The Virtual Gigolo

Istanbul, what an interesting place. Home of the Blue Mosque and the sacred Carpet Salesman. If you ever want a free cup of tea, pop into a carpet shop, they’ll show you a large selection of carpets, be willing to haggle the price to something that you still won’t be able to afford and describe the way that said item is double stitched by young girls in the easternmost parts of the country, informative if nothing else. Combine this wonderful pasttime with the view of ships from the hotel roof and the pleasant, if highly repetive, sound of the Azan, the Muslim call to prayer, which loses much of its mystique when you realise it is reproduced through loudspeakers and presumably from a recording.

An interesting city, all told, but not one I’d like to live in.