Istanbul - have I done something wrong?
Hey,
Can someone please explain to me phenomenon of Istanbul? I've just came back today and this was truly, the worst holidays we've ever had with my fiancé, maybe Bulgaria was equal but back there I was in Sunny Beach with a few friends and drinking our asses off so we somehow survived. This is proven by but limited to:
Terrible mess on the streets
Families trying to guilt shame you to give money by pretending to eat McDonald's residues from trash Everyone trying to invite you to buy crap, you basically can't walk without being bothered
Mostly bazaars with 500 items repeated constantly and price varying up to 6x times just a few steps further
Overpriced cultural attractions (don't tell me 40e to climb
Galata Kulesi is either fair or worth it)
Fakes everywhere
TERRIBLE scamming culture: basically 95% of the time someone tried to cheat on us either pretending that service is not included, bitaksi app showed 1600TRY but dude charged us 3200, shoeshine boy dropping brush, someone picking it for him and after cleaning shoes as a thank you forcing to give money, hotel from booking was scam with huge fungus, Hagia Sophia trip sold as full experience and ended by walking on top balcony only (I can go on forever)
Horny disgusting looks of men on every woman they pass by, scared to think what happens if women goes alone at night
Absolute mess with children, families +5 cause terror so you can't walk straight
Relatively expensive but I can't understand charging 8e for 330ml of beer or 50e for 5 small pieces of baklava and coffees
Kids pulled into rose business basically since they start walking
From ++:
wonderful educational cruise at Bosporus bought a good orange juice press at a bargain price
Bought a hand made carpet and ate wonderful pita with owner (I might be wrong but he was the one and only to not try to scam us)
Hamam ritual with massage was really great and relaxing experience
Overall - never again but please I'm eager to hear what I've done wrong. I think I'm not made for haggling, fakes and I couldn't see that "Istanbul has so much to offer" or
"this city has such a vibe". Like in every big city you can do all, but here the quality of most things was just low. Also different neighborhoods looked same to me. I travelled Europe, Asia and North Africa and honestly I enjoyed everything else more