Cruising the Bosphorus Tuesday June 12

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!

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.

Sunday June 10 in Istanbul

On Sunday we slept until noon. We. Getup, moving slowly but aided by the strong Turkish coffee that I made on our little Italian Moka pot coffee maker. It is a simple little device that forces steam through the coffee and gives it a tremendous flavor. After some coffee, we headed to Ficcin, a neighborhood restaurant recommended by our landlord. The food was excellent. I had roasted sea bass that was superb. Price was about $12. Would probably pay about $23 at least in US. We had an excellent pudding dessert. From here, we walked to the Tunel, a funicular that goes to the Galatsaray Bridge. We charged up a computer chip that we are able to use to pay for transit. At the bottom we walked across the bridge and into Sultanamet. As we crossed the bridge, we saw a couple of hundred guys fishing. We noticed that they kept pulling up their bait and had 10 or so bait fish hooked up and down the line. After a few more minutes we realized these were not Baitfish but the actual fish they were catching. They were catching them 10 at a time and these are the fish we are seeing at streetside restaurants and where the fish are deep fried and you eat the fish whole. Underneath the top part of the bridge is a lower part upon which numerous fish restaurants are located. Upon reaching the other side, we saw the huge "new mosque" that was built in the 1700's. Our original goal was to go to Topkapi Palace but we realized it was too late as it closes at 4. Instead we walked to the Hoca Posa Cultural Center and bought tickets to see the whirling dervishes later on at 7:30. After buying the tickets we walked through a maze of streets, fending off the restaurant guys who wanted us to come to their restaurant. We eventually made it to the grounds in front of the Haghia Sofia, the world's most famous mosque. A helpful fellow approached us as Fariba bought a big chunk of watermelon. He told us that the Blue Mosque would close for prayer soon and we should go there now if we wanted to see it. He walked with us as we walked the plaza between the two massive mosques. We quickly learned that he is a rug salesman and he was trying to steer us to his rug shop after we saw the mosque. He told us he would wait outside. We decided we needed to shake him. At the mosque, we took off our shoes and put them into the plastic bags provided. We walked inside and placed our shoes on the rack. The inside of the mosque is astounding and I have attached pictures. After being at the mosque we slipped out another door but found the rug salesman waiting. He had outsmarted us. But Troy gave him a look that said "we are not buying anything" and the guy humbly walked away. We walked the plazas and the site of the hippodrome, a stadium that existed 2000 years ago and held 100,000 people. Only some columns remain. We then walked back down the busy street where the tram runs and found place to sit and for Fariba and Troy to have a beer. Fariba had spotted it earlier for its comfortable kilim covered seats. She made a great call on this one. There was live music and the band came over and played happy birthday to Darius as it was his 15th birthday. We enjoyed drinks and nargile (hookah) and left at the last minute for the dervish show. The dervish show is in an old hammani that has been converted to a performance space that holds about 200 people. The show starts with Turkish music and then the audience is urged no applause or noise as this is a religious ceremony. The Sufis begin to whirl and it is mesmerizing. No photos are allowed. Suffice it to say, it was an intense ceremony. From here, we caught the tram to the top of the hill where I had seen a rooftop Restaurant overlooking the Sea of Mamara and the Blue Mosque and the Haghia Sofia. We found the hotel that was funnily named the Lady Diana Hotel. We went up the elevator and found an incredible space with an unbelievable view. The food was reasonably priced and excellent. On the tram home, we saw our waiter and our chef and Fariba conversed with the waiter in Spanish as he spoke better Spanish than English. We eventually got a cab as the Tunel was closed and we got to our apartment where we slept very good! For videos, see www.youtube.com/nosyfieldstone