I'm pretty new to forum, I want to write up my first detailed datasheet about Istanbul, since I'm Italian and I've been working in logistic company for past 5 years. I'm mostly in Italy but on/off, I've spent more than a year in Istanbul recently. I hope you guys find this useful.
General Info:
First of all, Istanbul is well above 20 million people. Make sure you understand that, city itself is much bigger than most European countries. Official registered Istanbul residents are 14 millions. There are people who emigrated to Istanbul from different cities but not actually registered. It's well known fact that it's more than 20 million.
%99 of the people are Muslim. Back in the 1950's, Muslim were %60, Jewish were %10 and Greek/Armenanian/Balkan people were %30 but it all changed right now.
Istanbul is also located both on Europe and Asia. There are 3 bridges that connect Europe to Asia. So, they call it "European Side" and "Asian side." Most of the nightclubs and shops are on European side but mostly big villas and big towers are on Asian side. So, people change continent on daily basis. It takes literally 5 mins to pass the bridge, if there's no traffic. But %99,9 there will be traffic.
One of the worst thing about the city is traffic. If you want to go somewhere with taxi or driving a car around 8 am to 11 am or 4 pm to 8 pm. There are good chances, you'll sit long hours in the car. It's very common to sit in the car 3-4 hours, when you want to drive 15 km distance.
Flight In and Airport:
I would prefer Turkish Airlines, it's the best airlines in the Europe, it won awards being best in past 3-4 years in a row. They are really good. There are 2 Airports. One is Ataturk Airport (Main), some cheap charter flights are also going to Sabiha Gokcen Airport (Asian Side) which is around 50 km away from city center.
If you land in Sabiha Gokcen Airport (Asian Side) around 5 pm. You will most likely to stay in center of Istanbul, which requires you to travel 50 km on peak time, which is impossible. Make sure you know that you will spend another 4-5 hours in the traffic.
If you will land in Sabiha Gokcen airport, make sure you come very late (11 pm or later) so you can go to your hotel easier.
If you come to Ataturk (Main) Airport, do not take the taxi because taxi drivers are not very friendly here. They make a city tour before they take you to destination. Basically just go downstairs, catch the subway. One ride is 1 Euro. It goes all the way to city center and much faster than taxi too.
Politicial Situation:
Why would I write about Political situation, right? Useless. Well, it's not if you are going there for girls.
Around %60 of Turkish people are Secular. They support Westernization. They don't like Arab culture and religion stuff. They want to become EU member and they want to be Americanized. These are usually college graduate people and earn high income. Therefore, they don't do anything Islam require. They drink, they party hard, they don't wear head-scarf, they have sex before marriage etc.
%40 are conservative. They think West is evil. They think that United States, Europe, CIA, MI5, Mossad are always making plans about Turkey. Some of them actually said to me, CIA sent some ships to Aegean Sea and Black Sea to trigger Earth Quake in Turkey. If it rains in Istanbul, they will blame it on United States or Europe.
Unfortunately, conservative Islamist party is ruling the Turkey in past 14 years. They are trying to break Western Turks and trying to make the population more Islamist.
So, if you go to Tinder, you'll see %95 of the profiles will be with girls who are with mini-skirt, tattoo, drinking girls. Why? Because all those girls are from %60 Secular Turks. Almost all of them like United States or Europe. They follow fashion, they listen American music etc. They drink, smoke, basically do everything.
If you go to bars or clubs, you'll meet these type of girls, from secular Turks. Of course, you won't see any conservative girls who are drinking at bars. Therefore, %60 of those Secular Turks hate Arabs and anything that Islam requires.
So, that %60 Secular Turks most likely they will be very racist to Arabs.
Other %40 conservatives Turks will be very suspicious to you if you are European or American. (Chances are very likely for you to meet them unless you go to mosque.)
Girls:
As I explained above, girls are hard but you can get laid. Tourists have very high value, since you're not from their circle. They would like to bang you, knowing that you won't stick around.
But watch out for the race card. %99 of the girls will be from Secular Turks if you hang around at bars or clubs. So they will like Europeans and Americans. Use that to your advantage. Day game is also cool but you have to know where you are doing.
Locations:
If you read any Turkey guide, they'll tell you to go to Sultanahmet, Eminonu, Topkapi. These places are all touristic areas. Turks don't really go there. It's all for tourists. Don't say around that area because that's the oldest part of Istanbul. Around like 5000 years old. Streets are narrow, because of the time they built. Unless you are into history, you have no reason to stay there.
