My heart is heavy hearing of the troubles in Turkey. Actually not just Turkey —sadly, the world is mad. But this is a shoe blog and I wanna entertain you with pleasant tales of my travels to Turkey. (I like alliteration)
I am fortunate; I have visited Turkey a half dozen times, various cities. Istanbul is a fascinating city and has the best airport lounge I have ever crashed, including the 1st class Concorde lounge at JFK –that was pretty sweet I admit, but Istanbul wins. Yes you will need a fancy airline card to get in—but so worth it. It has been a place of many layovers for me. I am truly grateful for the oasis of peaceful luxury when on a hellish commute. Masseuses, 24 hours chefs, a movie theater, private sleeping areas, its all there in style. Truth be told I permanently barrowed one of the cute little porcelain coffee cups on my last past through—they are so adorable I took one home. And did I mention boundless amount of Turkish delight? Yum!
Turkey is modern, but not. You will see plenty of women still covered head to toe even in the summer, while the men sport shorts and tank tops. Don’t get me started on double standards.
On one of my visits while working a cruise ship we stopped to go to the Grand Bazaar. I can assure you nothing in your life will prepare you for the Grand Bazaar. If you think you have seen aggressive sales techniques and haggling in Mexico – I can assure you its preschool compared to the sales approaches in Turkey. They will follow you down the street, pull you out of another store, pull the ear buds from your ears, and the whole time “ Lady, lady, lady, what you need? I have for you. I make good price. Lady, lady, lady.” Really it is exhausting but interesting. Luckily for me there were these two women traveling on the ship who by their attire everyday were seeking lots of attention. I called them lovingly “sex on a stick”. They were attractive women with rockin’ bodies, so good for them. But they might have wanted to read up on the cultural norm for walking the streets of Turkey before heading out to the Grand Bazaar. They were dressed for Rio, not old world Turkey. Short, tight, low cut and heels- Bam! The sales force of the Grand Bazaar were on high alert—and for me it was fabulous. I followed these ladies all day, no one bothered me or a least a lot less because you can’t complete with sex on a stick walking in front of you ;o)
‘But Laura, what’s all this have to do with gold boots?”
On another visit to Turkey— In the above-mentioned Istanbul airport a women had these- yes this exact pair of fabulous gold boots on and I had on bedazzled Uggs. I complimented her on the boots and she told me she loved my Uggs. Chat chat chat—we traded shoes. Yup, just like we were in primary school. I thought how wonderful. She is from Israel, I’m from American and we traded footwear in Turkey. I love how the world works and the fun you can have it you are open to it. International relations at it best—it’s all about the shoes.
Laura
