Turkish Delight

After I ruined Rachel's last day in Bratislava by giving Jenn and her bad directions to the art museum and causing them to get lost and waste several hours, we headed out on Wednesday for Istanbul. Rach had her choice of places to go when she came for her visit and Istanbul was the designated spot. We were also meeting up with her (and our) friend, Anna, who was flying in from New York.

Our first impression of Istanbul, as we drove through the streets in the airport shuttle, was that it reminded us a lot of Israel, but with mosques; lots of them. It actually was a blend of Israel and Athens. Water surrounds the city, so we saw some nice views, but also squeezed through some very narrow streets filled with shop after shop after shop selling carpets, pashminas, "hand" painted dishes, souvenirs, and lots of other random junk. After we spent several days there, we couldn't get over how many shops were selling the exact same things. I'm still not sure what differentiates one store from the next, but there are certainly plenty of people there spending money, so I guess it's working.

Istanbul as a whole is interesting. I wouldn't call it pretty, but the landscape is unique and it's overflowing with rich culture and history. There are so many people. The streets feel awfully crowded. I don't do well in this type of environment when I don't get much personal space and what I do have isn't respected or recognized by others. There are roughly 11 million people living in the city and it feels like it. The food is outstanding and consists primarily of grilled meats, mostly lamb, and eggplant prepared hundreds of different ways. When you factor in the fact that there are some great tourist attractions, it really makes it a great destination.

We stayed at the Hotellino, which Jenn found on Trip Advisor. The location was perfect. It was a block or so from the Gulhane tram stop and within walking distance of all the major attractions. It definitely wasn't fancy and didn't offer much in amenities besides three bottles of water per person per day (which is amazing when you stop and think about the fact that many hotels charge $5 if you open up the bottles of water they put out), but the rooms were simple, clean, and breakfast and internet were included.

After arriving, we walked around for the remainder of the afternoon to get our bearings. We walked across the Galata bridge and up past the Galata Tower to the Beyoglu area and walked down Istiklal Caddesi, the main shopping street. It was very crowded. With all the well known stores, it could have been a busy shopping street in any city. Dinner was on a side street at Zubeyir Ocakbasi where we ate grilled meats and kebabs. Anna had done some good restaurant research on ChowHound, so we were well prepared. It's nice to travel with someone who puts as much importance on food as we do. We were all exhausted from traveling, so we headed back early to get some rest.

Our first full day was very busy. It also happened to be Thanksgiving. There was no Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and no turkey to be found, but we made due. We started out with a visit to the Topkapi Palace, which was great. We ate lunch at Subasi, which was a small dive serving Turkish comfort food, and then spent some time walking through the Grand Bazaar. I didn't find it all that grand and thought it was more bizarre than bazaar. The place is filled with literally thousands of stores selling pretty much the same stuff. It's a maze where I have no idea how people find specific stores. We then walked over and through the Blue Mosque, which really wasn't that blue. The exterior was beautiful, but the inside didn't do it for me. After a couple of hours of rest at the hotel, we walked over for a quick stroll through the spice bazaar before boarding the ferry for the Asian side of the city. It was at this point that Rachel chose to try a fish sandwich, a local specialty, even though we were on our way to eat. Dinner at Ciya was good. It sits within the fish market on the Asian side, but really didn't have any seafood on the menu. Their kebabs were better than the traditional Turkish dishes. It wasn't the grand Thanksgiving feast we wanted, but it was still pretty good.
On Friday, we started off at the Cemberlitas Turkish Bath, which seems to be the thing to do there. This really deserves its own blog post and will get it. All I can say is that I will never be the same. The girls enjoyed it. We had a really nice lunch and molten chocolate cake at Rumeli Cafe. At this point, it was raining a good bit, so we didn't want to go far. We walked through another market, the Arasta Bazaar, and did some more shopping. A trip to Istanbul involves much more shopping than I prefer, but I was pretty patient. I'm not sure what Rach and Anna did at this point, but Jenn and I escaped the rain with a walk through the Haghia Sophia, which is an extremely old Mosque that is no longer used for prayer and is now just for tours and viewing. The exterior is stunning, but the inside was also spectacular. We spent our last evening with Rachel and Anna eating dinner at Antiocha, a small, trendy place in the Beyoglu area. The menu was limited, but everything was excellent. Because we didn't have a reservation, we had to sit at an outside table, which was fine for a while, until it started raining. We headed back to the Sultanahmet neighborhood, where our hotel was, and had dessert at Mado. Their specialty is sliced ice cream, which is exactly as it sounds. It was fine, but more a novelty than a great dessert. Rachel and Anna were leaving in the morning, so we said our goodbyes before going to bed.
For our last day, Jenn and I slept late and then ate a nice lunch at a seafood place called Balikci Sabahattin, which was pretty good, but maybe a bit overrated by all the guide books that laud its cuisine. After lunch, we hit one more mosque, the Suleymaniye Mosque, which we actually liked much more than the Blue Mosque. We walked across the Galata Bridge, took the Tunel Funicular up to Istiklal, and then rode the tram up to Taksim Square where we took the metro to what we thought was going to be a nice boutique shopping area. It was not. Sometimes guidebooks are very helpful. Other times, they are not. We gave up after a few blocks and headed back to Beyoglu as it was getting close to dinner time. Our final dinner was at Mikla, the much hyped restaurant from Mehmet Gurs, who is a well known Turkish chef, we think. The swanky restaurant sits on the 17th floor of the Marmara Pera Hotel and has amazing views from every table. Jenn's beef tenderloin and my smoked lamb were both outstanding. The warm chocolate cake for dessert was a delicious and fitting end to the dinner and our time in Istanbul.

We really enjoyed this trip. It was very different than other places we visited, and that's a good thing. The more and more we see of the world, the more and more we want to see.

We arrived back to a snow covered Bratislava. Winter is officially here.