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Istanbul - any recent experiences and recommendations?


david1710

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So.  Istanbul ended up being a really cool place (tourist wise).  I went to three hammams and was underwhelmed, but will say they all seemed to be totally gay (one guy even told me everyone in the one I was at WAS gay).  Went to Cihangir (it was one block from our hotel), Firuzagha (felt exactly like a western bathhouse), and Yesildirek (big place but only 3 clients there, including myself).  I liked Cihangir the best, I think, just cuz of the cruisy atmosphere and it had a reliable mix of ages (both younger and older).

Other than that, we really enjoyed our trip there and didn't have the old "drop the shoe brush" scam tried on us until the last day (9th day) in Turkey.  The guy didn't seem too pleased we didn't stop for it, though we did laugh once we realized what had happened, lol.

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On 4/8/2024 at 9:32 AM, Jim_n_NYC said:

Other than that, we really enjoyed our trip there and didn't have the old "drop the shoe brush" scam tried on us until the last day (9th day) in Turkey.  The guy didn't seem too pleased we didn't stop for it, though we did laugh once we realized what had happened, lol.

I haven't heard of that scam. What happens exactly? 🙂

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7 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

I haven't heard of that scam. What happens exactly? 🙂

Really? I saw it mentioned in several tourist videos I watched prior to going.

But the gist of it is that a guy will walk past you and right before he passes you he'll drop a shoe shine brush so it's in your path (in our case it was about 6 feet from us when it hit the ground).  If you pick it up and give it back to him, he'll want to 'reward' you for the favor and want to shine your shoes.  If you let him, he'll then expect you to pay him for the shine.

We ignored the brush, though after a delayed reaction we looked at each other and chuckled since we realized what had just happened.  Thought we heard the guy cussing behind us, too, since we didn't pick it up.  LOL.

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