Istanbul Part 1: The Bosphorus and Beyond

With a late afternoon flight, we had plenty of time to relax on the hotel balcony.  The hotel breakfast buffet that was included in our stay had a wide variety of hot and cold food items.  Paradoxically, fruit juice was an additional 10 TL charge.  

There was an assortment of spreads and jams (orange, cherry, apricot, rose, etc.)

Eight different types of olives were available at the bar.

I didn't have enough room in my stomach to try the assortment of Turkish cheeses.

We checked out at noon and drove the car to the Milas-Bodrum airport.  We dropped the car off with a representative from Central Car Hire.  Despite all of the mud and filth we had accrued inside and outside of the car, he gave us a thumb up. 

When we had planned this trip, The Wife and I were apprehensive whether we could handle driving in this country.  After seeing how people drive in several other countries and reading so many horror stories on Internet forums, we had many concerns.  Would we get ripped off by the car rental companies?  Would we be able to understand all the traffic laws and signs that were posted in a foreign language?  Would we get run off the road by aggressive drivers who don’t follow the laws?  And would we be able to find our way and not get lost?  After this experience, I realized most of our fears were laughable.  The areas of Turkey that we had visited were so easy to navigate and drive through.  For the most part, the main roads and highways were well-paved.  Of the drivers on the road, I was probably one of the more aggressive ones who was speeding the most.  And the car rental companies were completely honest and up-front with us.  Altogether, the whole process of renting and driving a car in Turkey was a whole lot easier than I had thought it would be. 

After a short flight on Turkish Airlines, we landed at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.  We had arranged for a ride from the airport through Efendi Travel.  Their representative was waiting for us after we gathered our luggage and transported us in a comfortable and spacious van.  The price was reasonable at 25 € ($28). 

After doing much research on Istanbul, we decided to stay in the older section of the city (Sultanahmet) rather than the newer, more-modern area (Beyoğlu).  While the former would be more touristy, it would also be much more convenient in terms of sightseeing.  We did hit a snag with places to stay.  Most of the hotels were fairly expensive, requiring us to rent two rooms despite two of our party being children.  The Wife also refused to stay at a low-budget hotel or hostel.  Therefore, we searched VRBO.com and found a nice, reasonably-priced apartment located between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia.  Although it didn't have a rooftop balcony, the rental property was conveniently located near most of the historic sites and the metro station which was only a 5-10 minute walk away.  Most importantly, it did have a washer and dryer so that we could do our laundry.  When we arrived , the owner gave us a quick run-down of the place and the surrounding neighborhood.  

Our apartment was on the third floor.  There was no elevator.

The first bedroom had a queen-sized bed.

The Kids shared a second bedroom with two twin beds.

We used the last bedroom to store our luggage and souvenirs.

The toilet and shower were tightly squeezed into the bathroom.

The Kitchen had every amenity except for an oven.

This entryway connected all of the rooms.

 

The living room was not huge, but it was adequate for the four of us.

The view from our window shows that we
were a short walk to the Blue Mosque.

For dinner, we figured that we would just walk to a nearby restaurant and grab an easy bite to eat.  It was like running the gauntlet.  The entire road was lined with restaurants all of which had men standing outside trying to get tourists to come into their restaurant.  We chose the Albura Kathisma Restaurant, partially because the only thing they have in front is a sign reading “no-confrontation zone.”  There were no men out front bugging us to try their restaurant.  Cleverly, it worked for us.

The restaurant had a large area where patrons could sit indoors away from the elements.

We decided to dine alfresco as the evening weather was very comfortable.

The Kids enjoyed milkshakes, while The Wife and I had a milky salep.

The poofy lavash bread was served with cheese and butter.

 

These garlic shrimp were tasty and cheaper than the night before.

Mücver (fried squash fritters)

Karışık Pide (Turkish pizza with mixed toppings)

Levrek Giovanni (sea bass covered with saffron cream sauce)

Cevizli Kuzu (Lamb with walnuts, marinated in saffron)

As expected for the Sultanahmet area, this restaurant was geared towards foreign tourists.  Every diner around us spoke English, many with foreign accents.  Nevertheless, the food and service were both good.  Although the price of our dinner was less than what we paid in Bodrum, the cost was a lot compared to Cappadocia.

*****

June 1, 2015

For our first full day in Istanbul, we wanted to take it relatively easy.  We walked around the corner from our apartment and ate breakfast at the Break Time Cafe and Patisserie.  

The eatery was located across the street from the Four Seasons Hotel.

The pastry's looked too delicious to pass up.

Raspberry tart

Pistachio encrusted pastry with a hazelnut filling

This cookie tasted not unlike a giant Oreo.

