Belly Dancing in Istanbul
June 15th, 2007
We went to Istanbul a few years ago over the Valentine’s day weekend. February in Istanbul…it’s freakin’ cold! It’s a beautiful city and the Turks were very friendly and helpful bar the usual 1 or 2 locals anywhere you go in the world who try to rip you off or take you for a ride. That’s exactly what a cab driver did there so be careful with those crazy cabbies in their shitty little yellow cabs.
There’s quite a bit to see there,especially in the Old Town where the Mosques, Ayia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and other attractions are really fascinating. There’s so much history there. The apple tea, for tourists, is also quite nice when it’s cold out.
We took a boat ride along the Bosphorus. It wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world but it was kind of fun to see the nice palaces and buildings along the shoreline of a famous waterway. It’s worth doing if you are in Istanbul for a few days.
While there we also went to a belly dancing evening which was good fun. The dancers were clearly interested in the tourists from the richer nations as the American and Brit were constantly offered to come on stage and paid more attention to than we were. It’s for the tip at the end you see. Might be bigger, might not. Anyway, they fed us and danced for us and it was quite a nice evening. At the end though, the place turned into a strip club. Sitting there with my would-be wife, a waiter came to me after the show with a “free” entry card to the upstairs strip club. Dude, I’m attached or does that not bother you?? No big deal, we just laughed it off and even more so as we left when we realised the belly dancers were also the strippers. 🙂
Two jobs eh!
Go to Istanbul, it’s a great city!
Entry Filed under: Activities,Destinations
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