This splendidly dressed young man (he's 5 or 6) doesn't know what fate awaits him. Tomorrow he's going to be circumcised. This dress up is part of the tradition....he's essentially king for a day (or pasha, maybe). Then . . .snip. We passed many store windows with even more fantastic costumes for this purpose--and they didn't come cheap! Our Turkish friend told us that it was typical in many families to do several boys at one time. He was only three, but his oldest brother (there were four of them being done on the same day) was 10. OUCH!!!!!!
Istanbul is very hilly and many streets are narrow. But even on streets where two cars can pass one another, a lot of hauling is done with hand-trucks. Boxes are stacked together, then wrapped in sheets of plastic. At each end of the top of the stack, the wrapper will leave a "tail" or "ear"--a several inches-long piece to use as a handle when slinging it on the cart or over one's shoulder. (You can see the "tail" right beyond the fellow walking past the cart.)
There are also folks who do "take out"--very often, the inevitable small glass of tea that everyone seems to drink a dozen times a day. They are carried on little metal trays, sometimes by a delivery person (the guy in the picture below--his friend wanted to get in the picture, too); at other times, by the people who go to get their order. (Apparently, everyone brings back the trays.)
And here's one of our "finds." We ate here twice....a generous portion of grilled chicken breast, plus a lot of rice or bulghur, and some lettuce, tomato and red cabbage: $4.50. (The bread was a few cents extra.)
The rice and bulgur were made in advance (and some of the combo dishes--you can see them through the glass), but the meat was fresh grilled. This is where "real people" ate--they also did take out. Each individual plate (real plate: no styrofoam) was wrapped in plastic; then layered on a tray (big tray, multiple layers of plates) which was also wrapped in gigantic sheets of plastic; then multiple trays were layered on top of one another and wrapped again. This made for a very heavy pile of stuff that the delivery kid took by hand (or on his scooter) to the folks who had ordered. I asked to get a picture, but he didn't want me to do it. I couldn't explain that I wouldn't include him in the shot, so you'll just have to try to imagine it.
Then there was the fancy dinner at a restaurant our friends suggested. The waiter is opening one magical dish after another. In the immortal words of the movie, Babe--"at'll do pig." (Though of course, there was no actual pig involved.)
And here's how they make the Turkish version of souvlaki (at just about every street corner.) It's a meal for the equivalent of about $2.50.
Why are there goats on the streets of Istanbul? Heck if I know. (I'm cheating--they were stuffed goats to attract people to the wool shop.)
This was a surprise...though this was not one of the main tourist streets, there were tourist hotels within a couple of blocks in any direction...a very rickety house where (it appeared) no one lived. But right next door (the brown one with flowers at the second story window) was another not-so-great looking house were people definitely did live, and went inside as soon as they saw the camera. (There will be later blog entries about Erdogan's building spree throughout Turkey.)
Istanbul is very hilly and many streets are narrow. But even on streets where two cars can pass one another, a lot of hauling is done with hand-trucks. Boxes are stacked together, then wrapped in sheets of plastic. At each end of the top of the stack, the wrapper will leave a "tail" or "ear"--a several inches-long piece to use as a handle when slinging it on the cart or over one's shoulder. (You can see the "tail" right beyond the fellow walking past the cart.)
There are also folks who do "take out"--very often, the inevitable small glass of tea that everyone seems to drink a dozen times a day. They are carried on little metal trays, sometimes by a delivery person (the guy in the picture below--his friend wanted to get in the picture, too); at other times, by the people who go to get their order. (Apparently, everyone brings back the trays.)
And here's one of our "finds." We ate here twice....a generous portion of grilled chicken breast, plus a lot of rice or bulghur, and some lettuce, tomato and red cabbage: $4.50. (The bread was a few cents extra.)
The rice and bulgur were made in advance (and some of the combo dishes--you can see them through the glass), but the meat was fresh grilled. This is where "real people" ate--they also did take out. Each individual plate (real plate: no styrofoam) was wrapped in plastic; then layered on a tray (big tray, multiple layers of plates) which was also wrapped in gigantic sheets of plastic; then multiple trays were layered on top of one another and wrapped again. This made for a very heavy pile of stuff that the delivery kid took by hand (or on his scooter) to the folks who had ordered. I asked to get a picture, but he didn't want me to do it. I couldn't explain that I wouldn't include him in the shot, so you'll just have to try to imagine it.
Then there was the fancy dinner at a restaurant our friends suggested. The waiter is opening one magical dish after another. In the immortal words of the movie, Babe--"at'll do pig." (Though of course, there was no actual pig involved.)
Eat
And here's how they make the Turkish version of souvlaki (at just about every street corner.) It's a meal for the equivalent of about $2.50.
Why are there goats on the streets of Istanbul? Heck if I know. (I'm cheating--they were stuffed goats to attract people to the wool shop.)
This was a surprise...though this was not one of the main tourist streets, there were tourist hotels within a couple of blocks in any direction...a very rickety house where (it appeared) no one lived. But right next door (the brown one with flowers at the second story window) was another not-so-great looking house were people definitely did live, and went inside as soon as they saw the camera. (There will be later blog entries about Erdogan's building spree throughout Turkey.)
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