The pastries were so rich that we couldn't finish all three of them.  Afterwards, we dragged ourselves over to the nearby Arasta Bazaar.  This clean, upscale shopping center had several stores that sold carpets, bath products, ceramics, and spices.  The shops here tend to be more high-end with less room to haggle.  

Unlike the Grand Bazaar, Arasta is a more laid-back, hassle-free shopping experience.

The Kids excitedly bent down to grab some money lying in front of one
store.  They didn't realize that these coins were glued in place.  It was
a clever ploy to get people to stop in front of that shop.  It worked.

Almost every spice store we encountered peddled something called "Turkish Viagra."  This is just a general moniker to get a tourist's attention.  The product could range from a mix of spices to a candy made of figs stuffed with walnuts to a 41 ingredient paste called mesir macunu that has been used for centuries for general ailments.

Turkish Viagra is just a big scam.  Turkish
Cialis?  That's a whole different story. 

There may be a reason why tea is the most popular drink in Turkey..

The Wife was mainly interested in visiting a shop called Jennifer's Hamam.  Owned by a Canadian but employing locals, the store specializes in towels, bathrobes, scarfs, and bedding.  Although there are two store-fronts in the Arasta Bazaar, the salesman recommended that we visit their newer showroom just a few blocks outside the bazaar.  He led us on a five minute walk to an ordinary building without a sign in front.  For a second, I thought something shady was going to happen.  But once we stepped inside, The Wife was in heaven.  The showroom was filled with three stories of hand-made textiles.

Without someone leading the way, we
would have never found this showroom.

The ground floor was stocked with peshtemals of different colors and quantities. 

The second floor had an assortment of cotton and silk scarves and keses for the Turkish Baths.

The top floor had thick, more traditional towels, bathrobes, and embroidered bed covers.

The Wife had a tough time picking out the perfect shades and designs from the wide variety of choices.

When we were finally finished shopping at Jennifer's Hamam, I had the lucky honor of toting two large bags full of towels back to our apartment.  Along the way, The Kids were drawn to a shop with two little kittens playing outside.

After seeing this adorable little kitten, I almost made the mistake
of agreeing to The Kids' pleas to get one when we got back home.

While The Boy and The Girl played with the cats, I struck up a conversation with one of the store's employees who was hanging around outside.  The first thing I told him was that we had already bought some rugs in Cappadocia, so I wasn't buying anything,  He really didn't seem to care.  Business was slow, so he just wanted to chat to pass the time.

He told me that he is orignally from Afghanistan.  He had left his country and his family three years ago and made his way to Istanbul.  At that time, he didn't know any Turkish or English.  I don't know how his Turkish was, but his English was pretty damn good.  I felt bad because I knew that he had left his country partly because of the turmoil that my country was complicit in.  Despite his difficulties, he was one of the luckier ones.  There are almost two million refugees in Turkey, most of which have come from Syria.  The majority of them are confined to 22 government-run camps along the border.  Few have been able to assimilate into the Turkish communities, let alone thrive in the biggest and most expensive city in the country.

The shop also had a large collection of baseball caps
donated by happy customers.  All their teams sucked.

Despite the abundance of stray cats everywhere,
several tourists stopped to pet these cute little kittens.

In the afternoon, we walked towards the Golden Horn to take a short Bosphorus River cruise.  The majority of these boat rides leave from an area near the Galata Bridge known as Eminönü.

The journey from Sultanahmet to Eminönü was easy as it was mainly downhill.

Many websites recommend eschewing the private boats and sticking with the official government-sponsored cruises.  We found the ticket booth for Şehir Hatları ("City Lines") located just next to Galata Bridge.  Tickets were 12 TL ($4.50) for adults and 6 TL ($2) for children.

The docks and the ticket booth can be found on the banks just east of Galata Bridge,

We were starting to get hungry, so I ran over to one of the nearby restaurants selling fish sandwiches for 8 TL ($3) each.

Underneath Galata Bridge are several seafood restaurants.  On the western bank,
fisherman sell their sandwiches directly from their garishly decorated boats.

We didn't have time to walk over to the boats.  Instead we stopped at
the first restaurant under the bridge and bought two fish sandwiches.

These are known as balik ekmek salata (fish in bread with lettuce, onions, and tomato).

We arrived 30 minutes early as most people have recommended.  Therefore, we were able to get pretty good seats on the top deck.

The lower two decks were shaded with leather seats, the top deck had exposed wooden ones.

We chose a set of  two-seat
benches on the ship's stern.

From our seats, we watched the busy traffic pass over the bridge spanning the Golden Horn.  In the distance, we could also see Galata Tower.

Further in the distance, the Süleymaniye Mosque towered over the rest of the city.

We also tried some simit, a sesame bread ring that costs 1 TL.
I hope we just got a bad batch because it was stale and inedible.

