City of Hope, City of Dreams... Istanbul
 

City of Hope, City of Dreams... <BR> <BR>by Nicole Pope <BR> <BR>Istanbul struck me as a very aggressive male city when I first visited it in the early 1980s. Admittedly, I did not see it under the best of lights. It was late October, a fine chilly drizzle had turned the streets to mud and a heavy leaden sky hung over the city, giving an oppressive atmosphere. The hotel rooms we tried were grotty and damp. <BR> <BR>But what surprised me most at the time were the people: on the Galata bridge, in Sirkeci, there were men everywhere, their faces closed, grim and grey, like the weather. Somehow women hardly feature in my memory of this first visit. <BR> <BR>The feeling of being in a macho city was confirmed when, strolling down Istiklal Caddesi, looking at shop windows, I was pinched and grabbed several times. I had come, like many ignorant tourists, expecting to see an exotic and sophisticated city of the orient, as described in Pierre Loti's novels or pictured in Orientalist paintings. Instead, I had found a grey, modern and crude metropolis. <BR>More.... <BR> <BR>http://www.istanbulshotels.com/features-on-turkey.htm <BR>Ferit

It is great <BR>Paula

Hi<BR>Istanbul is a lot changed<BR>Tim

What about this nice Hotel?.We have been there.<BR>http://www.istanbullife.org/hotels/charming/galata_antique_hotel.htm<BR><BR>Paula<BR>

Hi<BR>She is with us now.Check out please her pages.<BR>http://www.istanbullife.org/karen.htm<BR>Istanbul Dream<BR><BR>http://www.istanbullife.org/<BR><BR>ISTANBUL? YES, ISTANBUL.<BR><BR>In April 2000, I started to write a monthly column for a local English-language magazine because I felt the need for a venue in which to give voice to feelings and insights into the nature of everything that had been occasioned by my experience here in the city of Istanbul. <BR><BR>One of the great things about these columns is that although they are indeed deeply personal and often very philosophical they also function to convey something of what life in Turkey is like. Since this is one of the most misunderstood countries in the world, I consider that very important indeed. <BR><BR>Turkish culture is incredibly complex and so are the Turkish people. What you read in newspapers and in magazines like Time and Newsweek doesn't come close to honoring that. Turkey is much, much more than the Blue Mosque, the Bosphorous, the covered bazaar, and all those other things you see if you come here as a tourist. Of course, the column is only a map of the territory, but it does help provide a way into the deeper realities of a country that really is a hidden treasure. Karen-Claire Voss<BR>Also<BR>http://www.istanbullife.org/istanbul_yes_istanbul.htm<BR> <BR><BR>