The best belly-dancing in Istanbul is in the Galata Tower. When I was there, there was a gal who was, apparently, the belly-dancing world champion. I was intrigued (and smitten) so I inquired about her background. As you can imagine, I was expecting something exotic.

She was from Brighton in the U.K. 😅

The Turks are notoriously gracious hosts (unless you're a Kurd) but you have to be careful ... they'll spend, to entertain, what to us might not seem like a lot but to them is a month's salary. I had this problem with a Turkish military attache and I was terrified his wife and kids wouldn't have any food to eat. (I'm not kidding.) To negate the financial damage he'd incurred with his hospitality, before leaving I bought his wife a plain gold necklace (plain so that most of the value of the necklace was in the gold itself, not the workmanship). I told them it was a Canadian tradition to thank the hostess with a parting gift. Like many places in that part of the world, gold jewelry is purchased as a form of savings, much like we'd deposit money in the bank. When required, they sell it, much like we'd make a bank withdrawal.

Looking forward to your post.

Quill