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#1
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Istanbul cats
Just back from ten days in Istanbul, which is near to being the cat
capital of the planet. I've been visiting Turkey for 25 years. When I first went, there were many cats in very poor condition: matted fur, obvious flea infestation, sometimes malnourished. Over the last few years they've improved enormously. Some random portraits: - there is a small yard near the top of the Tunel (the nineteenth century cable-hauled underground railway) which was full of cats when I first visited, Back then, there was a scruffy second-hand foreign-language bookshop at the back of the yard, and a population of about 20 resident cats (and vast numbers of kittens). Now, the bookshop's gone and there are far less cats. When I first took Marion there in 1991, we found a small white kitten who loved being picked up and cuddled. So we looked for her when we were there next, three years later. She'd turned into a big fat cat who wanted nothing at all to do with us. Oh well. This time the place was barricaded off for building work and a big fluffy black one mooched in and out of the barred gate. - the fishmarket at the north end of the Galata Bridge is cat heaven. They have to share the spoils with seagulls but there are always dozens of cats here. Mostly quite young, there are busy roads all round and most of them must get run over. A short life but a happy one. - just south of the top of the Tunel is the Galata Sufi centre. This has an extended family of cats guarding the saints' tombs, the current matriarch being a dark tabby with a big fluffy tail who wanders between the Sufi centre and the surrounding music shops and restaurants. She's very friendly, her descendants not as much. In time they should learn that musicians are just as soft a touch as Sufis. - at Anadolu Kavagi, the castle on the Asian side overlooking the Black Sea, there are a fair number of cats and dogs hanging about, but the undisputed King of the Castle is a magnificent dark ginger fluffy tomcat who lords it over his mediaeval ruins. The fluff is not for decoration, it was near freezing and blowing a stiff wind when we were there. Down at the quayside, the fish restaurants are an easy touch for a population of ginger and tabby cats who seem to spend all day in territorial disputes with the dogs. - a street trader north of Taksim Square seemed to have left his cat in charge of a tray of watches. She was an enormous fluffy tabby and white, like a Norwegian Forest or Maine Coon (not a common kind of cat in Turkey). You could have trained her to inflict serious mayhem on anyone who walked off with a watch, but she just liked to roll over and get her tummy tickled. - the most stunning place for cats I have ever seen anywhere is the island of Heybeliada in the Sea of Marmara. This is carless - there are a few trucks and dozens of horses and carts. The cats mostly hang out around the quayside since that's where the fish is (a few fishmongers, people landing fish, very good fish restaurants). Tabbies, silver tabbies, gingers, calicos, torties, blacks, tuxedo cats, and some very dark torties in a colour scheme I've never seen elsewhere. They form something like queues at the fishmongers waiting for donations (or for the fishmonger to give up for the day and dump his stock). I didn't see any cats on the ferries but they must stow away and cross the Bosphorus all the time to commute intercontinentally between fish markets in Europe and Asia. ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557 |
#2
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Istanbul cats
Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
Just back from ten days in Istanbul, which is near to being the cat capital of the planet. Jack - did you take any PICTURES?? I want to see!! - just south of the top of the Tunel is the Galata Sufi centre. This has an extended family of cats guarding the saints' tombs Sufis have saints? - the most stunning place for cats I have ever seen anywhere is the island of Heybeliada in the Sea of Marmara. This is carless - there are a few trucks and dozens of horses and carts. The cats mostly hang out around the quayside since that's where the fish is (a few fishmongers, people landing fish, very good fish restaurants). Tabbies, silver tabbies, gingers, calicos, torties, blacks, tuxedo cats, and some very dark torties in a colour scheme I've never seen elsewhere. This I would really love to see! I hope you did get some photos while you were there! Sounds like a great trip. What's the best time of year to go there? I'd love to go sometime. A friend of mine went there about 4 years ago and loved it. (But didn't mention cats.) Joyce |
#3
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Istanbul cats
On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:50:25 +0000, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote: Just back from ten days in Istanbul, which is near to being the cat capital of the planet. I've been visiting Turkey for 25 years. When I first went, there were many cats in very poor condition: matted fur, obvious flea infestation, sometimes malnourished. Over the last few years they've improved enormously. Some random portraits: SNIP Sounds like a very fun trip! However, seeing so many homeless cats, even if they are relatively healthy, would make me very, very sad. They may lead a relatively decent life (enough food, etc.) but you know they don't have a human to love and spoil them. And I doubt they get any vet care, so their lives will not be very long :-( It sounds like *somebody* may be doing something to control their numbers. Sadly, I doubt it's trap neuter and release.... Istanbul is, unfortunately, a city in the third world, despite it's having been the capital of both the Byzantine *and* Ottoman Empires, IIRC. Fun fact: Istanbul has had 3 names: the current name, Istanbul. Before that, it was called Constantinople, after the conquering (sp?) Emperor Constantine. Before that, it was called Byzantium. Sorry, I don't know the dates. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life without cats would be only marginally worth living." -TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie. How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven. - Robert Heinlein Life is very difficult. Once you understand that, life becomes easier. -Buddha |
