Wednesday June 20 in Istanbul

The boys and I went for a walk down to Sultanamet. Our apartment is in Beyoglu, and we see Sultanamet from our balcony across the Golden Horn and the Galata Bridge. It is an unimaginable view. Sultanamet looks quite distant but can be easily reached in a walk of less than one half hour. It is the land of the sultans, holding the original palace of the sultans, called Topkani Palace. It is also the location of the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Sultanamet Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, Istanbul University, the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar.
We went by Hodjapasha Cultural Center to buy tickets for the traditional Turkish dance show for the following night. After buying tickets, the boys and I had some tea and Fanta in the alley next to the cultural center and played some tavlah (backgammon). It was very relaxing and fun to watch the activities on the alley. We saw barbers meticulously shaving guys with straight razors. We saw guys closing their little stores where they sold a limited genre of items, like brooms and mops. We saw guys delivering tea to the various shops using the old style tea trays.
After playing tavlah for awhile, we walked to the spice bazaar to buy a couple of gifts. I saw some Muslim women with veils, eating ice cream by discreetly lifting their veils to get a taste.
Apparently the bazaar closes around 7 and the shop owners were eager to make sales at closing time. We were able to negotiate some fair deals on some gifts.
We then walked from the spice bazaar to an area where olives and cheese were being sold by the pound. The prices here were much less than the retail up in Beyoglu. We bought a pound of olives for the equivalent of $1.75. Needless to say, these were of the type olives we might pay $9.00 a pound for at home. We got baklava for 25 lira (about $14) a kilo (2.2 pounds). It was selling for 40 to 50 lira a kilo elsewhere in the city. The baklava comes in many forms and is chock full of pistachios. Excellent!
We walked across the Galata Bridge as the sun set, watching the fishermen fish and the kids try to hustle bottles of water. Troy bought 6 pairs of "izod" socks for 5 lira. We headed up the Tunel funicular to the eternal busyness of Istiklal.
We went to dinner at a little hole in the wall where we sat in the small street and were fed a feast of grilled chicken, chicken wings, lamb and the ground beef kebab, all cooked meticulously over a small charcoal grill until perfectly cooked and yet moist. The meat was served with an array of tomatoes (grilled and raw), onions (grilled and raw), small pickled peppers, flatbread and a spicy hand chopped relish of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. We enjoyed tea as we dodged the rear view mirrors of cars driving through the narrow alley.
On the walk back, Fariba had some of the famous trick ice cream. She played along although by now she was fully familiar with the tricks of the ice cream hustlers. Darius had a waffle filled with strawberries and other fruit, a real value at 7 lira. We made our way back to the apartment and slept good.

Turkish breakfast at the house

Got up late, dragging from the trip to Izmir. The boys and I went to a local shop to get cheese and meat and to another shop for vegetables so that I could cook a traditional Turkish breakfast. I prepared eggs, cheese, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, toast and jelly and we ate a huge breakfast on the balcony.

Kale and Bogazici University Monday, June 18, 2012

Our plan today was to visit Troy's college here in Istanbul. I have neglected to mention that this entire Istanbul trip was made a reality by the adventuresome nature and hard work of our son, Troy. As a sophomore Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC, Troy chose to take a semester abroad here in Istanbul at the prestigious Bogazici University. Bogazici means "Bosphorus" and the university has a commanding view of he Bosphorus.
Troy has documented his adventures over the last six months on his blog www.thomesley.wordpress.com. I highly recommend his well written and informative blog. He traveled to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Cyprus. He has more travels on tap this summer after we leave as he works on a research paper.
Monday was another late sleeping day and then we walked to Taksim and caught the bus to Bebek, a nice area just before the Mehmet Bridge. Our goal for a late breakfast was to eat at Kale, a Restaurant featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations a few years ago. We had already tried Sur Ocakbasi per the Bourdain reference and Kale turned out to be just as spot on.
We arrived at Kale and found a table outside. We ordered the Turkish breakfast for four or "Kahvalti". We were brought tea (cay), eggs still in a metal skillet with some beef sausage, cucumber and tomato salad, fried Cyprus cheese, two other kinds of cheese, olives, bread and heavy cream floating in honey. It is hard to describe in words how good a meal this was. Suffice it to say that when we travel anywhere else, Bourdain has gone we will take his advice. Clearly he and his producers put a ton of research into the places they visit to find these local gems. We were impressed that neither Kale or Sur Ocakbasi had any tourists besides us.
After breakfast, we walked the beautiful board walk to the bay area of Bebek. There were many boats and people fishing and a guy swimming in the heavy current of the Bosphorus, just letting it take him down the river and having the time of his life. There were guys fishing and people lounging on their boats. There were guys sunbathing but no women, we caught a cab to go to Bogazici. We went up a steep hill and got behind a loaded truck. Our cab was struggling to make it up the hill and we were truly concerned that the truck would roll back and hit us. But, we made it!
The campus was beautiful and we fell truly blessed that Troy was able to come here to school and that we were able to visit him. For Fariba, it has been a chance to get close to Iran and have a middle eastern experience in food and the many other sensations. One day we hope to go to Iran when the governments of the US and Iran quit getting in the way of the people.
After visiting the college, we came back into our neighborhood and enjoyed some nargile and then a nice barbecue meal before we had to get up really early the next day to fly to Izmir to see Ephesus.

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.