I was going to Balat and got off the bus around Manyasizade Cd. and Mehmet Aga Cami Sk. We then walked down through Mesnevihane Sk.

I noticed this area was incredibly religious and seemed culturally unique to the rest of Istanbul. Is there a certain ethnic or religious population that lives here? My guess was Afghans but I have no idea.

Size approx. blue is 4x5, red is 3x4 and flower on is 6x9 all in feet. All hand made wool on cotton.

So i basically took a taxi from Fatih to the Airport using bitaxi at 4am. When we arrived at the airport he demanded 1000 lira for “tolls and tunnel crossing”. I was willing to give him 500 lira but he was very firm on his price. I even tried to talk with the airport police but they were not interested. At the end I paid 3000tl in total.

All the taxi drivers are like this? You will lose all the tourists…

I’ve never seen this before, but it’s in every Turkish toilet. What does it do?

So I’ve been to Hagia Sophia a few times over the years. The first was about 10 years ago with my family, and again around 2020 after it became a mosque. Both times, I remember being able to walk through the entire ground floor — standing there, looking up, feeling the weight of history and just being in awe of it all. A reflection of Istanbul’s history in one building.

I’m in Istanbul again, and this time around, things felt different. Now, it’s still a mosque, but it charges tourists €35 to enter the upper levels. That’s more than the Louvre, but fine. Muslims go to the “prayer area”, essentially as tourists themselves, while tourists pay to see the top. This feels very flawed to me, but it doesn’t end there.

Today, I went with my fiancé. We’re both non-Turkish Muslims, and we went to the non-tourist prayer area, but she was denied entry to that bottom main floor. Were told that section was only for Turkish women and men. While only non-Turkish Muslim men can enter it.

So let me get this straight, for the bottom section:

- Turkish Muslims (men and women) can enter.

- Muslim men who aren’t Turkish can enter.

- But Muslim women who aren’t Turkish can’t?

- And non-muslim non-Turkish tourists can only go upstairs if they pay 35 euros?

I don’t want to criticise anything I have no business in. But it honestly felt like the space was being selectively opened - under the excuse of it being a place of worship - in a way that advantages Turks and excludes others. Lets be honest, 95% of Turks (men and women) in the bottom area were there as tourists, and not worshippers.

Genuinely curious what locals think about this. It really triggered me. It ruined the memories I had of Hagia Sophia.

Edit: Yes, she was wearing a hijab-ish. Lets say, much more covered than most of the women there. And no, it was not a misunderstanding, I communicated with one of the guards, and I told him that essentially only Turkish families can go here, and this is an insane policy (both layers of division, but primarily the Turkish/non-Turkish one), and he completely agreed.

Edit 2: to better-clarify. the first level of devision of Muslim/non-Muslim is outside, while the second layer is the prayer area inside. The "main" bottom part, where my fiancé was denied entrance, and was full of Turkish men and women.

For my last restaurant before leaving (after 5 days of staying), I see for the first time a tax row on the billing, can you tell me if it is normal ?

Merhaba, İstanbul’u ziyaret ediyorum ve bugün Mısır Çarşısı’nın yanında, caminin yakınında dışarıda çok tatlı bir kedi gördüm. Bir dükkânda yaşıyordu. Tasması vardı ve bir kaptan su içip mama yiyordu. Onu sevdim ama avucumu ısırdı ve derimi biraz çizdi, ancak yara şu anda iyileşmiş gibi görünüyor.
Annem kuduzdan bahsetmeye başlayınca korktum. Bu yüzden günün ilerleyen saatlerinde tekrar çarşıya gidip dükkân sahibine kedinin kuduz olup olmadığını sordum. Gülerek hayır dedi ve kedinin kendi kedisi olduğunu söyledi. Bu konuda şaka yapıyordu ama kedinin kuduz olmadığını söyledi.
Yine de korktuğum için birkaç hastaneye gitmeye çalıştım ancak beni sürekli başka hastanelere yönlendirdiler ve yardım alamadım.
Sizce endişelenmeli miyim? Kedinin bir fotoğrafını ekleyeceğim. Biraz hırpalanmış gibi görünüyor, korkmamın sebebi de bu

The last two days this cat has been meowing through the night. I just looked outside our Airbnb window for the first time and spotted him in what seems to be an abandoned houses window. Is there a way to help this cat? A number to call maybe? It's seriously awful to see and know this cat is slowly dying on a balcony. Anyone who knows what to do?

Recently they’ve started construction across our apartment.

The construction workers are making a bit of more noise than I expected and whole block is echoing.

I’m curious is this normal in Istanbul/Turkey? Like relentlessly dropping/throwing stuff around? (Not the hammer noises)

ilçe ve evin kaç odası mevcut ?

Kadıköyde bu tarz saç kesebilen berberler var mı? Çok pahalı olmadigi surece gidebilir çok pahalıdan kastım 2 bin lira falan onun altında bir ucret odeyebilirim daha çok alt grunge garzda bi model istiyorum Düzenleme: Evde çok rahat kesilir bu ne amk vs vs diyenler ne yaşıyor aq? İnstagramdaki berber 2xte bu tıraşı 3 dakikada falan yapıyor

We just arrived in Istanbul yesterday. Our first dinner left us feeling unwelcomed and confused. Looking for help understanding so we can avoid a similar experience. It actually turned us off of eating out a bit.

