Even though I've written before about street names that seem to have outlived their meaning, I'd never stopped to think about what my own street, "Havyar Sokak," might mean until I came across the word "havyar" in a newspaper story and thought to look it up. Apparently, I live on "Caviar Street." Is that something like "Easy Street"? (Hope so!) Was caviar once processed around here? Or was it home to rich people? Or Russians? Another mystery I'd like to solve, someday...
When I posted a Twitter message about my "discovery," a blog friend wrote back to say that she had lived on "Piggybank Makers' Very Steep Hill" in Istanbul. Of course I had to look that one up... only to find that it was Kumbaracı Yokuşu, an indeed very steep street I've walked on many times without a single thought to its origins.
Know of any other interestingly named streets, in Istanbul or elsewhere, that I can add to my collection?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Not-so-hidden history
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4 comments:
I'm sure there are others. Tons of it, actually; but my favorite have always been the parallel/twin streets in Kadıköy, called "Bahçelere Giden 1. Yol Sokak" and "Bahçelere Giden 2. Yol Sokak" —or, in English: "The First Road That Goes to the Gardens St." and "The Second Road That Goes to the Gardens St.", respectively. Very descriptive :) (Google Maps)
Those are great! I hadn't noticed them before. Thanks for pointing them out.
According to Zargan, I live on "Bleeding Heart" (Şebboy) street.
Love it.
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