The Cats of Stamboul: a photo-essay

We travel the world in search of cats. At least it seems that way. We’ve befriended strays in Greece and restaurant mousers (and scroungers) in Malta. But in Turkey - Istanbul, the Princes’ Islands, Ankara, and Cappadocia - we met felines who seemed to have all sorts of roles. Guys like the one above seemed to be looking after parked cars. (Yeah, I know, staying out of the blistering sun…)

These chaps were welcoming customers into an antique shop on one of the Princes’ Islands. Again, the fact that they were in the shade was purely coincidental.

And the other guy appeared to have been left as an after-hours security detail in a fancy shop in Beyoglu.

And then there were the restaurant cats. They kept us company while we ate breakfast and dinner, and while we drank cold, cold Efes. (That’s the gorgeous @janmarysmith, by the way.)

That fur! That heat! For some cats, enough was enough...

Watch out - purse-snatchers about!

Just before our arrival in Turkey, a Belfastman was filmed getting into a fight in Istanbul and more than holding his own. (The video’s still on Youtube Looks like this SultanAhmet local has just heard where we are from...