Greetings from an internet cafe in Bursa Turkey.
The other day İ reluctantly assisted globalization (well not İ am that liberal!) by visiting a Starbucks in the Beshiktash district of İstanbul after a taxing visit (no pun intended!) with some lawyers in town.
The reason why we stopped at Starbucks as opposed to a local pastane (pastry shop) was a rather simple one. We wanted to use a bathroom that was not ala turka! For those who are unfamiliar with Turkish toilets_ there are some old-fashioned ones which actually require a person to squat directly over a hole with two places for your feet.
For this reason alone, (hey İ finally figured out how to use a comma on Turkish keyboard) places like Starbucks and McDonalds are popular with tourists in İstanbul who might rarely care for cappucinos or Big Macs.
But, my main reason for this entry is not to disclose how İ manage to use an ala turka toilet (that might make for another entry), but rather the amazing fact that for some odd reason a frappucino in Beshiktash is actually better than a frappucino in a place like Lynchburg, Va.
My mom and İ agreed that our frappucinos here were far better than the ones back home. Perhaps, this is the reason why they are also more expensive in İstanbul!
We have since journeyed down to Bursa- a city that is about two and a half hours south of İstanbul. For those keeping score at home, Starbucks has made it to this city which was the Ottoman capital before Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror paid a visit to Constaninople in 1453.
This was about 520 years before the first Satrbucks opened in Seattle.
İ saw one Starbucks at a shopping mall here in Bursa, but there is a rumor that there is another here in the city somewhere else though no one seems quite sure exactly where it is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment