Anwar J. Ali is an Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times in Baghdad. She recently went on vacation to Turkey. It was her second trip outside Iraq and her first outside the Arab world.

Before I went to Turkey I thought it was an Oriental country. After I arrived, and even though I’ve never been in Europe, I felt I was in a European world.

It is not like the Orient I know: the clean streets, the fancy and high buildings, what people were wearing, the number of Turkish women with such a modern way of wearing the hijab, lovers kissing each other openly in the streets.

When I arrived in Istanbul I went to the city center, the European side of the city. I was so eager to see that tremendous world that I suddenly found myself in.

I stayed near the Sea of Marmora, and the weather was wonderful and refreshing. I felt that my complexion changed for the better, and I really liked the colorful flowers and the fountains near the Sultan Ahmed mosque, the Blue Mosque. I also liked people’s happy colorful faces and the endless electricity.

I saw so many alcohol bars. Women and men were drinking openly. So many foreigners feeling free — Danish, Germans, Indians. Here in Iraq we haven’t seen foreigners for a long time. I see only journalists and American forces.

There are thousands of mosques in Turkey. Very fascinating, huge historical mosques. But the number of foreign tourists is much bigger than the number of people praying. I saw Japanese women wearing shorts allowed to enter a mosque, although one of the mosque officials gave them a hijab.

The streets and the market and the restaurants were something like those I see in France on the TV.

The women’s fashions are the same as those on TV. Even in the bazaars, the currency sellers deal with dollars and euros. And for the sellers, language is not a problem because the language of money is always clear.

There were different kinds of shops. I saw a fashion store four floors high and other huge shops, and the streets were full of people. People who looked so hopeful, with clothes so colorful and stylish. It was something like I have only seen on the TV, or in American or European movies. It was just like a paradise for me!

I took a tram for the first time to see the city. Although there was no need, because walking in those nice streets made me enjoy it so much. But it was very interesting. The tram was air-conditioned and very clean, the tickets were just like coins, and everything was in good order

They have fancy markets and air conditioned underground walkways. In Iraq it is dangerous to enter such tunnels. Under Saddam Hussein’s regime, drunk people used them as WC’s. And since Saddam, those places are not safe, lit or clean, and are mainly safe for wild dogs to live in.