No Moss For Us

With our departure from Turkey imminent, we thought we should note a few things that surprised, delighted, and amused during our time in this wonderful country:

• Tea, tea and more tea: we were once told that Turks drink ~16 cups of çay (pronounced “chai,” meaning black tea) a day, and while we never came close to that, we did drink it a lot. Also, at 1 Lira a cup, it’s often a steal and a great source of instant energy!
• A bajillion cats & dogs: While lots of places have strays, and Turkey does seem to have an abundance of cats and dogs. For the most part these aren’t sad looking piles of fur; they seem healthy and clean, and while it’s annoying when they beg for scraps from the table, the puppies/kittens definitely melt even the iciest of hearts.  
• Roses, roses everywhere: Everywhere we went in Turkey we saw big, beautiful roses. And when we say big, we mean HUGE — basically the size of an open hand. Even more, they smelled phenomenal, which made walking down most streets a real olfactory treat, and not in the way you usually associate with cities!

• Water spigot car washes: While driving through southern Turkey, every few kilometers we saw pipes with upside-down spigots gushing water near gas stations and snack stands. At first we thought it was a burst pipe, but the more of them we saw, the more confused we became. Finally the mystery was solved when we saw a dusty car drive under one of the man-made waterfalls and begin running their windshield wipers >> instant car-wash. Apparently Turkey is not as concerned as California when it comes to water conservation!

• Crazy, bold jaywalking: What’s that? A 6 lane freeway with cars doing 80 kph? No big deal, Turks will still jaywalk it! While driving, we definitely noticed this phenomenon, MANY times. We were almost lured into trying it ourselves by blindly following them into the fray whilst walking around. Fortunately we never overcommitted, and yet were always amazing at how this chaos always worked out! (Sorry, no photos of this. It always happened too quickly. Trust me when I say it’s a sight to behold…)

– J & G