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dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

What about the bed? you could get serious money on the black market for that (Of course I would never think about anything like that)but back to your question, i'd stick with Cihangir.

Niste · Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 73

A couple of streets in Kadikoy / Moda are nice -central but quiet.

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

i like galata. best views, more history. sorry, dmb, but i think cihangir is getting a bit (a lot) pretentious (leyla, etc). I'm sure galata will be soon., truth to tell, but it is still very turkish, which i like.

31 · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797

Very Turkish would be a small flat with no central heating and a stove in the living room in winter and in a tower block on the outskirts of a town or city. Somewhere like Umraniye would be a good example.

Galata, Cihangir etc. are for ex-pats, Turks who have inherited or the upper middle classes.

Niste · Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 73

Umraniye's close to the pits. Got robbed of a substantial wodge of cash while on a dolmus on the way through there a few years ago. The perpetrators skedaddled pretty smartish down between a couple of blocks and that was it. Probably paid the rent for a couple of years... Zeytinburnu's not bad in the pits department, either, by the way.

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

galata is not for the upper middle class-- they are still in levent, kemer, or bahcesehir. it is still a mixed neighbourhood, witha FEW foreigners and a lot fot Turks, which is why I like it.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

I wouldn't say Cihangir is for the upper middle class turks. Yes there are loads of foreigners, arty types, but mainly old skool Cihangir.

31 · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797

Hardly representative of the real Turkey though.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

What is the real Turkey?(is that an invitation for a rant or what 31) There are so many 'Turkeys'

31 · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

I think dmb's question is a good one. I know my experience of Turkey is quite different from some of my friends'. For example, my Koc friends often get stuck on the hill and then when they get off it go to the tourist areas or Beyoglu only. My yabanci friends there don't live with many Turks and most of them speak very little Turkish. I had one professor friend there who never did get to SultanAhmet except for frenzied shopping at the Bazaar. Then there are those who mostly hang out in levent and the AkMerkez.

I left Koc because i wanted the "real" Turkey and I think I have found it in Galata. There I have to speak Turkish (so it has improved immensely) and I have made many friends who don't speak English. My Turkish friends and acquaintances include the emlakci, restaurant owners, artists, writers, the manav guys, the street sellers, the shopkeepers, an imam, and various others. I feel welcomed by them and I know they protect me. They are generous and funny. I feel like I really live in Turkey now and I love it.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Molly, wait until you go out East. You'll find another Turkey.