I’ve just returned from two weeks in Turkey, most of which I spent in Istanbul.
The main reason I went to Istanbul was to attend a travel conference called the World Tourism Forum, where I listened to speeches and panels with leading tourism professionals and met other travel bloggers from around the world. I also wanted to explore Istanbul (I’d been once before, but only for eight hours) and check out at least one other destination in Turkey.
And there is one other big reason why I went to Istanbul: the cats.
This might be the cutest cat in Istanbul. Or it might not be. There are thousands of cats competing for that honor.
Everyone knows I love cats. I photograph them everywhere I go, and my own cat writes frequently on this blog. But my love of cats can’t compare to the cat-love that encompasses the city of Istanbul, and in fact all of Turkey.
Cat on a wall in Cihangir, Istanbul.
Istanbul’s Multitude of Cats
There are hundreds of thousands of cats in Istanbul, most of which are strays. By “stray” I mean that the cats live mainly outside and aren’t “owned” by any one person. But the stray cats of Istanbul, as a whole, are exceptionally well cared-for. Most of them look healthy and well fed (bowls of cat food appear everywhere on Istanbul’s streets), and unlike feral cats in other places these cats are usually keen to socialize with humans.
There are various theories and explanations for why cats are so ubiquitous in Turkey, most of which center around the fact that cats hold a special place in Islam. As the popular Muslim saying goes, “If you’ve killed a cat, you need to build a mosque to be forgiven by God.” However, Turkey’s passion for cats seems to go beyond religion. To me it just seems like Turkish people, as a whole, really love cats. And I don’t blame them.
Although I did make time for other activities, I could have spent my entire stay in Istanbul following, petting, and taking photos of cats. I’ve compiled my favorite cat pics for this post.
On our first free afternoon in Istanbul, Meruschka and I visited a neighborhood called Cihangir that is home to a charming family of cats. (The cats of Cihangir even have a dedicated Facebook group.) We met the cats on a beautiful rainbow-painted staircase, where we spent at least 45 minutes taking photos.
Kitten of Cihangir.
Mama cat of Cihangir.
Feeding time on the Cihangir steps.
I went a little cat-crazy in Cihangir.
Cat on a cobbled street, Galata.
Golden cat, Galata.
Cats on a chilly day, Fener.
Cat in front of a trendy coffee shop, Balat.
This cat, shown with my Turkish blogging colleague Murat, crashed our Travel Massive networking event at Hush Hostel in Kadıköy. He was the sweetest most affectionate cat ever, until a pizza appeared on the table. Then he became an aggressive, ravenous, lunatic cat who is clearly used to having his way with human food.
Pretty cat by a pretty door, Eminönü. People leave out boxes and pieces of cardboard for the cats to sit on, since Istanbul’s streets and stone floors are cold in winter.
Cat and graffiti, Beyoğlu.
I think this is my favorite picture that I took in Istanbul, shot on İstiklal Street during a walking tour with Context Travel. You can’t tell in this photo, but the regal cat in the man’s lap only has one eye. I wish I could have gotten their story, but he didn’t speak English and I didn’t want to hold up my tour group. I could tell he was a lovely man though, with lovely cats.
I should mention that there are also lots of stray dogs in Istanbul, although not as many as there are stray cats. The dogs also look relatively healthy but not as well cared-for as the cats. I noticed that lots of the dogs, especially in central tourist areas, have tags in their ears, which I assume means they have been spayed/neutered.
An Istanbul dog in Sultanahmet.
I’ll probably have more to say about Turkey’s cats and dogs in future posts.
Read more about the cats of Istanbul here, here, here, and here.
Ooooh so lovely pics from the pretty cats in Istanbul. Saw them also during my citytrip to Istanbul and it’s true, everybody cares about them. We were told that even in the Hagia Sophia there should live about 7 cats. I love cats too 🙂 greetings to SA!
Yes, there’s a very famous one living in the Hagia Sophia apparently but we didn’t see it. Thanks for the comment!
I think I saw that kitty in Hagia Sophia, I have a photo of him sleeping on a bench with a snoozing tourist in the background. Love all your cat photos and looking forward to hearing more.
Thanks! I wish I’d seen that famous Hagia Sophia kitty…We didn’t find out about him until after we visited there.
and when I saw him, I didn’t know he was famous; haha.
Love all the pictures! So the dogs are sprayed/ neutered and released, but not the cats?
Well, I’m not sure. The tags on the dogs’ ears were very noticeable but I didn’t see any on cats…But that could have been because cats’ ears are smaller. I do think there are efforts being made to spay/neuter the cats too though, based on comments I read on the Cihangir cats Facebook page.
Here in LA, Fix Nation either notches or removes a tiny edge of an ear.
Oh, that’s possible. I’ll have to go back again and check 🙂
HI,
The tagged dogs have had rabies shots.
Oh! Well I guess that’s good but I’m disappointed it doesn’t mean sterilization 🙁
Dogs for the win
For some reason I take better pics of cats. But you would like the dogs in Brazil: http://430779ae203f.xneelosites.com/2015/01/11/pets-of-brazil/
love your pictures. so cute!
Thank you 🙂
These cat photos nearly made this dog person a cat lover … nearly!
There are a lot of stray cats around Bahrain. More dogs though. The dogs travel in packs and can be a little intimidating at night when you’re on your own. And that’s coming from someone who’s more than comfortable with dogs!
Yes, dogs can defintely be more threatening than cats. Apparently there are packs of dogs in the Turkish countryside that can be like that, but all the dogs I saw in Istanbul seemed very mild-tempered.
That happens in India – neighbourhood dogs form packs at night, lying in the road, and they are *dangerous*!
This is one of the best cat compilations I’ve seen. I absolutely love it! I think when I go to Istanbul I’ll be like you.. following cats day in, day out.
Thanks so much, Ruby. Glad you enjoyed it. I hope you get to go someday!
OMG. I now LOVE Istanbul. My kind of people. It’s funny Thais love dogs – it’s a dog country. I felt like Austria was as well. Finally, a cat city! Rejoice!
It’s interesting how certain countries seem to favor one over the other. Brazil is a dog country as well. Turkey is definitely a land for cats.
Hi there, I am a friend of Fiver’s from the UK but I recently moved to Bloem – I’ve been following your blog cos I’m a blogger too and I always planned to celebrate my new city with another blog, then I saw you were already doing it so I thought ‘oh man, she’ll think I’m copying her…’ ha ha! ANYWAY… I had to laugh when I read this one because it was pretty much exactly what I intended to write when I went to Turkey last year – You’ve actually saved me the bother eh? Shall I send you the cutest kitten photos (not the quality of yours but ‘up there’ on the cuteness factor) if you send me your email address? It was a little sanctuary in a park where these teeny weeeeeny kittens were all asleep in a tiny wooden house made especially for them. I know, right?? EEEEEEEKKK!!
Bye for now – love Pam (hope you’re having fun with Fiver xx )
Hi Pam, nice to hear from you! Fiver has told me about you and I’d love to check out my blog. Please send me a message through the “Contact Me” page and we can correspond from there. I’d love to see your kitten pics.