Istanbul and assorted pix not shared yet

If a visitor to New York City was asked to visit for a few days and then describe the city it might well be a collage of all the tourist sites or perhaps a few off the beaten track but there is no way to capture all of NY from the several sections of the Bronx, to Harlem, Central Park,   Soho.  etc.

That to say that it is impossible for me to describe accurately Istanbul as a city.  Today we took a tram far out past the tourist areas to see a bit of the lives of people who live here.

One significant way it differs from US cities is the age of some of the buildings and ruins and still existing Mosques and other buildings.   Dress here is everything from black dresses and burkas to the wonderful colorful scarves, often above shirts and jeans,  and even shorts and the same mix we are used to seeing on streets in the states.

The streets are congested with cars but the modern tram system which shares streets with cars and pedestrians moves swiftly along.

I have yet to see a beggar or a homeless person.

There are many stray cats who roam the streets and outdoor restaurants but never approach diners. They just walk around as cats do. They seem to know they are welcome if they behave.

An occasional dog will be sleeping in the middle of a busy sidewalk and people just walk about it.

I have seen almost no black people here.  A few in what I would call Arabian or shiek dress - is my ignorance showing??!!
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We are staying in the "Old City"  where many of the oldest buildings are but the ancient walls of the city can be seen in sections for miles around this vast city.

This blog is not turning out to be what I had hoped between time limits and poor connectivity I am limited to putting things up fairly randomly.

Here I will throw up a random assortment of pictures of the city.  I certainly don't have it all but some of the flavor.

At the airport

Drive in from airport

On tram - Istanbuls answer to strap hanging - a circle of straps and 4 poles in the middle ot hang on.  I'd like to suggest these to Boston and NY!

Dinner on an upper terrace restaurant

Trams share the street with pedestrians, buses, etc. the one on the left is approaching our stop and the one on the right is going the other direction.

There are many fancy front doors

Everyone seems to have satalite dishes

The University

Major shopping area away from tourist center

Galata bridge separating old and new Istanbul.  Bridge is filled with fishermen and below you can see some of he many fish restaurants

Rooster in a parking lot

One of the restaurants where we ate

Man smoking water pipe

Just a drain in the middle of the street!

There is more but connection is not accepting anything so will post this rather then lose it