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.

Lazy Day in Istanbul Thursday, June 14, 2012

Today was a lazy day. I fixed omelets for Troy and Darius and then Troy and I walked down Istiklal to a restaurant near the Mamara Hotel. Troy had eaten there before and said the pide, or Turkish pizza, was really good. We arrived and the small Restaurant was empty. There were many fresh Turkish dishes displayed in the buffet. We sat and ordered the 1.5 portion pide for 15 lira. This pide would have meat and cheese for takeout back to Fariba at the apartment. We watched as the chef prepared the dough fresh and rolled it out and covered it with meat and cheese and then ladled a liquid flour mixture on top. He called this "black sea style" . The chef was very energetic and got us an up close look as he placed the pide in the oven with a long wooden pizza paddle. I peered into the oven and saw the actual wood burning in a corner in the back.
After a few minutes, the pide was ready and we headed back to the apartment. Troy and Darius and I then left and toured the funky neighborhood nearby called Cihangir. There are art galleries with original local art and well kept little antique stores. There are many barber shops and we tried to convince Darius to get a well needed haircut. There are cool little coffee shops and tea houses with various hippy types hanging out. There are neat local restaurants. We found a couple of neat items for a fair price and made purchases and took them back to our apartment. Then the boys and I went to a nargile (hookah) place and Troy and I had rose nargile and drank tea while Darius had a Fanta and I checked my email on the wifi.
Around 6:15 we headed back to the apartment and got Fariba and walked down Istiklal to the Tunel and rode down to the Galata Bridge and caught the tram to Aya Sofia for the walk to Hagia Eirene for a special musical performance of Turkish music. This is part of a special summer music series sponsored by Turkish Airlines and DHL. The Eirene is a mid sized mosque with great acoustics. The band is a group called the Gates of Felicity representing the gates used to access the private sanctum of Topkapi Palace. This was to be music of almost a classical nature that had been written and performed for the sultans in a bygone era.
After getting off of the tram, we walked up a hill to the Eirene through the gates of the grounds of Topkapi Palace which is guarded at all times by guards with machine guns. We found in the courtyard a crowd waiting to go inside with many people who appeared to be the class of Istanbul society, judging from the dress and jewelry. Upon entering the Eirene, we found our seats which I had purchased on the Internet. I had purposely chosen seats on the back row and it turned out to be a good call because the last ten rows were on a riser with each row higher than the one in front of it. We had a great view of the entire building.
The music started with a male soprano singing a Capella in an other worldly voice and another fellow with a deeper voice who had an incredible lung capacity. The voices, the instruments, the setting all contributed to a magical evening of music.
We had figured out that with four people it is less expensive to take a cab back to Istiklal and so that is what we did. We went back to the same pide place and had some more great food and then headed back to the apartment and went to sleep on a cool, beautiful night in Istanbul.

Topkapi Palace, Wednesday, June 13

We slept late again today. What is it about this place? Haha. Well, we got up and decided to go see Topkapi Palace, the first phase of which was built by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453. Sultans lived in this palace until the 19th Century when they moved to more fancy European type palaces like Dolmanbahce Palace.
The harem was located in Topkapi, containing the quarters of 1,000 women at any given point in time. The women were subject to being summoned to serve as the sultan's concubines and were guarded by black slave enuchs. The entire history is quite fascinating.
We have a couple of issues we are trying to get resolved with our apartment. The apartment is fantastic (I have attached some pictures) but it is also not in the US so there are some anomalies that one would not expect in the US. Nowhere in Istanbul has central air conditioning. Our apartment has a window unit for the master bedroom. However, it seems to have stopped working. The rest of the apartment is cooled only by the breezes. This generally works because it is on two floors and is like a long tunnel and when windows are opened on both ends the winds blows through like a funnel. However, in the hottest part of the day, that is a hot wind or if there is no breeze, it can get hot. Also, due to having the windows open, the boys have gotten some bug bites. Anyway, we are working with the landlord to resolve these issues and all in all we are happy with the apartment which has its own elevator, a large kitchen and a large deck with incredible views of Istanbul that cannot be done justice in a photo.
After getting up, we walked down Istiklal towards the Tunel funicular that would take us to the Galatsaray Bridge where we could catch the tram to Topkapi. On the way, we walked through an area where little stores were selling all kinds of power tools and even things like tillers, right in the middle of the most urban part of the city. In that our apartment had been hot, I remarked to Fariba that there had to be a little section where guys would be selling fans. We stopped by a shop where a guy had a fan blowing. I pointed at the fan and asked where could I buy one, using all the body language I could muster. He said "left, then right" and sure enough there were six stores next to each other with all selling nothing but fans. We priced the fans and found out that the guy closed at 7 and told him we would be back after Topkapi.
We caught the tram to Topkapi. It was packed as always. The tram is air conditioned and I am beginning to think that some people ride around on it just to cool off. Though the highs are in the low to mid 80's, it seems a lot hotter unless we are next to the river. We got to the gardens next to Topkapi and got off and walked the park and on up to the palace. We paid the 25 lira per person admission and the extra 15 lira to see the Harem. The harem is worth the extra 15 lira as it seems preserved in its original state. It even includes a mating room in which the sultan could romp with his concubines.
There are tremendous views of the Golden Horn from the palace. After the palace, we went to the Hagia Sophia or Aya Sophia built as a church in 537. It is one of the eight wonders of the world and the is understandable considering when it was built. It sits cross a large plaza from the Blue Mosque and is a stunning piece of architecture.
After the Sofia, we went to our favorite little restaurant nearby. It is the only place we have seen where they serve both beer and hookah. All the other hookah places do not serve alcohol. Fariba and Troy enjoyed a beer while Darius had a Fanta and I had a tea and smoked hookah with Troy. We just chilled out at the restaurant and watched the passing crowds with the dome of the Hagia Sofia in the background, live Turkish music playing the whole time! Our waiter approached me and Troy later and asked if we wanted some hashish for the hookah but we figured we better pass!
While we were sitting there on the deck that adjoins the sidewalk, some people came up and started taking video of the musicians. It was clear the people did not intend to eat at the restaurant. The manager got up in their faces and ran them off; quite entertaining. I hate I didn't get it on video!
We left in time to catch the tram and go buy a couple of fans. We got to the underground labyrinth of stores where the fan stores were located. We found the one we wanted and negotiated a good price and then told the guy we wanted two for a better price per fan. He did not come down enough so we started to leave and then he hollered that he would meet our final price halfway and so we did the deal. We lugged the two fans onto the Tunel where a guy was playing beautiful Turkish music with the help of the cave like quality of the Tunel giving a reverb to the acoustics.
We walked up Istiklal with our fans and returned to the apartment to put them together using knives as screwdrivers. It was successful and our apartment was instantly cooler.
We had made reservations for 5 Kat, a modern restuarant with an unmatched view of the Bosphorus, the Asian side and the first bridge from its fifth floor vista. We got a little lost on the way as we walked through a bohemian neighborhood filled with tea shops and dusty antique shops. Once we got there we took the elevator to the top and then up a spiral staircase to see an incredible view and a packed restaurant. Our table had been held for us and it was, again, the best table in the house with an unmatched view. We dined on more western style chef driven cuisine and watched the fireworks from above, looking down the Bosphorus. It was truly incredible and again something that cannot be fully captured on pictures.
We enjoyed the walk back and spent some time catching up on email as we are seven hours ahead of Mooresville. I cannot state enough that Istanbul should be a must see on any traveler's list. It is truly a fascinating city and a mixture of east and west and a place where one can learn that there are many layers to Muslim culture and society beyond those understood by most Americans.