Go where Secular Turks hang out. You want to hang out in these towns,
Besiktas, Levent, Bebek, Istinye, Yenikoy, Etiler, Bagdat Caddesi, Sisli, Kurucesme, Ortakoy.
There will be countless bars, restaurants, nightclubs, cafes in these towns. Most are open 24 hours too. It will be little bit pricey from other towns because that's where high class hang out. %99 are Secular Turks and almost all hot girls are around these towns.
Why would they go to other towns where Islamists live? They got nothing in common. There is a hidden border between towns, where conservative people live and where Secular Turks live.
Money:
Lucky you, American Dollar and Euro are rapidly increasing value against Turkish Lira in past year. So, it will be cheaper for you. Euro and $ have gained %20 against Turkish lira in past 3 months but still, it's not a cheap country.
Almost everywhere do accept credit card but make sure you have little bit cash on you. To tip places or to pay to taxi if you are taking girl back to your place.
Relationships:
Girls find that having relationship with foreign guys are something to be proud of. So, you can easily go to that direction if that's what you want. Some girls will actually tell you, they want a flag. (It happened to me quite few times)
Do not hit on girls when there is a man. Their brothers and boyfriends will be superb protective of the girl. This isn't Sweden or Norway, they will be hostile to you if they suspect that you are hitting on them in front of them. Do not do it.
Overall:
I haven't really picked this country to live but it has one of the biggest port in Europe, so my work sends me here every other 3 months. It's very hard to get laid, if you're Turkish guy for sure but being tourist has some advantages. Since I come here often for work and live here 2 months at a time, I kinda got used to all of the shit in here.
I spent around like 14 months on/of in here in past 5 years. I managed to bang 24 girls, some of them were college girls, some of them were working girls, some of them were some random girls who were also visiting Istanbul.
But I happened to bang two 9's in here. One is a tv host and other one is footballer's wife. [edit]
So far, out of all the 24 girls I banged, I kept 4 of them as a fuck buddy. I usually rotate them whenever I'm in Istanbul but I speak with majority of the girls I bang, either asking for advice anything about Istanbul or other things, after all I'm tourist as well.
Sorry if I forgot something to add but I'll try to answer your questions if you have any.
General Info:
First of all, Istanbul is well above 20 million people. Make sure you understand that, city itself is much bigger than most European countries. Official registered Istanbul residents are 14 millions. There are people who emigrated to Istanbul from different cities but not actually registered. It's well known fact that it's more than 20 million.
%99 of the people are Muslim. Back in the 1950's, Muslim were %60, Jewish were %10 and Greek/Armenanian/Balkan people were %30 but it all changed right now.
Istanbul is also located both on Europe and Asia. There are 3 bridges that connect Europe to Asia. So, they call it "European Side" and "Asian side." Most of the nightclubs and shops are on European side but mostly big villas and big towers are on Asian side. So, people change continent on daily basis. It takes literally 5 mins to pass the bridge, if there's no traffic. But %99,9 there will be traffic.
One of the worst thing about the city is traffic. If you want to go somewhere with taxi or driving a car around 8 am to 11 am or 4 pm to 8 pm. There are good chances, you'll sit long hours in the car. It's very common to sit in the car 3-4 hours, when you want to drive 15 km distance.
Flight In and Airport:
I would prefer Turkish Airlines, it's the best airlines in the Europe, it won awards being best in past 3-4 years in a row. They are really good. There are 2 Airports. One is Ataturk Airport (Main), some cheap charter flights are also going to Sabiha Gokcen Airport (Asian Side) which is around 50 km away from city center.
If you land in Sabiha Gokcen Airport (Asian Side) around 5 pm. You will most likely to stay in center of Istanbul, which requires you to travel 50 km on peak time, which is impossible. Make sure you know that you will spend another 4-5 hours in the traffic.
If you will land in Sabiha Gokcen airport, make sure you come very late (11 pm or later) so you can go to your hotel easier.
If you come to Ataturk (Main) Airport, do not take the taxi because taxi drivers are not very friendly here. They make a city tour before they take you to destination. Basically just go downstairs, catch the subway. One ride is 1 Euro. It goes all the way to city center and much faster than taxi too.
Politicial Situation:
Why would I write about Political situation, right? Useless. Well, it's not if you are going there for girls.