#4
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Istanbul cats
On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:50:25 +0000, Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
Just back from ten days in Istanbul, which is near to being the cat capital of the planet. I've been visiting Turkey for 25 years. When I first went, there were many cats in very poor condition: matted fur, obvious flea infestation, sometimes malnourished. Over the last few years they've improved enormously. Some random portraits: - there is a small yard near the top of the Tunel (the nineteenth century cable-hauled underground railway) which was full of cats when I first visited, Back then, there was a scruffy second-hand foreign-language bookshop at the back of the yard, and a population of about 20 resident cats (and vast numbers of kittens). Now, the bookshop's gone and there are far less cats. When I first took Marion there in 1991, we found a small white kitten who loved being picked up and cuddled. So we looked for her when we were there next, three years later. She'd turned into a big fat cat who wanted nothing at all to do with us. Oh well. This time the place was barricaded off for building work and a big fluffy black one mooched in and out of the barred gate. - the fishmarket at the north end of the Galata Bridge is cat heaven. They have to share the spoils with seagulls but there are always dozens of cats here. Mostly quite young, there are busy roads all round and most of them must get run over. A short life but a happy one. - just south of the top of the Tunel is the Galata Sufi centre. This has an extended family of cats guarding the saints' tombs, the current matriarch being a dark tabby with a big fluffy tail who wanders between the Sufi centre and the surrounding music shops and restaurants. She's very friendly, her descendants not as much. In time they should learn that musicians are just as soft a touch as Sufis. - at Anadolu Kavagi, the castle on the Asian side overlooking the Black Sea, there are a fair number of cats and dogs hanging about, but the undisputed King of the Castle is a magnificent dark ginger fluffy tomcat who lords it over his mediaeval ruins. The fluff is not for decoration, it was near freezing and blowing a stiff wind when we were there. Down at the quayside, the fish restaurants are an easy touch for a population of ginger and tabby cats who seem to spend all day in territorial disputes with the dogs. - a street trader north of Taksim Square seemed to have left his cat in charge of a tray of watches. She was an enormous fluffy tabby and white, like a Norwegian Forest or Maine Coon (not a common kind of cat in Turkey). You could have trained her to inflict serious mayhem on anyone who walked off with a watch, but she just liked to roll over and get her tummy tickled. - the most stunning place for cats I have ever seen anywhere is the island of Heybeliada in the Sea of Marmara. This is carless - there are a few trucks and dozens of horses and carts. The cats mostly hang out around the quayside since that's where the fish is (a few fishmongers, people landing fish, very good fish restaurants). Tabbies, silver tabbies, gingers, calicos, torties, blacks, tuxedo cats, and some very dark torties in a colour scheme I've never seen elsewhere. They form something like queues at the fishmongers waiting for donations (or for the fishmonger to give up for the day and dump his stock). I didn't see any cats on the ferries but they must stow away and cross the Bosphorus all the time to commute intercontinentally between fish markets in Europe and Asia. ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557 Very interesting. Thanks for posting. MLB |
#5
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Istanbul cats
Just back from ten days in Istanbul, which is near to being the cat
capital of the planet. Jack - did you take any PICTURES?? I want to see!! Nope. I don't have a digital camera (they just don't work for the sort of pictures I take, too slow to operate); quality film and processing is too hard to find in Turkey; and the current climate of official paranoia means any film I shot could be vandalized by x-ray- wielding "security" thugs. So I've given up travel photography - just south of the top of the Tunel is the Galata Sufi centre. This has an extended family of cats guarding the saints' tombs Sufis have saints? That's the usual word Sufis writing in English use. Arabic and Turkish have words for different categories of them, much like categorizations you implicitly get in Christianity as well, but let's keep it simple. : seeing so many homeless cats, even if they are relatively healthy, : would make me very, very sad. : They may lead a relatively decent life (enough food, etc.) but you : know they don't have a human to love and spoil them. The ones I was talking about attach themselves to workplaces rather than houses. Turkish workers can put in very long hours, so they probably get more human contact than they would left to themselves all day in a commuter's empty house. There are homecats as well, of course. : Istanbul is, unfortunately, a city in the third world No more so than New York. Its wealthy people are not much less wealthy than the American rich, and its poor are certainly not as badly off as America's poorest. No way is a place like Heybeliada "third world" - by any imaginable standard its quality of life is far higher than the Scottish village I live in (unless you count having a car as significant, the zoning laws absolutely ban them). I'd swap in a minute if I could afford it. ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557 |
