensive one available on the pretext that it could, in fact, fly, I found the marketeers to be friendly and helpful. Dickering for the right price is not hard and I don't feel that I got ripped off once.

My feeling is that Istanbul is as interesting as its tourism board promises and surprisingly clean and friendly. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want them in the EU and after my experience in Greece, I think they should kick out the Greeks and let the Turks in.