Around %60 of Turkish people are Secular. They support Westernization. They don't like Arab culture and religion stuff. They want to become EU member and they want to be Americanized. These are usually college graduate people and earn high income. Therefore, they don't do anything Islam require. They drink, they party hard, they don't wear head-scarf, they have sex before marriage etc.
%40 are conservative. They think West is evil. They think that United States, Europe, CIA, MI5, Mossad are always making plans about Turkey. Some of them actually said to me, CIA sent some ships to Aegean Sea and Black Sea to trigger Earth Quake in Turkey. If it rains in Istanbul, they will blame it on United States or Europe.
Unfortunately, conservative Islamist party is ruling the Turkey in past 14 years. They are trying to break Western Turks and trying to make the population more Islamist.
So, if you go to Tinder, you'll see %95 of the profiles will be with girls who are with mini-skirt, tattoo, drinking girls. Why? Because all those girls are from %60 Secular Turks. Almost all of them like United States or Europe. They follow fashion, they listen American music etc. They drink, smoke, basically do everything.
If you go to bars or clubs, you'll meet these type of girls, from secular Turks. Of course, you won't see any conservative girls who are drinking at bars. Therefore, %60 of those Secular Turks hate Arabs and anything that Islam requires.
So, that %60 Secular Turks most likely they will be very racist to Arabs.
Other %40 conservatives Turks will be very suspicious to you if you are European or American. (Chances are very likely for you to meet them unless you go to mosque.)
Girls:
As I explained above, girls are hard but you can get laid. Tourists have very high value, since you're not from their circle. They would like to bang you, knowing that you won't stick around.
But watch out for the race card. %99 of the girls will be from Secular Turks if you hang around at bars or clubs. So they will like Europeans and Americans. Use that to your advantage. Day game is also cool but you have to know where you are doing.
Locations:
If you read any Turkey guide, they'll tell you to go to Sultanahmet, Eminonu, Topkapi. These places are all touristic areas. Turks don't really go there. It's all for tourists. Don't say around that area because that's the oldest part of Istanbul. Around like 5000 years old. Streets are narrow, because of the time they built. Unless you are into history, you have no reason to stay there.
Go where Secular Turks hang out. You want to hang out in these towns,
Besiktas, Levent, Bebek, Istinye, Yenikoy, Etiler, Bagdat Caddesi, Sisli, Kurucesme, Ortakoy.
There will be countless bars, restaurants, nightclubs, cafes in these towns. Most are open 24 hours too. It will be little bit pricey from other towns because that's where high class hang out. %99 are Secular Turks and almost all hot girls are around these towns.
Why would they go to other towns where Islamists live? They got nothing in common. There is a hidden border between towns, where conservative people live and where Secular Turks live.
Money:
Lucky you, American Dollar and Euro are rapidly increasing value against Turkish Lira in past year. So, it will be cheaper for you. Euro and $ have gained %20 against Turkish lira in past 3 months but still, it's not a cheap country.
Almost everywhere do accept credit card but make sure you have little bit cash on you. To tip places or to pay to taxi if you are taking girl back to your place.
Relationships:
Girls find that having relationship with foreign guys are something to be proud of. So, you can easily go to that direction if that's what you want. Some girls will actually tell you, they want a flag. (It happened to me quite few times)
Do not hit on girls when there is a man. Their brothers and boyfriends will be superb protective of the girl. This isn't Sweden or Norway, they will be hostile to you if they suspect that you are hitting on them in front of them. Do not do it.
Overall:
I haven't really picked this country to live but it has one of the biggest port in Europe, so my work sends me here every other 3 months. It's very hard to get laid, if you're Turkish guy for sure but being tourist has some advantages. Since I come here often for work and live here 2 months at a time, I kinda got used to all of the shit in here.
I spent around like 14 months on/of in here in past 5 years. I managed to bang 24 girls, some of them were college girls, some of them were working girls, some of them were some random girls who were also visiting Istanbul.
But I happened to bang two 9's in here. One is a tv host and other one is footballer's wife. [edit]
So far, out of all the 24 girls I banged, I kept 4 of them as a fuck buddy. I usually rotate them whenever I'm in Istanbul but I speak with majority of the girls I bang, either asking for advice anything about Istanbul or other things, after all I'm tourist as well.
Sorry if I forgot something to add but I'll try to answer your questions if you have any.