While we waited, baking in the hot sun, the boat filled up quickly with most of the best seats taken.  The Girl stood up for a few seconds to stretch, and all of a sudden, a Middle-Eastern-looking man slid into her seat next to The Boy.  She just stood there bewildered as it was obvious to everybody around that it was her seat.  The man started talking on his cellphone nonchalantly while I was yelling at him in English to get out of her seat.  It required me squeezing in between him and The Boy before he realized I was not going to back down.  As he finally stood up and left, a nearby Turkish man gestured towards the man and said “that man is not normal.”  What kind of grown man steals a seat from a little girl!  It didn't help that he smelled pretty ripe.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, albeit a little boring.  One of the main reasons that people do a Bosphorus cruise is to see the important landmarks of Istanbul in a relaxing fashion.  We eschewed the audio tour and used the Rick Steves guidebook to locate the important buildings along the shoreline.

The first major building that we passed was the Hagia Sophia.  

 

A freighter passes by the Maiden's Tower.  The landmark has existed
since antiquity but was rebuilt with stone in the 18th century.

Cruise ships are common visitors to Istanbul.  When the Bosphorus Bridge (background)
was completed in 1970, it was the 4th largest suspension bridge in the world.

The Dolmabahçe Mosque shares the waterfront with a soccer stadium  of the same name.

Dolmabahçe Palace was built in the 19th century to mirror the European tastes of that period.

The boat stopped twice at Ortaköy Station, where several trendy shops and restaurants are located.

Nearby was the Ortaköy Mosque, built in the 1850's.

Beylerbeyi Palace was the summer residence of the sultans in the 19th century.  In 1869
Empress Eugénie of France stayed here during her time in Istanbul.  During the trip,
she was slapped publicly by the sultan's mother leading to an international incident.

Anadoluhisarı (Anatolia Fortress) was built in the late 14th century by
Sultan Bayezid I in his failed attempt at capturing Constantinople. 

His great-grandson, Mehmed II, built Rumeli Castle in 1452 for the same purpose.  He was successful.

Nearby these castles is the Fatih Sultan
Mehmet Bridge which was built in 1988.

Under international law, Turkey has the right to bar any other nation's warships from crossing
through the Bosphorus Straits to the Black Sea.  This has long been a sore issue for the Russians.

The ship traveled for a little while past the second bridge and then turned around for the voyage back to Eminönü Station. Altogether, the whole ride took two hours.

As we were disembarking off the boat, we noticed the “crazy seat stealer” guy sleeping on some of the benches at the lower deck of the boat.  It was clear that all the other passengers were keeping their distance from him too.

Once ashore, we walked across Galata Bridge to the northern bank of European Istanbul.  It's a short distance so it only took a few minutes.

There was a lot of fishing from Galata Bridge.  However, there wasn't a lot of catching.

Once across, we purchased an Istanbul Kart (a card to use public transportation) and loaded some money on it.  We jumped on a tram at the Karaköy Station and were at the Sultanahmet Station four stops later.

Unlike other cities which use underground subways, Istanbul uses these above-ground trams.

After resting for an hour, we walked over to a fancy restaurant called Matbah.

The restaurant is located in a hotel
across the street from the Hagia Sophia.

The menu specializes in cuisine that
was served to the Ottoman sultans.

We were by far the worst-dressed patrons in the restaurant that evening.

During their meals, the sultans drank sherbet which
was made from spices and fruit and flower juices.

We also ordered some lemonade and
some freshly-squeezed orange juice.

Complimentary bread with olive tapenade.

Badem Çorbasa (Almond soup with milk and bone broth)

Altin Nohutlu Pilav (saffron pilaf with chickpeas, butter, and gold).

Reştiyye (Ottoman-style noodles with cheese and walnuts)

Kuzu Incik Beğendili (Lamb shank with 

cinnamon, bay leaf, and peppercorns)

The Sudak Dolmasi (Stuffed zander fish)
was a bit dry and overcooked.

Kavun Dolmasi (Stuffed melon with lamb, minced meat, rice, almonds, currants, and pine nuts)

Overall the meal was pretty good.  Except for the fish entree, the remaining dishes were very good.  It didn't transcend all the other meals that we would have in Turkey, but it was the most intricately prepared.

After dinner, we walked several blocks to a Starbucks so The Wife could add an Istanbul and Turkey mug to her size-able collection.  We also stopped off at Cigdem Pastanesi to buy some börek and other pastries for the next morning's breakfast.

After a long day, we looked forward to hitting the sack to get some much needed rest.  One thing that we didn't count on was that our close proximity to the Blue Mosque also meant that we would hear their speakers more loudly.  We had left our windows open to let in the nice breeze that night. When the first call to prayer began at about 4:30 AM, it seemed like the muezzin was screaming directly into my ear.  It was a tough wake up call for our first night in Istanbul.