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Dancebiscuits
Joined: 03 Dec 2012 Posts: 63
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:38 pm Post subject: Istanbul vs Bucharest to live in |
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Hello all,
I've been offered one job in Bucharest and one in Istanbul. Both are fine for salary and accommodation and Ts&Cs so I wanted to ask your opinions on which is likely to suit me more to live in. I've been to Istanbul a few times for the weekend and love it, never to Romania.
My interests are, I suppose:
Vegetarian food - good markets and food shops and restaurants
A language that won't take me centuries to learn
Religious kitsch, flea markets, affordable and interesting clothes shopping (designer is way off the cards)
Cemeteries, crypts, bazaars and pubs
Castles, mountains, seaside, forests and modern art
Affordable motoring
Gigs in pubs and clubs - live music, dance performance, DJs and so on.
I'll also need affordable language lessons and I guess an English-speaking expat scene of some sort would be nice too, especially while I'm new
It's a toughie isn't it? Opinions welcome and thank you in advance. I'll be pearoasting this on the other relevant forums. Oh yeah, I'm British, female, no kids. |
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oipivo
Joined: 02 Jan 2012 Posts: 163 Location: Poland
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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1. Vegetarian food - good markets and food shops and restaurants
Almost nonexistent in Istanbul. They like their meat and they like it dry and salty. No clue about Romania to be honest.
2. A language that won't take me centuries to learn
Romanian is a Romance language, so if you know any of those it could be easy to puck up. Turkish isn't terribly difficult, but the grammar is very different. So...advantage Romania.
3.Religious kitsch, flea markets, affordable and interesting clothes shopping (designer is way off the cards)
Advantage Romania. Istanbul is crazy expensive and severely lacking in this area.
4. Cemeteries, crypts, bazaars and pubs
Bucharest's pubs seemed nice and they were cheaper and had better beer. Not sure about the rest.
5. Castles, mountains, seaside, forests and modern art
Romania wins in all of the categories except seaside. The seaside in Turkey is great. Everything else is far nicer in Romania.
6.Affordable motoring
....I'm American so I'm not even sure what motoring means...so..it's a wash?
7.Gigs in pubs and clubs - live music, dance performance, DJs and so on.
If you like bouncing around from pub to pub and going to live performances Istanbul isn't a great city for it. It has plenty of clubs, but they're mostly horrible. I would say again that Romania has the advantage.
I maybe someone could weigh in who has actually lived in Romania, since I only spent a couple weeks there. |
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Dancebiscuits
Joined: 03 Dec 2012 Posts: 63
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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Motoring - as in buying and running a car
Thanks for your opinions, very helpful - you seem pro-Bucharest. If you know any good photography websites or blogs where I can see a bit more of Bucharest, I'd love some links. Mostly I just find Communist architecture pics when I google image the city and I know for a fact there's more to any city than it's big buildings.
BTW, I found the vegetarian food in Istanbul plentiful and lovely last time I went - but I did feel I was missing out on the kebab front. |
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cartago
Joined: 19 Oct 2005 Posts: 283 Location: Iraq
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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Istanbul has some great outdoor pubs around Istiklal in the Summer. Problem is, throughout Turkey drinking has become outrageously expensive. |
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sedaa91
Joined: 07 Jan 2012 Posts: 34
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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Istanbul is #7 on the tripadvisor must visit cities. It's also safer from Bucharest (tried planning a trip to Bucharest and almost everyone I came across told me it was a bad idea). Istanbul is however, very expensive. |
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Dancebiscuits
Joined: 03 Dec 2012 Posts: 63
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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'...drinking has become outrageously expensive...'
That is a problem for me, I'm not going to lie.
Istanbul is a beautiful place - I've been many times, but only as a tourist, never had to live there.
Thanks chaps, keep it coming |
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Mike_2007
Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 349 Location: Bucharest, Romania
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Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:25 am Post subject: |
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Dancebiscuits wrote: |
If you know any good photography websites or blogs where I can see a bit more of Bucharest, I'd love some links. Mostly I just find Communist architecture pics when I google image the city and I know for a fact there's more to any city than it's big buildings. |
I've answered some of your other questions on the Romania forum but regarding the architecture, Bucharest does have a lot of interesting buildings. A lot of people bang on about how Ceaucescu levelled most of the city to put up his concrete monolithic blocks. That's not quite the case. Aside from new block-dense neighbourhood he put up on what was then the outskirts of the cities, he mostly just laid down some wider roads through the city (much as Haussmann did in Paris - except with uglier blocks) and lined them with apartment buildings. Behind those blocks the streets still contain a very eclectic range of architectural styles.
You can see some pics here: http://romphoto.blogspot.ro/2009/02/bucharest-str-corbeni-armeneasca.html
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It's also safer from Bucharest (tried planning a trip to Bucharest and almost everyone I came across told me it was a bad idea). |
I'd agree that Istanbul (when I lived there, at least) is safer than Bucharest, but Bucharest is still a lot safer than most western capitals such as London or Paris.
I think, having lived in both cities, if I were to spend a year somewhere, I'd probably choose Istanbul. It's far more impressive. However, I find living long term in Bucharest a lot easier. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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I replied over on the Romanian thread that you started. |
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Sirens of Cyprus
Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 255
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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Motoring? Turkey has the highest gasoline prices in the world. |
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massiveg
Joined: 14 Mar 2013 Posts: 36
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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It is higher in the UK |
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Sirens of Cyprus
Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 255
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massiveg
Joined: 14 Mar 2013 Posts: 36
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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it is wrong. Just looked out the window at the petrol station priceboard and its more expensive than that. |
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Sirens of Cyprus
Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 255
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massiveg
Joined: 14 Mar 2013 Posts: 36
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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no can you? But I saw turkey from my house last week when I was there. Petrol prices in London are around 2.56 |
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Sirens of Cyprus
Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 255
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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What were they in Turkey? |
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