I spent quite a lot of time in Istanbul - mostly in suburbs far from the tourist bits. I have certainly not seen it all - probably a more tourist with more dedi

I spent quite a lot of time in Istanbul - mostly in suburbs far from the tourist bits. I have certainly not seen it all - probably a more tourist with more dedication has seen more in less time. I do like living there. It is always nice to have a strong currency in a place with a more variable one so it's not really fair but it has a kind of living which is a balance to my own. As someone said already, kids are treated excellently and so you can go to many more places with them without annoying anyone. It isn't that green and its very dense but there are great little parks all over the place with very good things for kids to play on. Anyone will say hi and start talking to you even though it is much huger city than London where everyone seems to resent having to share the space. Every week or two there will be a market in your area with huge canvas sheets stretched across from one block of apartments/buildings to the other and the quantity of wonderful vegetables and fruit is just incredible. You have to bargain. My town in the UK has a market but God preserve anyone who attempts to haggle - it's small and expensive and yet it's the best one for miles around and I'm glad to have it at all. There are a million reastaurants in every suburb in Istanbul - I think it's more common than most areas to have commercial properties in the ground floor of blocks of flats so that you don't absolutely have to travel just to have some tea and a simit or a few slices of borek. I like it when you put money in a bucket and lower it from your balcony to the simit seller in the street - who puts your simit and change in for you to pull them up. Sokak Simit is the "bees knees". You must buy it off a street (sokak) vendor as the one from the pastane (bakery shop) tends to be soft and pointless. It's a kind of woven ring of bread covered thickly with sesame seeds and it should be dark coloured and very chewy. Some people use the word "bagel" to describe it in English but it's isn't really anything like them and you don't eat it with stuff inside. A simit with a tomato and some olives and possibly a boiled egg is just fabulous - nutty and chewy and satisfying. You have to wash it down with a glass of golden acik cay (a-chuk ch-eye) (light tea) in my personal opinion.