Monday June 11 in Istanbul, Turkey

On Monday, we again awoke noonish, still adjusting to the jet lag. We got up and I had found a restaurant on the Internet that looked interesting. We walked down an alley and then saw the restaurant that seemed a bit fancy for lunch we then converged into a quaint stairwell street that contained many beautiful restaurants. We sat outside and had a leisurely meal and tea. We then walked down through a local commercial area with a variety of shops that appear to serve the local upscale community with interior decor items, etc. We then caught the tram to the New Mosque. It was every bit as fantastic as the Blue Mosque. We chilled out there a while in meditation. After the new mosque, we went to the spice bazaar. We quickly got swept into purchasing more rose tea, pomegranate tea and other teas that we did not need! It added up quickly as well. From there we made our way to the Grand Bazaar, the world's original indoor shopping mall. It contained a number of sellers of jewelry, rugs, tea sets, clothing, scarves, etc. It was truly amazing. We found some gifts and then got Troy a nice Ottoman ring. Then it was on for some tea outside the bazaar. We walked from there past Istanbul University with our objective to eventually get to Sur Ocakbasi, a restaurant that was featured on Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations". On the way, Fariba and Troy wanted a beer, but we were in a more devout area and no beer was for sale. We noticed many more nargile places with young men smoking and drinking tea and watching the European championships in futbol. We then saw a place that I recognized from my tour book where they serve a fermented wheat drink called boza. It is like a pudding almost with a sour taste like lemons. We walked on from here to the Ataturk Boulevard where the aqueduct crosses. From here we went up to the restaurant. It was every bit as good as it looked on Bourdain. We were served a vast quantity of meats and vegetable and bread as well as ayran, the local yogurt drink, fresh made and drunk from ladles from metal bowls. The meat is cooked in a pit and has the flavor one would expect. We observed the many cats that you see in Istanbul. Then we saw some great honey shops with large containers of honey and the combs. We caught a cab back to the apartment and turned in for the night.