Istanbul - Day Two - Afternoon

Tuesday, 31st May - pm

So much to do here, I decided to split the post.

After our siesta, we decided to take a walk to the seaside and we ended up in the very old quarter of town, extremely steep and not too many tourists. This is Andy half way down the hill

This is the view looking back up

Don't worry we caught the tram back up eventually.

I was quite amazed at the number of shops that sell fabric, but really weird stuff. Most of the fabric in the shops is the same type of stuff, ie different colours and prints of vinyl that you might make a handbag or wallet from. I did not really see anything that made me ooh and ahh.

However the architecture was distinctly different in this part of town as you can see.

This is an extremely old and run down section here.

We then continued down some rather narrow winding roads, with traffic careening past at quite a fast pace. The thing that really amuses me is that when there is a traffic jam, they all start blowing their horns, even if they are 12 cars back. Also don't expect many people to indicate and a pedestrian crossing ... well that really is just a target for the car to drive into you. Even the lights cannot be totally trusted.

We ended up on the actual seaside, and it was a lovely walk. In fact we walked for nearly 2 hours past many locals sitting by the shore. The seaside is a bit hazy compared to Australia though.

There were quite a number of fishermen, catching what looked like large sardines.

We came across the Istanbul equivalent of the carvan park for Motor Homes. Great view of the water and interestingly enough they have a police car on hand down there at all times. Probably a good idea.

An imposing statue looking out to sea

We eventually found the tram station and worked out how to buy a token (with the help of some local teenagers). Basically it costs $1AUD for a token that will take you anywhere on the tram route. Went through lots of interesting shopping precincts that I will visit tomorrow.

We then spent an extremely interesting hour at a footpath cafe and watched the passing parade. A very entertaining feature over here is the ice cream peddlers, they are real showmen. I plan to treat myself tomorrow. It is also fascinating to watch the store holders, they stand out the front of each shop looking for business and calling out to the tourists. Exhausting really. One gets quite a thirst, and the local Efes beer is quite good.

Finally back to the room after an extremely full day. Tomorrow we plan to visit some museums and the Topkapi Palace. Caio for now.

Istanbul - Day Two - Morning

Tuesday, 31st May 2011

What a wonderful day in Istanbul this has been. After another fun-filled breakfast, but this time with the company of the Hotel Manager, with whom Andy has forged a strong bond. Don't know whether it is the shared sense of humour or not, but this guy really likes us. We went off to cooking class today at "Cooking Alaturka" www.cookingalaturka.com . As you can see, Andy made best friends with the Head Chef.


The four hours we spent at their cooking class has been one of the highlighst of Istanbul for us. Not only did we learn about the history of some of the foods, we met other like minded people from around the world and were able to get lots of hands-on experience. Could resist a photo of the 2 Andrews in the group - Andy and Andei from Vancouver BC.


As always there is an Aussie where fun is to be had, and I met Keena from Sutherland. We have agreed to meet again at Auburn, apparently there is a fantastic Turkish Cafe there. I very much appreciated the way in which the Head Chef, Fasi, facilitated the day and I particularly enjoyed the sharing of food together at the table. We heartily recommend this to any of our friends who may come to Istanbul. Isn't this a clever way to store your knives at the back of the bench?


Yes, I was guilty of dicing onions with this knife. It weighs about 2 kgs and is very effective. I resisted the desire to buy one, don't have a drawer big enough.


I found the char grilling of the eggplants really interested, just place them directly over the gas burner, on a trivet, and turn them as they grill. When the flesh is supple, it is cooked.


You then have to skin them while they are hot - not a task for anyone with Princess Fingers.


Once skinned they are left to cool and then diced. This couple were on their honeymoon, you can't half tell!



Andy had great fun making the Lamb Casserole


He is also a dab hand at making the Lentil/Burgul Soup. OMG this was so delicious.


Chef Fasi taught him how to use the whisk correctly, note the way it is being held


The walnut stuffed figs were delightful and remarkably easy to prepare. This is Eveline, the business owner, showing us how to do it. She made a little mouth in the fig for the stuffing.


They took a while to cook though. Steve got the job of turning them over - careful now - don't want the filling to spill out do we!




And here are the dishes we cooked.

Lentil soup flavoured with Turkish chilli flakes - spicy but not fiery. We will have to find some of those at home.


Zucchini pancakes served with fresh beans and tomatoes in a garlic sauce.


