Cats of Istanbul, Turkey

I visited Istanbul, Turkey, in April 2012.

Among other things, the city has lots of well-fed cats.

After I got home to California, I watched the Young Indiana Jones episode
"Istanbul 1918" again and these three scenes sure looked authentic:







On Monday April 10, 2009, a famous visitor got to meet one of the city's cats
at the Hagia Sophia Museum, the former Byzantine Church:



The museum is normally closed on Mondays so the visitors would not have impacted tourists.

I met this one on my trip there:



He does look like he owns the Hagia Sophia.

I'm headed there next month! Hoping to do some sight-seeing related to Masks of Evil!!! I'll keep a look out for kediler (cats)!!! Say Mr. Boyd, you might be the right guy to ask!! I was curious-- did you come across any coin dealers in Istanbul? I was hoping to do some looking around, but I understand the coin market is repressed by the Turkish govt. Any reccommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

WilliamBoyd8 said:

I visited Istanbul, Turkey, in April 2012.

Among other things, the city has lots of well-fed cats.

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The feline in your final photo looks very regal. Yeah, he looks like he owns the place!

William, you say "well-fed". That is quite different from the south of Italy where stray cats are all thin scavengers and treated like vermin. On several occasions there, I've seen Calabrians kick cats! One dark night in Scilla, I saw a bunch of cats huddled in a circle smack in the middle of a street. Curious as to why, I walked over to see...They were eating a dead cat that had been hit by a car! CAT CANNIBALISM!

Demitasse said:

I'm headed there next month!

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Me too! I was supposed to go to Istanbul this past weekend but it didn't work out. We must talk, Halfcup! Maybe we co-ordinate and hook up. Expect an e-mail very soon.

Demitasse said:

Any reccommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

Click to expand...

I was thinking of bumping this thread: Ephesus, Turkey

Perhaps we could continue the Turkey travel conversation there?

I did not find any old coin dealers in Istanbul, but there are some dealers in the Grand Bazaar who sell modern gold coins.

I would not buy ancient coins in Turkey, Greece, or Italy.

That is, coins over 100 years old.

They are considered cultural state property and it is against the law to take them out of the country.

I posted this originally as it related to a specific Young Indiana Jones episode, "Istanbul".

The "Masks of Evil" episode is set in Transylvania, now part of Romania.