Jon & Zoe Do Iran (et al.)

Last Day in Istanbul | April 11, 2009

Thursday was our last day in Istanbul, but I wanted to leave writing this for a couple of days to see what stood out about Istanbul from a little further away (a little further away turns out to be the south of Iran).

I think the thing that stood out for me most was the people, especially those in shops. It wasn’t like other places I’ve been, the people there genuinely wanted to have a chat and sell you something, rather than have a chat to sell you something. That was a massive difference for me. My favourites where the front of house guys for the restaurants and cafes.

We had one cafe that we went back to about four or five times, run by these two guys who were probably only a little older than us.

Every time headed back there as soon as we were in sight of the place whoever was doing front of house would come charging over to ask what we were doing. When we replied that we were headed into their cafe, they looked genuinely shocked (this happened over and over from the second time to the last time). This was quickly overcome with a round of hugs and backslapping as they bustled us into seats.

By about the second time they were giving us freebies, and on the last time we went there Zoe and I were playing backgammon.

After soundly defeating her in every other game that day, Zoe started to have a comeback. By a comeback, I mean she slaughtered me about 6 times in a row. The two guys were watching this and laughing and giving Zoe hints and by the time I had thrown up my hands in despair at the end of the sixth game, one of them came over to shove me out of the way and take Zoe on.

After one of the longest games I think I’ve ever seen, Zoe beat him. And he was a broken man. It was hilarious. He slunk off to the shadows to nurse his clearly ailing pride. Don’t get me wrong, she beat me too, but I’m used to it.

Such a good ending to the Istanbul leg of the journey.

Istanbul is full of treasures of all sorts, from the people to the architecture to trinkets. It’s an amazing place and I’d love to go back there sometime.

If you get the chance to go, do it. It’s ace.