Lamb casserole surrounded by chargrilled eggplant - sooooooo nice I can't begin to tell you.


And of course, the walnut stuffed figs.


The Turkish coffee was made straight in the pan, with the sugar, and cooked over the direct heat.


This was all washed down with a glass or two of local Turkish wine. Here is the happy gang at the end of the day - representing US, Canada and Australia


All all this activity took place in this tiny kitchen


Back to the hotel now for a little siesta.

Don't you love the way the tourist police get around?


Could not resist this shot of other chefs on a break


And some of the different types of architecture found in this part of town






OK, siesta lasted 50 minutes for Andy, while I worked on the blog, but could not post due to wifi issues at the hotel so managed to draft content.

It is Andy's turn for the computer now, as the TV here is quite poor for English content.

I have made a separate blog for Day 2 - afternoon!

Istanbul - Day One

Tuesday, 30th May 2011

After another 4 hr flight arrived in Istanbul late on Sunday night, caught taxi to the Hotel. I have to say this is the smallest hotel lift I have ever been in. It holds 3 people, maximum

The hotel room is very nice, comfy beds, good air con. Very important as it is around 26 degrees here but fairly high humidity. Once outside there is often a sea breeze, but stuffy in the room.

We did not go out tonight, as we are both a bit tired. My head cold continues to be annoying. Just went to bed and read for a while. Was not disappointed with the "call to prayer" at midnight, a very jaunty singing affair. As expected, some nice gardens here

After a late start, we enjoyed breakfast in the hotel, Andy made friends with the cat - a spitting image of Kurt and Amanda's cat - Matilda. There are lots of cats in Istanbul we have discovered.

Then off to investigate the immediate vicinity.

Like many tourist destinations you are constantly bothered by people trying to sell you things. The ones that were the most annoying I have to say were the sellers of tourist books in the square of the Blue Mosque. Andy got rather irritated, as you can imagine.

Entering the Blue Mosque


I was unable to enter the Blue Mosque itself, as I did not have a head scarf. Will take one with me tomorrow

We sat in the park for a while and enjoyed the passing parade. Yes, look closely, that is me in the red skirt.
Lots of nice fountains here, and people take advantage of them


Mind you, this is definitely a tourist mecca, and we were surrounded by large German/Italian/Japanese tour groups, so it was interesting to have to wait in line to take a photo.

The Haghia Sophia Mosque is closed today for cleaning, so that will be on tomorrow's agenda. We did take advantage of a tour of the Basilica Cisterns, a 526 AD Roman waterway. Nice and cool underground, and very interesting.

One of the key interesting facts here is the positioning of two heads of Medusa

The first head is placed on it's side, while the second head has deliberately been placed upside down. It is thought that the heads were brought to the cistern after being removed from a building of the late Roman period. There is no written evidence that suggests they were used as column pedestals previously. Tradition has it that the blocks are oriented sideways and inverted in order to negate the power of the Gorgons' gaze

Hard to see but the water in this Cistern is full of rather large fish
Did a bit of haggling with a tour operator, and we have booked a 3 night, 4 day tour that will take us to Gallipoli, and Ephesus, we leave for that on Thursday 2nd June. There is a lot of driving in the first couple of days, but then we have an extra overnight stay to recuperate after Ephesus. We fly back to Istanbul.

Had a yummy lunch in one of the original restaurants here, built in 1920. Turkish meatballs and salad ... hmmmmmmmmm!

Off now to the shops to see if I can find an adapter for the power plug. Fingers crossed or this may be the last blog for a while :-)

Power adapter has been found and installed and I am now powered up again. We visited the Grand Bazaar this afternoon, 4,000 stalls. Very scary actually. I was very good and just looked. It will be a different story tomorrow I am sure.

I found this graveyard very fascinating. It was in immaculate condition

This might have been a sailor.


I have to say that the young Turkish men are very sharp dressers. They wear very trendy clothing and such amazing shoes. I plan to get some pics tomorrow of the shoe shops, about every 4th shop specialises in men's shoes. And they are reasonably cheap - about $45 AUD.

Elanda, we both turned vegetarian tonight, had this delicious meal at one of the many local restaurants - Andy had the chef salad and I had the eggplant/goats cheese dish. Both served with delicious Turkish bread of course.


Big sleep tonight, to be ready for tomorrow's adventures.

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