2009
鑻辫涓撲笟鍏骇鑰冭瘯鍏ㄧ湡璇曢闄勭瓟妗?/p>
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We had been wanting to expand our children's horizons by taking them to a place that was unlike
anything
we'd
been
exposed
to
during
our
travels
in
Europe
and
the
United
States.
In
thinking
about what was possible from Geneva, where we are based, we decided on a trip to
Istanbul, a two-hour plane ride from Zurich.
We envisioned the trip as a prelude to more exotic ones, perhaps to New Delhi or Bangkok later
this
year,
but
thought
our
11-
and
13-year-olds
needed
a
first
step
away
from
manicured
boulevards and pristine monuments.
What we didn't foresee was the reaction of friends, who warned that we were putting our children
"in danger," referring vaguely, and most incorrectly, to disease, terrorism or just the unknown. To
help
us
get
acquainted
with
the
peculiarities
of
Istanbul
and
to
give
our
children
a
chance
to
choose what they were particularly interested in seeing, we bought an excellent
guidebook and read it thoroughly before leaving.
Friendly warnings didn't change our planning, although we might have more prudently checked
with
the
U.S.
State
Department's
list
of
troublespots. We
didn't
see
a
lot
of
children
among
the
foreign visitors during our six-day stay in Istanbul, but we found the tourist areas quite safe, very
interesting and varied enough even to suit our son, whose oft-repeated request is that we not see
"every single" church and museum in a given city.
Vaccinations weren't needed for the city, but we were concemed about adapting to the water for a
short stay. So we used bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth, a precaution that may
seem excessive, but we all stayed healthy.
Taking the advice of a friend, we booked a hotel a 20-minute walk from most of Istanbul's major
tourist sites. This not only got us some morning exercise, strolling over the Karakoy Bridge, but
took us past a colorful assortment of fishermen, vendors and shoe shiners.
From a teenager and pre-teen's view, Istanbul street life is fascinating since almost everything can
be bought outdoors. They were at a good age to spend time wandering the labyrinth of the Spice
Bazaar, where shops display mounds of pungent herbs in sacks. Doing this
with younger children would be harder simply because the streets are so packed with people; it
would be easy to get lost.
For our two, whose buying experience consisted of department stores and shopping mall boutiques,
it
was
amazing
to
discover
that
you
could
bargain
over
price
and
perhaps
end
up
with
two
of
something for the price of one. They also learned to figure out the relative value of the Turkish lira,
not a small matter with its many zeros.
Being
exposed
to
Islam
was
an
important
part
of
our
trip.
Visiting
the
mosques,
especially
the