A special kind of yogurt Sunday Jine 17 on the Bosphorus

Got everybody up and we walked down to the Eminou docks and bought tickets for the Bosphorus ferry at 25 lira apiece for the round trip. The boat makes five stops during the one hour and 35 minute trip up the Bosphorus. We got off the ferry at the town of Kanlica for lunch. Kanlica is famous for its yogurt and we soon found out why.
The first order of business was to get lunch. We avoided the cute places next to the ferry dock, figuring they were for tourists. We walked a couple of blocks and found a mom and pop establishment. The son came out and translated for us. He spoke very good English. We ordered some pide and kebap. We also had the Ayran which was made of the local yogurt. It had a different taste from the more commercial product across the river. It was excellent. We then had the decadent dessert known as kunefe.
We walked a couple of stores down and found one that specialized in the local yogurt. The man prepared it by putting a large quantity of powdered sugar in with the yogurt. I had not tasted anything like this before. The powdered sugar did not completely mix with the yogurt and so there were layers of sweet and sour. We had to get another one!
Then it was time to reboard the boat and continue up the Bosphorus. The scenery continued to be beautiful though with less development the closer we got to the Black Sea. We made brief stops at the towns of Sariyer and R. Kavagi and then a final stop at the town of A. Kavagi on the Asian side. We walked around a bit and then caught the return ferry back.
We got off in Besiktas and took a 7 lira cab ride to Tophane. This is next to the Museum of Modern Art and has about ten nargile places. We settled in for nargile and backgammon (tavlah)and tea. We relaxed for a couple of hours among the Turks and then caught a 8 lira cab ride to our favorite restaurant, Sur Ocakbasi, in the shadow of the ancient Aqueduct. We had another huge meal of grilled meats, salads and fresh Ayran. We ate as the call to prayer resonated through this devout neighborhood. We finished off with cay (tea) and an ice cream dessert with a cream of wheat like substance encasing vanilla ice cream (semolina halvah).
We caught the cab to Istiklal and Troy and I later headed to Ortakoy to meet his Dutch friend to watch the Holland-Portugal soccer match. Portugal won so Troy's friend was disappointed. I enjoyed walking around Ortakoy and watching the hundreds of people out on midnight on a Sunday night.
I can't help but marvel at how the people here enjoyed being outdoors as much as possible. Very opposite of our shut in air conditioned society.