Turkish Delight

The people of Turkey are out-of-their-way friendly.

The real Turkish Delight are the people.

The transportation system is pretty straightforward: you can buy single trip tokens or get a card and add money to it and use it like a debit card. In the bright sunlight, the screen was hard to read and then, of course, it was in Turkish. (Only on our third attempt did I see a button to change the language.) But before I struggled too much, a man behind me spoke not a word and through only hand signals and smiles and lots of pointing, helped us through.

Chapeau means hat. Oeuf means egg. It’s like those French have a different word for everything. — Steve Martin

This was after a young man, (who is 17 because we asked how old he was because he asked how old we were … apparently a common question around here) helped us top up our existing Istanbul card. He walked away from his little stand of (knock-off) brand name running shoes to help us on our way.

When we were trying to figure out if we could take a bus to the Topkapi Palace, we asked the driver who shook his head after we think he understood our question. But then there was a knocking on the window of the bus, but from the inside. I didn’t quite know what to make of it, so we kept walking. Another young man came out of his seat and asked how he could help us. He then asked his bus drive and then the driver of the next bus. But the he said, in charming English, “Actually, I prefer that you walk because it’s a beautiful walk and you will enjoy it more.”

There are too many examples even in the few days we’ve been here. They go out of their way, get out of their seats, come out of the trams and are happy and smiling to help.

The real Turkish Delight are the people

The photo is their local sweet pastry-isn specialty, called Turkish Delight. There are all kinds of different ingredients (pistachios, dried fruit bits, etc.) all wrapped up in some sort of sweet goo. Yummy even if I’m not a big sweet tooth.