Turkey on CNN
This video was pretty interesting to see. In addition to featuring the very strange Garanti posters we’ve been wondering about for a few weeks, you get some amusing man on the street interviews and a few views of the Ayasofya.
And, I have to put this in: I’m not going to contest their existence, but we’ve been here for a little while now and do a lot of walking through touristic and non-touristic areas, and I have never once seen a “water pipe cafe.” And the only time I’ve ever even seen a water pipe is in the tourist zones of the Grand Bazaar and a few old ones at antique stores. The authority on all things Turkish mentions it as a new fad in some trendy bars and cafes.
By the way, the big square thing in the background at 1:58 is a drinking fountain from the Ottoman era! It’s around the Sultanahmet neighborhood (Sirkeci? Kristin’s the expert.) on the way to the Blue Mosque and Ayasofya.