One of the things you see time and again on social media about Istanbul is cats. According to these posts you will find cats permeating all corners of the city, but I wasn’t quite sure what we would find when we got here.
True to the posts, we did, in fact, find cats everywhere. Most seem to be quite friendly, allowing you to pet them with ease. There certainly are cat fights occasionally but these seem to be few and far between.
The cats of Istanbul seem very much like community pets. People put food out for them in all parts of the city. They build small shelters for them. And, they tolerate them in some of the oddest places. We found them hanging out in restaurants, sitting on the railings and benches of parks and mosques, sitting on top of the displays of street vendors. Most surprisingly we even found one on the second floor of the Hagia Sophia.
Few shopkeepers, docents, guards, or anyone seem to mind the cats. Some will gently try to shoo them away, however, by and large they are just part of the background of the city and everyone seems to tolerate them at worst and actively care for them at best.
These are just a few of the cats we saw roaming around.
Wonder if they have a rabies issue