#6
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Istanbul cats
Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
Jack - did you take any PICTURES?? Nope. I don't have a digital camera (they just don't work for the sort of pictures I take, too slow to operate); quality film and processing is too hard to find in Turkey; and the current climate of official paranoia means any film I shot could be vandalized by x-ray- wielding "security" thugs. So I've given up travel photography That's a shame! What if you mailed rolls of film to your home (or to a friend's home) in Scotland, and got them developed once you got back? I'm curious about the slowness of digital cameras. I've noticed that some people get incredibly exact photos, with no blurring whatsoever, of moving objects using a digital camera. I've seen photos of hummingbirds taken on digital cameras, which look like they're frozen in midair, clear as can be. I'm not talking about *my* digital camera, by the way, which is cheap and crappy (it was a "gift" from a vacation real estate company), and at this point it's broken anyway. But when I took pictures on it, everything looked blurred! I have always believed that was a problem of a "slow shutter", and that you can get clearer pictures of moving objects, the faster your shutter is. But I really know next to nothing about photography, so perhaps my information is way off-base. If you feel like expounding on this subject, please feel free - just, please, keep the techno-jargon to a minimum. Talk to me like a rank layperson. Sufis have saints? That's the usual word Sufis writing in English use. I didn't know that. Interesting. : seeing so many homeless cats, even if they are relatively healthy, : would make me very, very sad. : They may lead a relatively decent life (enough food, etc.) but you : know they don't have a human to love and spoil them. The ones I was talking about attach themselves to workplaces rather than houses. Turkish workers can put in very long hours, so they probably get more human contact than they would left to themselves all day in a commuter's empty house. There are homecats as well, of course. Whenever I hear people talk about the tragedy of "homeless ferals", who have no humans to love them, I'm always a bit skeptical. I know it's wonderful when someone takes in a cat, takes good care of them, and showers them with love, but why do all cats *need* a human to love them? If a cat is feral, then they're not socialized to humans (or they were at one time, but have "forgotten" it). So why would they need humans to love them? If they live in a colony, then they have each other. I would assume that would be enough, in terms of "love". Getting their material needs met is another matter. In many cases, there's not enough food for them to catch, and some of them don't know how to hunt. Domestic cats living on urban streets, with no intervention at all from people, do have great difficulty surviving. But if a feral colony is being well fed and cared-for (ie, medical needs), what is missing from their lives? I think there might be a bit of projection on the part of people who look at cats in a well-managed feral colony and feel sorry for them. Perhaps they have really good lives! : Istanbul is, unfortunately, a city in the third world No more so than New York. Its wealthy people are not much less wealthy than the American rich, and its poor are certainly not as badly off as America's poorest. No way is a place like Heybeliada "third world" - by any imaginable standard its quality of life is far higher than the Scottish village I live in (unless you count having a car as significant, the zoning laws absolutely ban them). I'd swap in a minute if I could afford it. Now I *really* want to go! Joyce |
#7
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Istanbul cats
Jack - did you take any PICTURES??
Nope. I don't have a digital camera (they just don't work for the sort of pictures I take, too slow to operate); quality film and processing is too hard to find in Turkey; and the current climate of official paranoia means any film I shot could be vandalized by x-ray- wielding "security" thugs. So I've given up travel photography That's a shame! What if you mailed rolls of film to your home (or to a friend's home) in Scotland, and got them developed once you got back? They can x-ray mailed stuff too, probably with the same machinery used for checked baggage (i.e. goodbye to any usable image). I'm curious about the slowness of digital cameras. I've noticed that some people get incredibly exact photos, with no blurring whatsoever, of moving objects using a digital camera. I didn't mean shutter speed, I meant the delay between wanting to take a picture and getting one. The triggering delay on digital compacts makes taking fast candid shots, whether of people or cats, completely impossible, and it takes an eternity of fiddling with itsy-bitsy buttons to get the sort of control I can get in seconds with my 1938 Leica or 1960ish Minolta TLR. Very expensive digital SLRs supposedly get round these problems but I don't have that sort of money. ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557 |
#8
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Istanbul cats
