I've been here for a week now, and I want to share my impression of this city.
I've arrived here last Tuesday, when I got in the district where I'm living I could smell Naples. I was checking the map when somebody threw a bag full of garbage from his windows: I felt like I was home.
I spent the first days just walking between my district, Karaköy, Galata Tower, Şişli, Golden horn bridge, Galata bridge... The tourists centre sucks, as every tourists centre around the world.
There are a lot of stray dogs, which are not stray because they all have this chip on their ear and it seems that the municipality is taking care of them. Sometimes I think they take too much care of them.
There are also a lot of cats, and it seems that there will be more and more in the future because they are always copulating.
One day on Galata Bridge I met these two gentlemen fishing mackerel. They were almost drunk, and it explains how can you fish in one of the most polluted spot in the world. I offered them some cigarettes, they offered me vodka, and I went on a bender.
After a while, walking on Galata Bridge, I noticed a photographer with a small printer. I asked him a photo.
Sometimes people have very interesting faces and I got a lot of portraits. Unfortunately is very hard to comunicate with them so I don't know anything about their story. I don't speak Turkish and since they don't speak English (or Italian, Spanish or French) I decided to speak with them in my dialect (sandonatese). It works sometimes.
Taking photos of women is very hard, especially if they wear the hijab. Luckily this time I was with a man met on Couchsurfing who kindly explained her what I was trying to do, and after a while she accepted. Thank you Selim!
Anyway, I must admit that Istanbul is impressive. This is just the first week, I will stay here for three more. I will change accommodation every five days so I can explore the city. For the moment I think I'm in the right place :)
