Thoughts and Sights and Sounds of Istanbul OR more correctly titled:
How can I keep writing about glorious sunny days on the Turkish Coast filled with swimming and grilled fish and not sound boring?
A quick note of explanation. Although I write and post a decently long blog each day, I write even more in my IPad Notepad to keep track of all my thoughts about this journey. Sometimes there are not enough days to post all these blogs, so today, one from the archives.
It would be impossible not to be fascinated by Istanbul and of course, its women. This secular but predominantly Muslim country seems at times a dichotomy and at times a contradiction. In the 1920's Ataturk chose to modernize Turkey and change the country and move into the world arena. And he was exceedingly successful.
The airport is modern and cosmopolitan. There are tall office buildings and apartments. There are glass and metal facades. There are fusion cuisine restaurants. There is high design in hotels, shops and bathrooms. And then there are the homemade metal carts piled incredibly high with boxes and boxes of merchandise being hand delivered by one little skinny guy either puffing uphill or jogging downhill at a runaway pace.
There are the piece workers in tiny factories on the fourth floor of shabby buildings where men in no shirts sit for long days sewing fake Michaels Kors handbags. And there are, even in the very modern airport, porcelain squat toilets with buckets to wash, left hand only please. What a contradiction in terms it all is.
If you look at only the non tourist women on the streets, it seems easily that 50 or 60 percent of the women are in headscarves, which in this modern, secular country was, for me, a total surprise. But even more so was the number of different types of Muslim dress and I have yet been able to find someone to speak with to understand what each type means. I am sure it is similar to Christians asking the differences between modern Orthodox and Hassidic Jews garb.
There are women in headscarves but the rest of their dress is totally Western. They are beautifully made up, jeweled and in stylish, tight clothes with high heels, think the Kim Kardashian type. They could be models, just not for hair products. Their scarves are usually beautiful and colorful and tied turbaned or wrapped but never with the point down the back. They remind me more of what I think of as the 'sheik' Saudi women shopping in Beverly Hills.
There are the women in headscarves and a type of outwear that looks like a raincoat. Some coats are knee length and some down to,the ankles. They are all solid colors but somehow, some manage to be fitted and stylish with fashionable buttons, piping, a just so collar and a suave runway look (these women also have beautiful made up faces) while others are just loose and plain. I am sure there is a name for this particular style of Muslim garb and I have no idea what is worn underneath but even on the hottest day, these coats are buttoned up tight, high on the neck.
There are women in burkas, but more than one type. Some are very somber and all black, while others have some detail or small flourish on the fabric. All have head coverings but some have their entire face exposed fully, others with fabric pulled over their chin with their eyes and nose and mouth showing. Others show only their eyes and even on some the eye slit is so small I cannot imagine how they can possibly see, let alone be heard when talking. And then picture this woman, covered head to toe in black, peeping eyes AND add black gloves so not even the hands show.
It is all fascinating but mysterious to me. It takes people watching to an entire new level. I am not sure what it says about women's roles or relationships in Muslim or Turkish society, but I am adding it to my now very long list of things to read and learn about when I get home.
P.S. All but the first photo of the man with the boxes is from the web, as it would be considered rude to try to photograph women on the streets of the city. But these photos do represent what we saw.
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