"Jack Campin - bogus address" wrote in message ... Jack - did you take any PICTURES?? Nope. I don't have a digital camera (they just don't work for the sort of pictures I take, too slow to operate); quality film and processing is too hard to find in Turkey; and the current climate of official paranoia means any film I shot could be vandalized by x-ray- wielding "security" thugs. So I've given up travel photography That's a shame! What if you mailed rolls of film to your home (or to a friend's home) in Scotland, and got them developed once you got back? They can x-ray mailed stuff too, probably with the same machinery used for checked baggage (i.e. goodbye to any usable image). I'm curious about the slowness of digital cameras. I've noticed that some people get incredibly exact photos, with no blurring whatsoever, of moving objects using a digital camera. I didn't mean shutter speed, I meant the delay between wanting to take a picture and getting one. The triggering delay on digital compacts makes taking fast candid shots, whether of people or cats, completely impossible, and it takes an eternity of fiddling with itsy-bitsy buttons to get the sort of control I can get in seconds with my 1938 Leica or 1960ish Minolta TLR. Very expensive digital SLRs supposedly get round these problems but I don't have that sort of money. The only consolation for us unskilled photographers is we can take tons of pictures trying to get that perfect shot. It gives a whole new meaning to point and shoot. (Especially if you can't see the "viewfinder" in outdoor light.) Jo |
#9
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Istanbul cats
On 2007-01-04, Gandalf wrote:
On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:50:25 +0000, Jack Campin - bogus address wrote: Just back from ten days in Istanbul, which is near to being the cat capital of the planet. I've been visiting Turkey for 25 years. When I first went, there were many cats in very poor condition: matted fur, obvious flea infestation, sometimes malnourished. Over the last few years they've improved enormously. Some random portraits: SNIP Sounds like a very fun trip! However, seeing so many homeless cats, even if they are relatively healthy, would make me very, very sad. They may lead a relatively decent life (enough food, etc.) but you know they don't have a human to love and spoil them. And I doubt they get any vet care, so their lives will not be very long :-( It sounds like *somebody* may be doing something to control their numbers. Sadly, I doubt it's trap neuter and release.... Istanbul is, unfortunately, a city in the third world, despite it's having been the capital of both the Byzantine *and* Ottoman Empires, IIRC. Fun fact: Istanbul has had 3 names: the current name, Istanbul. Before that, it was called Constantinople, after the conquering (sp?) Emperor Constantine. Before that, it was called Byzantium. Sorry, I don't know the dates. Somebody has to do it: Istanbul was Constantinople Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night Every gal in Constantinople Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople So if you've a date in Constantinople She'll be waiting in Istanbul Even old New York was once New Amsterdam Why they changed it I can't say People just liked it better that way So take me back to Constantinople No, you can't go back to Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works That's nobody's business but the Turks Istanbul (Istanbul) Istanbul (Istanbul) Even old New York was once New Amsterdam Why they changed it I can't say People just liked it better that way Istanbul was Constantinople Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works That's nobody's business but the Turks So take me back to Constantinople No, you can't go back to Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works That's nobody's business but the Turks Istanbul |
#10
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Istanbul cats
On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:47:00 -0600, William Hamblen
yodeled: On 2007-01-04, Gandalf wrote: On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:50:25 +0000, Jack Campin - bogus address wrote: Just back from ten days in Istanbul, which is near to being the cat capital of the planet. I've been visiting Turkey for 25 years. When I first went, there were many cats in very poor condition: matted fur, obvious flea infestation, sometimes malnourished. Over the last few years they've improved enormously. Some random portraits: SNIP Sounds like a very fun trip! However, seeing so many homeless cats, even if they are relatively healthy, would make me very, very sad. They may lead a relatively decent life (enough food, etc.) but you know they don't have a human to love and spoil them. And I doubt they get any vet care, so their lives will not be very long :-( It sounds like *somebody* may be doing something to control their numbers. Sadly, I doubt it's trap neuter and release.... Istanbul is, unfortunately, a city in the third world, despite it's having been the capital of both the Byzantine *and* Ottoman Empires, IIRC. Fun fact: Istanbul has had 3 names: the current name, Istanbul. Before that, it was called Constantinople, after the conquering (sp?) Emperor Constantine. Before that, it was called Byzantium. Sorry, I don't know the dates. Somebody has to do it: Istanbul was Constantinople Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night Every gal in Constantinople Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople So if you've a date in Constantinople She'll be waiting in Istanbul Even old New York was once New Amsterdam Why they changed it I can't say People just liked it better that way So take me back to Constantinople No, you can't go back to Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works That's nobody's business but the Turks Istanbul (Istanbul) Istanbul (Istanbul) Even old New York was once New Amsterdam Why they changed it I can't say People just liked it better that way Istanbul was Constantinople Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works That's nobody's business but the Turks So take me back to Constantinople No, you can't go back to Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Why did Constantinople get the works That's nobody's business but the Turks Istanbul AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!!!!!!! EARWORM!!!!!!!! Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh Make Levees, Not War |
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