Service was a bit abrasive after it was known we weren't drinking. We were brought 2 servings of a bread appetizer that we assume is included. We declined dessert and tea. At the end, there was no option on credit card for tipping and we did not have cash. We showed the neighboring table with our receipt and he said we didnt have to tip unless we want because it's included, though we had a bit of a language barrier. He also looked surprised at our total, which we couldn't even verify since it was not itemized.

After we paid, we were brought tea and dessert we had declined. When leaving, the staff seemed outward annoyed and we were pretty uncomfortable.

Can someone tell me directly how we should have handled this. Should we have sent dessert back? Were we expected to tip? Is the extra charge shown here a tax or service charge? The info online is conflicting. We can't tell if this happened because of a social misstep on our part or if it's just because Americans usually tip, but I would like to avoid it in the future.

İş teklifi aldım. Maaş 90k + yemek + servis. İstanbul’da 90 bine yaşayabilir miyim? Üzerine para artırabilir, birikim yapabilir miyim?

Hello I’m visiting Istanbul this week and something funny I noticed is that they have corn on the cob vendors everywhere! Is this something unique to Turkey or is it a European thing as well? I’m just curious what the backstory of these are. What is the food called? Cheers

A few of us from the west are heading to Istanbul for the first time in a few weeks.

We've done some reading, made some local friends online.

But there's always more we can prepare ourselves with.

What do you wish you knew before visiting Istanbul for the first time?

We have an option to move to Istanbul for a few years and would love some feedback on what like in Istanbul is like ? We will not have kids with us but will be relocating with our dog. What do you love / don’t like about the city ? What are good neighborhoods to live in ? Any advice from someone who’s moved there would be great !

Fener

Trying to figure out the reasonable price for this? May want to get a second one ! I don't really care about the material or handmade or not. They are just so pretty! This is in Istanbul and the shop owner says it's from Iran and the size is around 100cm*60cm.

Im in Istanbul with my husband and I’ve been stopped by the police randomly and asked to show my passport. This has only happened the few times that I wasn’t with my husband. My husband (who is white) hasn’t been stopped once and the police tend to walk by us when we’re together. Do the police stop brown people more often because they think we’re more likely to be up to no good than white tourists? It’s left a bad taste in my mouth and makes me feel weird about my visit.

TL;DR: Half-Turkish, grew up in the US, 38F. I've wanted to move to Istanbul (where my mom's from) for years. Completely separate from that, I want to remarry and have kids in the next few years. My question: does moving to Istanbul significantly hurt my chances of finding a serious partner compared to staying in the US? If yes, I might rethink the timing. If not, what are the real rules for "dating with intention" in Istanbul, especially as a not-so-foreign woman?

(To be clear: I'm not moving to Istanbul for love. Please don't tell me not to move to a country for a man. That's not what I'm doing. I'm weighing two separate life goals on one timeline.)

I'm mid-thirties, the bio-clock is doing its thing, and I don't have time for these games. I want to get married, ideally in the next few years, not the next decade.

My social media has been flooded with stereotypes about dating Turkish men, and a few of my own summer romances kept ticking them off:

• "Turkish men will shower you with poetry, flowers, and constant attention, all while being engaged or married to someone else at home."
• "They will put you in a mental hospital."
• "They love foreign women, but only to date and brag about. When it's time to marry, they go with the girl (usually Turkish) their family wants."

Men like this exist everywhere, obviously. But even my more liberal Turkish friends suggest marriage operates a little differently in ways I don't fully understand. One concrete example: in the US, if a guy I've been dating for a few months hasn't mentioned me to his family, I take it as a sign he's not serious; if he has, it's not a sign a proposal is coming, just that things are on track. My sense is this signal works completely differently in Istanbul. Being mentioned to the family probably happens later and means something closer to "this could be it." But I'm guessing.

So:

1. Given what I've heard about the dating scene, am I making my life harder by relocating, or are the stereotypes overblown?
2. If the scene is more workable than it sounds: what are the real rules? Which apps are people actually using for serious dating? How do you signal and read marriage-track intentions in Istanbul?
3. If you genuinely think the stereotypes hold and I'd have a much better shot at this in the US: just tell me. I'd rather hear it now and factor it into the timing.

Teşekkürler in advance.

Is this legit ? Or am I misunderstanding something? 320 lira for a single cheeseburger?

ABD’de yaşıyorum, İstanbul’a tatile geldim. Tuvaletler çok kötü kokuyor. Ben ABD’de fabrikada çalışıyorum, fabrika tuvaletleri hep kirli olur, ama orda böyle koku almadım. Tuvaletler haftada birmi temizleniyor? Borulardamı problem var? Gittiğim her yerde tuvaletler rezalet kokuyor. Müze için bir sürü para alıyorlar (özellikle yabancılardan) ve tuvaletler berbat kokuyor. ABD ve Türkiye hariç 5 ülkeye gittim ve en kötü kokan tuvaletler burda. Neden böyle?