(late night power outage while I was writing this kept me from getting photos ready so will follow up tonight)
Day 2 was a day of knocking off more “must-do” items: Aya Sofya, spice bazaar, eat kebaps, drink Turkish coffee, try raki (anise brandy), try Turkish Delights, eat börek, try local pilsener beer Efes and snacks in a meyhane (tavern), walking across Galata Bridge at sunset.
And some not-must-do items, like the New Mosque.
(remember I already ate döner)
Note quite done: Blue Mosque (it was prayer time so I didn’t make it in) and Grand Bazaar (closing time).
Still to do: Topkapi Palace, ferry cruise, hamam, Süleymanyie Mosque, and (maybe) Princes’ Islands.
Side note on Turkish pronunciation: ş is like sh, ç is like ch, and ğ is silent (lengthens the preceding vowel). And a c is like a j. More on pronunciation later.
Thus Chicago is spelled Şikago (as I saw it on the baggage carousel at the airport, when my luggage didn’t arrive at first).
After a late start, I took a tram across the Golden Horn (river) to Beyoğlu, where I met Ahmet, a friend of a friend of a friend, for coffee in the middle of Istiklal Caddesi (Ave), the heart of the modern city. Thank you for the pointers, insights and pronunciation tips! (e.g. the name of a good leather jacket shop in the bazaar, local blue fish is in season, and a multi-day muslim holiday starts on Sunday – oops).
Istiklal is a busy, quasi pedestrian-only cobblestone avenue with shops and restaurants, with an old tiny streetcar (reminiscent of a cable car in San Francisco) running down the middle of it, with no safety zone around it of course (that would be so North American!)
Otherwise spent the day walking and snacking
Most common street sights I’ve noticed:
Döner restaurants
Sweets stores
Fresh fruit juice, esp. oranges and pomegranates (they must be local and in season)
Roasted chestnut carts
Crowded Istiklal Caddesi at sunset
Sweets, stacked up high
Roasted chestnut vendor, talking on his mobile phone, naturally
Fruit and the world’s largest döner
Aya Sofya, one of the most beautiful buildings in Istanbul (not visited yet; I walk by it going from hostel to tram)
More details than you probably care about:
I walked up and down Istiklal, had a nice veggie lunch, was finally able to buy an electronic transit card, the Istanbulkart, from the booth at the top of the Tünel funicular (no sign indicated that was possible, and the token machines don’t sell them either, though you can add value to cards via machines; thanks again Ahmet), walked a bit along the water in Karaköy where I ate a tasty fresh grilled fish sandwich (TL5/$3) from a streetside bbq-cart vendor and had the best baklava ever at a nearby recommended sweets shop.
I then took the funicular back up to Istiklal and meandered it at night. Tried to stop for a beer but was told “couples only” or “family only” (no single men) at two bars one block, where there was some live music (one guy on a guitar and singing) in no less than 4 bars. Sigh.
After taking the tram back to my hostel’s neighbourhood, Sultanahmet, I checked out the details at a nearby famous hamam (Turkish bath) for future reference, and I meandered through some side streets.
So much for an early start today. Missed my included breakfast on the view rooftop terrace. Though I did wake up a few times earlier, and hear the 5:45am call to prayer.
Now I need to grab some breakfast/lunch and meet a local friend of a friend for coffee in 90 minutes to get some 411, and hopefully some pronunciation help.
Did I mention last night that there is Starbucks here, inc. at the airport? I know, not the best coffee, but it’s comforting and consistent for my particular order. And I read in the guidebook that finding a good cup of coffee is surprisingly difficult here (and Turkish coffee is less common than you would think).
Side note for quick impressions: lots of stray cats here.
Modern sensibilities with old heritage buildings, with the streetside cafe charm of Europe.
People aren’t too pushy.
Public transit is good (even if they do use cheesy plastic tokens)
Cold. I actually put on a sweater and toque (not to mention socks and shoes
Food will be good (had a refreshing fresh-pressed pomegranate juice for TL5/US3, to go with my pita chicken doner TL4/US2.50 (I only needed a snack, not a meal, after all that plane food).
Lots of stray cats.
Thought I’d get some more out tonight, but I’m wiped and will likely have more to say in the morning since I’ll probably be awake early.
Timezone here is GMT+2, so I’m 6 hours ahead of eastern timeUS/Canada, and 9 hours ahead of pacific time (at least until daylight savings ends in the US/Canada on Sun morning (since daylight savings ended here last weekend)
Long 10.5 hour flight from Chicago in a cramped set. Sleeping pills helped for half of that. Good food and service though. Lots of free movie selections on seat back tv, but I didn’t watch any. Must get an aisle seat for return flight.
My hostel (private ensuite room, nice though a little dark) is close to the Blue Mosque (I can see one minaret from my window) and I’m looking forward to breakfast on the rooftop terrace which has views of the Bosphorous.
Now, first things first: a light dinner and a US-to-euro plug adapter (I forgot my multi-plug-adaptor at home, oops) or there won’t be many more blog entries!
