We slept late again on Tuesday. This town will wear you out. I understand it is a city of 16 million. When we go out around the city at any time of day or night, most of those 16 million people seem to be out and about. It seems more vibrant than even New York City.
And, maybe the people are secretly whining like the people in America seem to do a lot but we haven't perceived it. When I say whining, I mean whining about the government or whining about the economy or whining about the schools all the while never doing anything about it but whining. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, at least in Istanbul, people appear to be getting buy busy and it shows with no empty store fronts and people out spending money all hours of the day and night. Of course, everybody has a job, but that means there are guys spooning ice cream all day long with these huge long spoons, all the while putting on a show. And there are guys selling socks on street corners and guys selling cologne out of a bag and guys selling mussels and guys going around picking up bags of trash and selling what they can and disposing of the rest. In other words, not many people are sitting on their rear ends waiting for a government check.
Well, we count our blessings because we have been blessed. On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to charter a large cabin cruiser for a cruise on the Bosphorus. Troy had a great job this spring while attending university here in Istanbul. He worked for Berke, a salesperson for PPG Industries in the middle east. Troy helped. Berke interpret and send correspondence in English.
Troy told Berke that I was interested in chartering a boat to cruise the Bosphorus. Berke negotiated an excellent price and we planned to meet for the 6:00 p.m. cruise. Little did we know that Berke had also made a reservation for dinner at perhaps the most spectacular restaurant I have ever been to.
We had lunch at the apartment, eating our huge amount of leftovers from the night before at Sur Ocakbasi. We then walked up Istiklal to Taksim Square and took a bus to a part of town called Ortakoy which lies in the shadow of the Bosphorus Bridge or the "first bridge" as it is known. Ortakoy is a bustling area, popular with locals on short excursions. There are numerous stands where they sell stuffed baked potatoes with any kind of stuffing you can imagine for 10 lira (1 lira equals .55 dollar). They also have stands selling waffles with any topping imaginable. The people at each stand solicit the passing customers for business. In that there is no price competition, it is a matter of who can attract the most attention. It attracted my attention when a beautiful young woman behind the counter shouted to me "hey gorgeous, come get one of my baked potatoes" . Fariba quickly corrected me and told me she was yelling at Troy. LOL.
Anyway, we walked down to the shore of the Bosphorus next to a mosque that is being restored. There, on a plaza in a riverside breeze, a bride and groom were having their wedding photos taken. It was a great setting and we snapped a few photos as well.
We then went to the vendors and Fariba purchased the equivalent of a fried seafood platter with mussels, sea bass, and the ubiquitous little fish you see the guys catching around here. In fact, a guy came to sell to our vendor his bucket of small fish he had just caught in the Bosphorus.
After the platter which we sat and ate on a bench in the vending area, we went to a nargile (hookah) bar and enjoyed nargile, tea and backgammon for a couple of hours while we waited to meet Berke to catch our boat. One of the immense pleasures of spending a couple of weeks in a city is not having to rush through to make sure you do everything on your list. It allows for a leisurely afternoon smoking nargile and watching the people.
One thing that a non Muslim visitor here cannot help but to remark upon are the various stages of covering worn by the Muslim women in Istanbul. We have seen some women, clearly Turkish, who can be described simply as scantily clad. We have seen others more conservatively dressed but still in western style clothing. We have seen others yet who wear the hair covering while exposing some hair and wearing very western style clothes and yet not showing any skin other than the face and hands. And we have seen others who wear the hair covering with all hair meticulously covered and yet wearing very stylish clothing but often covering that clothing with what best can be described as a firm fitting three quarter length London Fog type trench coat. Then there are the ones with the all black from head to toe showing only their face and hands. Then there are the ones in black from head to toe with only a slit for their eyes. Then there are the ones like that who also wear gloves to cover the skin on their hands. As a write this, I realize that I didn't realize there were such a variety. And. . . All of them have the most chic western sunglasses! Nothing like seeing a woman dressed in all black with no skin showings, not even around her eyes because she is wearing a pair of Gucci sunglasses.
Anyway, we took a cab to the Galatsaray area to meet Berke and his friends, Cicek and Burcu, two beautiful young women. Troy's friend Merve, another beautiful young Turkish woman, joined us as well. Burcu had essentially recruited Troy for his job with Berke. Cicek is Berke's longtime girlfriend and Merve was one of the many fine young people who Troy had met while in school here. They all spoke great English and we had many interesting conversations that night.
We were excited to find that our boat was a forty foot or so cabin cruiser with great seating. We loaded up, amid much excitement as the boat was bouncing almost violently from the waves created by passing ships. Fariba had some excitement getting in, but she was able to pull it off. We headed out and it was a fantastic voyage as the great band Lakeside would say.
We went up the Bosphorus observing the beautiful homes and restaurants on its shore and under the upper Bosphorus bridge, the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. We crossed the Bosphorus from the European side to the Asian side and observed men swimming and fishing and saw the fabulous Yalis, historic homes built by the sultans and dating back to 1699. Berke told me that most of these are now owned by the government though they can be rented for a high price.
The weather was beautiful, in the 80's, and the company was great. We cruised for two hours going up and under the first bridge near Ortakoy, seeing the very place we had been earlier in the day. The boat then took us to Galatsaray Island where the evening was to get even better.
We disembarked from the boat to find a small island that had been totally built out onto a multilevel building containing a number of decks and several restaurants and bars. We were led to our table of eight which was clearly the best table in this restaurant called Suada that seats hundreds of people. Our table was right at the edge of the roof, overlooking the river traffic towards Asia.
Berke ordered the food and we were brought an array of appetizers. We ordered drinks and wine for the table. Troy and Merve enjoyed Raki, the national drink of Turkey which is something like Ouzo and turns cloudy when water is added to be served in the traditional manner. A very light breeze blew as we observed our elegant surroundings on a Tuesday night where the restaurant was packed with what had to be the elite of Istanbul (judging from their clothing and jewelry). We watched large boat after large boat pass with elaborate wedding parties up top and tables set for the wedding dinner below.
Merve explained that the wedding schedule for June is very packed and that weddings take place every day except Friday, the holy day. She also said that because Ramadan is occurring early this year (in July) and no weddings can be held then, many weddings had been pushed back to now. It is clear that Turkish people know how to throw incredible wedding parties judging from the wedding yachts that passed by our position.
The meal was great, typical Turkish food, and we enjoyed conversation. Around 11 p.m. we boarded a boat for the shore and caught a cab to Taksim and walked back to our apartment among the throngs, having finished another magical day in Istanbul!
