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Home Retirement/Living

Ramadan In Istanbul

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jul 06, 2014
in Retirement/Living, Turkey
0
The Ramadan in Turkey, a typical celebration of this country
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Touching Down In Istanbul

A long trip like the one from Panama City to Istanbul, requiring connecting flights and layovers and taking you across many time zones, is like a system reboot. Arriving at your destination, your mind is fuzzy, muddled. What time is it? What day is it? Should I have something to eat…or maybe take a nap? You can’t quite commit to answers to even these basic questions. More substantive decisions are inconceivable. Finally, out of desperation, you give up and give yourself over, simply, to what’s in front of you.

So here I sit, on the rooftop terrace of our hotel in Istanbul’s Old City, looking out over the Sea of Marmara and at Asia across the way. No sense trying to be productive. Better just to soak it all in.

The sea spread out before me is ink blue. Above it, the sky is clear, the sun hot. A steady breeze and the red clay tiles of the terrace roof keep the temperature comfortable enough, but, without cover to shade you, you know it’s summertime. Weather projections we Googled before departing Panama City convinced us to throw sweaters and jackets into our suitcases at the last minute. Just goes to show you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

“Look at all the traffic out on the water,” Kaitlin remarked, taking in the Marmara for the first time. Indeed, the waterways here seem as busy as the Panama Canal. Ferries, cruise ships, sailboats, private cruisers, coming into port and going out, dispersing passengers and taking on new ones.

Istanbul owes its place in world history to these waters, which, since the days of Byzantium, have meant tolls, harbor fees, trade, and prosperity. Today, this metropolis with such a unique and enviable geographic situation is again thriving.

Officially, the population of Istanbul is 14 million, but some estimate that the city’s true current population is closer to 20 million. I read one report that suggested as much as 60% of the population, whatever it is, is under the age of 29. I can’t confirm that statistic, but I can tell you that, wandering around the neighborhoods nearby our hotel, young people are everywhere…in the parks, gardens, markets, and walkways, enjoying their city.

What else can I tell you after fewer than 24 hours on the ground?

Conversation is all about next month’s presidential elections and also the situation as it’s unfolding in Iraq. For the people of Turkey, this mess is too close to ignore.

As well, it’s Ramadan.

“For me growing up, Ramadan was about becoming a man,” I heard one young man explain. “It is not easy to fast all day. As a boy, I was hungry, I was thirsty. But so was everyone else—my father, my brothers, my friends. If they could do it, I told myself, I could do it, too. When my friends and I would get too hungry, we’d go outside and play football until it was time to break the fast.”

It is that time now, late afternoon. I hear the calls to prayer.

My own family and I are sitting down now, too, to dine. We haven’t fasted all day, I have to admit, but we have traveled a long way and are looking forward to our first dinner in Istanbul.

“Do you have any sparkling wine on the menu?” I asked our waiter.

“Yes, we have two,” he explained, showing me.

Both, it turns out, are Turkish. Turkish sparkling wine? We had to give it a try, and I’m pleased to be able to report that it’s not nearly as bad as you might imagine. In fact, I recommend you try it, too, your first night in this grand, historic city.

More later…after I’ve had a little shut-eye…

Kathleen Peddicord

Tags: ComparisonIstanbulRamadanTurkey
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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